Thirty Day Writing Challenge- Day 1
Well hello, good afternoon and a hearty welcome to the first day of my thirty day writing challenge. I saw a post on Facebook, one of those ones you usually take no notice of and skip past, but for some reason this one caught my attention. So I figured it might do me some good to write in a more structured way for a month. So here goes.
Day one- Five problem's with social media.
Well where on earth do I begin? First of all, I'm going to be brave and list every social media that I have an account with.
Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Grindr, Plenty of Fish, Snapchat, Tinder, Recon, Youtube, Instagram, Xtube, Blogger, Hangouts (never used), Whattsapp, and of course my email's.
That might seem like a lot, but actually it's not. Many of my friend's have social media sites that reach nearly fifty in number. I wanted to list them, so you're aware of what I use. Not to stalk/follow me, but because it shows I am a normal young person. For example. Content that I post on some websites such as Facebook, or Twitter, is stuff I don't mind being shared by the world. Thing's that I find interesting, or funny, or cool, that I want the world to know. There are some websites that I use for **Ahem** finding a partner, or for learning new thing's in the bedroom, like Recon, Grindr or Xtube. There are some social media's I use to make myself feel more confident as a person, like Instagram, because I feel it gives me a real confidence boost to use it. And of course, there are social media's that encompass all of those, and more, especially a site like Tumblr, which is my favourite social media of all. It's so useful for discovering new thing's, it's easy to use, I don't have to hide part's of myself on there, and it's one of the few social media's that I completely trust, and feel very safe using.
And that brings me onto my first point. Safety. It is so, so, so easy to arrange a simple hook up through social media. I don't think people who use social media much realise this. You can literally put a message out to the world, and within seconds you have replies, offers, and everything else in between. And that can be about anything. Simply anything. And that is what makes it so dangerous.
I have done it. I have met up with people I have met through social media, and looking back, bloody hell is it dangerous. One time really makes me ashamed, because I could have so easily been attacked, and the position I put myself in made me completely vulnerable. Would I do it again?
Sadly yes I would. The idea of meeting someone new who share's similar opinion's, thoughts and interest's is a big attraction, particularly when it's quite a niche interest.
Social media has no safety net. Yes you can block and report people, but there is no physical barrier to keep yourself and others safe. You can literally buy or sell anything imaginable on the Internet.It's something that in this day and age is a very brilliant thing, but is so dodgy it's unreal. But you have to really play your card's right while using social media (Here on SM)
That also brings me onto my second point. Because SM is such an immersive experience, you can link all of your account's together. Someone can post a video of themselves dancing on Youtube say, someone Tweet's it, it appear's on Facebook and Tumblr. Before you know it, it is across the world and the wider solar system, and there is no way to get rid of it. This means's that if you don't like someone, you can never completely hide them from yourself. They will have SM, and you will inadvertently see their presence, through mutual friends, reblog's, retweet's, comments, and the like. You simply cannot avoid them. A particularly good example of this is from this morning. On Grindr, only the nearest 100 men to you are displayed. But if you really like the look of someone, or you chat to them a lot, you can save them as a favourite and look at them later on. There was a profile I favourited, ages ago, because it was a hot picture. Simple as. I chatted with this person for a bit, them knowing exactly who I was, but I had no idea who it was. So I log in this morning to find they have updated their picture, and I realise it is someone I went to school with who was a bit of a knob. You can imagine my horror. Everything I had said to them is on the internet, never to fully disappear. I mean I didn't sent anything compromising, but even so, I felt a bit stupid. But this is the thing, you can never tell who you are speaking to on SM, and you cannot hide from anyone. Your mum could do a simple google search on you, and she could probably find a lot out. But the worst thing is people you really don't want to see again, maybe an ex, or a friend you no longer want to be associated with, will never completely disappear. The closest way to explain it, is when you eye catches something in the mirror, but when you look properly, nothing is there.
My third point, is a double point actually, so I guess this counts as the fourth point as well. Chinese whispers, and a lack of common sense. SM means you can broadcast any message you like, but you know damn well someone won't read it correctly, or it gets misquoted, and suddenly you are in a boiling pot trying to get out.
A nice example is when someone on Facebook for example puts "I'm so sick of a certain someone. If you have a problem say it to my face" as their status.
