I am not trying to make myself look good when I say this but, I am not self centered at all. I have never taken a selfie, I have never posted a picture on social media, I generally do not care what people think of me, and frankly I have never had an Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Myspace or anything of that nature. I am also fairly reserved and I do not care to show off my life to other people. Truthfully, I would say that I do not have more than ten to twelve really good friends (I have more than twelve friends), because I would much rather communicate in person so I don't have to decipher written messages.
The reason I am telling you this is because I think social media is the reason people will say things like, "kids these days", or "what is wrong with today's generation". Social media in its essence is good and even some things like the Ice Bucket Challenge, and keeping up with family and friends are great, but most of it is a pure waste of time. People, especially young teenagers, need to spend time talking to people not typing comments to them on Social Media all the time or else they wont develop proper social skills.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Hi Im Hannah and Im a Social Media-aholic
Okay, I'll admit I spend way too much time on social media. I don't think many people realize the amount of thought that goes into posting for some people. When I first got an Instagram account, back in middle school, I would post many times a day and most of my posts were about One Direction. As I got into High School, I would still post a lot but my posts had more meaning. Over the past year or two social media has become a much more detailed process. Instead of posting every day I began post once every couple weeks. Because I was posting less, the pictures that I posted had to be much better and the captions had to say exactly what I wanted to convey. Ill admit even in the past week I have spent over an hour looking for a quote or song lyric that fit my picture perfectly. This can be a stressful process for me and my friends. Another thing that a lot of thought goes into is an Instagram Bio. Some of you never put any thought into social media and are wondering why on earth would someone care that much. Let me explain it to you. Social media is the way that you are viewed to your friends and your peers. Have you ever wondered why no one posts ugly photos of themselves or why no one ever posts about the bad days they have? Its because of the way they want you to see them. You want to post the best pictures with the best captions to convey exactly how you want to be seen. Believe it or not, Social media has a big affect on the people you attract and the friends you make. I am considered a very social person because I am always trying to make new friends and hang out with a lot people, so social media is important in many ways to me. A lot of the friends that I hang out with and take pictures with get kind of upset with me sometimes because of social media and it actually stresses me out deciding what pictures to post. Since I only post one every couple of weeks I just try to choose my favorite pictures but a lot of the time the best pictures will be with the same people. I end up making my friends think "Why didn't she post the pic I took with her?" and then they question our friendship and wonder if my other friends are more important to me when its really all about social media.
I made a somewhat drastic change to my Instagram because I was afraid that people viewed me and my posts as annoying. So I went back and deleted all my old annoying One Direction posts and changed my Bio. A lot goes on when someone posts a photo. If its a cute photo then of course it is expected that ten of your friends comment on how cute you look. Its not really about the compliment, like the podcast said, its much more about the friendship. If you comment on someone's photo it means that you care enough to put in the effort to comment. I know that after reading this blog post it probably sounds like I obsessively focus on what to post on Instagram but most of this happens subconsciously for thousands of teenage girls. I have just put a lot of thought into why we do what we do so please don't think I'm a crazy Instagram addict. haha
Glorifying God
I used to not be into using social media. My friends would come over and get on Facebook on their phones and I would want to go do something instead. It wasn't until about 8th-9th grade that I started using social media, Instagram specifically. I cared so much about how many likes my picture got and how many followers I had. I definitely relied on it for boosts of confidence. It wasn't until about the end of 10th grade that I realized it doesn't matter. Just because someone doesn't like my picture, doesn't mean it wasn't a good picture or a good memory.
I think people nowadays use social media as a type of acceptance or approval from others. If they do not get a lot of likes on a picture or post, it makes them feel less relevant. Social Media should not be used for approval. It should be used to share the fun memories you made and to share about what is going on in your life. Searching for approval you may not even find through social media is a waste of time and that time should be allotted to God. We as Christians should definitely use social media more to glorify God through or lessen our use to spend time with God.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven
~Matthew 5:16
I think people nowadays use social media as a type of acceptance or approval from others. If they do not get a lot of likes on a picture or post, it makes them feel less relevant. Social Media should not be used for approval. It should be used to share the fun memories you made and to share about what is going on in your life. Searching for approval you may not even find through social media is a waste of time and that time should be allotted to God. We as Christians should definitely use social media more to glorify God through or lessen our use to spend time with God.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven
~Matthew 5:16
Untitled Post
I honestly don't know what to say in this blog post. I feel rather strongly about social media. Most of my views on it are my opinion and are not necessarily the best thing for everyone. I do not want to offend anyone (for once) or to cause any angst where there doesn't have to be any. I say that to say this. Take this blog post with a grain of salt - these are my personal opinions about social media. These opinions apply to me and I by no means think any differently of people who don't hold to my opinions.
