Advantages and disadvantages of social media - individual perspective

  Advantages and disadvantages of social media - individual perspective 

Social Media is an ever growing platform that everyone is using...unless you're living off the grid or trying to disconnect from this world because you're too cool to be conformed to this way of life now. Nonetheless, you're probably on social media, but what can the advantages or disadvantages of being online cause? 

From around 6th grade I've been using different platforms to stay connected online. I started off with instagram posting my little inspirational quotes or middle school activities to using instagram as a way to connect with peers and a creative outlet to the things I enjoy partaking in ( I know I know so unique right?).  So for the past 10 years I have witnessed and experienced the advantages or disadvantages of being connected. 

The first advantage is simply being connected. Social media is a way to stay in contact with old classmates, coworkers, family members etc. If you're more old school you may ask "well why can't you get their phone number and text or call them to stay in contact?" My answer would be that's a lot. Posting pictures or stories is an easy way for others to know what's going on with your life, your audience is all on one platform and you can share with multiple people without having to directly talk to them, which in this busy scheduled world sometimes is way more easy to manage. 

The second advantage is the creativity outlet. Getting to create content that is specifically created around the things you're passionate or interested in is fun. For myself I enjoy fashion and photography so my instagram really highlights those interests of mine. As well as using creativity to post, you can also follow people that share those same interests that you do and either just appreciate the art or use it as inspiration too,  hence all the trends that circulate on all the different platforms. 

On the flip side there are disadvantages of social media.

The first disadvantage is how much we as a society sit on our phones and scroll. Especially being a college student that could be using her time more wisely, it can be hard managing my time on my phone. This can cause a lot of disruptions in my life whether that's because I"m procrastinating my responsibilities or just completely ignoring them because I need to watch my latest YouTube videos, keep up with snapchat or just scrolling the gram. Being on my phone can lead to many disruptions or distractions throughout my day because it is so easy to lose myself in that world. 

The second disadvantage is how it can create in-person communication problems. Again being on social media from a young age I have picked up some negative habits with communicating to others. If im sad or have a problem with someone it is way easier for me to communicate those problems through text or online instead of confronting them in person. It allows me to hide behind a screen to share my issues instead of talking to somebody in person about them because it is less scary. This is a disadvantage because of the anxiety it has created for myself to talk to others about deeper things in a face-to-face setting. 

To wrap this all up, social media isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Because there are both positive and negative things about being online there needs to be a healthy balance of using it.  Just like everything in this world too much is a bad thing but being disconnected can also cause a separation between you and the constant growing society we live in. 

Sources

https://medium.com/@clinguen/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-social-media-47cd957b73d5

 

Social media made me a walking style critic

If you have been taking Vrooman's classes for the past few semesters you should know by now that I'm the girl who wears glasses and talks way too much 😂

I looooove social media but I don't know exactly why. It helps that I do photography and real estate so I normally have a lot of reasons to post. I guess it has to do with the fact that I can present myself how ever I want, and I can change whenever I want. It's the one aspect where you can control and edit how people see you. This is what Humpreys likes to call "I" and "me".

I have to give my glow up all credit to social media because it taught me how to stop doing crazy looking makeup and wearing weird clothes. I guess you could say I studied social media in my younger years, and well now I am definitely a part time style critic. I can't walk past someone without thinking about what's wrong with their outfit or how I would style their hair and do their makeup oops. My brain also functions this way when I look at someones social media account. I guess you could say I like makeovers? 

I have a guilty past time of taking a look at someones social media feed and trying to figure what kind of person they want us to think they are, and what kind of social media user they are. I have broken it down into a few groups. There are what Vrooman likes to call "the scrapbookers", "the nerds", "the cool kids", and "the weightlifter jock".

If you post vlog, ootd, a lot of memories, post pretty regularly (or sometimes it's only special occasions counts too.), and you don't seem to care what your feed or how great the picture looks you are probably a scrap booker account. 

If you post really weird things that most people have no clue what it is 😂, have a way higher following count than followers,  post a lot of book and movie reviews, and don't have any decent pictures of yourself or with others you probably have a nerd account. 

If you post dope high quality pictures, and yes selfies count. I see all you makeup gurus, and photographers! You either have or don't post your party pictures but your probably tagged in them, and you followers count is higher than your following then you are probably a cool kid account. 

And finally the gym rat. If all you post are mirror selfies and douche bag looking selfies, yeah we can tell the difference. And probably only have 5 posts total and there all yourself or the gym floor.. You are probably the weightlifter jock account.

Please don't think I'm roasting or being rude, this is genuinely just how I see and categorize instagram accounts.

Also I do charge for instagram make overs if you need one or know someone who needs one ;)

Tata for now!

The "I's", the "Me's", and the Diaries

I am currently three weeks into my Social Media and Society class and we have covered two topics that have helped me understand people and social media a little bit better. So far we have discussed Mead's theory of the "I" and "Me" and Humphrey's thoughts on public vs. private. We have discussed what Mead and Humphrey are explaining and how they are applied to people's lives. To help me, and others who read this blog, get a better understanding of these two concepts, I have come up with examples that I think fit each concept pretty well. Here's what I came up with!

