Growing up, we got to watch the development of social media. Instagram became the new big platform in sixth grade for my friends and I, and it was a place for us to post silly pictures of things we liked or found funny or even sometimes things we thought were sad. It was like our own little personal blogs. As I grew older however, people started taking Instagram more seriously, including me, and we started posting only photos we looked good in. Snapchat was also the ‘new thing’ back then, it was all so exciting and fun but for the longest time I didn’t realise the real use of media till I moved countries. This was during my prime growing up years in High School, where I needed my friends. Social media, WhatsApp, messenger, you name it – all became an outlet for me to keep in touch with my closest friends. It became a place where I’d be able to call my friends and catch up and a place where I could go back and talk to people I relied on while I was in this new country trying to settle in. After moving around, there were times where social media made me anxious and many times where it made me feel empowered. I struggled to find the right balance between both for a very long time till I realised it’s my social media, it’s my platform to share what I want with who I want and so I cleaned out my social media accounts. This made the anxiety of posting or going online disappear and has once again become a place of self expression for me. Although there are times where I hate media, being able to express myself, empower others as well as myself, and keep in touch with my friends and family around the world is the reason I love media.
- Student ID: 13743686
Why I Heart My Media 