My Relationship With Social Media

 

M Y   R E L A T I O N S H I P

W I T H   S O C I A L   M E D I A

T I M E L I N E

Social Media really gained user traction when I was finishing elementary school. My parents had been avid facebook users since the release of the iPhone. Many of my friends became entranced by social media by the mere age of ten. I was one of the last people in my grade to receive an iPhone, yet I still believe I was on the younger end of the spectrum.

First Phone:

I received my first phone at the end of 5th grade, going into middle school. This is because my family was moving to a safer more sociable neighborhood, so since I was going to be hitting the town with my bike, my parents wanted to be able to keep track of me. Prior to receiving a phone, I did not really want one. I was not jealous of my friends and I was perfectly content in my social media free world. Even though I received a phone, at this age, I had no interest in social media.

First Social Media Account:

I made my first instagram account when I was 12 years old. It was far from being carefully curated. It included screenshots of jokes I found funny and videos I made on the games I was playing at the time. This account was short lived, lasting a year.

First Serious Social Media Account:

I started seriously using instagram when I was fourteen. My debut post was a photo I took of the sunset. At this time, instagram was used to showcase photography as less to showcase yourself. If people were posting images they were in, it was not typically to show off how they looked, but more to share what they were up to. The rise of influencers led to the increase of image editing and unobtainable body standards. Because of this, my mental health was not effect by social media at the time.

Image Alteration:

In 2018, when I was fifteen, I started struggling more with my body image and how it related to social media. For my fifteenth birthday post I used an app to edit my appearance. I did not fit the curvy, yet thin, body type that was expected to have. I was also fifteen and prepubescent, yet I did not calculate these things into my personal view of myself. Of course I was not going to look like a 20 year old, I was 15.

While I still had issues with my body image, I stopped using alteration apps by 2019. My friends were also struggling with their bodies and I did not want my photos to set unrealistic expectations for them, further perpetuating their lack of self confidence.

Facebook:

I downloaded Facebook April of 2020 when I joined a modeling agency. They had a group page where gigs were posted, so it was a requirement. I was not an avid user of facebook then, and I am still not to this day.

Snapchat:

I downloaded snapchat summer of 2020 when I was headed into my freshman year of college. I had never used the app prior and did not have much interest in it either. When I was assigned a roommate the first thing she asked me was, "what is your snap?". I wanted to be able to keep up with what was happening, so I downloaded it. In the beginning of my time on snapchat, I really admired how the filters would provide a flawlessness that my skin hadn't had prior. It is normal to have pores and it is normal to have acne. I should have known that other people were using the filters, just as I was, creating a false reality.

I now only use snapchat to keep up to date with my close friends. I do not actively participate in "streaks". I try to stay away with what makes me self conscious.

D I G I T A L   F O O T P R I N T

Personal outlook on information sharing:

I have not really been bothered with sharing my information, but the more I learn about growing technology, the more reluctant I have become. That being said, if you were to google me, not much information would be found. The biggest part of my digital footprint can be attributed to posts from the island manager where I used to live. I was posted on their blog and I was not asked for permission.  I have shared my phone number without a second thought, I have posted life updates, I have shared that I was traveling while I have actively been away, and more. My goal is to move forward as a more informed media consumer and be stingier with my personal information.

Facebook:

Facebook is known for pulling user data and sometimes not even selling it, but rather giving it away. Even though I was never super interested in facebook, these actions turn me away from using it. I gave away my phone number, email, and high school to them. This was before knowing what Facebook does with my data. I currently only use it to find things on facebook market place and I used it to find my apartment.

Instagram:

Is my most used form of social media. Like mentioned in my personal outlook, I have shared detailed information on my location and actions. I will try to postpone this information, if I share it at all, until I am no longer in these locations to protect my privacy.

Search Engines:

Google chrome is known for selling user's search data. It is one of the least private search engines possible. While I have not used chrome as a go-to search engine in the past, the more information I have found out has kept me from using it unless I have to. Forbes wrote a great article on this, click here for more information.

C O N C L U S I O N

Social media has had both a positive and negative effect on my life. Because I have moved 13 times, it has been helpful to keep up with people who I otherwise wouldn't have been able to keep up with. It has effected my mental health and view on body image, but as I have become more aware of what things on social media that promote a negative thought process for me, I have been able to stray away from them. As far as privacy is concerned, I was not a careful media user. I readily provided my information to social media sites. While, I am still planning on using some of these platforms, I am going to go about my usage in a more careful manner.