The "I" and "Me"

Before I get to my example of the "I" and "Me", I need to give a little explanation of what the "I" and the "Me" are. Wikipedia describes the "I" as "the response of the individual to the attitude of the community." I look at this as a person's ego. The self will respond to the actions of others. The "Me" is "what is learned in interaction with others and (more generally) with the environment." This means that people look at how they think others are viewing them and adopt the way they believe people are looking at them. While the "I" and the "Me" are very different from each other, you can't have personality without either of them.

Here is what you've been waiting so desperately for... my examples. When thinking of examples to use, I decided that I wanted to use real-life examples; so I chose Ariana Grande, Lizzo and Jojo Siwa.

For my "Me" example, I chose Ariana Grande. I know you may be thinking to yourself right now, "Why Ariana? She's herself and doesn't try to be someone she's not." WRONG! I believe that at the start of her solo music career, she catered to the fans she made from the Nickelodeon hit TV show Victorious. On Victorious, she played a very bubbly and ditzy character named Cat Valentine. Cat wore a lot of dresses and skirts in the color pink on the show. I would even dare to call her sense of style childish. During the era of her first album, Yours Truly, her style was still reminiscent of her character. While it was a little more mature, you could still see the influence of Cat Valentine. When it came to the music on her first album, she included songs that everyone could listen to. Because of how many people already saw her as Cat, that is who she was at the start of her music career. I also like to believe that because of this, she was able to keep her fanbase as she transitioned from full-time actress to full-time singer. As she got further into her career, her style changed and so did her music. Because of how massively popular she became, she was able to become who she actually is.

The examples I chose for "I" and are Lizzo and Jojo Siwa. They both came into the entertainment industry as themselves and have not changed for anybody. Lizzo became well know when the public became obsessed with her song "Truth Hurts". As her song became a massive hit and she became more popular, people decided to start commenting on her weight and her body. They all commented on how "unhealthy" she is. Even though she got all of those comments, she stayed true to herself. She even made a workout TikTok dedicated to everyone who body-shamed or fat-shamed her. Lizzo continues to speak about body positivity and ignores everyone who hates on her. Jojo Siwa is also someone who is unapologetically themselves. Jojo got her start on the TV show Dance Moms spinoff series called Abby's Ultimate Dance competition in the second season. From there, she joined the main show. She is known for the bows and clothes she wears and her personality. Jojo has always worn bows and bright crazy outfits and as she got older, people started to comment and criticize her style. They all thought that she needed to act her age. But like Lizzo, she continued to be herself and made a successful career.

Public vs. Private

Moving on from Mead's "I" and "Me", I am going to talk about Humphrey's thoughts on public vs. private. In chapter two of Humphrey's book The Qualified Self: Social Media and The Account of Everyday Life, she explains how diaries were used to keep track of daily life and were public for anybody to read. As time progressed, they became private and were not to be read by anybody the author did not allow to read it. Now as the internet has evolved and social media has become popular, it has become public once again. Today, people share a lot of pictures and information online for everyone to see. Many of them feel open and safe about uploading blogs or vlogs to remember what happened each day.

You may know my example as internet sensation Miranda Sings, but I know her as the person behind her, Colleen Ballinger. I chose Colleen because she shares a lot of her life online. She has three separate YouTube channels: Miranda Sings, Colleen Ballinger, and her vlog channel, Colleen Vlogs. On her vlog channel, she posts videos every Monday through Friday. She captures basically every moment of her life and posts it to YouTube for her fans to see. In a previous vlog, she has stated that she enjoys posting these videos because she loves sharing her life with her fans. At the same time, she loves that she can always go back and remember her experience with certain things (she was referring to her first pregnancy while she was in her second pregnancy), remember how she felt about certain situations, and to watch past memories with her friends and family. Colleen has made a career from posting about her personal life online for everyone to see.

Mead's "I" and "Me" concepts and Humphrey's public vs private discussion have helped me understand the world of social media we are in. When I finally understood each concept, I was able to see how they applied to myself.

After reading my post, I hope you understand at least a little bit more than when you started and hopefully my examples helped too.

The power of Vlogging

What's up y'all! For proper introductions, My name is Vincent, also known as VC by my friends. I am a senior Management major and Communication minor at TLU which is why I am creating blogs of course. As far as introductions go this is as good as it will get. 

For those of us who have our friends or family talk to, we commonly get asked the question, "How was your day?" If you haven't, imagine me asking you, how was your day today?  There's two ways we can answer this question. The first is simply stating how our day went within a sentence. 

good! 

oh it was terrible! 

it was just a regular day. 

The other choice of course, is to actually talk about your day. In the 1700's to roughly 1950's era, Lee Humphrey's discusses in his book, The Qualified Self, Social Media and the Accounting of Everyday Life, that this was a time of publicly sharing diaries with family and friends regardless of the material. Humphrey's goes on to later state that the 1950's to pre 2000's was a period of using a diary for actually holding secrets like what everyone thinks a diary is used for, but from the 2000's to now everything and everyone has gone back to open book. How does the concept of a diary go back to being public? 

My opinion? technology. 

The creation of cell phones and internet allowed for the development of applications on phones and websites on the internet, which is basically what pushed this need for social interaction everyday whenever people are away from each other's presence. Because of this, people got creative. 