Immediately, people either assume it's them, or they tell someone else that so and so wants a fight. It's happened where I work on more than one occasion. People try to work out what it means and then discuss it with their friend's, until it becomes an untanglable mess of idea's and whispers, that after the original person has sorted out their original gripe, they then have to deal with everyone else. Common sense would tell you not to bother putting that sort of thing, because the Chinese whispers will make your life a lot harder than what you thought it would
(I'm impressed at how well the point's have flowed together, I was half expecting this to be a massive confusing mess!)
My final point is culture. But in two way's. The first, is that if you aren't on a SM, you are very limited as to what you can find out, and what you can show the world. If you don't have Facebook, you miss out on a lot of event's, chat's, even thing's like photo's of family. But in the other hand, SM is everywhere, you cannot escape it. We have such a culture now, you can be sat in a restaurant while people around you tweet, instagram and send picture's of their dinner to everyone. Nothing wrong with it if it's something special, or you tried really hard to make it, but we don't all want to see your bean's on a jacket spud thanks very much.
The other way, is cultural studies. That's the best way I can put it. By using SM, you can find out a whole load more about culture's you may have never even heard of. Like on Tumblr, I follow a blog that post's picture's of Kosovo, of it's beautiful countryside, its vibrant cities, and it's exciting culture. But there is a hell of a lot of culture stealing on SM. Imagine being on facebook, and there is a picture of a large blue lake, crystal clear, the reflection of the tree's on the surface, a crescent moon in the sky. The caption below reads "Lake Ontario, Canada" You stare at the picture for a while, wishing you were there, before liking it and moving on.
Later on you are on twitter, when you see a picture of a large blue lake, crystal clear, the reflection of tree's on the surface, a crescent moon in the sky. The caption below reads "Lake Torhaven, Norge"
You see the same picture on Tumblr, This time it's "Lake Vodinaskaya, Russia"
You go onto something else, it's "Lake Naiborui, Kenya"
"Lake Samata, Indonesia"
"Lake Wutaka, New Zealand"
"Lake 7439, Planet GU449"
Which picture is right? The first one, the one that looks the closest, which do you believe? It's a very difficult position to be in, because you never can be sure that what you are looking at is actually correct.
Wow that was a big post! I'm impressed with that (Even if it did take up my whole lunch break and some time when I got home)
Hopefully you found that interesting, and there will be another blog post tomorrow. See you then!
Day one- Five problem's with social media.
Well where on earth do I begin? First of all, I'm going to be brave and list every social media that I have an account with.
Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Grindr, Plenty of Fish, Snapchat, Tinder, Recon, Youtube, Instagram, Xtube, Blogger, Hangouts (never used), Whattsapp, and of course my email's.
That might seem like a lot, but actually it's not. Many of my friend's have social media sites that reach nearly fifty in number. I wanted to list them, so you're aware of what I use. Not to stalk/follow me, but because it shows I am a normal young person. For example. Content that I post on some websites such as Facebook, or Twitter, is stuff I don't mind being shared by the world. Thing's that I find interesting, or funny, or cool, that I want the world to know. There are some websites that I use for **Ahem** finding a partner, or for learning new thing's in the bedroom, like Recon, Grindr or Xtube. There are some social media's I use to make myself feel more confident as a person, like Instagram, because I feel it gives me a real confidence boost to use it. And of course, there are social media's that encompass all of those, and more, especially a site like Tumblr, which is my favourite social media of all. It's so useful for discovering new thing's, it's easy to use, I don't have to hide part's of myself on there, and it's one of the few social media's that I completely trust, and feel very safe using.
And that brings me onto my first point. Safety. It is so, so, so easy to arrange a simple hook up through social media. I don't think people who use social media much realise this. You can literally put a message out to the world, and within seconds you have replies, offers, and everything else in between. And that can be about anything. Simply anything. And that is what makes it so dangerous.
I have done it. I have met up with people I have met through social media, and looking back, bloody hell is it dangerous. One time really makes me ashamed, because I could have so easily been attacked, and the position I put myself in made me completely vulnerable. Would I do it again?
Sadly yes I would. The idea of meeting someone new who share's similar opinion's, thoughts and interest's is a big attraction, particularly when it's quite a niche interest.
