For some reason the first article, “A Critique of Social Media”, was not able to pull up on my laptop. I’m not sure what the issue was, but the link would only bring me to a blank white page. I was able to read the second article, however.

This article really intrigued me because it had several valid points. I can relate to the entire article in a sense. He wrote about how individuals are constantly uploading new pictures to show to show that their life is just as interesting as the next persons. Over the summer while my friends were traveling the world and posting stunning pictures, I was stuck in Georgia working at Red Lobster six days a week. I felt like my life wasn’t nearly as glamorous as theirs were. Due to this, I can say that I posted pictures at times just to seem like I had something fun going on. I wanted to look like I was having just as great of a summer – even if that were the slightest from true.

I use each social media for something different. For example, I use Twitter to share quick highlights throughout my day to day life that might make people laugh. I use Instagram to post my favorite pictures from moments in my life that I find important. Facebook, however, I use to post all of my pictures into an album. I haven’t posted anything other than photos on Facebook for at least two years. I do believe that social media gives me what I want. It provides me with several different platforms to express myself and my beliefs. It also allows me to stay connected to the people that mean the most to me.

Since coming to UGA, my social media habits have for sure changed. In high school I had so much free time that I was constantly updating my feeds trying to stay up to date with all of the latest posts and tweets. It isn’t that easy anymore. With classes, two jobs, relationships, and organizations taking up nearly all of my time, it’s hard to find time to check social media. I typically check it only twice a day now – once when I wake up and another time before I go to bed. I find that this allows me to spend my day doing more important things. I’m no longer wasting hours on end scrolling through Twitter. I’ve found it much more efficient and productive, and I will probably continue to use it this way from here on out.

After reading the review of the book, “Terms of Service”, I came to realize that I’ve noticed a lot of the topics that the author, Jacob Silverman is presenting in my life. One of the most interesting things that stuck out to me was his mentioning of the scenario in which a person posts about being at a party. He states that at one point a person no longer cares about having fun at the party but making sure everyone else knew that they were having fun at the party almost making any enjoyment almost superficial. He made social media out to be a sort of facade that we use in order to create this sort of false reality for others to see and believe as true. The problem is that he’s probably right.

At the beginning of high school, when I first got a facebook, I used to post really cheesy and weird posts that were supposed to be funny but were totally unoriginal. After getting a snapchat I became that person that documented just about everything in my life on snapchat because it was such an easy way to show people my life but almost make it out to be as enjoyable as I could make it “seem”. It became a habit of mine, a bad one to be honest. After a while I realized how exposed my life was and how easy it was for anyone to see what my life was like, the positive parts. Since then, I’ve cut down on my snap story posts, and rarely use facebook unless I’m posting a couple of pictures from my freshman year or checking out what friends are up to.

I’ve found that a lot of people that I know post constantly about their lives and how they’re doing. There are constant snaps about food and where they filled their gas. A lot of what I was seeing mirrored how I used to use my social media which included constant updates to let people know that there was SOMETHING going on in my life. I think if people want to record their lives that publicly, it should be their choice to do so. However, I think many people don’t consider the consequences of putting out entire life on social media, which is a serious factor that needs to be considered and one that Silverman highlights.

I have been a frequent user of social media, but began using it much later than most people I know. I went to a very small school prior to high school, and felt as if social media wasn’t necessary since I saw everybody I knew every single day. High school was a time when I experimented with different social media platforms and discovered which ones I liked best, those being Twitter and Instagram. But since leaving for college, social media has allowed me to stay in contact with people from my high school, whether we were close friends or not. Social media has also allowed me to connect with those I meet at college in different ways. I’ve used social media, such as GroupMe and Snapchat, to communicate with those I’ve met.

I agree that some users do use social media “to pump up their egos and flatter themselves with a cascade of “micro-affirmations” — a.k.a. likes.” I have never been very concerned with the amount of followers I have or the number of likes I get on a certain picture, but I know some people who are. One of my friends even contemplated deleting an Instagram picture because it didn’t have “enough likes.” An addiction to social media to this extent, to the point where it defines your dignity, is unhealthy and is definitely an increasing problem with more and more people using social media. Social media acts as a way to stay in contact with others and to express oneself, but it is the user’s responsibility to not let it define them.

