In class on Friday, we discussed the definition of "social media" and which apps and websites constitute themselves as social media and which don't. Is email a form of social media? People seem to universally agree that Facebook is. Can something like Facebook and Instagram be placed in the same category as email when those mediums are typically used for vastly different forms of sociality?
A couple of us discussed this briefly in class as well, but in the Tobacco class with Professor Benson we have to quit something for four weeks. I chose to quit social media since I view it as my most problematic and impulsive habit. Committing to quitting social media, though, forced me to think about what websites and apps I deem as social media--the very question we talked about in class on Friday. For me, it was a little complicated--I wanted to give up the apps and websites that I felt I used problematically. But, I also didn't want to give up forms of social media that would be extremely inconvenient. It is for these reasons that I didn't give up things like texting and email, because I consider those to be almost necessary to stay in contact with people given who I interact with, where my family is, etc.
What I did find myself connecting social media to, however, is why I find myself falling into the blackhole of apps and websites and habits and so on. The social media I gave up--Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram--can have good and bad aspects; social media isn't inherently bad. I think social media can be good in cases where connection with friends may be otherwise severed due to time and location. But when social media becomes littered with people who you barely know and you check it obsessively and have impulses to reach your phone in the mornings and anytime you have to wait in line, it becomes something else. I chose to quit social media because social media turns in to a medium that allows me to become obsessed with consuming other people's lives. I find this problematic because this obsession produces a disconnect between my present/non-virtual life and how I view people. I often frame people in my mind not only through our in-person interactions but also heavily on how I view their presence on social media.
I'm interested to see how my impulses and habits change throughout this project. I often reach for my phone but am at a loss on what to do with it once I take it out. I've deleted all my social media apps, so there isn't much to mess around with if I haven't received a text. I never spent exuberant amount of time on social media, but I have found myself picking up some alternative habits in place of scrolling through my newsfeed. But in some cases, like in the morning when I wake up, it feels a little odd not to update myself on everyone else's lives for those hours I was asleep for.
A couple of us discussed this briefly in class as well, but in the Tobacco class with Professor Benson we have to quit something for four weeks. I chose to quit social media since I view it as my most problematic and impulsive habit. Committing to quitting social media, though, forced me to think about what websites and apps I deem as social media--the very question we talked about in class on Friday. For me, it was a little complicated--I wanted to give up the apps and websites that I felt I used problematically. But, I also didn't want to give up forms of social media that would be extremely inconvenient. It is for these reasons that I didn't give up things like texting and email, because I consider those to be almost necessary to stay in contact with people given who I interact with, where my family is, etc.
What I did find myself connecting social media to, however, is why I find myself falling into the blackhole of apps and websites and habits and so on. The social media I gave up--Snapchat, Facebook, and Instagram--can have good and bad aspects; social media isn't inherently bad. I think social media can be good in cases where connection with friends may be otherwise severed due to time and location. But when social media becomes littered with people who you barely know and you check it obsessively and have impulses to reach your phone in the mornings and anytime you have to wait in line, it becomes something else. I chose to quit social media because social media turns in to a medium that allows me to become obsessed with consuming other people's lives. I find this problematic because this obsession produces a disconnect between my present/non-virtual life and how I view people. I often frame people in my mind not only through our in-person interactions but also heavily on how I view their presence on social media.
I'm interested to see how my impulses and habits change throughout this project. I often reach for my phone but am at a loss on what to do with it once I take it out. I've deleted all my social media apps, so there isn't much to mess around with if I haven't received a text. I never spent exuberant amount of time on social media, but I have found myself picking up some alternative habits in place of scrolling through my newsfeed. But in some cases, like in the morning when I wake up, it feels a little odd not to update myself on everyone else's lives for those hours I was asleep for.
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