Blog Post #11

 The Consequences of Social Media

My opinions on social media:

I believe that my relationship with social media is extremely healthy. For starters, I do not use Snapchat, TikTok, or Facebook. I use Twitter to keep up with only game development-specific news and to keep up with a Game Development brand that I am running. I used to be incredibly addicted to twitter and I had a very sizable follower count but I realized that I cared too much about likes so I deactivated my account in September of last year. Instagram is something I rarely post on but I still will from time to time as well as occasionally scroll but not for too long. I believe that social media can be a life-improving or life-ruining device so I always keep it at arms length away. It is fun to stay in touch with friends but I have to focus on my own life and what I need to do. If I become too absorbed in what other people are doing I start to overthink and get anxious about my own life so I know that I need to focus on me. I do not villainize anyone for using it. I think social media is a really fun thing I just think leading such a public life has the potential to cause a problem later in life so I just choose to not even deal with that if other people want to make a lot of posts I have no problem with that. That is why the only online footprint you will find is my LinkedIn and my very pg Instagram. I am just too scared of the bad consequences.

(The facebook is not me)

Good Consequences: 

The ability to know what someone is doing with their lives from across the country is something that the people of the 1800s would not be able to believe. Back then they had to wait month long gaps for the postal system to hear what their friend is up to. Now I can just see that my friend from Chicago is celebrating his 21st birthday today at the drop of a dime. Getting to keep up with friends who are hundreds of miles away makes the pain of leaving them almost non-existent. Emotionally social media can be very uplifting some times. Jobs are created as well without ever having to step foot in an office.

Bad Consequences:

Posting something of you that paints you in a light that a potential employer would not like is unbelievable to think of. Something you may find funny has now completely ruined your chance of getting a job or even stopping a career as a whole. You also could end up losing a job you currently have, lose friends, and a lot of other life-ruining problems all from the push of a "Post" button. Being so public can also make you too dependent on the "likes" that you receive. As I mentioned earlier I found that I would just be trying to make posts to get likes. The dopamine you get is addicting and some people cannot break it.

What I use Social Media For:

Link to presentation: 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1gt4pINljpQTgxI8eOgLkkkgWOOaHuwQIWPEK-L8CM3s/edit?usp=sharing