Social media has become a very prevalent part of my life and everyone’s lives around me. I remember I was always late joining the social medias that my friends were in middle school. I was probably the last one of my friends to get facebook, but that was only seventh grade. However, to this day, I have never posted a status or even downloaded a picture, letting the pictures on my feed be from picture my friends have uploaded and tagged me in. I also have an instagram, but my friends always make fun of me because I rarely post. It is always a big deal whenever I post a picture and is often a picture that I have edited a million different ways with a caption that I have meticulously thought of. I am a naturally shy and reserved person, so for me, I am a little hesitant putting myself all over social media. I like to scroll through my feeds and see what other people are doing, but don’t enjoy having everyone know exactly what I am doing. Part of this mindset is probably about privacy. I have a lot of “friends” on facebook and “followers” on instagram, but in real life I don’t actually know them that well and am not sure if I want them knowing everything about my life on social media. Social media is so second nature in society meaning everyone is on it. This makes it feel okay to gossip or judge people based on what they post online without even knowing the person. I think social media does keep us connected, but in a way, it also disconnects us because we judge others on the amount of likes they get or how many followers they have, instead of on who they are as a person.

It’s rare in this day and age to see someone who doesn’t use social media. I know kids who are under 10 that use social media which absolutely blows my mind. I’ve always been one to have all the social media sites. I’m a nosy person and like to know what is going in. I use social media to keep up with everyone I know, especially if I don’t see them all the time.

The first social media that I got was Facebook, I don’t really remember when that was though. After a while though, I stopped using it, I guess because it wasn’t cool at that point in time and then I started using it again a few years ago. I feel like I use Facebook more than I use any other type of social media. I occasionally get on snapchat just to see what people are doing and sometimes I post stuff but it’s mostly when I’m at an event or something. I used to get on Twitter all the time but now I don’t ever get on it. There’s so much to look at on Twitter, that’s too much for me. Instagram is something I do try to keep up with because people are always posting on there. I guess I post often on Instagram but I’m not excessive about it. I don’t ever post two pictures in one day that drives me crazy. I just mainly use social media to keep up with people that I don’t see every day.

I think some people still use social media as a form of communicating but some don’t. Some people use it to see how many “streaks,” “likes,” “retweets,” and “followers” they can get on their form of social media. I’ve seen people who have used it and to me it comes across as fake and I know it is fake because I know that person. People are portrayed differently on social media than they are in real life.

I still remember the first time I began using social media. I was in Athens in 6th grade visiting my cousins, when my cousin Claire introduced me to Facebook. Before that, I had no idea what Facebook was, and I was confused by the whole concept. She convinced me to make an account, and I vividly remember taking my first profile picture on Photo Booth in their den. I honestly didn’t know how popular Facebook was until I realized that so many people I knew were on it, so naturally I friended all of them. Ever since then, I have been on Facebook every single day. I definitely am not addicted to Facebook, but especially now that all of my best friends go to all different colleges, I really enjoy keeping up with their lives and seeing what they are up to. The second form of social media I started using was Instagram. Claire again was the one who introduced me to this new form of social media, and to this day, Instagram is one of my two favorite forms of social media. I love Instagram because unlike Facebook, you are encouraged to post only one picture from a certain event or day, not multiple ones with less meaning. By only posting one picture, you are able to get more likes and represent what you did in a more concise way. The other social media that I use is Snapchat. Snapchat is the other one of my two favorite forms of social media and therefore, I use it usually whenever I am on my phone. I use Snapchat so often because it allows you to have a glimpse into somebody’s day at the exact moment the Snapchat is sent. Snapchat makes you feel more connected with people and like you are included in that person’s life.

I was never that big into social media, mostly because I just see it as something really exhausting trying to maintain.  I check my Instagram feed pretty much daily, but I very rarely post because I never have think, “oh this is a great picture that everyone would want to see!” I also see how annoying everyone else is with their social media posts that I am so afraid of becoming remotely like that. I also see how negatively it can effect people when they really don’t have a filter.  Also, my dad works for Comcast and whenever they’re hiring new employees, the first thing they check is the potential employee’s social media, if there is anything remotely questionable (racist/sexist/drugs) they are automatically ruled as unhireable, and it’s likely that you won’t be told that it was because of something you posted four years ago, so all of this has left a bad taste in my mouth about social media. However, I still check my social media so that I can keep up with the latest drama and see what other people are posting.

