Final Blog

    Living in a world full of social media has become harder now than ever, it is infiltrated into everything we do whether we notice it or not. For people my age we carry a cellphone around at all times and often feel like something is wrong when we do not have it with us at every minute of the day. Technology has allowed for so many great things but also has a large downside too. 

    On the upside of technology, it allows us to be connected with those we care about but that are distant from where we are in relation to location. This has been one of the best parts of technology. I think this is also a positive impact on my family and friends, it allows me to stay connected to their lives even when we are apart. I can receive Snapchats from them see their Instagram and Facebook posts which is great. But I do find myself and my friends spending so much time on social media, we sit in the same room and "hang out" but in reality, we are all just sitting on our phones looking at social media. This is a downside because we aren't actually spending time with each other, sure we are in the presents of each other but it is not quality time we have together. We love spending time together don't get me wrong but we also are so attached to our social lives. To continue with the negatives anytime we post to social media there is a digital footprint that follows us, these posts can often be found years later with a quick Google search. If you've never taken the time to Google search yourself I suggest you do, it might be surprised what you find. When I search myself almost all of my social media sites come up, including LinkedIn, and even this blog along with many photos of me ranging back to early 2010. 

    After reading the article, I'm 14, and I Quit Social Media my eyes were opened to a multitude of things. I have never thought about social media the way Sonia Bokhari did. Bokhari is a young girl that was not allowed to have social media until the age of 13 due to her parent's rules. As soon as she was able to create social media accounts she did, but she then realized that her mother and sister had been posting about her on their own social media accounts for years. This upset her and ultimately led her to stop using social media. She was taught in school about the dangers of social media and was beyond upset when she found out her mother and sister were posting photos and quotes of hers for years without her having any knowledge of this. She already had a digital footprint that she was not aware of. Looking through the lens of Bokhari opened my eyes because I've never thought about a young girl not having social media and when she finally does get it she technically already been on social media for years. I do believe this would be something that would upset me too. No one wants things done without their permission, so I feel for her. I also believe that her choice to abstain from social media is one that is very mature even when all of her friends use social media. For me personally, I would feel like out, like I was missing out on something but I also understand her reasoning. This article made me realize that despite what you might want in regards to your own presents on social media everyone else has their own desires that they are also working to fulfill which might include you in ways you never thought about, such as someone tweeting a quote of something you've said.  

    I believe my digital footprint is quite large, I've had many modern social media accounts and multiple of them and have used them since I was in middle school. I don't usually hesitate to give out my social media because I don't think about the harsh realities of it. This is a major downfall on my part but we've normalized it and because of this I don't think too much of it. In many ways, I see myself voluntarily giving out my email and sometimes phone number to a multitude of cites for discounts on their products, the biggest way a company can get our emails is by putting a pop up that states "Enter your email for 20% off your first purchase!" This usually gets me because who wouldn't want money off a purchase but I am doing this at the expense of my personal information, we don't realize that giving our email out can lead to so much more. I now receive so much spam mail it hard to grasp where all my email address has been. I also have most of my accounts public which means anyone can see them, I do this for transparency but too much transparency can be a bad thing. I do believe my relationship with social media could be improved, I tend to spend way too much time on my phone and social media to be specific, I have many followers that I don't know who they are. After participating and learning more about social media and the downsides I plan on working to be more cautious of what I put on the internet. 

   Overall we live in a society where social media is ingrained into us. It is extremely difficult to escape from social media because even if we do not have our own accounts the people we are around most likely most pictures, videos, etc. of us which is rather hard to escape from. We can not change this problem but we can monitor what we do to help ensure that our information is not spread. We have to keep a close eye on what we are putting on our social media and how much time we are spending on our social media. If we are not careful we will become engulfed in social media and let it take over our life.