As a Public Relations major, I learned so much in this class that I can use in my future career. Researching how media is incorporated into PR and what skills are needed in order to succeed in the field undoubtedly better prepared me for the “real world.”

In addition to learning about media in the workforce, I learned a great deal about how media affects my personal life. I realized how dependent I can be on media at times, from Netflix binge watching to simply using my phone as a GPS.

Discussing legacy media was also really interesting, because some of the media we talked about I had never even thought of as a thing of the past. I had just forgotten about them entirely. That discussion brought back the childhood days of computer game discs and iPod shuffles.

As a Public Relations major, I’ve become really interested in incorporating Social Media Management into my future career. During my junior year, I began managing the Instagram account for a humane society in my area, and I absolutely love it. Getting to interact with people interested in what I’m publishing while helping an organization continue to grow  and establishing a reputation for them is a great feeling.

I researched the basic qualities that a Social Media Manager must have, and thunderactive.com lists them as: Passionate, authentic, communicative, connected, personable, and being able to multitask. A pivotal thing to remember when managing social media for clients is to stay connected with all aspects of social media. You must be up-to-date with trends and the hot topics of the moment. When it comes to multitasking, a lot of Social Media Managers use account managing programs, like Hootsuite as well as collaboration tools, like Basecamp. But, personality and interaction with your audience are arguably the most important parts of Social Media Management.  People involved in digital management have huge personalities, and are required to convey a positive message to their viewers.

Postplanner.com outlines the steps that need to be taken to become a Social Media Manager.  First, you often must establish a social media presence of your own and gain a relatively large following. This includes scheduling posts, writing often, and interacting with followers. You must also have a firm knowledge of marketing skills, find clients through networking events and your online presence (website, business card, etc.), and learn to manage your time efficiently over several different social media platforms.

A lot of people try to enter into this field, and most will fail. It’s extremely difficult to make a name for yourself in the social media industry, and I need to start thinking about how to kickstart my future in Social Media Management. This could be by learning how to use each social media platform most efficiently and more actively keeping up with the top topics of interest.

After graphing the data I collected on my media usage last week, I confirmed the fact that I use media the most in my down time when I want to relax. When I’m with friends, I try not to use it as much, but when I’m alone, I can spend two + hours just mindlessly watching Netflix. The periods of time where I clearly spent the most time using some form of media were either times that I had class and needed to use my laptop, or I had a few hours to relax and chose to use media; whether it was watching Netflix or just scrolling through Instagram or Twitter. I don’t think that this is a bad thing in moderation, but I do want to try and use my free time to do other things besides scrolling through social media or watching TV.  Reading, drawing, journaling, may be a better use of my time.

Surprisingly, I also noticed that I use less social media on weekends than on weekdays. I think this might be because social media is such and easy way to fill in the little increments of time you have in between classes, whereas your day is wide open on the weekends. On the weekends, however, when I did use a form of media, it was for an extended amount of time. This also may have to do with the fact that my day was wide open, so it can go both ways.

This past weekend, my goal was to stay off my phone when with friends. At the football game on Saturday, I admittedly did take a few  photos and Snapchat some, but I didn’t let social media get in the way of spending time with my friends. My family also came up for the game, so I spent time with them instead of checking up on social media.

Friday, however, was my by far my most successful day, as I didn’t even pick up my phone once when I went to a dance with some friends. Not worrying about Snapchat or Instagram made it so much easier to just have fun and live in the moment. I saw a lot of people taking Snapchat videos and updating their feeds, but not caring about all of that really does take a very heavy load off of your shoulders.

After logging my social media usage for two days, I did have some realizations about my daily media habits. Overall, the biggest problem I have is not an addiction to social media as much as a tendency to use it as a tool to procrastinate … a lot. It doesn’t distract me when I’m with my friends, but I do tend to gravitate towards my phone when I’m bored.

Friday morning before class, I spent a pretty large chunk of time scrolling through social media: Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Buzzfeed, Youtube, etc. I do this almost every morning, procrastinating on getting up and actually starting the day and going to class. I finally went to class at 10 a.m., and I use my laptop to take notes in both of my Friday classes. Also, both of these professors use PowerPoints, videos, and photos in their lessons. It was interesting thinking back to the beginning of college when I was really hesitant to take notes on a laptop. I thought it would just make it harder to remember the material, but now I love typing notes.

