Do you post everything?

There can be many different situations and opinions of others and what they choose to post on their social media. No one can escape the world of capturing memories because we are all victims of doing it. We talked about this a little bit in class. We took a look into our camera roll and saw they pictures that we took. We had to ask ourselves if they were there to post or just for us just to have? It was a mixture of both. Is there a point where people should just put their phones down and just enjoy the moments of life... or be sad without having the whole world know what is going on in your life? Both ways could be beneficial to someone but it is all about perception. I do believe that a lot of the times, people do take pictures and put them on social media to be able to look back at them as a memory. This has become that we as kids do so that we don't lose our precious memories that are being made with friends, family, or by yourself.
Lindsay Dodgson
I personally find it very pleasing when you can go on with life and you forget about a certain memory and you scroll through your feed and see that picture that you posted a long time ago and it brings back feelings that you had during that time. Although some kids do this, majority of the older generation uses things like scrapbooks and things of that nature to display the memories that they pursue.There are many different ways that all of us can share images or keep images to look back at and reminisce on all of the good times that we once had in the past. These are all good examples of memory work.


Is there a point where we need to draw the line of posting. everything on social media? I think this is an open ended question because different people have their own opinions on this topic and the arguments could be all over the place. BUT, for the people that follow you, it can be annoying to see every little thing that has happened in your life. For example, not everyone needs to see what you ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday or see you post going to the bathroom. Even worse, posting very personal things or just nasty things about your significant other that obviously shouldn't be online for everyone to see. I recently saw an angry post from my friend saying, " You don't have to post every time you are out drinking, we get it you are drunk." This is exactly what I am talking about. Every now and again it is okay but not every single time.If you do this, I HATE YOU. Just kidding, but for real, there are things that that just need to stay between you and your phone and no one else.


Another topic that can be controversial is the posting of some ones passing. This can be for a famous person, a loved one , or even someone that you may not know. This can be personal information to some, but to others they may like to express their feelings to everyone on their social media because they might not have many people to share this information with, so their only option is to post so that they feel that they have let their emotions out instead of having them bottled up. In my opinion, it is okay to post in some extent. Obviously posting some ones dead body is not respectful in any aspect. However, I think if you post pictures from the past, then it is okay to do so. I did this. Both of my grandpas passed away in the same week a couple of weeks ago. So of course I posted about it. Not so that people would feel sorry for me but to show everyone how great they really were and how much they meant to my family and I. Not everyone is going to agree with this and that is okay. I know people that say that we shouldn't be posting about someone passing but it happens to everyone and at the end of the day, we have to do what makes us feel happy and accomplished. taking pictures or posting is good for coming back minutes, days or years after the picture was taken to bring back the good times but also the bad times that happened in your life. The way you go about it might not be how others see it. This goes back to the point where it all depends on of you worry about what others think and the people that don't are the scary ones. 

Making Memories But With Less Remembering

http://bit.ly/3bi33O6

Realization

The article titled How Instagram Alters Your Memory from CityLab struck my interest during this week’s readings. Prior to reading this post, I had my own personal realization related to this study about two years ago. I had noticed over the course of many events that when I focused on using my phone to take pictures or videos instead of just using my memory to document it, I had a harder time remembering the event. Most of what I could remember was looking at my phone screen and trying to get the perfect photo or video. Everything else seemed like a blur. Sometimes I would post the photos or videos to social media and other times I would not, but it didn’t matter because by doing this I had already done the damage of altering my memory.  

When I think back on these events, I don’t remember much that’s not in the photo or video. That if I decide to look back on them at all. I have been to multiple concerts where I haven’t looked back at the pictures and videos I took and they just sit in my camera roll until I eventually delete them or upload them to my computer. And I still never look at them. However, even though I never looked at the videos doesn’t mean I don’t remember taking them, but that’s about the only thing I remember. 

When I realized this around two years ago, I challenged myself to take less pictures and just soak in moments for how they really were. I wanted to see if by doing so I could change my ability to recall details of events. The past two concerts I have been to I have taken one or zero videos during the performance. I tried my hardest to focus on being in the moment. Sure enough, these last two events I can recall much more details than other concerts where I was on my phone recording songs the whole time.  Since this realization, I only pull out my phone to record the best song of the night and then I put it away until the end of the show. 

 http://bit.ly/takingapicture 

Connections

I thought my experience connected with the article and how the students could recall taking photos of art pieces but they could not remember the details of the art in the picture even though they saw it in person. The article also talks about how focusing in on details of a picture will help you remember the overall picture better which I relate to. I have edited pictures and zoomed in on them, and those pictures are the ones that I can see very clearly in my own mind if I think hard enough. Other pictures that I have not edited so closely have a tendency to get lost with all the other junk in my memory. 

