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Reflections on Social Media

I think the future of social media is probably on a scale that none of us can even imagine right now.  I like to compare it to a thought I have often had about photo and video.  You can tell when a photo was taken a long time ago, you can even tell when it was taken fifteen years ago in some cases, though at the time, the quality was the best it ever had been.  I often wonder how much better things like photo and video are going to get over the next few decades to the end that we will be able to tell when photos were taken in the 2020s.  I think there is a similar thought to be had about social media.  Digital spaces have changed so vastly from the way they were fifteen, or even ten, years ago that I truly have no idea what is next.  In a general sense, I think when one social media platform introduces a feature that performs well, other platforms tend to develop their own mimicry of that feature, such as we saw with Snapchat stories, and then the progression of stories to Instagram and Facebook.  I think a fairly safe prediction is that more platforms will introduce ways to talk to friends live on video.  Obviously, platforms like FaceTime, Skype, Zoom, and GoogleMeets exist specifically for this purpose, but Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook also have video call options within the apps.  I think some sort of progression on that front is likely, especially with platforms that are not necessarily considered as social as the previously listed, like YouTube and Netflix.  Otherwise, I have no idea where social media will go in the future, for better or for worse. 

I think the things that stick out most from this semester were the effects of social media on teenagers, and the lessons on digital literacy and citizenship.  In an increasingly digital age, it is so important to be mindful of the ways we interact on the internet, the media we consume, and how it affects us.  Going forward, I want to really start taking note of how my social media activity is affecting my mental health, as well as making sure the interactions I’m having with others are the types of interactions I want to be having, and that the image of myself I’m presenting online is an image I am satisfied with.  I think that also includes taking advantage of social media as an educational tool, especially as i graduate college in the spring.  Overall, this class has taught me a lot of valuable things and given me a lot of information and perspectives to consider going forward.

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Digital Citizenship

Digital citizenship is the term used to encompass cultivating and performing respectful and responsible online behaviors.  This summary of Ribble, Bailey, and Ross (2004) defines it as “continuously developing” and details the themes that digital citizenship addresses and seeks to foster.  Whereas digital literacy seeks to promote and encourage knowledge and skill when navigating digital spaces, digital citizenship is more involved with the actions we take in those spaces and how we interact with other people and content.  Digital literacy is just one aspect of digital citizenship.

Digital citizenship is now being introduced to students through curriculum taught in schools, but many adults who now occupy digital spaces on a daily basis never received this education.  I think most materials created to teach children about digital citizenship are probably a little too obvious or “goody-two-shoes” sounding for adults who interact with media in very different ways than children.  However, a lot of those lessons and concepts are important, and it’s not a good idea to dismiss them outright. Resources like this blog post aim to educate teachers about the themes of digital citizenship, framed in a way that makes sense to adults while still emphasizing why each of these elements are important.

  Josie Ahlquist is correct when stating that we need more research into how to teach digital citizenship to college students and other adults.  I think in order for curriculum like this to be effective, educators need to demonstrate the stakes of being irresponsible or unkind online, but that is difficult to do when we have been inundated with that our whole lives and are still ignorant to the dangers and effects our actions can hold.  It is also important to be aware of the disparities in access that people have, both to internet-capable devices and locations and to education about how to use the internet responsibly and safely. 

Overall, I think an important rule of thumb is to treat people online the way you would in real life: be kind, and don’t divulge personal information to people you don’t know or in spaces where other people could see it, and speak up when you see something that you know is wrong.  

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Social Media & Participatory Culture

Henry Jenkins defines participatory culture in this video as “a world where everyone can participate...where we have the capacity often to produce media, share media...” 

