Why I Heart My Media

Why do I love my media? 

That’s not the easiest question to answer. I don’t even know how much do I love my media. They are useful, of course, and today they play such an important role in our life that we can’t say we don’t love them. We can do everything we want just using a little device, at any time, in any place.

We need them and we love them. 

I personally love my media because all the opportunity they offer me but I think now it is too much. The role media played in my life in the last two months was literally too much. I use media for the university, keep in touch with family and friends back in Italy, listen to music, watch Serie A and Champions League, working for the online newspaper I work with and so many other things.

Apart from this, I think today media are too present in my life. Sometimes I just would like to spend the whole day with friends without any device but it is almost impossible.

Federico Bompieri

Student Number: 13834258

My relationship with media

Media.. my complicated relationship with it has been ongoing for several years now since we are constantly surrounded by it and I still don’t know whether I love it or hate it. Either way, love it or hate it one thing is sure.. you can’t avoid it. From waking up to the sound of your alarm to using google maps or watching a movie almost everything nowadays is a form of media. I think its fascinating how technology has given us the opportunity to be able to create platforms such as instagram, twitter, gmail, whatsapp and so many others which have changed the way we communicate not only with one another but the way our society and businesses work. I must say that I do love media because it’s inspiriting and allows for new types of creativity but at the same time dislike it because more and more things are becoming digitalised and online which can actually disconnect us more in person.

On a more personal level like so many of us I love media because it’s comforting, being a student is challenging and it can be lonely sometimes but listening to your favourite song, scrolling through pictures or even watching a sitcom tends to help. Media has the ability to transport you completely from the comfort of your home or wherever you may be. I always get that feeling when I watch movies or read a good book because the worlds created in these stories are so vivid that once you’ve finished them you feel strange and out of place because you have been mentally in another reality for a couple of hours. Almost all media types allow you to be transported into another world which is one of my favourite things about it there’s only one which I’m not too sure about: social media. I like the idea of it and it really has made our lives easier when it comes to keeping in touch with people and seeing what they are up to but I sometimes I hate it.

I hate it because it allows us to compare ourselves and not always in a realistic way. Sometimes I get the urge to delete all my accounts but then I never do because I know I would feel out of the loop almost as if I was missing out. I think it’s amazing that we can capture moments when we take pictures or videos because that means we can keep them forever and allows us to be transported to how we felt, who we were and what we were doing in that very moment. I know that at least I do when I look back at pictures from a year ago I remember what it was like and if I’m honest without the help of pictures or social media maybe my memories wouldn’t be that vivid anymore. But I hate that we feel the need to post about it, to show others what a great time we’re having or just to keep up. I hate that when we go to places like a concert or a party everyone is filming and has their phones out…but then again I am guilty of this too. I think it’s nice to want to capture moments but maybe overdoing it can even ruin a moment before its even over.

The wold of media is not only relevant now but its the future so its important to know how to use it and learn to have a healthy relationship with it because like it or not its not disappearing anytime soon. I do heart my media more than I hate it, there’s only split seconds when it annoys me or I feel like I use it too much but its moments like those that scare me as to how much media could take over in the next few years and whether it will continue to develop into something positive and innovative or not. All in all my relationships with media certainly isn’t over and I’m learning how to use it in a way that I can appreciate it since I really do love media and a career in media will be exciting because media is the future.

student number: 13982435

Social media is a platform that can you use to portray yourself in any manner, where your emotions only exist for likes and comments, where no one truly knows who you are. Your social media presence decides how eminent and liked you are. But have you ever tried looking outside this world within your screens? To see how lonely and cold it can get?

Yes, social media helps us connect with people all around the world, however, it does not help us feel connected with the few people who are in reality the most significant to our lives. Our online presence has made us care more about the quantity of our relationships rather than their quality. Don’t get me wrong, I too love a good response to my posts on social media, but these comments and likes do not play a part in the long run. Are these people going to be there for me in times of hardship or when you need a helping hand? Probably not.

I do love my media; it helps me escape from reality and rids me of my problems and dilemmas. I can choose to be whoever I want online; I can change my persona in a blink of an eye and have no one question me. But what happens when I close my laptop or put my phone down? When all my mess comes gushing back in a second, when I am overwhelmed with emotions and there’s nothing, I can do to control it.