Over the course of 2019, I took a lot of pictures, but I’d say a significantly less amount than I had in previous years. I also posted a lot less on Instagram too. 2019 was the hardest year of my life but also the happiest, so it wasn’t like I didn’t have anything good to post. I just chose not to. There were multiple days throughout the year that I was having such a great time that I would totally forget to take a picture or document the day. My boyfriend and I actually had to start reminding each other to take pictures together because we didn’t have pictures of some of our milestones and best moments together. 

Over the course of this whole experiment with myself the biggest observation that I made was that living life and taking pictures along the way is much different than taking pictures for the purpose of showing off your life. I was recently putting together a gift with printed pictures and I was looking back on some moments that I had forgotten about, but my memory was quickly jogged of the details because I had just snapped a picture in the moment instead of being strategic with the posing. The pictures weren’t for anyone but myself at the time of taking them, and that improved my ability to jump back into the moment that they were taken. Other pictures I looked at that had been strategically taken were harder to remember.  

I have tried my hardest to live my life with my head not glued to my phone. It has become increasingly harder as time goes on because this behavior has become so normalized, but I do think that sticking up for yourself in this way will benefit in the long run if you care about remembering the details of things. If you don’t, well then I guess just keep living your life through a lense.

Unborn Babies are Changing The Rules

Saving and sharing documents has always been something we have done as humans. We share because it's a way to keep in touch with others and family members. The sharing of experiences and events started with the use of diaries. What is now seen as such a private thing was once used to share events with other people? We see different forms of technology change every day into something new, while still having the same effects. After diaries, people started taking pictures and placing them in scrapbooks with stickers, loads of stickers. The more stickers the better. Then we got a little device that changing the world… our cell phone. This changes the game.

We now have these little versions of scrapbooks or whatever you may choose to call it with us twenty-four seven. We use our phones as ways to share information with others on the dot. We use it as a way to document the experiences we have while apart from our loved ones. This new wave of technology is changing the game while sticking to the same rules.

What does that exactly mean? Perhaps we as humans need to share experiences because we crave the attention. Maybe we are making up new ways to deal with our attention to sharing our lives.

The rules are changing things about social media and the sharing of experiences. We have created multiple social media platforms giving us the ability to share or stories differently.

Snapchat: The platform where you can send a little part of your day to one special person or you can share it with all your friends. Twitter: Where you can say what's on your mind while others say what's on there's. Facebook: It is a bit of both. a place for photos and comments, political arguments, and RIP post. Facebook is a platform for mothers and fathers, businesses, and the creepy man trying to sell his $1000 truck. Facebook comes close to the internet's black hole.

Instagram, however, is the scrapbook of our generation, people post loads of pictures with cheesy captions and emoji's.. AKA: scrapbook stickers. Digital photos are new to the crazy (look at me) cycle. Having a phone that takes digital pictures means you don't have packs of images, tucked away in a drawer that are still in the envelope they were sent home in. We didn't get away from this totally now out pictures sit in the camera roll 6,000 pictures up never to again be seen.

Just about everyone these days has an Instagram account even babies have accounts. I blame it on the millennials. New mothers have created social media accounts for their 1 to 2-year-old children and the reasons behind those decisions.In an article from today they discuss a couple of different responses to the ideas of having Instagram accounts for there children.

One reason behind the decision of Lily Silvia when creating an Instagram account for her son was because she wanted a separate identity from her son.. her one-year-old son. Lily also didn't want to keep clogging her social media account, her exact words were she didn't want him “hijacking” her page. One mother didn't agree with Lily's reasoning. She disagreed because she was worried about embarrassing her kid in 13 years. Reasonable? I would say so.

This leads me to wonder if child social media pages could be dangerous? Kidfluncers is now a thing.. a scary thing. Parents are now more concerned with there identity on social media that they are will to manage an account for there children.

                 

Halsey Blake Fisher was a baby in utero who now has 588,000 followers. According to Halsey's father, in an interview with Mashable her twin siblings have around 2 million followers an average a total of $10,000-$20,000 for a sponsor post. That's just madness, and personally, I don’t think it is about the memories or sharing information with loved ones at this point. It seems to be about money and fame, the idea of being on the top.

