Who do I Think I Am?

I am a casual consumer when it comes to social media. I no longer devote hours of time scrolling mindlessly through Facebook staring at trash fires. Now I mindlessly scroll through Instagram for hours on end consuming photo upon photo of cosplayers. In addition to my Instagram scrolling habit I also utilize Reddit quite often to feed my scrolling addiction. The difference being I can actually learn something from Reddit whereas Instagram is purely for eye candy pleasure. Due to my media intake essentially being quite small for a millennial, I don't create any content. No blog, no Instagram photos of my own, no Reddit karma. I merely watch from a distance and keep my interactions purely anonymous.

I suppose when it comes to social media I tend to compare my lifestyle and abilities to those I witness on Reddit and Instagram. I often diet in attempt to look like the cosplayers I admire so dearly, and I try new things based on random threads I come upon while browsing Reddit. For example, I once stumbled upon a beautifully crocheted knight helmet on /r/pics and I was in awe. It was so cool I wanted to make one for my boyfriend since Christmas was fast approaching. I found a link to the tutorial the poster had used in the comments section and devoted a solid 8 hours of hard work and podcast listening to making that wicked knight helmet. It did not come out nearly as cool and I cursed myself for not being as skilled as those who post on that subreddit.

When it comes to everyday life I don't believe I have gone a single day for quite a while without someone showing me some meme of some sort on their phone. Shoot, my mother is constantly watching NBC in the living room which has become a Trump sucks circle-jerk. There is a not a single moment where the news coverage is anything different unless there is a terrorist attack or some serious weather related event. Mass media is saturating my everyday life on a constant basis. I'm drowning in it.

Since a lot of my news coverage comes from Reddit, I tend to see activism and acts of resistance and protest covered in a positive light where change is encouraged. Typically these are events happening in other countries though, as protests don't happen as frequently or in as large of a scale in the United States as they do in other countries, unless people get particularly riled up (Like Occupy Wall Street). For example a quick glance at /r/worldnews reveals 2 links to protests in Europe. The comment sections are alive with discussion and controversial opinions both supporting and denying the protest but nonetheless bringing awareness to the topic at hand and boosting the article potentially to /r/all which is the front page of Reddit. Other media sources such as news networks on the TV tend to take a neutral factual standpoint when it comes to protests and activism. Political graffiti is never showcased on TV but on Reddit tends to make front page. Personally, I think activism should be the main topic on every media outlet and every news outlet. That kind of coverage helps facilitate change which is necessary for society to grow.