A culture in which everyone is able to produce media and share the media that other people have made is obviously very present in the world of social media.  From selfies to videos to stories to art, virtually anything can be both produced and shared on the internet.  In order to provide some structure as to how these things are shared, different social media platforms provide a space to share different types of media, and often these platforms do not serve to share just one type of media.  While the function of youtube is to share videos and not much else, Instagram provides a platform to share photography, videos, and artwork.  People wanting to find a platform on which to share content can pick from a variety of services with varying degrees of specificity.  For example, someone who wants to share videos that they made could choose to use YouTube, Instagram, Tiktok, or a combination of all three.  Someone who wants to share stories they have written could use Archive of Our Own, a popular fanfiction website, or Tumblr, which has a variety of content that is not limited to writing.  Whichever form of media a person wants to share, there is at least one social media platform where they can do so.

My own level of participation on social media is a fairly common one, I believe.  I do not post very much of my own content aside from the occasional picture on Instagram.  However, I do spend a lot of time on social media consuming other people’s content.  I spend a lot of time watching videos on Youtube and scrolling through Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr.  

Determining what causes me to interact with the media I consume is pretty straightforward.  I tend to watch videos and follow accounts that center around things that I’m interested in, like a video essay on a movie that I like, or memes about a book series I’ve read.  Another way I engage with social media content is finding something I think is funny or topical and sharing it with my friends.  I also think I make a least somewhat of an effort to perform what Hinton and Hjorth describe in “Understanding Social Media” (2013) as “click activism.”  I try to follow and engage with people that I agree with and that I think are using their platforms to do good, and I actively avoid content made by users that I think promotes things I don’t agree with.

Overall, I think social media is the perfect vehicle for participatory culture to take place.  Most social media platforms are free to both share and upload content, and the algorithms and search functions employed by these sites can make finding specific content very easy.  I would say that participatory culture is bigger and more connected than it ever has been in the past.

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Reflection Post #1

The articles from the Pew Research Center and Common Sense Media reveal some very interesting data and patterns regarding social media use.  The Pew Research Center’s article is more focused on the demographics using social media platforms.  This article really emphasized to me the breadth of social media platforms and just how many options there are, especially as many Americans use at least three platforms.  The Pew Research Center found that social media use decreases in both frequency and breadth in older demographics, and I do not find that very surprising.  As expected, younger age groups use more social media platforms, and they tend to use them more frequently. 

Compared with the previous article, the research from Common Sense Media focuses more closely on teenagers using social media and the effects of social media use.  As with just about anything, there are various positive and negative effects to teenagers’ social media use, but I thought it was interesting that Common Sense Media also considered how the teenagers feel about those effects.  

For example, in the video most of the teenagers say that social media does not make them feel depressed because there is always someone to talk to and something new to look at.  Based on the key findings from Common Sense Media, a majority of teens report feeling less lonely, depressed, and anxious because of how they use social media.  It was very clear that the teenagers both in the video and in the data viewed their social media experiences as mostly positive and helpful to them.

However, it seems that a lot of teens were also willing to admit that social media can be a hindrance.  The data from Common Sense Media indicates that many teens feel that social media can be a distraction from their responsibilities and even from their friends and families.  The findings from Common Sense Media also indicated that social media can contribute to depression in teens, and they emphasize that teens with lower social-emotional wellbeing feel the negative effects of social media more acutely than their peers.  The data also reports that 13% of teenagers on social media have been victims of cyberbullying.  The teenagers in the video also admitted that their parents would likely be concerned if they knew the amount of hate speech their children were being exposed to over social media.  

I found the statistics from the Pew Research Center about giving up social media very interesting.  They reported the majority of social media users thought giving up social media would be difficult, and even less thought it would be “very difficult.”  It made sense that the older demographics tended to believe that, but I was surprised at the percentage of the younger demographics that agreed with that as well.  In my life, I have known a few people who have taken breaks from social media, or even given up social media altogether.  I have found that usually my friends taking breaks come back to social media sooner than they think they will, and my friends giving it up altogether have found it very difficult.  In short, I think a lot of people think giving up social media is easier than it actually is.