If you thought things were crazy now, just wait because it gets worse... Now mothers are making Instagram accounts for their unborn children and on top of that, they're commenting on Instagram pages as if they were born or texting from in the womb where they could understand English and have a grasp on grammar. Not to mention they would have to understand the mechanics of Instagram, social media, and technology. What has the world come to?

Another social media influencer, Temitope Adesina, displayed her baby bump to her 236,000 followers. According to The Sun she displayed her baby bump in an ad for the moisturizer brand Palmers. After the picture went live there was then comments from the unborn baby on the mothers post. The Baby said, “Mommy, is that me?” The mother then responded by saying why yes it is. The comments sparked controversy.

The madness continues when the [air quote] baby [air quote] posted on her Instagram feed, saying hi to her mother and saying how she couldn’t wait to me her beautiful face.

There was a lot of backlash on the Instagram post, people were saying that social media is a sickness. Others were on the side of the mother and saying that it's just as if she were to talk to her baby, she is now just doing it over social media. Implying that we have been doing the same action as always we just now do it over the internet. It become more public this way and leaves lots of room for opinion.

This all just seems crazy to me, there is such a vast idea on what social media is and whether it is good or bad. Some parents see social media as a way to interact with there children before they are born, others see it as a way to make money while some parents don’t even allow their children to have social media until their children are practically adults.

There is however a pattern developed with the individuals who chose to post there children on social media, money is the motive. Its an extra source of income, a way to find sponsors who give you money for a post, while doing so on different age ranges.

Ultimately all of the people on Instagram are choosing to share something. Which brings us back to diaries and scrapbooks. The thing we used before we got to carry literally everything we need in a little electrical box tucked away in our pocket. That just might be the biggest difference. We carry in our phones a scrapbook that millions can see, that brands can see. Our phones ultimately function as our scrapbook only it does even more. By allowing you to share and make a profit off of your pictures and experiences. It's changed the game but it stuck to the same rules.

Some people still enjoy sharing their children with their loved ones and in some cases was random people. They are proud of their little creation and they think they have the best baby. But we have to ask ourselves.. has social media made it to easy to share? We are at the point that we are now speaking to unborn children.

have we been dwarfed into money-hungry, social climbing, willing to put our kids in danger to reach new heights? It's no longer about the innocent scrapbook pictures and stickers, diaries about your vacation, it's about climbing the social later and doing anything it takes to get there.

Social media well eventually throw out the rules and change the game completely.

The Alamo: A viewpoint of independence and... social media?

 https://bit.ly/38Rah9x

            When one thinks of the Alamo, they might think of it as just a building that was used during a war. Some might think of the loss that was had at this place, where soldiers lost their lives. What we are doing when we think of the history of such a place is remembering it, remembering the people that had risked their lives here. In a way, that mindset can be tied back to the ideas that we talked about in Social Media this week. Specifically, we can look to both the ideas of self-representation and remembrance. Though, how we get there might be a bit of a sideways viewpoint.

            For those that don’t know about the Alamo, it was a stronghold where Texans fought against Mexico for independence from them. While those of the Alamo lost the fight, this is still such a huge deal for Texans, a staple of the state. Now, why would it be a staple if it was a fight that we lost? Wouldn’t we feel ashamed for the loss and think ourselves weaker? No! The Alamo can actually be seen as symbolism for Texas pride. After all, the war that was fought during the time was for Texas’ independence from Mexico.

            Which leads into how it relates to our class this week. In class we talked about the idea of identity work within social media, which is basically how we define ourselves within our own social media. This can be through many different things, not just pictures or posts about us. Our identity can be defined through things such as memes or through pictures of those around us. By looking at those different aspects, people can gain some sort of idea of who we are as a person, and what we represent. The same sort of thing could be said about the Alamo. While many could see it as “just a building,” Texans can see it as a symbol of their pride for their state. It’s like a portrait of the ideals Texans hold, such as perseverance and courage. Though, in actuality, the building is more used as a museum at this point.

