Thank You Ellen

Posted on by Laura Kellerman

In 6th grade my mom had finally let me create a Facebook account. I was a little late to the game, at least in my hometown, but it is safe to say that day marked my entrance into a social media. As excited as I was, in hindsight, perhaps it was not the best idea to allow 6th grade me on Facebook for the sole reason that I had shared some unnecessary, and quite frankly, embarrassing posts (i.e. I would occasionally vent about how much I hated my stepmom).

From a relatively young age, I created a permanent digital footprint through my posts, comments, tweets and retweets across multiple social media platforms (Ramasubbu, 2015). As social media has become more present in my life and I have a greater presence on these platforms, I am incredibly more aware of how I advertise myself from a professional standpoint.

However, this awareness transcends beyond my public profiles. Through multiple platforms and the various accounts I manage, I am constantly absorbing information, whether it be news about my friends and peers or national and global issues and events. Thanks to platforms such as Twitter, there is no longer the need to linger in front of the TV to hear the news, instead we are notified almost immediately when significant events occur.

While staying connected plays a crucial role in my awareness and knowledge of news, my slight obsession with social media has more often than not distracted me from genuinely enjoying a moment. In retrospect, I missed a solid 95% of the Jonas Brother’s concert I went to in 2008 because I was trying to catch the perfect photo of Joe Jonas to share on Facebook.

Sometimes the best photos are the spontaneous group selfies taken at an awkward angle, as so graciously proven to the world by Ellen DeGeneres.

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