I remember when I got my first social media account. It was Facebook, and I was fourteen. I would go online pretty frequently, especially at the beginning. I would chat with all my friends and comment and like pictures--when I look back on it, I find it interesting that I took so much of my time after school just perusing through the site. Even now, I find my time on Facebook to be mindless and not even fun, just more of a compulsion. The enticing ability to log on to a platform where I can learn and look at things about other people is interesting and unlike anything else, especially for people using social media for the first time.
At some point recently, though, there has been a shift in my Facebook feed content. Instead of it consisting solely of photos and statuses by my friends about their lives, it has become political. I attribute that mostly to the political and divided state we as a country are in right now. Suddenly, all I see on Facebook are news articles. In a lot of ways, it's been good for me. I get exposed to different news stories and become more aware just by being on Facebook and clicking through different articles shared by my friends. In other ways, I think it can be bad. The Facebook comment section is often a breeding ground for unproductive and unhealthy debates that end in name calling and upset people. Conversely, I've noticed the one-sidedness in my Facebook newsfeed. It seems like everyone I'm friends with shares the same articles, argues the same things, and votes for the same people. That can be rather dangerous, because it convinces me I live in a bubble. It can also provide a space in the Facebook comments to be an echo chamber, where, once again, nothing productive is accomplished.
Social media is an interesting form of news, and I struggle to even say that it is a "form of news." With our new President, Donald Trump, it seems like more and more Twitter is becoming a news source. Unfortunately, social media can be a place where lies get spread quickly, as people oftentimes don't corroborate what they read. I know I don't all too often.
At some point recently, though, there has been a shift in my Facebook feed content. Instead of it consisting solely of photos and statuses by my friends about their lives, it has become political. I attribute that mostly to the political and divided state we as a country are in right now. Suddenly, all I see on Facebook are news articles. In a lot of ways, it's been good for me. I get exposed to different news stories and become more aware just by being on Facebook and clicking through different articles shared by my friends. In other ways, I think it can be bad. The Facebook comment section is often a breeding ground for unproductive and unhealthy debates that end in name calling and upset people. Conversely, I've noticed the one-sidedness in my Facebook newsfeed. It seems like everyone I'm friends with shares the same articles, argues the same things, and votes for the same people. That can be rather dangerous, because it convinces me I live in a bubble. It can also provide a space in the Facebook comments to be an echo chamber, where, once again, nothing productive is accomplished.
Social media is an interesting form of news, and I struggle to even say that it is a "form of news." With our new President, Donald Trump, it seems like more and more Twitter is becoming a news source. Unfortunately, social media can be a place where lies get spread quickly, as people oftentimes don't corroborate what they read. I know I don't all too often.
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