            Though, even though it’s used as a museum, the Alamo can still represent the idea of remembrance within our class as well, in a more literal sense. In class, remembrance is more the idea of using social media as time-stamps within our lives. We use it to post pictures of big events in our lives, no matter how insignificant, such as our first day of school every year. We use this social media as an archive for our experiences, so that we can look back through and remember those different days of our lives, akin to the use of a scrapbook. When it comes to the Alamo, we can see this being done in a very literal way, since it’s been made into a museum. We get to see the history behind the building, and learn about some of the patriots that fought within the Alamo for the 13 day long siege. We get to walk along the building, actually seeing where the bullets had flown in and where the damage had actually been done in the building. It’s extremely similar to our idea of remembrance within social media. While not used as a scrapbook of recent events, it’s still a time-stamp within history that is still standing for all to see, just like all the photos that we post on the internet, trapped forever within the swirling, unending string that is the world wide web… Anyway, back to the topic at hand!

            I can understand how this example might be quite a bit of a stretch. After all, we’re comparing an actual building to ideas within a social media class. The two different topics don’t even seem like they would go hand in hand at all! However, that is not the case as far as I can see. In both of these things we can see how the people working with them were trying to establish their own identity, one in the world itself and the other via social media (which is the world for some people, honestly). On top of this, we use both of these things (social media and the Alamo) as a way of remembering the past through different ways, one through the archiving of pictures and one through becoming a museum. Again, I can understand how these would be a fairly large stretch to make. And yet, in some ways, I can see how the Alamo makes such a fantastic representation of these two ideas from our class this week. And thus, we end off the post with a phrase that’s been tossed around for years now, a phrase uniquely and utterly Texan: Remember The Alamo.

https://bit.ly/38R9Zzt

Life: Now in... paper?

We know how to measure distances, volumes, weights, surface areas, and so many other things, but how do we measure our lives? It doesn't seem too quantifiable; mostly a series of events, some in our control, others not. However, we know that our journeys contain something more than a number: we have experience. And what better way to show off life than to record it.

And thus starts the discussion of how recording occurs. For most people my age, I think the primary means of doing this has been through social media. Honestly though, I never really liked social media that much. I knew it existed, I had accounts, I just didn't use it. I also didn't have a journal or anything similar. Instead, I think my means of recording life has been through Origami.

The image this post begins with is my most recent model: The Last Waltz designed by Neal Elias (picture taken in front of a salt lamp.) Why did I make it? I'm doing a photo contest at 52frames.com and I thought it was an interesting subject. But that's just the reason I folded a model, not the reason I thought to do this one in particular. Marriage has been on my mind a lot recently, because two of my close friends are getting married next year.

For me, I think that origami has served as a means of documenting my time. It's a means of accounting my life and what I was thinking and interested in at any given time. Each model serves as a "trace," and forms a picture of my timeline not only as an artist, but as a person. In a sense, my collection is my account, and my models are my posts. Each one shows what I was thinking about, my interests, my age, and my skill.

When I first started, I couldn't even fold a crane (I was like, 8.) Looking at these models today, I see a "post," showing me trying to figure out the "platform," and failing. They also document my initial interest, the videos I'd seen that intrigued me, and the frustration/determination that cultivated into something proper.

These models also show a development of the "I" and "me;" I showed them to my family and classmates, who enjoyed the models and encouraged me to continue. Which I then did. "I" may have had a desire to make the models, but "me" and the receptions on my models made me want to keep going, to do better.

The next several years show waves of interests and new milestones. From 8-10, more simple models from origami books; folding insects and things from the real world. 11-12, moving into more complex models that highlight religious elements from around the world. 12-15, folding fantasy models like dragons and demons, with small bursts of flowers. 16-20, focused on highly advanced, realistic models centering on animals and humans.

Much like how social media can document interests and milestones in a life, these models share a story of there own. Beyond my "I" and "me" development into an origami artist resulting from continued positive feedback, these models show what I was feeling, what I was inspired by, and can even show myself as an aggregate: an artist interested in showing the realistic, in fantasy and in life. This is my qualified self, my quality lies in dedication and accuracy, and my qualifications are revealed on my model timeline.

These models are my social media; they show myself, are shaped by what others may enjoy, and form a sense of self to be shown to the world. And I believe this kind of self tracking, similar to social media, can be done in all forms of art. We balance the public vs private, work vs leisure, and individual vs collective in the same ways. Our accounts are very, very similar.

However, they are not quite the same. My platform was not as influenced by the outside world. Not every model I made was made to be shown to others, even if they had helped to give me the idea. Social media curates ourselves to an extent; put the best foot forward and get the most likes. While this was sometimes true for me, most of my models were an expression of the "I" with no discretion for the effect on "me."