I am trapped in this realm of fantasy and I cannot get out of its clutches, or maybe I just do not want to.

When asked why I love you I assumed I do just because

Never gave you too much thought, since you were there always

I actually realized recently that you weren’t

You weren’t always mine

And maybe I hated the fact that I do not remember that time

.

When asked why I love you I assumed that I do because nobody knows me better

Always woke up to your bright colors and fell asleep to your soothing sounds

I actually didn’t realize you weren’t supposed to be there

You replaced waking up to sunshine and falling asleep with rain

And maybe I hated the fact that I did not notice that I do not care

.

When asked why I love you I assumed that I do because how could I not

Never imagined you existing without me and me without you

I actually realized recently that you were the bridge I could not burn

You were the bridge that I had to cross to exist

And maybe I hated the fact that you are the path I just cannot resist

.

When asked why I love you I assumed that I do because I am you

Never gave us too much distinction as I was sure of myself

I actually realized recently you were the key to it

You were what made me – me

And maybe I hated the fact that can I hate me

 But I cannot stop loving you, Media.

Student ID: 13994603

De gevoelens die ik naar de huidige vorm van media heb, en dan voornamelijk naar social media, lopen ontzettend uiteen. Ik zal me in deze post dan ook focussen op social media.

Ik breng een groot deel van mijn dag door op instagram, snapchat en tiktok. Dit is vermakelijk, maar ook ontzettend vermoeiend. Door social media kan ik contact onderhouden met vrienden die ik weinig zie, heb ik wat te doen wanneer ik me verveel en kan ik mijn mening, foto’s en video’s met mensen delen. Ook krijg ik een inkijkje in het leven van anderen. Dit zijn de dingen waardoor ik social media blijf gebruiken, en die ik als positief ervaar. 

Anderzijds kan ik me door social media ook heel neerslachtig voelen. Door mijn leven constant te vergelijken met dat van bijvoorbeeld influencers, het hebben van bepaalde angst bij het plaatsen van een foto om niet ‘leuk genoeg’ te zijn of berichten die leiden tot conflicten door miscommunicatie. Ik vraag me vaker af of de nadelen van social media de voordelen onderhand niet overschaduwen.

Toch kan ik me niet voorstellen hoe het leven nu zou zijn zonder social media. Het idee geeft me op een bepaalde manier FOMO (fear of missing out) die me nog oncomfortabeler maakt dan de media nu zelf doet.

Dus ga ik met gemengde gevoelens toch maar door met het gebruiken van social media. Ik blijf mijn leven delen en dat van anderen bekijken, hoe goed of hoe slecht ik me daar ook bij voel. Ik ben bang dat ik anders te veel mis. 

Studentnummer: 13772724

As for why I love my media is such a simple yet complex question. The possibilities in the media are limitless for everyone. Growing up, I always found it difficult to make friends who would take care of me, and some of my “friends” often made me feel very insecure until I started to believe the things they said. But as I got older, I started using social media more often, especially Facebook. I created random fan pages about things that I found particularly interesting and fun at the time, and people my age started looking at these fan pages even if they had notably poor and shoddy content. Some of them wrote me such nice things that at some point we started texting me on Messenger. One of these people objected to me, we had similar interests and issues, and overall, I felt that this person fully understood what I was going through. We often called each other on Skype, played video games online, or just chatted all night. It went on like this for about three years before I finally convinced my mother to take me to the city where she lives. After talking to her for so many days, months, and years, I wasn’t the least bit nervous about meeting her for the first time in real life. We had a lot to talk about when we first met, and she was just as great on the internet as she was in real life. This whole experience made me realize that without social media I would never meet one of my best friends for whom I am strangely grateful. 

 On the other hand, I think the Internet can be a very hateful place. I have come across many bullying posts, hurtful messages, and generally horrible things that have been said about me or someone I knew. On the outside, it may seem like these things never hurt, but on the inside, there is always a part where we wonder if these things are true, and then we go ahead and reconsider. But the truth is, only what we think about ourselves matters. Most of the people who write hurtful things on the Internet are much more insecure and have to project them onto someone else. 

 I think the media has ups and downs, but everything has ups and downs. As much as I love my means of communication to make new friends, stay up to date and share with the world what makes me happy, sometimes I feel an immense amount of judgment and hatred, but then I realized what makes me happy is was more powerful than any hate.