Social media was used for posting to let people keep up with each other and what is going on in their lives. Let's focus on the most famous youtuber Felix Kjellberg, otherwise known as PewDiePie 

This is one of the first ever posts by PewDiePie on his instagram. "Everything is [finally] ready! Moving to Italy today! :D". Before fame? there is no way this gets 100,000 likes. Even though this was the normal instagram post in June of 2012 when it was posted, it does not warrant thousands of likes as a regular person right? 

Fast forward 8 years and millions of followers with fame later, and you get this. Look at the difference in basically everything. Picture quality, content, captions. Why such a transition? Of course, having come 8 years from where you were previously adheres to obvious ideas that a person grows out of their old self and into a new "me". However, how much change comes when the growth period comes with having the most subscribers EVER on youtube and becoming one of the most famous people on planet earth? 

George Herbert Mead explains his concept of "I" vs "Me" when it comes to perceptions. After reading this, it can be summed up to say that the "Me' of Mead's description is centered around what is acceptable to people, or your followers on social media that requires well-thought publications to platforms that everyone can see. The "me" is an idea of playing a background in fitting into the overall majority. The "I" however is the opposite and deals with being more unique in comparison to norms of society and what is expected of a person. "I" is standing out as a person who doesn't fit in to what social media platforms are trending with 

The focus of this blog wasn't around PewDiePie and his success through vlogging on youtube, HOWEVER his success on youtube and being completely open to answering the question "how was your day?" through vlogging his life started to affect who he had to become in order to keep his fame. Being open with his life allowed for people to want more of him, which shifted his perspectives in comparison to Mead's "I" vs "Me". Felix was no longer an "I" kind of person, and become PewDiePie to suffice the public eye, or being "Me". 

Is Social Media Just a Worldwide Diary?

 

Hi. The name is Cassiddi, but most people just know me as Cass. I'm a sophomore at TLU studying for my Athletic Training degree. This is my first blog here (now is the time to click away and spare yourself) and I'd figure I'd just introduce myself. I'm still new to this whole blogging thing so bear with me. :)

Have you ever really noticed how much of your life you put on social media? I mean seriously. It is so easy to find out every little thing about someone from a few Instagram or TikTok posts (creepy thought, I know).

Now you may think, "Cass, everyone knows that they post a lot on social media. That's the point. For people to see it." Well, thanks captain obvious. What I really wanna know is if you ever think about how social media has become a living diary for millions of people across the globe?

(Never really thought about it, huh?)

Since we were kids, a diary was always been just this secret thing where we wrote in and locked away. We wrote about the crush we had on the class clown names Chris (I feel like we all knew a Chris), the embarrassing time we passed a note in class and got caught, the time James kissed Suzzy while dating Marissa (I actually don't know a James, Suzzy, or Melissa myself), or even about everything we did since we woke up this morning. But think about all the different types of posts you scroll past on social media every day:

Vlogs. 

Storytimes. 

Workout routines.

Instagram posts.

OOTDs (outfit of the day for those who don't know). 

GRWM (get ready with me).

All of those are things we used to keep locked in diaries that were hidden in sock drawers, for only our eyes to see. Then we took to social media and it became ideal for everyone to know what's going on in our lives.

Take Elyse Meyers for example. 24-year-old social media influencer, mother, and wife. I found her on TikTok a year or so ago and followed her immediately. Her TikTok is full of funny storytimes, random thoughts, embarrassing moments, and things she's learned about life so far.

Elyse Myers' TikTok Page

Her content, to me, is similar to the original diaries in history than that of a typical youtube vlog. See, early uses of diaries included women's accounts of their and their families lives, meant to be shared and enjoyed with others.

She uses her "online diary" to connect with people through personal anecdotes, lessons she's learned, and an accepting, fun, loving presence.

 Of her most recent videos, Meyers has posted a short epiphany of when she realized she isn't sure how exactly water works. She simply drinks throughout the day hoping she won't dehydrate or drown herself in the process. (I should definitely drink more water...) In another, she discusses her time becoming one of her high school mascots and how she had to go through a whole secret induction process and continue keeping this secret from everyone in school as part of the tradition. She even posted an uplifting video just 2 days ago about how one of the best things she has ever learned for herself is that it is ok to grow and change your opinions of yourself and of things you have thought in your past. It doesn't make you a hypocrite.

Other creators, like 20-year-old, coffee addict Emma Chamberlaine, create daily vlogs. Whether it's just a video of her cooking or a quick car drive and a day out, she has found a way to connect with her viewers and make them feel like they are just chilling with a friend.

(click here for her youtube)

Chamberlain's "online diary" consists of a more 90's - early 2000's diary vibe. Typically what we hid beneath our pillows was a chronological recollection of our day and the gossip of our daily lives. Chamberlain simply publicized it. From videos about her anxiety to errands she may run to a day out with the girls, she has set herself up for a full view into her life for anybody who wants to take her up on it. The only difference between her life and the ones we held in the fluffy, pink, heart-locket diaries, is ours was a "secret." (<--- I put "secret" in quotes because everyone knows you had the diary. Trust me.)