In the article about “Terms and Conditions”, it made a good point about people posting for approval or satisfaction from others.  Even as bad as it sounded with people posting about funerals just to get more likes or more of a reaction from their followers, I still found it to be very true.  When someone that I followed posted a picture of himself crying after his great grandma died, I just kind of sat back and was so confused on why someone would ever feel the need to post a picture of themselves crying. But this is also similar to how people constantly post way too much about their relationships or breakups.  It’s just a way for people to get more likes on their posts, and they can feel better about themselves because they got a fake “oh my goodness I’m so sorry” or “y’all are couple goals!!!” comment on their posts.

In this generation, it is rare to meet an individual who does not interact with others through social media. Social media has grown to be a huge part of my life and impact how I behave. My first form of social media, like many others, was the creation of my Facebook account. I created my Facebook account when I was in sixth grade, not because I thought I needed one or really even wanted one, but because everyone in my school had one and I thought I should keep up on the trends. From this point on social media has impacted my life tremendously.

Looking back on my early posts of Facebook I cringe. Now I use Facebook as a more professional platform. I typically only upload photos as memories and avoid having statuses. Back in middle school, I thought it was normal to update my friends on the smallest things of my daily life. After middle school Facebook basically died. I did not log onto my account for approximately 4 years because newer and more exciting social media platforms arrived. There was a revival for Facebook for me around my senior year of high school because I had to present myself in a normal way, and not have someone look me up and only see my 7^th grade self. Now in college, I use Facebook regularly to keep updated on important things in my life like sorority news.

Other platforms of social media that have strongly impacted my life include Instagram and snapchat. The arrival of Instagram was a game changer. Facebook was great for the photos, but I had no desire to hear about individuals’ statuses. Instagram took away the importance of a status and made the entire platform revolve around the photos. Instagram to this day is very relevant to my life, because you can tailor your photo to how you want people to see you. It is honestly a very fake way of representing yourself.

Snapchat is the most informal form of my social media. In the beginning snapchat was used to communicate small things or simply funny situations to your friends. I still do this occasionally, but now the majority of the time I am sending mindless photos of my face to keep my “streak” with people going. Snapchat for me is almost a job because I have to remember to send the same photo to the same people every day.

A small quirk or difference about my social media use compared to others, is that I do not have a twitter account and never have. I find twitter to be pointless because it simply taking away everything I loved about Facebook and Instagram and leaving me with only status updates that I do not care about.

I agree with a lot of the claims of Jacob Silverman from Terms of Service. I think people subconsciously post things on social media for the small gratification and recognition they get from likes, shares, views, and comments. Instagram and Snapchat easily allow for you to show off to certain audiences where you’re at and what you’re doing. It’s almost like “we” need people to know we are having a good time without them, wanting them to wish they were here with us wherever we are. Social media even allows for some people to be so petty to the point where they will purposefully not like a post or view a snapchat. It gets that serious sometimes even though it should not be that deep at all. I am guilty of posting certain pictures just because I do want people to see what I have been up to, but I do manage to put my phone away to actually enjoy the event. I like to go through my pictures later and reminiscence on memories so documenting my nights isn’t a huge taboo to me, but if I forget it’s not the end of the world. It’s nice to see what other people are up to nowadays, especially since everyone is at different colleges, so I don’t mind people’s intention of posting certain pictures.

Since I came to UGA I have noticed people use Twitter less frequently, and they use Snapchat more. Every Snap Story you see from old high school friends is in a different setting with different people. Twitter cannot convey that through 140 characters, and like I said in my last blog post about media ecology, there is a different audience in college that you are “entertaining.” People checked Twitter back in high school because the tweets would be relatable since everyone you knew was in the same city; it acted like one big GroupMe. People in college don’t have time to check Twitter because they’re out making new friends, studying, or getting involved. Snapchat allows for people to give a look to old and new friends snippets of their life. It also serves as a self-gratification device because if we are going to be honest, the original poster will watch his or her Snapchat Story over and over again more than anyone else will. We put so much subconscious thought into our stories, wondering if people will think they’re fun or funny because we want people to know what we’re doing.

People still use social media for its original intent– interacting and communicating with others; however, there has been a shift in the way we use it. There is the pressure now of maintaining an internet reputation, an updated profile, and an exciting feed because it portrays your life in one screen to thousands of “followers.”