Why I Heart My Media

We all have a Love-Hate relationship with our media, including myself.

I hate how addicting media can be. And let’s not forget about the fact that it is ubiquitous and deeeeeeeeeply embedded into our lives. Developing the discipline to manage our media use is like expecting a crackhead to refuse to take drugs standing right in front of them. Impossible!

Media also conditions us to live in an ideological sphere, which is another reason why I am not too fond of it. Digital Media enables us to decide which information producers and news channels to follow. However, it focuses on a diffused niche and ideological sector without appealing to a broad audience. Conservatives start to consume just conservative media, while liberals start to consume only liberal media. People begin to promote their viewpoints solely, resulting in social polarization.

Although I despise media to a certain extent, there are many aspects of media that I adore.

First of all, I love my Media simply because it makes my life easier. Through media, we can connect with anyone instantaneously, do our shopping without leaving our house, learn skills and subjects without attending classes, and never struggle to search for a specific location. These are just a few examples. There are countless opportunities presented to us by Media.

Second of all, as an aspiring artist, I am grateful for my Media. It has allowed me to explore the artworks of many talented artists. Their works have expanded my horizon, inspired and evolved my art style, and left me keen to improve my art for the rest of my life. Being exposed to impressive works that are better than mine makes me feel demotivated most of the time, but I can’t get rid of that spark of ambition with each post I see. Media has also provided me with a platform to share my art with the rest of the world, which makes it meaningful and impactful at the same time.

Lastly, If it weren’t for media, I would have never experienced the delight of watching anime, reading manga, sharing memes with my friends, and expanding my knowledge on topics that genuinely evoke my curiosity.

It is just so god damn entertaining!!!

Elif Naz Ozdemir

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If you let me express my feelings for media, I think this feeling is very complicated.

On the one hand, I think that the existence of media has destroyed a lot of pure, genuine, beautiful, and simple things. Imagine when we were young, when mobile phones, computers, and the Internet were not popular, most people truly felt their own life and time.

The school holiday is approaching, and it will take a long time for us to see our friends, and the separation makes us feel sad. Nowadays, social media are well developed, and we can see the lives of others almost at all times, and we can also keep in close contact with our friends through social media after parting. However, this also deprived us of the opportunity to feel ‘separation’ truly. As we can easily keep in touch every day and see each other’s daily life, we do not have time and chance to understand the value of the separation and deeply experience the joy of being together again. These purest emotions have collapsed in media life. No matter how far away, I know there are various ways to see each other, I won’t be too sad when I have to leave my friends or families. However, the price paid is that we no longer have the full excitement when we get together.

Personally, as for ‘love’ I think social media (dating apps) are quietly nurturing a fast and distorted love experience. Social media acts as a powerful catalyst, depriving people of the natural emotional development of mutual understanding to mutual appealing affection. People are complex and multi-faceted creatures. It is hard to understand and know a person only through photos and some basic personal information. But the scary thing is that nowadays, people firmly agree that they could find like-minded soul mates through scanning a few photos and having several dates. What makes me even more frightened is that many young people now think that it is impossible to encounter love without social media software. Then, is it true that the love of the old generation is fictional? Love is one of the most beautiful human emotional experiences, and beautiful things often take time to achieve. Lovers in the past, separated for many years, can still maintain a romantic relationship with only limited correspondence. People nowadays have so many ways to promote and maintain their relationships, but most relationships just get broken only because of long-distance issues. If love goes fast, what’s the point of coming fast?

I am not entirely a conservative against the media. I have to admit that the media has also brought much convenience to my life. Thanks to the media, I can video call with my parents and greet each other every day when I am studying in a foreign country, thus alleviating my missing. I can hear my favorite songs or watch my favorite movies anytime, anywhere. Navigation app (google map) and so on have brought unlimited possibilities for me to travel in any country without relying on others. For these, I am incredibly grateful to the media from the bottom of my heart.

What I want to say is that while blindly enjoying the convenience and possibility media brings to us, I can’t help but remind myself to return to find the meaning of being a ‘human.’ I am opposed to the saying that “the media is becoming us, and we are becoming the media.” After all, human beings are creatures with souls and emotions, the spirit of all things.

ID: 13194186

I love my media because it allows me to keep in touch with the people I miss at home.

I consume media on a daily basis, through a variety of platforms. However, my most common media consumption definitely comes through my phone when I go on social media. On my accounts, I follow a variety of subjects such as my friends and family, sports, celebrities and public figures that I support (and some who’s lifestyles I envy).

In the past few months, I truly became aware of how the latter has taken its toll on my mental health. What previously felt like a small amount of satisfaction through feeling as if I’ve caught up on what’s going on with my favorite celebrities started turning into a toxic cycle of envy, and more specifically a melancholic state where the standards of the people I idolize seem too good to be able to achieve myself. Safe to say, this surfaced a bunch of internal insecurities I had. However, I don’t regard that period in my life as completely negative. The fact that the media I consume allowed me to recognize what I was unhappy about with myself was not a pleasant feeling. However it created a starting point where instead of self loathing like I had been for the few months prior, I came to the conclusion that what was standing between me and these people I idolize was initiative. Feeling bad about myself was not going to get me anywhere, and reflecting on how the people I look up to got where they are motivated me start taking action in order to actually become the person I aspire to be.

Having a deep insight into the lives of people more fortunate than me definitley is not healthy, but it became clear to me that what was deteriorating my mental health was not specifically the media I consumed, but the lens I was viewing it through. As I changed my outlook on my media consumption I noticed that when I started to feel envious or valueless I became more motivated instead of discouraged.