Early diaries were used for social purposes. For women to share about their lives and the lives of their family and community. Later diaries were used in secret, to gossip and have something to keep for ourselves (except for those of us with nosey little brothers). Social media has referred us back to the original ways of the world: a way to share any and every aspect of our lives in any way we please to anyone, anywhere in the world.

So what do you think? Is social media just a worldwide diary? 

A Modern-Day Diary: #ADayInTheLife

I can remember having a diary, in fourth or fifth grade, that I would randomly use, maybe once a week? I can’t recall what I wrote in it now, but I remember the feeling I had when I found out my brother had stolen it and read it. I hid my diary in an absurd place, like under my bathroom sink, so you would have to really be looking for something to find it. Yet he did! A mere coincidence (very unlikely)! The moment I found it missing I went looking for the culprit who invaded my most personal thoughts. When I found it in my brother’s possession, I only had revenge on my mind, I was ready to challenge my brother in a battle to the death. Luckily for my brother, I was not able to challenge him but instead was forced by my mother to accept an apology from him. In the aftermath of my rage, I remember thinking “What does he get out of reading into my personal life?”.

Looking back at it now, it was purely to be entertainment. My little brother was probably snooping through my things, then hit the jackpot…My diary! He probably couldn’t help himself and entertained himself for hours, indulging himself in my personal life and thoughts. Peering into diaries feels like something only an evil villain or naughty sibling would do. But people wanting to stick their nose in your business seems to be a common trait among all people. Don’t believe me, just look at the countless reality tv shows, celebrities, and influencers that we indulge in.

Modern Day Diaries

Many people are open to sharing details about their personal life with the public via a variety of different social media platforms. While they aren’t putting photocopies of their diaries to their feeds, they are tweeting, posting their stories or vlogs about their day. The modern diary entry can be a blog, picture with a caption, or a video that gives your followers an inside view of your personal life. Each post is automatically marked with the date, time, and even can include the location and rather than a signature at the bottom of your diary, it’s your username. The modern diary has become a popular habit on social media, where Twitter users will rant about the awful or awesome things about their day or your local influencer will post a photo with a caption that includes the details of their day. Instagram and Snapchat will save all the random things you post to your story, giving you easy access to a diary of photos/videos to look back on. Tik Tok has also become a newer way for people to share the personal details of their lives with a larger audience. 

 #ADayInTheLife

The #ADayInTheLife trend on TikTok now had over 933.4M views (as of 1/24/2022), this trend allows a person to peer into the life of another, without the need to go snooping for their hidden diary. The trend captures the inside perspective on the average person’s life, as well as your favorite influencer. I remember when I first saw this trend it was at the beginning of the pandemic. People began romanticizing their daily routine in an attempt to make the first lockdown seem like a break from reality rather than an ongoing pandemic. 

I love this specific trend becoming popular during the pandemic because it shares the personal intimate details of a person’s life. I know it made me feel less alone when I saw videos of college students posting #ADayInTheLife going to “Zoom University”. Students began sharing their routines and sharing their study habits. We began sharing our small moments of our day, much like how you might record all the small details of your day in a personal diary. This allowed students to bond over the frustration of being stuck in online classes, but they weren’t the only ones being affected by classes being online. 

Teachers began posting #ADayInTheLife videos too! Videos of kindergarten teachers trying to keep the attention of their students over Zoom made us laugh and rethink how to interact with students. Professors showed us their day, going from Zoom class to Zoom class only looking at names on a screen. Each gave viewers an inside look into the life of another, much like how reading a person’s diary might give you the inside perspective of a person’s day.  

This trend is not limited to just students and teachers, but first responders, groomers, nail techs, Dunkin Donut employees, stay-at-home parents, and even business owners began sharing the personal details of their day in an effort to connect with people. I think it is human curiosity that leads us to want to see how others live and gain inside perspective into their routines. 

Or maybe it is just that I am a nosey person who wants to see into the lives of complete strangers…either way. I think the trend allows a person to post their day in a modern diary to the public. The modern diary is no longer something that a little brother can steal and read but something that people willingly share. But now allows people to openly share private details of their life, with little desire to keep it hidden from the world. The #ADayInTheLife allows people to highlight the positive and negative aspects of their life whether it focuses on their morning routine or what a day in their career choice looks like, becoming like a modern-day diary. So what would your #ADayInTheLife post look like? 

Mead's Theory and Humphrey's Discussion on Public vs. Private (Devin Castillo)

 

“Social Media Manager” by Aqsa Waheed Social Media Manager | I am a Social Media Manager. I can he… | Flickr

Mead’s Theory of ‘I’ and ‘Me’

George Herbert Mead, an American sociologist, philosopher, and psychologist, has explored how society has impacted how people express and conduct themselves as individuals. Mead theorized that there are two distinct parts that make up the psychology of a person: the “I” and the “me”. According to the wiki page that covers Mead’s theory, the “me” refers to how one thinks others view them. Based on how others respond and interact with us, we can generally tell if a person views us as being smart, funny, gentle, etc. We then consider the views of others to develop the “I”, which is a person’s active response to the views and attitudes that society has associated with them. Mead has also considered the “I” to be associated with our “ego”.

