I have to reply back to one of my classmates about social media. Here is my classmate post:
Social media has gained tremendous ground over the years. With the start of the internet, people became available to one another instantly. Whereas before with letters you would wait days for replies and the internet broke all notions of boundaries. Phone calls, emails, instant messaging, and social media became the new normal, and people became available to one another within seconds. We expect instant replies to those we are communicating with and daily updates about everything and anything going on in each other’s lives. To an extent, it could be considered a good thing to have that constant connection with someone thousands of miles away but then again expecting that a person should respond immediately even though they might have other issues happening is a boundary not enough people understand. Social media has truly changed the way the world works. Jobs now use your profiles as a way to see if you would be a good fit for a job instead of a basic interview. To find a date you wouldn’t even need to leave your house, just scroll through a dating app or browse Instagram or Facebook. When it comes to this aspect I believe social media is a hindrance. As human beings, we crave interaction and if we’re only interacting through social media and our cellphones it is not beneficial to our health. We need genuine face-to-face positive interactions to release the correct amount of serotonin and dopamine to affect our mental health positively. There are so many ways words and what we mean can get lost through a text message or social media post. Our vocal tone and inflection are needed to convey what we really mean and want to say to another person, not words on a screen that can be misconstrued.
On that note, yes I do use social media. I have a Facebook, an Instagram, a TikTok channel, and probably other platforms I am forgetting about. I do not use them every day but I do have them. When I was younger in a new country it was mainly to stay in touch with my family. Moving to Italy at 24 years old was terrifying and I needed a way to stay in contact with my parents mostly. International phone calls were not going to cut it so I re-activated my Facebook when I moved. I have had it ever since and added some more social media platforms to my usage. I like staying connected with my friends and family who I do not get to see all the time. The military keeps us moving and now that I have children and most of my friends do as well, it is a way I can keep up with the most important people in my life and vice versa.
Identity theft is a serious issue and my husband and I have talked about it multiple times. I had a Facebook for my crafting business a few years ago and someone created a fake page with my logo and was trying to convince people they were me to get their credit card info. That was not a pleasant situation and one I never would like to experience again. I also am not allowed to post certain things on social media so I do try and stay vigilant about OPSEC and the things I share. My husband has a Facebook but mainly just keeps it for all the videos he enjoys watching when he has downtime. I share enough of our lives for the both of us but also try to keep some of it to ourselves. Our family loves to see our kids growing considering we were in Alaska for the first part of their lives and we still are very far away to have regular visits. Our families have been able to watch our kids grow from thousands of miles away and I have been able to see my family and friends change much over the years and for that, I will always be grateful for the growth of social media and what it has done for the world in that aspect.