In short, the media I consume will continue to be self flaunting and a show of status, as that is simply what pleases/interests me aesthetically, however the ability to change my perspective on the media that I consume has greatly benefited my mental health.

Student ID: 13586793

I never actually thought whether I love my media or not. But now that I think of what are the things that I could never live without, I discover that they are all part of media.

I can never live without my music, my favorite adventure or romance movies because they are part of my own fantasy. I am a dreamer, I never pay attention to what happens around, and I am never interested in what’s new. Media is my escape from the world that we call “reality”. However, this can be a prison as well. I probably won’t be able to resist more than five minutes not checking my Instagram, my Snapchat or my WhatsApp. I need to check on my friends all the time. But sometimes I don t even know why I’m opening these apps because I don t even need to see anything or check up on anyone.

But more important, there are times in which the only way to express my feelings is through my media. When I am sad and hopeless or whenever I think that there is no human being on earth that would understand me, I usually type down on my phone all my thoughts and I save them in files. Also, sometimes I feel like a mechanism that gets stuck, and that usually happens when I am upset. It is so weird, but my words just stop coming out of my mouth. It’s just my brain and my fingers that are working. And that is just because I hate talking face to face with people when I feel bad, so I prefer texting them. My words just make more sense on WhatsApp. Contrary to this, there are times in which I just feel that I should delete my media and forget about everyone. There are times in which I am looking for an escape in another world.

To sum up, I still don t know how much I love my media, but I would call myself a liar if I told you that I love everything about it. I would also be a liar if I told you that I hate everything about it. So I guess it’s a love-hate relationship.

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Media has always been a constant source of comfort to me. From the time I started watching daily aired television shows when I was a child to now, where I have access to so many kinds of media that cater to my emotions.

I heart my media because when I feel sad and want to wallow in my sadness, I can simply consume a Netflix show/movie that is incredibly tragic and cry along. This may not seem like a good idea, but at the end of the day, I feel better because I was able to express my sadness through media.

I tweet random thoughts, despite having only a few people interact with me on that platform. It comforts me to know that sometimes these random thoughts or feelings that may have no reason are acknowledged. It comforts me to look at other people do the same.

I find comfort in books online along with people’s opinions about said books, in posts and stories from my friends/family, in messages I get sent by them, in finding new people and perhaps even making friends, in knowing I won’t get lost because I have my technology and GPS to rely on.

There are many things about media that give me comfort and this is because these things have always been constant. Even if the platforms I sue change or evolve, I can still rely on media to the activities I always have been doing and more.

Student Number: 13916718

The first picture that was taken of me (should I count the ultrasounds as well?)  was when I was 6 minutes old. My dad sneaked a camera through the door of the room in which I was getting cleaned up and took a very shaky picture of me.

The last picture that was taken of me was with the purpose of informing my Instagram followers I was pulling an all-nighter.

First movie I ever watched was Disney’s Snow White.

Last movie I watched was Dazed and Confused.

When it comes to media, there are firsts and lasts and everything there is in between. They’re everywhere and nowhere at the same time, around us and also part of ourselves. Media are infinite.

When that picture was taken of me 6 minutes after I came into this world my relationship with media had its beginning. It was a beginning with no end. It is a journey and it is one I love and hate at the same time.

If it weren’t for media, most of my personality would have an ageless ambiguity. I would not be the person I am today, would not talk the way I do and would not have the same hobbies or passions.

I do, however, hate the fact that I am so dependent on media, whether that dependency is literal or not.

I look at the media I consume this way: every time I interact with a photo, an add, a video, some type of digital culture, and so on, a new sense is added to my soul.

Not to be too poetical about it, but the media I consume made me this way and I’ll be lucky if I ever escape it. But would it be luck, though?

I don’t know, it is all too confusing, but for now, I’ll blame it all on the media.

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Snapchat always comes in clutch
When I want to keep in touch
With my friends that live far away
To wish them a happy birthday

And it’s always nice to have Instagram
When living in Amsterdam
To follow new friends
And the latest trends

But sometimes it’s a nightmare 
When I always seem to compare 
Every post on my timeline
To the mirror when I’m offline

Lately it feels like my days
Go by in some kind of haze
Because when I finally stop scrolling
I continue the next morning 

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Media allows anyone and everyone to have a voice. Although there are many aspects of media that scare me, the most valuable aspect of media to me is that it allows undermined communities to make themselves heard. There are millions of stories out there that aren’t covered in mainstream media platforms because it is not bringing in views and clicks, but aside from the capitalistic way of thinking media allows personal stories to be heard and educates people. Education is one of the most crucial pillars of our society and without education, chaos would rise. Each story teaches us something and unless we allow ourselves to learn about these stories we cannot expand our vision and our impact on the world and people. There are issues going on in different places of the world that no one has yet heard of and media has the potential to inform us of these issues. 

Student ID: 13628186

My usage of media has always mainly consisted of the following reasons; Communication, Escapism and Surveillance. As a very curious human being, I have always found myself indulging in media for more than 6hours a day unconsciously. This includes activities such as gaming, texting and scrolling through posts via social media platforms. I love the accessibility, features and user-friendly utilities provided by my Phone, Tablet and Television. The simplicity allows me to respond to my parents who live over 9000km+ away from me and keep me connected as if I was there in person. It is amazing how realistic it all is and how easily I forget where I am for the time being.

Additionally, it is the same with video games. I acknowledge the fact that I am dragged into this world of media where everything just does not matter that much anymore. I can do anything, and be anything I want with, and without revealing my Identity. The next thing I know is it has been two hours past the time I began and yes, I hate it.

I hate the way that I indulge myself so much that I completely lose the sense of time and self awareness. I also hate that as much as I try to refuse the usage, the more I am drawn towards it.

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