Later that day, I ran errands with my roommate and had to use my phone as a GPS. Logging my social media activity made me realize how often I do this. I’m slowly learning my way around Athens but would be very lost without my phone telling me where to go.  I also noticed that whenever I’m doing a mundane task, like getting ready, I usually either play music or turn on Netflix. It’s kind of scary to think that I may need to have my mind occupied at all times.

Saturday was an extremely busy day, and I spent a lot of time scrolling through social media in the morning, since I didn’t have any classes. I went to breakfast then, again, listened to music and watched Netflix as I got ready for the day. Then, I went to the art museum with a few friends and had to take photos for an art project. We went to lunch, and were pretty much all scrolling and showing each other random posts on Twitter and Instagram.

A lot of conversations seem to be enhanced by social media. Like, if you were telling a someone about something your friend did, you may show them a video or a picture of the friend if they don’t know them. A group of friends and I went to the Athens Botanical Gardens and the Iron Horse, and just hung out in one of our dorms. Some of us hadn’t met before, and a lot of the conversation incorporated social media in that way.

I think that I do need to find other things to when I’m bored besides scrolling through social media. It’s almost as if I have an instinct to reach for my phone or laptop when there’s nothing to do. I always complain that I don’t have time to do other things, like drawing or reading, but I may have the time if I stop automatically picking up my phone.

The most interesting aspect of these articles was the recommendation to Google your name and see what comes up. First, I googled just my first and last name and nothing that was actually related to me showed up; just an actress named Logan White and some athletes that also had my name. So, I decided to Google my social media user name and was surprised to see a lot of random photos pop up. Only one was from my personal social media, and the rest were photos from some of my friends (most of which I wasn’t even tagged in). These pictures ranged from my little sister’s volleyball picture to photos from my high school newspaper staff. This really opened my eyes to how even your friend’s social media accounts can affect your presence online.

These articles also made me realize how important it is to have the same, or similar, user names for your social media accounts so you can be easily found online, either by your peers or by potential employers. I also need to create a Google+ and a LinkedIn account to increase networking and employer contacts. I need to make better use of social media as a way to make business connections.

Overall, I’ve always been pretty careful with what I post online. I don’t think there is a pressing need to delete anything, but this may be because I didn’t have any forms of social media when I was younger. So, thankfully I don’t have any old, embarrassing Facebook photos or statuses that I could have forgotten about. Because I got started with social media at a relatively older age, maybe around sophomore year of high school, I have been somewhat mindful of what I post.

These articles emphasized how important it is to regulate the image you portray online and how easy it is for others to find what you post. I will continue to be careful with social media and use it in a way that I won’t have to regret later on.

I decided to interview my little sister, who is a sophomore in high school. I’ve noticed that my social media habits have changed a lot from high school to college, and I wanted to see how lowerclassmen use social media.

The main similarity between my sister’s social media age and mine is that we both have a habit of scrolling through our phones somewhat hourly. We also tend to post the same things: whenever we do something fun with friends, it’s someone’s birthday, etc. And, we both use social media primarily to keep in touch with people. Both of us also have our accounts set on private, and have met most of our followers, they have mutual friends, or they go to the same school as we do.

However, she checks her phone and scrolls more much more frequently than me. I think that this may be because our high school is relatively lenient on their phone policies, and my classes have gotten much harder and more  demanding, leaving me less time for social media. But I post more frequently than her, as she said she posts about once every two weeks.

We also use some different forms of social media. My sister has never had a Facebook account, and probably never will, while Facebook was my very first social media account. Almost none of her friends have Facebook accounts, because their generation came along a little after Facebook’s time. She also said that she and some of her friends still use Vine sometimes, which I actually deleted off of my phone a while ago. Oovoo is another social media platform that she mentioned (and I had no idea what it was). Apparently, it’s a video chatting app.

Lastly, my little sister uses Snapchat much more frequently than me. She said that Snapchat was her most used form of social media, while I simply keep up my streaks. Snapchat actually stresses me out sometimes, but my sister loves it.

