My everyday use of social media

The first form of social media I used was AOL Instant Messenger, which I began using in about 5th or 6th grade. As Jessica said in her post, it was the way to keep in touch with my friends outside of school before I got a cell phone. I would sign on every day when I got home, leaving my buddy list up while I did my homework and answering IM’s when I felt like procrastinating. At the time, what really intrigued me about instant messaging was the freedom I felt to say things that I was too nervous/embarrassed/scared to say in person. I was extremely shy and socially awkward before I got to high school; using AIM was incredible to me because I could essentially say anything I wanted while sitting safely behind my computer screen. (Can’t tell you how many dumb middle school “crushes” I revealed through AIM...) Around the same time I made my first email address, which was helpful for keeping in touch with my family members that lived across the country. I still use email for this purpose, although now it’s primarily my way of getting updates about events/my classes at NYU, and contacting interviewees for the articles I write for work.

Like most of us who were adolescents when social media took off in the early 2000’s, I also went through a MySpace phase, which was quickly replaced by Facebook and more recently, Twitter. Since I started using them, I’ve found these types of sites extremely helpful in staying up-to-date with my friends’ lives without actually having to talk to them. When I do talk with them, following their status updates on my news feed helps steer the conversation: for example, if I see that a friend has gone from “single” to “in a relationship,” I could ask about that (or not ask about that if it was the other way around). When I got my first smartphone a couple of years ago, I immediately downloaded apps for my favorite social media sites so it would be even easier to stay connected. The first thing I do when I turn on my phone every day is check email, Facebook and Twitter. I’m almost ashamed to admit it, but social media is such an ingrained habit in my daily life that I think I would actually feel a little socially lost without it.
 
Donath’s article “Sociable Media” brings up an interesting discussion about how we as a society are managing our increasingly complex personal social worlds. There are so many more people that we keep in contact with now because of social media--are we, asks Donath, replacing strong, close personal ties with a larger number of weak ones? On Facebook users can access a documented history of the back-and-forth interaction between any two users with an option called “View Friendship.” Is that really what our personal relationships are being reduced to...a series of posts and photos? Maybe for some people this is the case, but I like to think that “friendship” on social media sites is a supplement to a real friendship. For me, it’s the easiest way to stay as close as I can to my friends that have gone off to different schools or moved away. I follow their updates on Facebook and Twitter so that on the few occasions I can actually see them face-to-face, I won’t feel like I’ve missed out on the important [or even the trivial] things that have happened in their lives. Perhaps I do love/use social media more than I should, but I think I’m okay with that if it keeps me in touch with people I care about.
 
Nicole F - @nmf255