Sonja's Speculations

It’s that time in the semester when I look back and discover what I learned from this experience and how I can use that knowledge to better myself in the future. Social media is a beast of a thing, and before this semester if I wasn’t sleeping or working, I was probably on Facebook.

Nine years ago, almost ten now, I made a Facebook account. I had been watching the Today Show and one of the anchors mentioned Facebook and asked the others who had an account and who did not. They talked about Facebook for a while, and it got me curious so I signed up for an account. I became addicted quickly. Facebook became my life, which in some aspects was good: I got in touch with friends from high school again, I could see what was going on with family members who live far away. But then I became one of those people who played the games on Facebook. And I sent requests to everyone on my friends list. Looking back I see how bad it was, but at the time I thought Facebook was the best thing to happen in my life. I’m an introvert, so being social is hard for me. I used Facebook to say that I was being ‘social’ because look at all the friends I had in my list. When in reality I was locked in my bedroom on my laptop looking at a screen while my family went about their lives without me. I’m fairly certain that my younger two kids wanted their own Facebook accounts so they could interact more with me. Thinking back on that makes me sad. Addiction runs in my family, and while this addiction was not drugs or alcohol, I let Facebook take over my life. I felt obligated to play these games everyday because I didn’t want to let my fellow players down by not sending the daily gifts or whatever gimmick each game used. I can’t blame Mark Zuckerberg, I let it happen. Eventually, I felt overwhelmed and began culling out the games I didn’t enjoy anymore.

More recently, I had been using Facebook to keep up with the world. I had gotten out of the habit of watching television, so if the event wasn’t posted about on Facebook, I didn’t know about it. I did not publish much on Facebook myself. I didn’t want to become one of those people who has to put up a status for everything I did. Mostly, I lurked on pages reading about other people’s lives. I created a Twitter account, but didn’t use it much. I didn’t fall down the Twitter rabbit-hole like I did with Facebook. I created a Tumblr account, also and lurked there. I don’t believe I’ve ever posted anything from my Tumblr account. Another bullet I dodged, I guess. I don’t take many pictures, so Instagram and Snapchat never caught my fancy. I also never got into YouTube. I know people who can spend hours watching videos on YouTube. Not my thing. I have an account on LinkedIn, also. My resume is there, and it is mostly up to date, but I could probably tweak it. Before this semester my media consumption was limited to Facebook. If it wasn’t there, I didn’t know about it. My media production was limited, also. I didn’t want to open the camera into my life, but I was fine with watching everyone else’s life on Facebook. I’m not a psychology major, so I don’t know what that says about me.

During this semester, I took a class called ‘Media Writing.’ Thankfully, it did not turn out to be a journalism class. This class has made me a more aware consumer of social media. I don’t just re-post an article or meme that I connect with now. I remember during this semester an article came up in my memories and I googled it before re-sharing it. I didn’t want to share false information. Before this semester, I knew that the saying “If it’s on the internet, it must be true” was wrong. I just ignored the things I thought were scams or lies. Now I google them and provide the corrected information, so my friends aren’t caught unaware. I am still a daily Facebook user, however, now I periodically scroll through Twitter. One of my friends posted an amazing link from Instagram in our Facebook group, and so now I have an Instagram account. I haven’t put up any pictures myself, but I have commented on some. One thing I do not like about Instagram is the amount of people who want to send me a message right from the beginning. MySpace was the hook-up app that I remember from the last decade. The first day after I signed up on Instagram, I had seven people want to message me. That is not why I signed up for Instagram, and so I denied their messages. I’m not looking to hook-up with anyone at the moment. I scroll through Instagram on a situational basis. If Facebook is dead, I’ll look at either Twitter or Instagram or both. I’m trying to branch out with my social media consumption after taking this class. I want to widen the lens I’m looking through so that I can become a more productive and proactive citizen.

I would have to say that my media production has taken a large jump during this semester. I’ve never blogged before, so this was a new experience for me. Before taking this class, I thought a blog was basically an online diary, and I didn’t want anyone privy to my inner thoughts and feelings that intimately. Now, I see blogging as a way of getting my thoughts and opinions out to those who are interested in them without costing myself any privacy. I also find myself interacting on Facebook and Twitter more now than before the semester. Who knows, maybe I’ll start taking pictures and posting them to Instagram. Using WordPress during this semester was a fun adventure. The learning curve is high for WordPress, but when you figure out how to do something it’s a good feeling. Also during this semester, I created a website for my upcoming novel using Wix. This was the first time I had tried to build a website from the ground up, and it was difficult at first. But I think the site came out well in the end. There are many more things I need to add to it, and some things I need to change, but I don’t plan to abandon the site after the semester. The link for the website is below.

https://www.vigilant-inheritance.com/

I believe that my media production will only accelerate after this semester because of the confidence I have gained from this class. I think the most important thing I learned about is the rhetorical situation diagram and how to apply it to the things I see everyday.

I had another professor try to draw the rhetorical situation using a square and it was very confusing, but this diagram is not confusing. And I have enjoyed analyzing the memes and articles I blogged about using it. During this semester, some things that I already knew were emphasized such as not falling for scams on the internet and not posting inappropriate things on social media because prospective employers will look at your social media when they are deciding whether you merit an interview or not. I also learned that I do not want to be a journalist. I have a new-found respect for those people and their ability to write articles giving people the facts of an event without causing any lawsuits.

Going forward, I believe that my media consumption and production will grow, after all I have a brand new website to maintain. And a novel to finish, edit, and publish. I have one more year of grad school, but I am not taking classes this summer. I will have time to spend on me and the things I love to do (read, write, and play games). In the fall, I’m taking a class where one of the assignments is to create my personal digital portfolio, so media production will be a part of my future there. I feel like this class has opened my eyes to things that I didn’t know were possible before. I have friends who have self-published books, and I am seriously considering doing that once I finish my story. However, also in the Fall I’m taking a Novel Writing Seminar where I will learn how to write a synopsis, blurb, and query letter. Traditional publishing is still possible in the digital age, it has become less ‘traditional’ now though, as most new authors don’t have the connections to become published by one of the big publishing houses. Perhaps the ‘big five’ will find the need to change their practices in the future. But for now, my plans are to write my stories, read the stories of other authors, and continue to use social media to make the world a better place.