Introduction
As cliché as it may sound I don’t know who I am.
I don’t find myself to be an extremist when it comes to media. I use social media every day of my life but not to the point where I can’t go a day without it. There are only three apps that I constantly use such as Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. On these sites, I follow my friends as a way to stay in touch and a couple celebrities such as Duane Johnson for motivation. I don’t usually critique on anything I see on my screen; the most I would say I would do is either liking a photo or retweeting a post that I find to be funny or relatable. As for myself I don’t produce much contact on my social media accounts. The only times I would post something is either a photo on my Instagram which is rare and on occasions I would tweet quote that I heard throughout my day that others might find relatable. When I feel either down or enrage I would vent my feeling in a tweet. I would say I am your average media consumer nothing major.
Based on media, I would say a lot of my taste in clothes and shoes is highly influenced by the pages I follow on Instagram and twitter. Pages like Highsnobiety, Complex, and Hypebeast. These pages allow me to stay informed with what is in style. As an average consumer a lot of my decisions in purchasing items is influenced by what I see on my feed. If the shoe or brand of clothing is not “hyped” I won’t buy it. This is a real problem because sometimes these things cost more than they are worth and it really takes a toll on my wallet. I know I am not the only one that is influenced by what we see on our screens. At the end of the day, we as a society ends up being one and lack originality and individuality.
When something happens in the world, ranging from celebrity gossip to real world catastrophes it would all appear on media. Now a day’s twitter and snapchat is how we stay up to date on what’s going on in the world. Personally I would say that I’m not always up to date with the news because on twitter my feed is full of junk like memes but there would be that one post that my friends would retweet that is actually important such as the government shut down. Besides twitter I also find important news on snapchat. When I am tired of looking at stories I would swipe right and there you’ll find a bunch of stories from companies such as CNN, Now This, CBS and The New York Times. Snapchat is really the new face of journalism. I can’t remember the last time I bought a newspaper or even turned on the television to watch the news. The bright side of social media today is that keeps us under one network and we see what is happening around world instantly without the censorship of news channels. We are the real reporters.
When it comes to activists, acts of resistance and protest media plays a big part in the movements. Media has a positive and negative contribution in the message these movements are trying to make. The positive side of media is that the message that is being brought up for example, Black Lives Matter is being sent throughout the globe. This allows more and more people to join the movement every minute. Without media it would take years for a movement to be heard across the nation. Ways that these movements are being known is more than just a news broadcast; twitter is the best way get a message across. A simple hashtag would allow people who share the same feeling towards an issue to use the same hashtag, resulting to the next person to do the same creating a domino effect. The down side of media is that it could also destroy a movement and create a following that is against it. Keep in mind that everything that we watch on television or online is all biased. The person reporting can either be supporting or against a protest. An example I can think of is a protest that resulted in destruction of property and a rare occasion violence that could potentially lead to a person death. Throughout the years’ media has covered these protest gone wrong, painting a negative image for a certain movement. People would consider protesters to be savage animals but that is not the case. Just because a select few raised havoc in one city doesn’t mean that everyone involved are any worse. I feel is that though there are pros and cons, the pros definitely out way the negatives. Without media many of the changes we need to see to improve our society wouldn’t happen. It takes awareness for everyone to work in a better tomorrow. We don’t have to physically be at a protest to be involved. Just a simple click of a button can make a huge difference.
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