Social media has no safety net. Yes you can block and report people, but there is no physical barrier to keep yourself and others safe. You can literally buy or sell anything imaginable on the Internet.It's something that in this day and age is a very brilliant thing, but is so dodgy it's unreal. But you have to really play your card's right while using social media (Here on SM)
That also brings me onto my second point. Because SM is such an immersive experience, you can link all of your account's together. Someone can post a video of themselves dancing on Youtube say, someone Tweet's it, it appear's on Facebook and Tumblr. Before you know it, it is across the world and the wider solar system, and there is no way to get rid of it. This means's that if you don't like someone, you can never completely hide them from yourself. They will have SM, and you will inadvertently see their presence, through mutual friends, reblog's, retweet's, comments, and the like. You simply cannot avoid them. A particularly good example of this is from this morning. On Grindr, only the nearest 100 men to you are displayed. But if you really like the look of someone, or you chat to them a lot, you can save them as a favourite and look at them later on. There was a profile I favourited, ages ago, because it was a hot picture. Simple as. I chatted with this person for a bit, them knowing exactly who I was, but I had no idea who it was. So I log in this morning to find they have updated their picture, and I realise it is someone I went to school with who was a bit of a knob. You can imagine my horror. Everything I had said to them is on the internet, never to fully disappear. I mean I didn't sent anything compromising, but even so, I felt a bit stupid. But this is the thing, you can never tell who you are speaking to on SM, and you cannot hide from anyone. Your mum could do a simple google search on you, and she could probably find a lot out. But the worst thing is people you really don't want to see again, maybe an ex, or a friend you no longer want to be associated with, will never completely disappear. The closest way to explain it, is when you eye catches something in the mirror, but when you look properly, nothing is there.
My third point, is a double point actually, so I guess this counts as the fourth point as well. Chinese whispers, and a lack of common sense. SM means you can broadcast any message you like, but you know damn well someone won't read it correctly, or it gets misquoted, and suddenly you are in a boiling pot trying to get out.
A nice example is when someone on Facebook for example puts "I'm so sick of a certain someone. If you have a problem say it to my face" as their status.
Immediately, people either assume it's them, or they tell someone else that so and so wants a fight. It's happened where I work on more than one occasion. People try to work out what it means and then discuss it with their friend's, until it becomes an untanglable mess of idea's and whispers, that after the original person has sorted out their original gripe, they then have to deal with everyone else. Common sense would tell you not to bother putting that sort of thing, because the Chinese whispers will make your life a lot harder than what you thought it would
(I'm impressed at how well the point's have flowed together, I was half expecting this to be a massive confusing mess!)
My final point is culture. But in two way's. The first, is that if you aren't on a SM, you are very limited as to what you can find out, and what you can show the world. If you don't have Facebook, you miss out on a lot of event's, chat's, even thing's like photo's of family. But in the other hand, SM is everywhere, you cannot escape it. We have such a culture now, you can be sat in a restaurant while people around you tweet, instagram and send picture's of their dinner to everyone. Nothing wrong with it if it's something special, or you tried really hard to make it, but we don't all want to see your bean's on a jacket spud thanks very much.
The other way, is cultural studies. That's the best way I can put it. By using SM, you can find out a whole load more about culture's you may have never even heard of. Like on Tumblr, I follow a blog that post's picture's of Kosovo, of it's beautiful countryside, its vibrant cities, and it's exciting culture. But there is a hell of a lot of culture stealing on SM. Imagine being on facebook, and there is a picture of a large blue lake, crystal clear, the reflection of the tree's on the surface, a crescent moon in the sky. The caption below reads "Lake Ontario, Canada" You stare at the picture for a while, wishing you were there, before liking it and moving on.
Later on you are on twitter, when you see a picture of a large blue lake, crystal clear, the reflection of tree's on the surface, a crescent moon in the sky. The caption below reads "Lake Torhaven, Norge"
You see the same picture on Tumblr, This time it's "Lake Vodinaskaya, Russia"
You go onto something else, it's "Lake Naiborui, Kenya"
"Lake Samata, Indonesia"
"Lake Wutaka, New Zealand"
"Lake 7439, Planet GU449"
Which picture is right? The first one, the one that looks the closest, which do you believe? It's a very difficult position to be in, because you never can be sure that what you are looking at is actually correct.
Wow that was a big post! I'm impressed with that (Even if it did take up my whole lunch break and some time when I got home)
Hopefully you found that interesting, and there will be another blog post tomorrow. See you then!
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