My Journey With Social Media

My relationship with social media has grown immensely over the years as I have found myself spending many more hours on it day to day. Overall, I feel I have had a positive experience with social media as I have connected with various people, shared experiences, watched friends/families grow and has been a way of taking a break, as I typically utilize social media in my down time. Social media has been used in my personal and professional life and continues to become more and more utilize each day.

My top used apps for personal use would be Snapchat, Tiktok, Facebook and Instagram. These apps are used mainly for entertainment and used within my down time. These are used as a means of communicating with family and friends, posting and viewing pictures and watching clips. These apps have positively affected me as my relationships have grown through them as I have been connecting and sharing; however, in turn, it has negatively affected me as I have found I am relating myself to others and being envious of their lives and/or wishing my life was different in some aspects. I realize the dangers of this and therefore, sometimes I must take a step back from these applications.

Professionally, I use social media platforms for in the classroom and within my university classes. Social media in these settings have had mostly positive experiences as it has shaped my own and my students learning. Students are able to connect and share work through platforms like Google Classroom and Edsby, which has been super informative. The negatives I have encountered with social media in the classroom would be spending too much time with technology in the day, as sometimes my students also go home and spend all night on their technology. I worry about the affects of overusing technology. What are your thoughts on this? Do you have similar worries?

Overall, social media has many positives and negatives. It can be very informative when used right and can shape lives. It is important to understand technology safety and realize the positives and negatives associated with it. I think this vital in understanding when bringing it into the classroom. What are lessons and techniques you use to teach your students and/or children internet safety?

Have you had positive or negative experiences with social media? How does that shape you today?