Even so, the similarities are there. At least some of my models were made directly for public viewing, and this likely also shaped my own interests towards personal models. My direction as an artist was shaped much in the same way as the direction of an Instagram page; curated by the interests of others and fueled by whether people enjoyed them or not.

Although not a one-to-one allegory, I still find origami to be broadly similar to social media in how it's functioned in my life. There's development of "I" and "me" in a similar fashion, curation of content, and means of tracking my interests and developments. In a way, I feel that origami, and art in general, can be a useful allegory for social media for those of us that don't use it very often.

JoJo Rabbit: Navigating the Hateful "Me"

Taika Waititi & Fox Searchlight Pictures

Despite the fact that I've only just recently seen Jojo Rabbit, and am by no means an expert, you've still found your way to this page, so between you and me, who's really winning at life?

You, it's obviously you.

Spoilers ahead though.

Skip This Section if You've Already Seen the Trailer

Jojo Rabbit focuses on the tale of a young Nazi boy named Johannes (Jojo for short) living in Nazi-controlled Germany during WWII. He is enamored with the Nazi way of life, going so far as to even create his own imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler. Yada yada yada, he discovers a Jewish girl named Elsa living in his walls, and has to learn to be a better person and reconsider this whole Nazi thing. But it's also a fun quirky comedy. Sorta. 

You know what? Here's the trailer.

I can't figure out how to put a caption under a video link, so I'll just tell you that this trailer was produced and distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures. You're welcome, The Law.

Don't Skip This Section - I.E. Where it Gets Good

Let me give you the skinny... actually, that phrase may not have entirely innocent connotations. Here, let me tell you what I think: Fantastic Frickin' Flick.

Honestly one of the best movies I've seen. Although that's not really saying much because I actually kinda liked The Green Lantern  when it first came out so feel free to take my opinion with a grain of salt.

This film is worthy of all of the analysis it will inevitably receive over time and across the cosmos, but I think that it might be useful to analyze it through what Dr. George Herbert Mead calls, the "I" and the "Me."

The "I" is the version of yourself that is most pure, or in other words, is not really affected by society or other people. The "Me" is the version of yourself that is affected and/or created by society and other people. For example, when I was a child I used to skip everywhere I went because I loved skipping, and then society (and my older brother) told me to stop, and so I did. My inner need to romp in the fields skipping to my heart's content still exists (my "I"), but now I would feel weird actually doing it (my "Me").

Very scientific stuff.

In the film, Jojo's "I" is a very sweet and innocent young boy. This is shown when he refuses to kill a rabbit at the start of the film, talks kindly to his imaginary friend, and does various other nice things throughout the movie (like when he writes fake letters and pretends they are from Nathan, Elsa's Fiancé to try to cheer her up [it's also kinda messed up, since he did this at first to discourage her and be mean, but let's not talk about that]). His "Me" on the other hand is currently being affected by one of the worst societies to have ever existed on earth, Nazi-controlled Germany. This doesn't mean that he is entirely a victim of circumstance though, or that we should forgive him of any wrongdoing simply because he's a child and didn't really have the option to not be a Nazi-loving little hate monster. No, the entire story revolves around Jojo learning to recognize his "I" (inner sweetness) and tearing down his "Me" (all the Nazi stuff).

How is this accomplished? By becoming familiar with Elsa, a Jewish girl, whose presence he is forced to endure (at the beginning). By the end they are friends.

I'll level with you, I don't actually know all that much about Mead's theories, but I've had a thought that's really rocking my world right now, that I'd like to share with you. One of the primary go-to-gags that this film uses repeatedly, is making fun of Nazi propaganda! It was this propaganda that  taught little Jojo and other kids absurd false tales about Jewish people saying that they have horns and scales, can hypnotize Germans, are attracted to ugly things, are controlled by the devil, etc. For my purposes, I'm going to use a similar mode of phrasing as Mead, that I'm calling "You" and "You People." The "You" is going to serve in the place of the "I", but only comes as the direct result of when an "individual" perceives an "other's" true character first hand. The "You People" is what society tells the "individual" that the "other" is like.

For Jojo, the "You People" is all this propaganda about Jewish people, and the "You" are his actual conversations with Elsa, the Jewish girl.

Examples Anyone?

This concept of a real self, versus a fake self (that either society has created, or an individual has created in response to society) persists throughout the movie as a whole.

