Despite my frequent usage of social media, my trends differ from the norm. I don’t stalk Drake, I never found fame, and I don’t bring myself to start connections virtually. I grew up in an international environment that where excluded politics and social issues from conversation, and where interest-based niche groups didn’t exist. Social media never served as a platform to search for like-minded social groups. But rather, has changed my friendships, because it allows me to have my network of friends that would otherwise be impossible.
Bridging social capital can’t be gained through algorithms set up to steer people away from uncomfortable truths. https://t.co/ygZx8F9cx2
— The Aspen Institute (@AspenInstitute) January 24, 2017
Having attended an international school my entire life, almost all my friends came and left every two years—only to move to another continent, and never be heard from again. That is without the advent of social media.
I’m a member of a community called Third Culture Kids: children raised in a culture other than their parents (or the culture of their passport’s country). I never had friends who I connected with on the basis of where we lived or what movie quotes we could recite. Our main connection was communication. Once they moved from Thailand to Norway, Facebook lent the opportunity to stay in contact.
I'm not one or the other. I'm somewhere in-between: a third-culture kid. https://t.co/FUNfDAufC6 pic.twitter.com/QpZS0w7VZC
— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) January 17, 2017
Yes, I’m not the college student that complains about how little friends they had in high school. I’m the opposite. But without Facebook, I may have just been the same: a kid who, besides their parents, doesn’t have someone who can justifiably call them out or reminisce with since Bop-It was in. Facebook allowed me to keep the people in my life who continuously influence me. And I’m only grateful for the opportunity.