Social media is a great thing. There are many plus sides to social media. I would even say that there is generally more good in social media than there is bad. However, social media (like anything else) can be misconstrued and abused. This is obvious, and I think most people will agree. Social media becomes a problem, like anything else, when it is put in a place above ones relationship with God. I have been guilty of this. This is one of the main reasons I have personally had to cut back on some of my social media use. In middle school, I was on Facebook practically every fifteen minuets. I became addicted (I become addicted easily). I had to drastically cut back on the amount of time I allowed myself to spend on social media. Another reason I had to cut back on some social media was the content. For example, I had to delete Vine because I was hard pressed to find any vines without explicit language. Apparently in order to make a six second video funny, it must have some profanity. Not all vines were like this, but it got to the point where there was so much language that I started thinking in profane language and eventually speaking it. Profane language is not necessarily bad in all respects, however, for my family it is something that we do not partake in. Vine was a bad influence on me and I had to stop being engulfed in it. Another social media platform I had to remove from my life was Snapchat. Many of you know my thoughts in regards to Snapchat, so I will not share them here in detail. In short, there were two main reasons for this. One major contributing factor was that it had a terrible user interface and I do not support platforms that are not visually appealing. The other reason was that not much good can come from sending and receiving pictures that you can only see for ten seconds (and I will end my discussion on Snapchat there).
Don't get me wrong, social media is great. It is a fantastic tool in furthering the Kingdom. Social media can and is used to glorify God. However, it is when it no longer glorifies God that something needs to change.
Attempting to Tread Lightly,
Devin Young
Social media is a great thing. There are many plus sides to social media. I would even say that there is generally more good in social media than there is bad. However, social media (like anything else) can be misconstrued and abused. This is obvious, and I think most people will agree. Social media becomes a problem, like anything else, when it is put in a place above ones relationship with God. I have been guilty of this. This is one of the main reasons I have personally had to cut back on some of my social media use. In middle school, I was on Facebook practically every fifteen minuets. I became addicted (I become addicted easily). I had to drastically cut back on the amount of time I allowed myself to spend on social media. Another reason I had to cut back on some social media was the content. For example, I had to delete Vine because I was hard pressed to find any vines without explicit language. Apparently in order to make a six second video funny, it must have some profanity. Not all vines were like this, but it got to the point where there was so much language that I started thinking in profane language and eventually speaking it. Profane language is not necessarily bad in all respects, however, for my family it is something that we do not partake in. Vine was a bad influence on me and I had to stop being engulfed in it. Another social media platform I had to remove from my life was Snapchat. Many of you know my thoughts in regards to Snapchat, so I will not share them here in detail. In short, there were two main reasons for this. One major contributing factor was that it had a terrible user interface and I do not support platforms that are not visually appealing. The other reason was that not much good can come from sending and receiving pictures that you can only see for ten seconds (and I will end my discussion on Snapchat there).
Don't get me wrong, social media is great. It is a fantastic tool in furthering the Kingdom. Social media can and is used to glorify God. However, it is when it no longer glorifies God that something needs to change.
Attempting to Tread Lightly,
Devin Young
I have never been a social media person. While most parents were complaining that their teenagers spent too much time on social media, my mom was complaining that I didn't spend enough. If you were to look at my track record on Instagram, you would see I've only posted two pictures in the last six months- both of them posted in the last week. Facebook is even less- probably about one post in the past year. I don't even have a twitter, and snapchat, kik, and the like are unheard of in my house. I have never fallen prey to the obsession with social media that those girls in the podcast have but I have had other issues with social media that might have just as many detrimental effects.
