Final Blog Post

Social media is a can of worms for me. once i start thinking too much about it i get extremely anxious and upset. there's a large part of me thats extremely grateful for the childhood i had, and that most of my formative years were spent outside playing with my neighbors until the sun went down. then there's a part of me that dreams of what things would've been like if i had been born ten years before 2001, and that all of my childhood was social media free. i often wish that had been the case, it makes me think my youth would've been easier in a sense.

i'm honestly not sure if my relationship with technology is healthy, my first instinct is to say it isn't, but since thats my first instinct, i think thats probably the right answer. i probably give it to much time and attention, and it takes up a lot of space in my mind when i'm not using it. i can even say i know its not making me smarter. i think quick access to knowledge and news could possibly be making me socially smarter, but overall, i think its making my ADD worse. 

i've noticed with my increased use of tiktok, and how they're short blurbs of videos, i find myself unable to focus on longer forms of media like tv shows and movies without also having something else to do. if for instance, if i'm watching a tv show or movie, ill also be scrolling through instagram or even on tiktok as well and my attention span seems to be taking a hard hit with short form media being so popularized. 

with social media being so mainstream, and me taking part in it, i find it's had some negative impacts on my mental health. i find myself looking at people my age on instagram or tiktok and often feel bad about myself and my appearance, or even the stage i'm in in life. i wonder, "why don't i look like that" or "why haven't i achieved that yet." i know this doesn't affect only me, but its very off putting to be so easily able to compare yourself so harshly to others. that for sure is another reason i wish i was lucky enough to be born sooner. 

when talking about friends and family and their technology and social media use, i notice other addictive behaviors in my friends more than family. my mother went back to school a few years ago to get a second masters in social media and marketing to make herself more informed in technology as she's never been a social media person. with this she's made social media accounts (not that she uses them) to keep "with the times" per say. my sister isn't a huge social media user as well. so family wise, i'm definitely the social media addict. my friends are about the same as myself, frequent if not almost constant use of technology and social media. 

like i said in the beginning of my post, this is a big worry for me and for the world. i often think about the day i hopefully bring children into the world. how will i go about letting them have technology and social media? when will i allow it if i allow it at all? all of it makes me so incredibly nervous and anxious i typically shove it to the back of my mind, but with recent AI and other technological improvements happening in the world, it clearly isn't something i can ignore forever. my only hope is that we as humans learn to tighten the reigns on technology and can reel things in before i have to make decisions like that for my hypothetical children. i just hope we haven't gone too far off the deep end yet.