Initially for writing this piece I had a whole different concept, but just before starting it I encountered this captivating quote by American writer William Faulkner and decided to connect it with my story about my relationship with the media. I do love my media, I believe that’s what makes our world so extraordinary and one of a kind, but the best way to describe it is with this quote: „You don’t love because: you love despite”. I decided to focus on the complexity of media and why I love them even though they have so many faults, but frankly, don’t we all?
To begin, let’s establish something, media are complex and full of surprises, that is why mine connection with media is not simple either. But to start with, the first and major flaw about my media is the „out of the blue breaking down”. Each one of us is familiar with a situation like that, when we need our device, our source of media and it unexpectedly stops working for some mysterious reason. I am not even capable to count the times when I went ballistic because I needed to have an internet connection, but my laptop did not want to cooperate and couldn’t connect to the wi-fi. But even though my media does that more often than sometimes I still love it. Second thing is the perception it gives me, on one hand I do understand that we live in media, but it doesn’t change the fact that I think about certain situations way more than I used to, before for example having social media accounts. I tend to overthink and compare my behavior and decisions with the things I see on Instagram stories or other social media posts, but who knows maybe without it I would also do it but in some other way. That is why I accept that and try to change my point of view, but the media unfortunately stands in my way and makes my life a little bit more challenging, but also more interesting. Moreover, I tend to be freaked out and terrified of the influence and control media has over me, I hate the fact that some of my data is somewhere I do not know, or someone might use it against me. But I am in the process of understanding the mechanisms and the fact that everything has influence on us and there is no solution for being entirely untouched by different kinds of suggestions and influences.
However, I love my media not only for the „despite” aspects, there are various situations when I am incredibly grateful that the world we’re living in is the media world, that I can experience life in a whole different way. Now that I live far away from my home county, my family and friends, my interactions with everyone close to me are via social media platforms. Recently in my home country there has been a huge wave of protests about the political situation connected with the European Union, I couldn’t go to the street and shout with my fellow citizens, fighting for the rights, but the least I could do was connect with the people protesting on the street in my homeland via social media. I could add a hashtag, raise my voice and show my standpoint and support thanks to the media. That’s what I appreciate and love about it, I can be a part of something important to me and the place where I come from, even though I am hundreds of kilometers away from the actual place of the event. But this kind of connection is not only with political issues, it also appears in my everyday life. Every weekend I join my family for a cup of coffee or tea and talk to them about my week just like I did back home in-person. Let’s not forget the pandemic when social media and all kinds of programs and websites played a vital role for supporting each other and interacting and staying updated. That also had it pros and cons, especially when it comes to the spread of misinformation and time spend in front of the screen, but those were one of the flaws I still accepted and learnt from, especially to be careful with what I read. But in general what media give me is mostly positive, they allow me to stay in touch and close to everything I love.
Accepting and confronting the flaws is what love is – „You like because, and you love despite”, that’s exactly what I feel about my media. There are things I hate about them, but I learn from it, I try to stay open-minded and be patient, what’s more I grew to appreciate the things it allows me to experience overall and stay grateful.
Student ID: 13652400
Julia Kaczmarek
Why I Heart My Media 