LJ 1: Thoughts on Social Media

Hello everyone, and welcome back. Today, I'll be talking about my thoughts on social media, and how I use it. 

If you remeber from my previous blog, I mentioned that I don't use many social media sites. The only things that I use are Reddit, YouTube, and Pinterest. I've had these three platforms for quite some time now, and do pretty much the same thing on each of them from when I started using it. The thing that I do differently from then and now, is that I make sure that I organize all the things that I've liked. I used to not do this, but then it became difficult for me to find the things that I was trying to find, so I started keeping videos and posts in folders and playlists if possible. So if I were to go back, I would make sure that I keep everything organized. Now that I've been using social media for a little longer, I am used to using it better now, and have a set of rules that I follow. I don't have many do's for social media since the only thing that I do is consume content. I watch videos, read, react (like or dislike, not comment), and share posts and comments. My don'ts for social media, are a bit longer though. I make sure to NEVER share private information. I don't post, and I make sure that I am anonymous. A couple of people I know have had some not so pleasent experiences when revealing information about themselves. There are also many people who have horror stories because of soemthing that they've posted online, and to be honest, it's really scary to think about. Which is why I don't really like the idea of posting for myself. Another don't for me is to not believe everything the internet talks about. If there is false information, it usually leads to one or more parties getting hurt, which is something that I don't want to be a part of. I try to also make sure that I am respecting other people's privacies. 

I think that social media is a great way for people to express themselves. Some people like expressing things in different ways, so being able to do it through social media is great. Artworks, selfies, stories, are all great ways for people to share their thoughts and feelings. For me, I love seeing accounts posting about things they love, and I like seeing people who love watching the account encourage them. However, people don't just express their positive thoughts and feelings on social media, they also show negative feelings which can grow to become something terrible. Many people criticize the smallest things which can make the environment become toxic. Crticism doesn't only come from the internet, but it also comes from people themselves. A lot of people compare themselves to fashion models, or the perfect couples, when they don't realize that many of these people that you see online are actually just posing. They present a fake image of themselves so that people can follow and like their accounts. This is extremely harmful for everybody, since it causes the person comparing themselves to be less confident, and makes the person with the online image be something that they are not.

Because of the toxicity that social media poses, many people quit it. I think that quitting can be healthy, you just need to make sure that you are taking care of yourself after. Quitting social media can benefit you greatly, especially if it is affecting your life so much. I think that everyone should be allowed to express themselves how they want. However, making it your entire life is not good.