The issue that has always bothered me most about social media, as mentioned in the “Terms and Conditions” article, is the aspect of putting up a front on social media;  trying too hard to show other people how many friends you have and how much fun you’re having. I’ve never been a social media addict, but I’m guilty of this too at times. It feels like a trap my generation is inevitably stuck in (especially girls). I’ve heard people say so many things that reveal a lot of negative aspects of our society.  For example, “I already have a caption for tonight,” before even arriving to whatever event it may be. The pressure of putting up a front on social media is a serious problem that a lot of people don’t even recognize.

Then there’s the comparison game, when girls see other posts and wonder whether or not they’re as good as the other person, if they don’t have enough friends, if they don’t go to enough parties, or why they don’t get as many likes. In a way, this may have gotten even worse in college. People are trying to seem like they’re having the time of their lives, and are more concerned with photos and social media than actually having the time of their lives. I think this stems from the dependence our generation has on what other people think of us, myself included.

Personally, Instagram was my biggest problem, but I think I’m doing a lot better with managing social media time. In high school, I was concerned with  how my social life compared with other people’s sometimes. Now, college has me way busier, to the point where I often don’t have time to check social media. So far, college has been a great experience where I’ve been having fun in the moment wherever I am instead of focusing on social media.

Media Ecology is defined as the study of the types of media used in a certain environment. Surprisingly, I think that the media ecology of UGA, in my experience so far, is less diverse in the classroom than that of my high school. In high school we used interactive forms of learning through games like Kahoot, class Quizlet groups, and class discussion posts in which we had to answer a critical thinking question online and respond to our peer’s answers.

At UGA, I actually have a class where the Professor does not allow the use of our laptops in class. She prefers the “old-fashioned” method of taking notes with a pencil and paper over the use of technology. In my classes, we haven’t really used many forms of technology (aside from this FYOS class). All my professors have used are PowerPoints for lectures. Some of my friends do use WebAssign, a tool that we also used at my high school, but that’s pretty much it. My math class is my only course that requires the use of ELC, a platform that is very similar to itsLearning, the program used by all teachers at my high school to post important documents.

Although we use less technology in class, students at UGA still use the some of the same forms of media as in my high school. For some classes, we still use GroupMe to keep in touch with classmates and for group projects (setting meeting times and delegating responsibilities).  Social Media usage has also changed slightly. The first few weeks of college especially, I found myself not having time to check my phone as frequently. While in high school, it was easy to zone out in class and scroll through Instagram, college classes are much more rigorous. When not in class, there are also so many things to do that cell phones have become much less of a priority (Although, they are still a big one).

I actually do not believe that Email is in danger of becoming a legacy media anytime soon, mostly due to the education system’s dependence on communication via Email. Email, although an electronic form of communication, is much more formal than texting, group messaging, or talking through Twitter/Facebook. Email maintains a level of professionalism within the student/teacher relationship that other media cannot.

However, because students are so used to informal communication via social media, they have a tendency to use Email in the same way. This leads to Professor frustrations, as they expect Email to be used in a more respectful and professional manner. I know for me personally, and for some of my friends, drafting an Email to a professor can take a while. It’s important to address them in a respectful way,  while also being specific about the reason for Emailing. Especially in college, Professors expect to be addressed in the correct way and given adequate information, because they teach thousands of students.

I do think that Email will continue to be the best way for students and teachers to communicate.  A professor communicating to his or her students through text just seems inappropriate. As of right now, Email is the best form of media that maintains professionalism.

I always hear people a few years older than me talking about MySpace and how embarrassing their old profiles and photos were. But, I don’t know anyone my age who used MySpace, and I honestly have no idea how MySpace even worked/works. But, the website is apparently still up and running today. MySpace for me is a form of residual media, as it was trendy just a few years before my time.

However, I do remember growing up with computer games on discs that you would put into a desktop computer (The huge, brick-like computers). A lot of my friends also had the Nintendo DS, but now you never see either of these forms of media. Both of these have become obsolete media, replaced by Xbox, Wii, PlayStation, etc.