In my class and individually, I have looked at a number of social media influencers and entertainers in order to analyze how they demonstrate their own “I” and “me”. Some individuals that we have looked at in class include Youtubers, bloggers, and Instagrammers. According to Mead’s theory, it is likely that the way in which all of these individuals conduct and present themselves have been influenced by society and the views that have been related to them.

A typical example of a social media presence that can be analyzed for their “I” and “me” are beauty influencers. On Instagram and Tik Tok, you can find that beauty influencers post aesthetic make-up content and skin care suggestions. Their posts are typically always well-lit with quality lighting, their tone is normally calm and/or excitable, and their final products are undoubtedly impressive. Although we may not know these influencers personally, we can assume that people have considered these influencers to be a number of things such as being skilled with make-up, beautiful, engaging, etc. When the influencers pick up on these attitudes, these become related to their “me”. So it could be that these individuals pursue becoming beauty influencers based on how others saw them. They post content that is positively engaging and displays their make-up and/or skin-care tips because these actions align with how others see them. Through interactions with others, they have developed a way of acting based on the view held by the community in which they have encountered. 

Although this is not always the case, for everyone, it can be that prominent icons in society deliberately pander their actions and identity solely to align with the views about them created by society. Again, this isn’t always the case. However, it is undeniable that some influencers and social media presences are particular about what they show so that they can maintain a specific image that they desire to convey in response to society. Going back to the beauty influencer example, they may not post content that goes outside of beauty (personal events, education milestones, interests outside of beauty, etc). They may not reveal a lot about their identity because those aspects of themselves do not contribute towards the way in which they desire to be perceived.

Example:

An Instagrammer that goes by the name Alok Vaid-Menon, is a non-binary writer, performer, and social media personality. Their page includes posts of them in bold and colorful outfits. Their page helps to promote LGBTQ+ rights, encouraging that clothes have no designated gender, body-hair acceptance, and being authentic to yourself. Their presence has always been positive and genuine and has even helped a number of their followers to feel comfortable with expressing themselves as well.

Although Vaid-Menon has used their page and content to spread positivity and acceptance, they have revealed a number of times about their journey towards being who they are today. They revealed that they struggled as a child with trying to understand who they were as a person while living in Texas. They often tried to carry themselves as the “little boy” (the “I”) that others often saw them as because they learned that was how society viewed them (the “me”). They revealed how they were bullied in high school and often faced judgment by others. But over time, they began to understand who they were and began openly expressing themselves.

In the comment section of many of their posts, you will find trollers and hateful people still leaving negative comments about their appearance or lifestyle. But instead of allowing those views of others to impact how they present and carry themselves, they choose to confront hate with constructive conversation and love, all while continuing to be their authentic self. They no longer allow the hateful views of others to impact their “I”. Truthfully speaking, these comments probably still hurt, but it appears that comments like these don’t affect Vaid-Menon as heavily compared to when they were just a child. 

In terms of Mead’s theory, it might be that their “I” is still affected by their “me”. Especially since recently they have received many people that support them, their work, and the values that they like to promote. They now have people that view them as who they genuinely are. Their “I” may now be impacted by the “me” that now demonstrates acceptance rather than the hate that they encountered in previous years.

Humphreys Public vs Private

In chapter 2 of Lee Humphreys’ book The Qualified Self: Social Media and The Account of Everyday Life, Humphreys explores just how comfortable we have become with sharing aspects of our lives online. Nowadays you can find people who post everything ranging from what they ate for breakfast to sharing that it’s their birthday. People have interpreted this trend of people sharing every detail about their lives as narcissistic. Afterall, it might be that a page dedicated all about you can be perceived as self absorbed. However, Humphreys would like to argue otherwise. She instead views social media as not a form of narcissism. Afterall, we have had other forms of sharing our lives in the past such as journaling and keeping a diary, and although those center on the lives of one person, they have never been branded as narcissistic. It seems that it is only when we take daily accounting to a digital platform that the topic of narcissism is brought up. 

It is also brought up by Humphreys that many people point out that social media requires you to consider your audience when posting and creating content. People have to consider the amount of intimacy they are engaging in with their audience, what content interests them, etc. So perhaps social media isn’t as self-obsessive as people view it as. 

For class, we considered Facebook memorials and YouTube break-up content to consider just how public presumably “private” life events are openly shared now. In the event of a loss, mourning is no longer limited to in-person. Facebook has now offered memorial pages that allow for people to pay their respects to deceased Facebook users. People find the ongoing ability to address loss to be emotionally exhausting. Of course, the process of mourning can take a longer or shorter amount of time depending on a person in real life, but those processes are usually our own private experiences. Facebook makes it to where you inevitably have to see the mourning processes of multiple people. So right as you feel like you're trying to heal in order to keep moving forward, you are repeatedly hit with a reminder of what and who was lost. Couples are also now taking to social media to share the development of their relationship rather than keeping that between them. Some of the articles we read revealed how viewers who have followed the progression of romantic relationships online, become attached or feel invested in the state of their relationship based on the genuine emotions that are shown. Which is probably why it is so devastating for audiences when they see these couples split.

