These days, social media is a large part of many people’s lives. I am no exception. I was born in 1993, almost exactly 10 years after the birth of the internet. It really wasn’t until the 90s that the world-wide-web became somewhat recognizable and comparable to the modern day Internet. So it is safe to say that I grew up with the internet. I remember dial-up. I remember waiting for one image to load for over 5 minutes. And I remember my first social media account on the site Neopets. That was the beginning on my addiction to Social Media.

 

Growing up in the age of social media

Constant prompting to share every little detail

I was exposed form a young age to the idea of selling myself and my day to day experiences to an audience. Neopets turned to MySpace, which turned to Nexopia, which turned to Facebook, and on and on it went. The more friends I had, the better. I would post a status about anything and everything for a LIKE 👍. To name a few apps and sites I currently have an account on: Facebook, Instagram, TicTok, YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat, Linkedin, Pinterest. A few of these are just used for viewing an sharing other people’s content, but it still seems like a lot.

Changing my mentality about social media

Deciding to teach as a career has definetly changed the way I look at my personal social medias. Certain social medias have specific purposes. Privacy has become more important to me. Though my accounts still public, in general, I find myself sharing less personal information online. My friend count on sites like Facebook have fallen from close to 1000 to less than 200. Personal and real connections have started to outweigh the fake immediate gratification that social media tended to give me. That’s some real character development for me, that’s for sure. Facebook and Instagram have become the two major social media platforms I use. Facebook for personal connections with family and friends, and Instagram for sharing my art, photography, and a little of the old social media gold, like food and cute dogs, and just some things for likes.

Teaching and Social Media

Then there’s the teaching aspect of things. What if a student finds my account? Is there anything that I might now want them to see? For sure. But how am I supposed to find it all? And should I be censoring myself? After our talk with Jesse Miller this week, I have been thinking a lot about transitioning to private accounts. Every week I am embarrassed by a Facebook Memory from 9-12 years ago. Things I’ve said and done that are either in bad taste, or just not reflecting who I am today and who I am trying to portray myself as online. Facebook was an easy one to make private because I am not promoting myself there. It’s just me, friends, family, and people currently in my life that I want to have access to me there. Instagram is a little difference because it is also where I like to share my own art. Perhaps it is time to make a separate account for that purpose? I am not sure yet, and I still have a little bit of time to figure it all out. I guess my followers will have to stay turned to see how it all turns out.

(This video take a look into the addictive nature of social media. It’s a good watch.)