I interviewed a friend two years older than me who attends a small, private college in California. I chose her to interview because I knew our social media habits were drastically different because she goes to a much smaller school than UGA and the way we socially interact with others differs as well.

I have always noticed I used social media way more than she used to; I had Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook all before she ever had the chance to download the apps. She never had a smartphone until she finally upgraded a few years ago. Though she still does not have a Facebook, she has since gotten a Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram. In the interview she confesses that she has increased her social media use, checking all of them for at least one hour a day, upwards towards four hours if it is during a less stressful time in the school year. After I came to UGA, I started using social media less than I did in high school so our habits are relatively equal now in checking social media. In high school my friend was homeschooled and had very small classes. She did not really use social media because of that and since she also did not have easy access to apps without a smartphone.

Of all the social media, I use Snapchat and Instagram the most now and check Twitter and Facebook occasionally out of pure boredom when I have run out of things to check. Unlike me, my friend uses Instagram out of boredom but checks Twitter regularly. However; we both use Snapchat as often as each other because we have a 216 day streak and we snapchat constantly.

Another difference between us is how private we are. My social media is private to a certain extent, but I will share details in the bio description whereas my friend will hide as much information from strangers as possible, keeping her posts exclusive to her friends’ feeds. She also does not post anything particularly provocative or incriminating on her social media, and I would like to think I do not either.  However, for future reference I could probably be more cautious about what I post keeping in mind future employers.

It is interesting to see how individuals use social media differently due to their surroundings and media ecology. I learned how habits differ based on what people choose to see and why they interact with certain platforms of social media.