Social Media Role

It's impossible to imagine that social media was just a fleeting fad only a decade ago. The general public was ignorant of social media and the effect it would have on their lives. Staying related on social media is both entertaining and overwhelming. When I was in ninth grade, I became a Facebook user for the first time. This was the stage at which the web became open to all students. I did this for many reasons: I wanted to keep up with emerging technologies and experiments, I wanted to connect with my friends and classmates via Facebook, and I wanted instant access to knowledge. But above all, I would stay logged on Facebook all my free time as I found it to be the best type of social media. Looking back, I have no doubt that Facebook is the form of social media that has shaped my identity the most.

There is a rapid change in technology (Sherman, 23). Currently, as opposed to years ago, the Internet takes a significant role in our daily life. Just by clicking a mouse, individuals worldwide can exchange information with each other and get an instant response. Facebook has allowed me to make my horizons broader, explore diverse cultures and learn new information. Facebook to me has been an important platform for interacting with others. This new form of communication has marked significant trends from traditional methods of communication which involved handwritten letters to digitally transcribed letters which are sent to their destination electronically. With different Facebook friends from all over the world, my interaction skills have been sharpened, and I have learned to develop healthy relationships with all of them. Through my Facebook account, I have been able to trace my long-lost neighbors, relatives, and friends some of whom we learned together in elementary level.

As Jessa Haines explains, Facebook specifically strives to facilitate personal self-presentation (22). I have had different encounters on Facebook, and each of them has contributed to my personality. Going through the newsfeed, I read almost everything, and some of the personal experiences shared by my friends have helped me perceive things from a different angle and develop a sense of empathy. For instance, my friend has a mother who is ailing from cancer, and she shares daily on Facebook about the challenges they have encountered trying to seek medication for the mom and due to her condition. Every day I have to go to her wall to learn about her mother_x0092_s progress, and this leaves me in tears. This has made me develop a lot of love and concern for the patients suffering from chronic diseases like cancer. If I never joined Facebook then probably I would never have gotten the courage to open up about my life and personal challenges. Facebook has given me a comprehensive view of the lives and experiences of many people, enabling me to share in their joy, happiness, grief and sadness. If it were not for Facebook then maybe I would never learn so much about others and their challenges and triumphs, perhaps I would just remain judgmental without minding about their journeys of life

There is no real me and virtual me on Facebook. I feel free using my real identity to express myself as I wish. I do not feel any need of masking my true identity with a virtual one as when I interact with my friends; I feel better expressing my persona which helps me build up my reputation. All the information reflected in my Facebook account actually reflects my real-life identity. I don_x0092_t fancy using a fake identity as mostly pedophiles preying on the ignorance of youngsters and impersonators use it for malicious purposes. Nevertheless, when it comes to posting my pictures, I make sure that I only select the best likable ones as I feel there is more appreciation in Facebook as compared to real life.

I use social networking for different purposes. First and foremost, social networking sites like Twitter, Myspace, Instagram and whatsapp enable me to stay connected to my friends and updated about their progress. I mostly engage in social networking during my free time where I can stay updated with current trends and entertaining stuff. I use my Facebook account to air my opinions, share photos with friends and chat with them. Social networking has also enabled me to enlarge my social boundaries as through the sites I have been able to make new friends some of whom we have met and others whom we talk regularly and are planning to meet someday. Use of email has been very helpful in my studies as the lecturer sends assignments over the mail.

Social networking forms a big part of my everyday life. I use it for virtually everything, but nowadays people can use it for almost anything in their daily life. I access YouTube to watch songs and videos, read news from the social media trends, and order for my stuff online. I cannot envisage how life would be without these sites. All things appear and feel better and easier when I use social networking. Browsing on networking sites makes me feel connected to a bigger community (L. Eighner 2).

My digital footprint is smaller and safer. I am on Facebook, Gmail, Twitter and Instagram. In all these sites, I have enabled the privacy settings to prevent access to my private information by unauthorized persons and spammers. I frequently delete my browsing history and the cookie folder to ensure maximum security of my personal data. I have made sure that my machine does not automatically retrieve my personal information which includes passwords, emails and phone numbers. I also use strong passwords which are unique to each account. I have boosted the security of my accounts by setting up authentication code using my phone. The digital artifacts that help in defining me are blogs and notes. I am a fan of blogging and have shared several blogs through my Facebook page about my journey towards success and the challenges therein. I feel that by blogging about this, I will be motivating someone else not to give up on their dreams. Social networking has become a significant part of my life that I cannot just do without as I will miss a lot of information.

Works cited

J.J. Abrams _x0093_The Mystery Box_x0094_ TED Jan 2008. Accessed April 12, 2017. https://www.ted.com/talks/j_j_abrams_mystery_box/transcript?language=en#t-123000

Jessa, Haines. _x0093_Opinion: Farewell to Facebook's False Reality_x0094_ Cincinat.Com Nov. 13, 2014. Web April 12th 2017.

Lars, Eighner _x0093_On Dumpster Diving_x0094_ New England Journal of Public Policy. Special Issue on Homelessness, New England and Beyond. Vol. 8, No. 7, 3-23-1992.

Louise, Bogan. _x0093_On Being a Cripple -By Nancy Mairs_x0094_. The Lame Dame. Accessed April 12, 2017, http://thelamedame.tumblr.com/post/30938417648/on-being-a-cripple

Sherman, Alexie _x0093_The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me_x0094_. Accessed April 12, 2017.http://www.dormanhigh.org/UserFiles/dorman_h/Documents/English/Lisa%20Richie/Literacy%20Narrative%20Example%201.pdf