MY ONLINE PRESENCE
I believe that everyone has an online presence and influence in some way or another. As for myself, I would scale my online footprint as medium-sized. I say this because even though on Instagram I only have a little over one thousand followers, they are all people I interact with for the most part and have high engagement with. I also am part of organizations such as my sorority Alpha Gamma Delta, therefore my footprint can reach further than people that follow me and I could make an impact on many different communities online. I do not have a personal website, however, I would love to develop one for myself one day.
The social media sites that I use are Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat, and Pinterest. I post on Instagram the most, just pictures of myself and friends. Snapchat I use off and on, I tend to find it to be slightly toxic and the least intimate form of communication. I tend to take many breaks from Snapchat. As for Tik Tok and Pinterest, I mostly just browse through content. However, I do have personal accounts on both platforms to save things I want to look back at and also to send and communicate content between other users.
When someone looks at my account, they could easily find out information about me just from my bio. They would be able to see the school I attend and the graduation year, therefore guessing my age. They would be able to see my hometown and state. If they were following me and could see my pictures they would be able to point out my inner circle of friends, and go all the way back to where I went to High School. I have voluntarily given out all the information by posting it online. I also give my phone number and email usually just to set up the account in the first place because it is a requirement. I also voluntarily give my age and gender and sometimes have even allowed access to my location depending on the platform and if it's necessary.
The Atlantic article brought up social media linking to loneliness and depression. I absolutely believe in that statement. I love social media don’t get me wrong and I can’t wait to pursue a career in digital communications, however, I would naive to think that social media is the key to happiness. I believe that online interaction can make you feel extremely lonely because you are not actually practicing communication. It is extremely toxic not only for mental health but also for utilizing basic life skills in communicating. I think it is important to reflect on times where people didn’t have apps and social media platforms and to remember the simplicity and relaxation that came from it.
Of course, it might not be the most convenient thing, but I recently watched a Ted Talk where the man asked if you were sitting at a table in a restaurant waiting for your date to get there, would you be able to sit there alone and not be on your phone? My answer was an absolute no. This made me sad and I realized that we are often so caught up in our screens that we don’t even remember to observe the world around us, and we are missing so much. With that being said I would absolutely agree that social media can lead to those effects on mental health especially today.
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