Example:

The TikToker, Lauren Wolfe, creates 30 minutes long Tik Tok videos that often account for what she does throughout the entirety of her day. These short videos that show portions of her days in chronological order gained a lot of attention from Tik Tok users. One video titled “What I Spend In a Day in NYC” gained 11.6 thousand likes. Her video shows everything she does in a day including riding a bike home, eating breakfast, buying coffee, riding the subway, meeting up with her mother, and having dinner with family and friends. By the end of the video, she reveals just how much she spent during her day.

Some might find it strange that people would like to watch a video documenting a person's entire day and the amount of money they invest in it. Like Humphreys suggested, some might even find it narcissistic to document and post your entire day on the internet for all to see. But like Humphreys argument, she is just documenting her life virtually. It would be the same if she had written it in a journal or a diary.  

Plus, Wolfe has obviously taken into account her audience when making her content. She is always interacting with the camera and narrates her videos in a way in which it feels as if she is directly addressing her viewers. She shows every detail that she finds meaningful so that viewers can feel as if they are going through her day with her. She includes financial details about her day in order to pique the interests of viewers that might be curious about what it is like to live in NYC for a day. Her content is about her life, sure. But she has also taken into account how she can share her life in a way that is interesting and engaging for her viewers.

Many other TikTokers that post the same general content about their daily lives do the same thing as Wolfe does. They post their content but consider how to construct it in a way that is appealing for viewers.

Social Media and your I

Hey there everybody! My name is Jessica Bailey Hudgeons, I prefer to go by Bailey so I am sorry for any confusions, worse case I still respond to Jessica. I am a Junior at Texas Lutheran University studying communications. This is my first post to our class blog, so I figured you deserve a small little introduction. 

Today social media is the platform for popularity. You develop your pages and posts and put yourself out there into the world. As you are doing this you are creating your "me." 

?What does that mean? 

That is probably the question you are asking yourself. You know you do this, but what exactly is this thing that you do? 

To keep the suspense to a minimum here is an explanation. There is this American Social Philosopher named George Herbert Mead who developed this theory of the "I" and "Me". Basically, these are two different versions of yourself that you have. The "Me" is how society sees you, and the part of you that is considered socially acceptable, everything is well thought out and not impulsive. The "I" is the response to the "Me" which may be more impulsive and not as accepted by society. With this being said I am now going to dive back into my original comment that social media is a platform for your "me".  

 

To narrow down the entire universe of social media I am going to go in depth about Instagram. The nostalgia of this old logo reminds me of a time when I didn’t over think social media like I do now a days, it was all just whatabugs and very fierce. However, overtime Instagram has become a platform where you have to put your best self forward. Just like this newer logo. 

As you sit on your phone debating whether to post that picture or not you are comparing yourself to societies norms. Trembling with fear about what everyone will think and if it matches your aesthetic on your page.  As your knees become weak and your arms become heavy you are assembling your “me”. Thinking it over and over to see if this fits societies current norms and all the trending trends. Social Media doesn’t show half of your true self including your “I”. This is a blessing and a curse. If you have something to hide you can just as easy as catfishing someone. Personally, I don’t use social media often due to this standard of posting something that fits what everyone else wants and not really what I want. Personally, I wish that more of our “I” would be presented on social media. But impulse posting is a thing of the old logo.

 

Another key insight to this theory about the “I” and “me” is that through social media platforms such as Instagram you can profit if your “me” is socially acceptable. Let’s look at an example of this. I would like you to meet Addison Rae. 

 

 

This Instagram influencer makes about 156,000 dollars per advertisement that she posts to her 40.2 million followers. She averages about 1.6 million likes per post. Her representation of her “me” started her influential career on Tik Tok, acting for Netflix and she even appears on Keeping Up with The Kardashians. Over time she has gained many brand deals that lined up with her persona and she continues to profit today. She keeps her advertisements within her aesthetic and continues to profit over and over again. Despite some recent backlash from other social media users… but she still seems to make it work. By creating a strong front of her “me” she is able to post and profit off of other companies and businesses. 

 

There are many other examples on the Instagram platform that profit off of the way that they present their “me” and the companies that they strategically chose to partner with. I feel like putting Mead’s theory into this perspective is the best way to describe this theory in today’s world. Almost everyone is on social media, and this is one of the most relatable ways to describe it in my opinion. Social media and the way you present yourself to the world creates the image of how other people see you, the “I”. And your actual personality and the way you are represents the “me”. As you are trying to navigate the confusing world of discovering your “I” and “me” and all things Mead, hope this post can help you take things into perspective. 

 

Try and think to yourself what this article makes you think about me. What is my “I” coming off as? We all know that all posts are permanent and with this being my first blog post lets go on this journey together and see how my “I” further develops throughout the course of this semester. 

 

Bailey Hudgeons signing off. 