Jojo's mother lives a double life, with her inner self wanting to help Jewish people, but her "Me" constantly restrains her "I" due to her social standing. For example, she doesn't confide her "I" to her own son because of... well that's another story. Point is, she's repressing her "I."

Elsa first supports Jojo's false beliefs in what Jewish people are like, and in doing so crafts a less than pretty "me" though we as the audience know that she does not believe these stupid fantasies. We think that her "I" is a young girl in love, and is hopeful for escape, but we learn that his too was false, and was really a "Me." Her inner "I" was struggling all along, and feared to hope at all.

Captain K, a closeted gay German officer, dies defending Nazism, but saves Elsa and Jojo, knowing fully well that Elsa is Jewish. His inner "I" is gay and apparently sweet, but had been restricted by his "Me" for so long, that he could only do these good things near the end of his life, when it didn't matter if his "I" managed to peek out into the world.

Even Jojo's imaginary friend Hitler is just a childish and heroic fun-house mirror version of what the true Adolf Hitler was really like-- terrible. Although, there are moments when even Jojo's fun Hitler suddenly speaks like the real Hitler, and it is terrifying. As a character, Imaginary Hitler's "Me" is this fun and heroic personality that he uses to deceive Jojo, but his "I" is really just incredibly awful.

Ultimately, Jojo Rabbit is a film that should not work. But the writers were crafty, and the actors? Brilliant. And the cinematographer? Pretty dang good! And the editors? Fan-frickin'-tastic.

Oh and I guess Taika Waititi was also there. Maybe in like one scene.

Embrace your "I", and look beyond the "You People." You might just find someone else's "I."

Cheers.

Postscript

I know that this post, and Mead's theory, seems to suggest that the "I" is like a universally good thing, and that the society-afflicted "Me" is what causes people to go bad and do evil things, but I wonder if a persons's "I" could be inherently evil (or even slightly bad). That'd be kind of an interesting concept. Maybe I'll work that into another post, but I couldn't think of a way to do it in this one that felt really cohesive, because honestly, that's just not what this film was about. You could argue that imaginary Hitler's was inherently bad, and I wouldn't disagree, but while the film may have hinted at that, the overall takeaway of the movie supported a more positive outlook on life and the human condition. And I wanted to reflect that in my post.

It Really Be Your Own Self

The “I,” the “Me,” and Social Mead-ia

George Herbert Mead introduces the idea of the “I” vs the “me,” which basically means that there are two parts to us/our identity. The part of us who we actually are and guides our thoughts and actions is our “I,” while the part of us that others see of us is our “me.” Mead’s idea of the “I” and “me” are easily seen through our use of social media today. We try so hard to separate our actual selves and how we appear online. Social media can be a great opportunity for us to showcase our “best self” to others. We get to be in control of what others see about us and create a narrative for ourselves that we design. You would think that with all of this power over our profiles that there would be no flaws and only the best parts about us. Unfortunately for us, we let who we really are slip into our fake self’s appearance on our social media.

Don’t Put All of Yourself Out There

We all know what it’s like when people share a little too much about themselves. I’m talking about your relatives on Facebook who share those extreme fake news posts without doing any fact checking that just make them look bad (Grandma, there is a fine line for acceptable FB posts and you definitely just crossed it), or those individuals on Twitter that think for whatever reason it’s okay to be a racist. You’re probably thinking of a few examples in your head right now and can get the idea I’m going for here. This is a wonderful example of how Mead’s theory is at play on social media. We are trying so desperately to form a new identity of ourselves online, but our “real” self just has to get in the way of how we want others to see us, and that is the point at which we start having issues.

The Online Witch Hunt for Celebrities

Unfortunately for celebrities, they’re under the spotlight at all times, meaning there are always thousands, if not millions, waiting for the moment to rip apart these people for any slip up they may have online. There are also those who will go back to dig up old posts from years back in order to make these celebrities’ lives a living hell. One instance I remember this happening recently had to do with Kevin Hart. It was announced that Hart would be the host of the 2019 Oscars and there was a lot of talk online about it, but not for good reason. There were a series of homophobic tweets that were posted by Hart dating back to 2009 (click here if you’re dying to know exactly what these tweets are). This is a great example of when our “I” gets in the way of our “me,” unfortunately for Kevin. What really is the unfortunate part about this is that Hart already apologized for this series of tweets previously, however when it was announced that he was set to host the Oscars, these posts were brought up again to haunt him. Kevin Hart ended up stepping down as the Oscars host because he received so much criticism. There actually ended up being no host for the Oscars at all it was such a big deal.

