What is Social Media

     Over the last few posts, We've taken a hard look at social media. Specifically, how companies use it to profit from its user's data and how social media has a tendency to turn into radicalized echo chambers of thought. But lets break it down to its core. Media as a whole, is made to entertain and inform the viewer of whatever aspect its referring to at the time. In the past it was simply the radio or TV that acted as a conduit for this medium. The other aspect is the social aspect of Social media. People are able to watch content and then quickly and conveniently share their thoughts or comment on others views. There in lies the key difference between Social media and regular Media. 

    Social Media incorporates the social aspect into whatever we are watching. 30 years ago, the only form of social media, would have been either movie theaters where you could experience something with your family or friends and talk about it, or talking about a new show over dinner. Even then, the social circles were limited to physical distance. But with the internet, suddenly those social circles grew exponentially. Now you can talk about a show or reel with someone an ocean away, all within milliseconds. 

The social media sites that I use have different uses. The main ones are 

• YouTube: I use this mostly for reviews on products or journalism and world news updates, Also for any gaming and niche hobbies I like.

• Instagram: This is strictly for quick entertainment and sending reels to my friends and wife.

• Facebook: hardly used, literally only have it because my mom does not have an Instagram.

• Snap Chat: Used to send short videos of anything I find in the store, which is fast then sending the video through text.

    I think depending on the type of social media you use determines your experience about it. Allow me to be more specific. Because Instagram videos are very short 5 second long clips, the video has to grab your attention aesthetically, either with its music, characters, scenery or anything else really. Because of this, its easy to blow through hours of content, simply because were all searching for that next video that makes us laugh or think. Other platforms like YouTube are more continuous about its content. In that YouTube videos are typically longer, usually about 10 minutes long or so, and so this allows for videos that have a more structured storytelling than other platforms. 

    

    Personally I think social media makes it extremally easy to compare yourself to how others are doing. It makes you think that all these amazing things are happening all the time around you, but since nothing amazing is happening to you, then your life must be pretty boring. It's a bit like how news agencies will talk about a crime, and so because that's what they are talking about, you might think crime is going up in the city, even if it really isn't. You see, the news is talking about crime, because its newsworthy to tell, compared the thousands of mundane things happening, but we think crime is running rampant. Social Media is what you make of it, It's ok to enjoy it. So long as you know when to disconnect.