 

your life in posts

 lately, since Instagram and Snapchat have been the diaries of this time I feel like most people dont use a book to write anymore.  social media has taken over the world in many ways,  but I feel like what it has most affected is the way people document their lives. in Snapchat, we have memories were videos or pictures you have taken can be saved and seen anytime you want rather than you write down in a travel journal or diary that you used to keep with you. on Instagram we've developed something called highlights where we can post certain things in certain categories based on what we've done or what you have set that category up for. I feel in my opinion that this is kind of a bad thing, see where I look at it I feel people can really find out who you hang out with and who your company yourself with. i feel like most people don't think about stalkers and people that are weird that try and follow you and see where you go, I don't usually post just because of this. I feel like people today have gotten too comfortable with their posts on social media and don't really think of the many risks they are taking while doing this. I feel keeping a journal to keep all your day-to-day activities is smart and something people should get back into because posts you have made can always catch back up with you and can always get you in the end. another thing I've seen a lot lately is vlogging when people go on trips, I feel like when people do this they take away from the actual joy of just going on a trip because half the trip they are just recording themselves going on these trips and explaining everything they're doing. don't get me wrong I like watching them sometimes but at the same time it gets me thinking about how their trip actually goes and if it were me I would be annoyed if the whole time I was on a trip someone was recording and talking about there day because most of the time when people vlog they have this fake tone of voice like they become a person that they arent and start being fake then you see how they are in real life and its like boom completely different person. from the ideas I've seen in the Humphreys book we've been reading is a lot of negative things about social media and I honestly have become sided with disliking social media, especially tik tok, tik tok has something in it that can find your location and puts videos that much up with exactly how you are and sometimes me and my friends will test it out to see how it works. we once had played a tik tok next to my friend's phone and then a couple minutes later we saw the same tik tok on his phone. social media is cool and all but I feel like some aspects of it arent really deeply looked at and are pretty scary to think about.

My Relationship with Vlogs

    In the years of my adolescence, I often felt lonely. Despite going to school and having at least a few friends, I still felt alone with them, never truly able to express or find myself freely without judgment. During that time, I was immersed in various YouTube personalities and videos of people playing video games, making content that middle-school King found hilarious and amusing. Over time, I would subscribe to certain individuals and grow a liking to their style of video and humor. There was one gaming content creator I liked called "WhosChaos," who moved out of his parent’s house to live with his online friends to make collaborative content as well as continue his gaming videos. I found out that he belonged to an organization (org) called Team Kaliber (TK), an org that was involved with various eSports, as well as content creation. From there, I was exposed to a whole world of people and a community that I was yearning for. Gradually, I started to watch the friends of WhosChaos and even started watching the content of the house and organization owner, Kosdff (Kos). 

    

    Kosdff founded TK and brought people into the org as content creators for the team house that they all lived at. Furthermore, he started a daily series of "Vlogs" that would feature members of the team house and the antics they all engaged in while living together. At the time, I had dismissed vlogs as boring videos of people thinking that their life was interesting. From what I had watched of them, it was just average people with extra charisma showing me the mundane of their life: going to the grocery store, playing with their dog, etc. At first, I did not watch a lot of Kosdff and his daily vlogs. From my previous impression, they were not something I would enjoy so I continued to watch whatever gaming or humorous IRL content the TK creators would put out. However, one day, I was especially bored and noticed a video in my recommended that featured everyone in the team house going outside for a paintball battle. My interest was immediately piqued at the possibility of seeing my favorite content creators fight each other with paintball guns. I noticed that the video was uploaded from Kosdff's vlog channel, and despite the previous sentiment I held toward the video format, I pressed on. After that, I was hooked; the vlogs Kos made were entertaining and held my interest. Though they were just videos of gamer friends fooling around and having fun, doing crazy shenanigans either out and about or at home. Suddenly, that lonely feeling that would intrude on my life felt less intense.

    Whenever I got home, I would check on the vlog channel and see what my favorite creators were up to. It became a daily ritual, and eventually, I branched out to a few other vloggers I would watch on occasion. I found creators like Roman Atwood, a family man who would vlog his family's life and their antics, as well as Casey Neistat, a YouTuber who was perhaps the most well-known vlogger in the community at the time. Vlogs, which I previously had no liking for, had become a secondary type of video for me to enjoy (Talk about second chances). In my present life, I hardly watch vlogs, but at the time, they meant something to me and I was invested in them, however, the true question is: why? 

    Vlogs were prominent in my YouTube watching during a time when I felt alone and dissatisfied with life. Vlogs offered a view into a whole other world, a whole different lifestyle. I got to see these content creators grow and live out their lives, move to new places, meet new people, and make new friends. Vlogs showed me the best parts of life and the fun that can be brought to the mundane. In Kos' vlogs, there was always a sense that the people I was watching were real, as close friends. It did not take much to entertain me when it came to them; all I wanted was to see them laugh and have fun. A video as simple as "hide and seek" was immensely entertaining to me, even more so than vlogs where a lot of money was spent on a project or idea.  In retrospect, vloggers like Kos and Casey Neistat likely did not get a single day off of work because they needed to film and edit a vlog with an interesting concept that would get views all in a day. Vloggers can get so eager for views that they feel the need to do over-the-top antics to capitalize on the possibility of more clicks. The issue with this is the vlogs start to be less genuine and engaging. For instance, Roman Atwood would feature vlogs of him blowing up stuff or riding ATVs, and I found those to be less entertaining than watching a house of goofball gamers cracking jokes while playing hide and seek. For me, the reason I watched and enjoyed vlogs was to briefly escape my dull life by being immersed in someone else's, watching them have fun making costumes out of household items, or buying and riding in a kayak, or making their 37-year-old friend do skateboard tricks in an inflatable costume, or any of the other crazy ideas that were filmed. Vlogs were great to me because they could be anything. I could watch the most sincere moment between friends, or the wildest, most elaborate activity. Anything I thought I was missing out of life, I could find in vlogs. Wanna watch someone live in New York City and film their life of adventure, or maybe a genuine family man having fun with his kids? well it is out there. In vlogs, there is something for everyone. 

