First off, doing this interview was one of the most introspective experiences I’ve had. This interview made me realize that even when we think that other people have different social media preferences, we all tend to use it the same. It’s a universal concept. We all use these media in different, yet similar ways.

I interviewed a friend of mine who definitely doesn’t use social media as frequently as I use it. Personally, I’m typically on some form of social media if I’m on my phone. I don’t always use it, but I do often use it. My friend tends to use it less frequently than I do, but he definitely uses it in a similar fashion.

Some of the differences between us include how often we use it, why we use it, and which media we use. My friend reported that he accessed social media hourly, but mainly when he would hit short periods of boredom. He reported only using Instagram and Twitter, with a stronger interest in Twitter. He mainly uses it to keep up with current events. Additionally, on Twitter, he tends to retweet tweets that involve his interests, but he rarely posts unless it’s something meaningful.

Some similarities that we shared were our specific purpose for using the media, how we accessed the sites, and our views on our social media usage. We both use Instagram to keep up with friends. We both mainly use our phones to access the sites. We also don’t believe in using the privacy settings on social media because “It’s social, it’s all out there anyways.” We also believe in the need to keep work and personal separate, particularly on social media.

All in all, we definitely have differing ways that we use social media, but we also have some similarities as well. I appreciate looking at other people’s usage because it makes me not seem out of place. Sometimes I feel like my social media usage is slightly overkill, but seeing that I measure up to everyone else makes me feel normal.

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.

I decided to interview my mom to see how social media use changes generationally. Keep in mind, my mom tries to stay up to date with the new social media platforms, and is often very bored at work. During the interview I compared my mom and I’s social media use and found that we are rather similar in this sense. My mom as well as I tend to check our social media throughout the day through our phones, because of the easy access it provides. The main difference between our hourly usage is that I tend to check my phone out of boredom or routine while she checks every once in a while to see what everyone is up to.

Another big difference between my mom and I, is that all of her social media platforms are on private. When it comes to my Instagram I keep it on public, because I feel I have nothing to hide. Also on Instagram I follow individuals I do not know, because they seem interesting, like models and actresses for example. My mom strictly follows her friends and coworkers accounts, making her following much slimmer.

When it comes to keeping her social media presentable, my mom has no concern about her employers seeing what she posts because she only posts things of her family or vacations. Nothing can be deemed inappropriate. With my generation there comes more concern, because we tend to not think about the repercussions of posting certain things to a platform that is so public and permanent. As time goes on, both my mom and I have progressively added new platforms of social media to our lives, but my mom tends to be a few steps behind me. This is because I will show her what is “cool and hip” and she will try to jump on the bandwagon, staying up to date with the social media world. My dad on the other hand is completely opposite, and the most outdated social media user you will ever meet.

After reading these reviews, I did the same thing I always do when people complain about the adverse effects of social media: I rolled my eyes and proceeded to scroll through Twitter.

Quite frankly, I am a strong believer that social media is only as bad as one makes it. If one allows it to be too prevalent in their life, then of course it’s going to be bad. That goes for everything in life. If one overuses chicken nuggets, then of course the world is going to say that chicken nuggets are horrible and should be regulated.

Now of course, there are those people who choose to overuse social media and said people must be addressed. However, not everyone is like this. Punishing everyone and making us all seem like social media addicts is absurd. Even so, some of these addicts see that there is a problem and proceed to try and fix it. My boyfriend only uses Snapchat and he rarely ever posts anything. Before we were dating, he had an Instagram and Twitter and his followers scaled into the thousands. He would post constantly and since he is a rather attractive male (I’m not just saying this because he’s my boyfriend, I swear), he would have fans commenting under his pictures almost ready to start a war over him. He realized that the situation was getting out of hand and decided to delete everything. He created a Snapchat, but never gave it to anyone except people that he knew personally. He could see that social media was inflating his ego and that that truly was not the way it was intended to be.

In a complex social society like college, it is easy to get wrapped up in being social, both url and irl (that is, both online and in reality). I personally have a problem with wanting to visit and stay in my friend’s dorm rooms rather than stay in my own room and study. Being social is a part of the human experience. However, it is incredibly important to remember that there is a fine line between simply being involved in the social scene and being too wrapped up in it.

I truly think it is unnecessary to put so much emphasis on how social media is negatively affecting our society. Sure, there are moments when social media should not be used (it’s probably not appropriate to Snapchat at an uncle’s funeral). However, it is a part of our society that we must embrace and learn that it’s not overriding who we are. It’s simply another characteristic of our complex society.

I’ve had a love hate relationship with social media over the years. My first introduction to social media was Facebook, like many people my age. I was somewhat late to joining Facebook because my dad wouldn’t let me, so I went behind his back and did it anyway. I was never super active on Facebook, but I would occasionally post a picture or leave a comment, which after going back and reading them I really regret. Facebook got me familiar with social media, so when I got Instagram I knew the deal. Instagram is my favorite social media “platform.” If you see me on my phone chances are I’m scrolling through Instagram.

Social media, for the most part, is helpful and useful, but it definitely causes false pretenses and “addiction” if you will. I don’t really have a problem with the first one. I don’t post often, so when I do it’s usually a picture that means something and not just a ploy for “likes” or “followers.” Of course I want people to like what I post, but I’m not the kind of person to let it dictate what I do. I do, however, suffer from social media addiction. It’s not so much that I’m posting a lot, it’s more of me just scrolling through my feed or looking on Instagram’s explore page or reading funny tweets on twitter.  I’m constantly getting in trouble for going over my data limit because I’m usually on my phone looking at social media.

I don’t think social media was created with the thoughts in mind. I think it was created to make the modern world more accessible and have a fun way to communicate with others, but overtime it has turned into something that needs to be managed. I think as long as you realize it is a virtual world and doesn’t define you or your time then it is something that can be enjoyed and used properly.

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.