My relationship with social media is not unhealthy, but it is certainly not perfect. I spend my time on social media for three reasons. For personal use, to set up accounts for my ‘business’ and clubs, and to (honestly) waste time. I personally believe that all of these reasons are valid (even the last one), even if I might spend more time than I probably should.
My personal social media accounts on Instagram and Snapchat are mainly to chat online with friends. Though separate or group messages, I am able to communicate with long friends and even people I meet in passing. Sometimes, accounts are recommended to me of people I know, and talking can start from there. This would be impossible without social media. This also includes keeping each other updated whenever big events happen because I do not talk with everyone I know on a daily basis, and it is the easiest way to see what’s going on in their lives.
My online footprint is pretty safe, as when I looked up myself with multiple details and in multiple different ways, there was no result except the former vice president. Additionally, I have a general rule when posting on social media to not post things that could get into the hands of an employer: ie. do not post anything embarrassing or self-incriminating of anything embarrassing or otherwise stupid. This is why I would feel comfortable showing off my social media to anyone wishing to hire me, even if it does need to be updated.
Secondly, I have social media for my Spaghetti Camp podcast/twitch streams I do with my friend. Through this, I am able to make connections and spread my content to places and people impossible to reach without the help of social media. This also includes the ease of interactions with people that wish to interact with our page. Additionally, having Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, and Youtube all linked up together makes it easy for me to check on and work through the different pages. It also makes it easy for people following to find me on other platforms.
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Lastly, I use social media to scroll, scroll some more, and scroll (huge surprising reveal) even more. I look at funny images and watch random videos of knowledge I will never use, like the world's heaviest tungsten baseball and how to filet a full alligator gar. This is a serious time waster in which I could be using to better myself: learn a skill, perfect a craft, etc. This time is helpful, as I can relax and let off some steam. However, this can become hours of wasted time, as social media is built to keep us on it.
This is the crux of the whole topic: The problem with social media is not what it does, but what it does not. In Las Vegas, there are no clocks or windows inside any large casinos. The reason: so that the vendors cannot tell the time. This causes those in the casino to spend much more time than even they expected and therefore spend more money. Social media does the same. There is no notification on how long you spend. Upon these websites lie an infinite number of videos and other content.
On youtube for example, there are over 800 million videos available to watch, with thousands uploaded every hour. Many of these videos are either unwatchable or not of your interests, but there are still way too many videos to watch even in your lifetime as they get replaced over and over.
I use social media for everyday life, but I do not rely on it. I use the regular messaging app (which is safer for messaging) commonly for texting. I do not post often, and avoid posting anything that would (meaning or not) paint me in a negative light. Overall, I use social media in a positive way, but I must continue to be more wary of how much time I spend surfing the web.