    Like everything on social media though, vlogs only show people the best parts of life, without addressing the issues that make it less interesting. It would be weird if vloggers filmed and uploaded themselves washing the dishes, doing laundry, or filing taxes. This does not mean that all vlogs are disingenuous (though there are a lot of them that are scripted), however, the 100% truth of life is never fully shared online. At the end of the day, vloggers are simply entertainers tasked with making everyday life seem fun. It is almost like reality TV, being able to look into people's lives and become invested in them as a person, all while knowing that you will never actually get to know them.

    

Social Media in Children

Effects of Social Media in Children

 Did you know that of the 328 million people who reside in the United States, over 247 million people use social media on a daily basis. That is over 80% of the population. In 2008, only 10% of the population used social media, making this increase of 70% in just 12 years, astonishing. Social media, as we know, is taking over the world, and in some ways, has taken over people’s lives, especially children. Social media. Good or bad? Think about it, all of us nowadays own smartphones and have some type of social media app that we use constantly, it’s a way of life for some. The trendy thing now what kids want to become is to be tiktok famous and youtube famous, and the crazy thing is, you can make a living off of being a social media star.  A  young 10 year old girl by the name of Tiana Wilson has a youtube channel called “Toys and Me,” where she has over 9 million subscribers and over 2 billion views on her channel at just 10 years old, and Forbes estimates her net worth at a whopping 10 million dollars. Young kids will do whatever, wherever, and whenever for camera fame, some for the good and some for the bad. Social media is not a bad thing in all ways, there are many good things that social media has brought for us. As children, social media can affect many things in a positive and negative effect for their growth and learning. So whether or not you think social media is a good thing or a bad thing, I am here to talk about 4 different ways social media has a large effect on children in the world with addiction, communication skills, bullying, and social status in the world we live in today. 

Four Main Reasons

1. Addiction
2. Communication skills
3. Bullying
4. Social Status

Addiction

The question I ask is, is children being addicted to their phone a good or a bad thing for their development and growth? What do you think? First off, you have to ask yourself if being on a phone 4 hours a day scrolling through things that really don't have an affect on one's life really a good thing for children? Imagine a world where we have no face to face communication. To me, face to face interaction is one of the most important things that children develop in their young years, children who don't get this interaction never learn how to talk socially to another human. This addiction stems from constantly wanting to be on social media apps and doing whatever is “trendy for the camera.” Rushman indicates, “Research from both the United States and the United Kingdom indicates that the major alcohol brands maintain a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, (Rushman 2015).” With that being said, kids have a major influence of seeing these things all over the internet, but is this really a huge problem? Let's look at the other side for a minute. Yes, social media increases the chance that your kids might see alcohol and drugs and maybe they are influenced by this, but let's be completely honest, alcohol is consumed by a lot of parents in front of their kids at a family get together or party, so is social media really increasing the chances of influencing kids to drink and smoke, no.

Communication Skills

How important are having good communication skills? Well, I'll give a personal example from my life. I grew up old school, we my siblings and friends were always outside, we weren't aloud to be inside until the sun went down and it was supper time. I didn't have my first iPhone until I was 17 years old because my dad made me work for my own money to pay for my first iPhone. That was 17 years of my life with no social media, and what those 17 years taught me was to how to communicate with people. Now, is this the case for every child who grows up with phone in their face, no, absolutely not. But the key to know is that the majority of kids are all different and grow up in different ways.

Bullying

Bullying, one of the worst things children can go through in their lifetime and young years. Not, this bullying comes from a screen called cyberbullying. Anyone can go on a screen and say something mean to another behind the screen, and for some, this bullying can make a child very sad. Gerald Kelly states, “Yet communication using social media might be more challenging as emotions can be difficult to detect and comprehend. Furthermore, the anonymity granted through social media facilitates harmful and socially unacceptable behaviors such as cyberbullying, (Kelly 2018).” Now, this is important because we can see that cyberbullying among children is a huge problem, but we can’t disregard the fact that bullying has been around with children for a very long time. With that being said, some will see social media increasing bullying and making it easier to bully kids, but the other side is that bullying is a problem among children in general and social media isn’t where bullying started. But the thing is, social media among children has increased a large form of cyberbullying through a screen. Of 2021, over 20% of adolescent boys and girls have been cyberbullies, while 35% more are transgenders. 

Social Status

Children today have such a worry about not looking like someone else. Think about it, when you look at yourself in the mirror in the morning and then you go on instagram and see a supermodel and famous male actor, your like wow, I wish I looked like that. Children have problems from social media because of the social status it creates for everyone. They all think they need to be this person instead of just loving themselves. This social status that social media creates among children is a large part of the problem within social media being a bad thing to be addicted to for young adolescents.