What Should My Status Be?

When I started to really think about social media, I realized that it has affected my life since sophomore year of high school. First, it was Myspace (ew, I honestly thought I was the coolest) then Facebook, then Twitter, then Instagram. Ironically enough, I never made these things myself. Each time I stated to my friends I didn’t have the “now in” social media profile, my friends freaked out and would make my profile for me. Quite a bit eerie when you think about it. The whole, social media outlet running the lives of young adults because their friends rule their lives thing and they worry too much about what other people think. I guess I fell into that, because I didn’t really want a Facebook or Myspace, but once it was made for me, I was hooked. Having a lot of friends was very important (obviously) and your Facebook status said everything. It had to be witty yet cute, informative to let people know how awesome you are, yet mysterious enough to pique people’s interest. I looked back on my statues from around 2006…let’s just say I was not impressed.  

Now, I am happy to say things are different since high school. I realized in college I had way too many “friends” on Facebook, and my roommate gave me a really helpful tip on how to get rid of them. On everyone’s Facebook, it tells you who has a birthday based on your list of friends. If I don’t know them well enough, or frankly don’t even care that it is their birthday, I delete them. Happy birthday, “buddy.” This not only helped narrow down my list of friends, but it also made me feel a lot better about my profile. I don’t want all the world to see what is basically the timeline of my life, especially not that random person I met that one time at Hawk n’ Dove. And frankly, I don’t need to see theirs. Now, I mostly use Facebook to keep in touch with my friends and family who are abroad or live across the country. Which I guess was the whole point of Facebook in the first place. Better late than never, I always say.

For example, here are some pictures of my trip to Australia (Tasmania and Sydney) which I posted on Facebook because the second I got back all of my good friends from high school who are now scattered would message me every so often yelling at me to post the pictures. So, in a nutshell, this is how social media impacts my life - by helping me keep in touch with those who I care about most, and for them to keep in touch with me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!