I feel like the title speaks for itself. Recently I have read an article about the signs of a love-hate relationship and even though I have never been in any, I feel like all of the signs mentioned in the article perfectly described my relationship with the media over the years. One of the first signs is “Sometimes you feel they are a blessing in your life”. Obviously, I can frankly admit that the media has always been there for me; when I needed inspiration, when I felt down, when I was angry, when I felt that I wanted to express myself, or even when I just simply wanted attention, which is a human thing we shouldn’t be ashamed of. I feel so grateful that the media gives me an opportunity to express myself in the way I sometimes can’t in real life, that I can share matters that are important for me with thousands of people, that I can have an influence on people and their behavior, that they make me feel that I do matter, that I can really change the world and how people perceive it and finally that they make me believe that I actually have the power to do anything.
The second sign sounds “Sometimes you just can’t stand them”. I can’t even count the times I just deleted all of the social media and did media detox for a week or sometimes even for a month. Even though they give me so many opportunities and make my life easier, sometimes I find them really tiring, especially when I spend a lot of time scrolling, sharing, posting, downloading, texting etc. It can be sometimes overwhelming up to the point that you lose yourself in it and you feel like you forget about the real world. It’s quite a paradox for me because even though I mentioned above how the media makes me stronger, they at the same time make me vulnerable and miserable. Constantly comparing myself to others, watching other people being successful at the age of sometimes even 17, wasting my time on procrastination and the feeling that it is so hard to say “no” to the media though as much as you try since we’ve all become so addicted.
The third sign is strictly related to what I’ve written about, it says that relationship is based on “makeup and break up” again and again. Regardless of all of the negative emotions, there always comes a time after media detox that I decide to come back to this mediated life. There’s always this inner desire to be online again and I still haven’t figured out why is it like this? Is it because I am somehow addicted to it or is it because the media has become an integral part of our lives, therefore it is hard to find an escape from them?
The last but not least sign is “You have no idea where the relationship is heading”. We can’t predict where the media are going, what is the future of media, or if we should consider this future from a utopian or dystopian point of view. And I guess we could say the same about our lives since we never know what the future holds, but what I know for sure is that I see media in this future and I can’t imagine my life without them, so can this feeling be described as a sign of true love?
Aleksandra Rzycka- 13903799
Why I Heart My Media 