“PLEASE! PLEASE, Mom, I promise I’ll put all the security settings on it and I won’t use it too often and I’ll be so careful and PLEASE everybody else has one!” I was 14 years old begging my mother to let me open a Facebook account in 2009, my first form of social media. Being the oldest sibling, my parents were very overprotective with everything I did. In hindsight, this was much appreciated. But as a middle school girl at the height of her awkward phase, this made me want to die. For weeks I pleaded with my parents, using every reason under the sun to convince them to give in. And, finally, they did.
Since then I have opened accounts on 15+ social media sites. To my parents, this makes no sense. But as new social mediums are introduced, it’s either fall in line or fall behind. I don’t use social media to fit in, but rather to stay relevant. In this digital age, we all exist twice: first in real life and secondly as an online presence. I use social media to keep up with friends, as my news source (seen below), and to network potential jobs (seen below), among hundreds of other niched reasons. But the overarching reason that spans all mediums is that I use social media to shape the way others see me.
Go inside the chaos and courage of the 9/11 attacks in this gripping minute-by-minute account of that day https://t.co/iAe6nRqBvx
— CNN (@CNN) September 11, 2016
Summer might be ending, but one of our hot jobs could be your new beginning. Check them out on the blog: https://t.co/OjBEpQIXNZ
— 360i (@360i) August 31, 2016
Citations:
Davies, Michael. “The New Facebook Layout…” Just Barley.
Wordpress.com 12 March 2009. Web. 12 September 2016.
This sounds like my experience as well. I remember when I was younger and social media seemed out of reach. Once my parents allowed me to get a Facebook, I started using it on a daily basis and I couldn’t keep away. I think that when I was younger, I joined the social media scene so that I could keep up with my friends and try to fit in. At this point in my life I only use social media to stay updated on what is going on around me.