I get left out of things. A lot. And it's one thing to not be invited to something and never hear it happens. It's another thing not to be invited and find 80 odd pictures about the event on social media. I've had a lot of grief of this sort of thing for a while now and I feel like it is one of the bigger issues with social media that most people over look. Because for ever girl you invite to your birthday party, there's three more you didn't invite and all of them are on social media. All of them see the pictures you post and the fun that you had and those who weren't invited get the glaring reminder that they weren't thought of. It makes them feel lonely, isolated and invisible. Now obviously, you can't invite all of your Facebook friends to every get together- that's just absurd. But no one needs to know that you and your friends when to the mall, or hiking or whatever and that they weren't invited. So, before you post your next picture on Instagram or Facebook or the like, think about who it will help- and who it might hurt.
I get left out of things. A lot. And it's one thing to not be invited to something and never hear it happens. It's another thing not to be invited and find 80 odd pictures about the event on social media. I've had a lot of grief of this sort of thing for a while now and I feel like it is one of the bigger issues with social media that most people over look. Because for ever girl you invite to your birthday party, there's three more you didn't invite and all of them are on social media. All of them see the pictures you post and the fun that you had and those who weren't invited get the glaring reminder that they weren't thought of. It makes them feel lonely, isolated and invisible. Now obviously, you can't invite all of your Facebook friends to every get together- that's just absurd. But no one needs to know that you and your friends when to the mall, or hiking or whatever and that they weren't invited. So, before you post your next picture on Instagram or Facebook or the like, think about who it will help- and who it might hurt.
but first.... lemme take a selfie
If we look back at ancient civilizations and cultures, we see that even back then people were trying "out do" other people. They did things to try and climb the social the ladder, whether it put others down or not. They looked for acceptance from other people around them.
I think the same general concepts applied to the girls in the podcast: looking for acceptance through social media. The amount of likes they got during a period of time depicted the photo's "worth" (how good it was). Sometimes, the person can interpret the amount of likes to how much they are worth, which is the absolute opposite of what its supposed to be. I don't think social media was brought on to ensure people they are worth something. Social media has shown to be a great thing! It has allowed us to stay in touch with friends and family we don't talk to or see very often. It has been used to raise awareness for good causes and organizations.
Looking back when I was 13/14 and seeing where I am now, I think social media probably wasn't the best thing for me then. It didn't permanently hurt me or cause anything dramatic to happen. I just think that young girls at that age are really, really hungry for attention. They want to feel loved and accepted. I think that personally my fault in this social media deal was that I looked for that love and acceptance in other people, rather then looking for that in my Creator. Whether it was a number of likes or comments, I wanted people to like me. I think that social media can be good or bad; it just depends on the person. All in all, we should always look to our Savior who loves us unconditionally.
Jeremiah 31:3 ".....For I have loved you with an everlasting love..."
I think the same general concepts applied to the girls in the podcast: looking for acceptance through social media. The amount of likes they got during a period of time depicted the photo's "worth" (how good it was). Sometimes, the person can interpret the amount of likes to how much they are worth, which is the absolute opposite of what its supposed to be. I don't think social media was brought on to ensure people they are worth something. Social media has shown to be a great thing! It has allowed us to stay in touch with friends and family we don't talk to or see very often. It has been used to raise awareness for good causes and organizations.
Looking back when I was 13/14 and seeing where I am now, I think social media probably wasn't the best thing for me then. It didn't permanently hurt me or cause anything dramatic to happen. I just think that young girls at that age are really, really hungry for attention. They want to feel loved and accepted. I think that personally my fault in this social media deal was that I looked for that love and acceptance in other people, rather then looking for that in my Creator. Whether it was a number of likes or comments, I wanted people to like me. I think that social media can be good or bad; it just depends on the person. All in all, we should always look to our Savior who loves us unconditionally.
Jeremiah 31:3 ".....For I have loved you with an everlasting love..."
Status Update
Last week's topic was about social status or how we know where we stand. The introduction and first act highlighted teenage girls and the complicated world of Instagram: how fraught social media is and how much anxiety and affirmation it produces.
Listen the first part of the podcast online (or read the transcript if you can't). I'd like to hear what you think. You are all older than the girls on the show, but can you relate to their experiences? Now that you are in the last stages of high school, how do you know where you stand socially? What role do Twitter and Facebook play? My thirteen-year-old son just downloaded an app called Brighten, which is apparently a way to give compliments to your friends. Is social media a net good or ill? Alternately, do you feel your status is unaffected by social media? Feel free to comment on the segment from "This American Life" too.
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