This is an extreme case of the repercussions you might face if your “I,” that is your terrible self, gets in the way of your social media self, however it does teach us a good lessons. One, if you’re going to create a narrative of your self online, it might be in your best interest to keep that in check and don’t let your true homophobic self get in the way (if you’re going to be a shitty person keep it to yourself). Also, everything you post on social media can and will be used against you. The internet is a cruel place, tread lightly.

Another recent episode of the witch hunt for celebrities online was for Camila Cabello (poor girl). What seemed to be out of nowhere, there were many (many) old Tumblr posts that were brought to light that showed posts by Cabello making jokes about African Americans, domestic abuse, and xenophobic, just to name a few (again click here if you’re curious as to how bad it really is). Camila was only 15 at the time of these posts, but that didn’t stop internet trolls from ripping her apart. It just goes to show that everything you put out there for the world to be seen, is really going to be seen.

We probably won’t ever feel this kind of criticism on this sort of scale, but if we post something just bad enough, it can cost us our personal relationships or even our jobs. Employers look at your social media profiles for a reason, they want to dig up every bit of your “I” that they can get their hands on. Also, people probably won’t respond well to your racist/xenophobic/homophobic posts online, just a thought.

Just Don’t Be Stupid

It’s funny because we always hear the apologies, the promises of “it’ll never happen again,” and the “I’ve grown as a person since then,” yet it still keeps happening. We can try to control our “me’s” as much as we want, but ultimately it’s up to others about how we appear to them. Our “I’s” are going to be shown at some point, it’s just a matter of when. It could be revealed in an Instagram comment, or a Tweet, or a Snapchat story, but one of these days we’re going to post something online that is going to be taken in a different way than what we intended. It’s also funny to me that you would think we would get better as we grow older, but there’s still so many adults that get caught for their horrible social media posts. So I guess what I’m saying is that this doesn’t get better with time, just don’t let your actual self ruin your social media presence if you have this fake “happy and thriving” version of yourself online when you’re actually dying inside.

Literature Review

The growing division between the American people is vital to understand because in a time like this, against an invisible, apolitical enemy, we should be united or at least on the same page in order to stop the spread and protect the general welfare of our fellow americans. The reason I have chosen to analyze the youtube comments section in particular for my data is that it is, for the majority of commenters, a far less personal form of social media than other alternatives such as facebook, instagram, and twitter,  and it is easy to put out comments under a veil of anonymity that allows for the user to say whatever they want, in an unfiltered way. Certainty across other platforms, you have a choice to do and say as you please, but on a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, there is more pressure to actually post your personal business, you face, your friends, occupation, acquaintances, and there is often more immediate repercussions socially for your actions if you post ignorantly on these more personal forms of social media.

I believe that through my analysis of the wild west that is the youtube comment section, we can illustrate the lack of consensus by the American people, influenced by partisanship, class privilege, and ignorance that is reinforced by a poor education system, a paranoia surrounding the media, and a naivete that allows for the rise and influence of Cult-Of personality figures such as Donald Trump.

I believe that my analysis is of utmost importance because of just how pressing of a matter COVID-19 is. One would hope that, given such a major crisis, that is inescapable, affecting each and every American, that the people would discover a sense of camaraderie and unity akin to that of World War 2 patriotism, banding together (metaphorically, not physically) to smartly combat the ever present threat of infection, right? 

The diversity in perspective of Americans is (ideally) the cornerstone of  the democratic system, and should be protected and maintained. The concept of conflicting ideas keeping each other in check was fundamental to American democracy since the nation's conception, however, the extent to which our divisions have grown are extreme, and it has led to the direction of our nation and will of our people seeming confused and lost. The lack of consensus about anything is hurting the U.S. and weighing us down in our fights against whatever challenges are thrown upon us as a nation.

As we have seen at this point, many Americans' priorities lay in radically different areas. We have massive crowds of conservatives shouting “USA” at government buildings, as if the virus has a nefarious leftist political agenda, and it was intentionally created to strip us of our rights and privilege. There are many who have strictly followed “social distancing” procedures out of fear and concern for their fellow citizens who have to deal with the potential consequences of their peers' lack of responsibility.

On this date of March, Friday the 13th, we were all poorly informed and anxious about this unknown new virus, unaware of just how far it would spread, and how much all of our lives would be changed.