Student number: 13918028

Having been in a long-distance relationship I love the fact that media connects me with the ones I love (far and near). Though I find that my reliance on media has fuelled this new anxiety in me.  

Every morning I wake up at 7 am with extreme heart palpitations. The anxiety inside me only settles once I’ve checked my phone and see that all the messages, I’ve received are positive.  

Checking my phone has somehow become not only a habit but a bad one. Is it connected to social anxiety? My previous experiences? Being overwhelmed in media? I have no idea. All I know is that the more I rely on media, the more anxious I become, and as a result I rely on it even more. Who knows when I’ll get to sleep in again.  

Student: 13139630

De lijn tussen liefde en haat is erg dun. Waar je op een moment van kan houden, kan je zo ook weer verachten. Zo zit dit voor mij ook met media. De hele dag door maak ik gebruik van media. Van het moment dat ik opsta en tijdens het ontbijt door tiktok scroll, totdat ik weer in slaap val terwijl er nog een filmpje op mijn telefoon per ongeluk aanstaat. Er wordt door mij en door bijna iedereen verwacht dat die media de hele tijd werken en 24 uur per dag voor ons klaar staan. Maar media zijn ook niet perfect en dat uit zich meestal op de voor ons onhandigste momenten. 

Moet je net iets printen, maar besluit je printer er mee op te houden. Heb je een belangrijk zoomgesprek en valt je wifi de hele tijd uit. De eindelijke onthulling van Wie is de mol? en Ziggo heeft een storing. 

Op dat soort momenten zou je het liefst al je apparaten het raam uit willen smijten. Maar toch gaat het vaker goed dan slecht. Wij als mensen zijn sneller gericht op de dingen die misgaan, dan elke keer dat iets wel lukt. Dat is waarom ik meer van mijn media houd dan het haat; het is net als met mensen en werkt niet altijd mee en dat kan ik accepteren.

st.nr.: 13983970

Het was voor mij meteen duidelijk; voor deze opdracht wil ik graag een légendarische meme maken over mijn relatie met media. Maar voordat ik dat kon doen, wilde ik me laten inspireren door alles dat het internet te bieden heeft. Ik speurde, klikte, lachte, maar voelde niet. Alle memes die ik zag waren leuk tot zelfs mega hilarisch, maar hadden niets met mijn gevoel bij media te maken. Behalve deze. Deze meme benauwde mij.

De tekst “Before Instagram, who were you?” liet me, in tegenstelling tot al die anderen, niet hoofdzakelijk lachen. Nee. Dit keer bekroop me een gevoel van onrust, gevoed door realisatie van de beknellende invloed van Instagram. 

Elke gebruiker, waaronder ook ik, profileert zichzelf op het internet. Vaak wordt gezegd dat daarbij de mooiste of coolste versie van iemand wordt geëtaleerd. Veel Instagramgebruikers die ik volg zie ik vaker op mijn tijdlijn voorbijkomen dan dat ik diegene in het echte leven zie. Daardoor is mijn beeld van hen behoorlijk hervormd. Ik ervaar hun persoonlijkheid nu meer als een selectie van eigenschappen en uiterlijke kenmerken die ze zichzelf hebben aangemeten.

Betekent het inmiddels dat die versie van zichzelf, die ze met mij delen, de echte is? Is de onlinewereld die we gezamenlijk gecreëerd hebben de nieuwe realiteit? Nee. Wat dat betreft is er met de komst van Instagram niet veel veranderd. Alleen vergeten we af en toe even wat ook alweer echt is en wat niet. We zitten verstrikt in ‘s werelds grootste toneelstuk, met Instagram als decor en ruim 1 miljard acteurs. Doordat we alsmaar oneindig blijven scrollen en liken, houden we deze poppenkast collectief in stand. Ook ik maak me er schuldig aan. Gevoelsmatig verdrink ik dan telkens weer in een oceaan gevuld met gefabriceerde persoonlijkheden. Wat is het dan heerlijk om af en toe mijn hoofd boven water te steken en een goede teug zuurstof uit de offline-wereld in te kunnen ademen.

Student id: 13858696

Media made you, it made me, it’s helped create us, and if you love yourself, which I truly hope you do, you’ll love media too! I don’t think I’d be how I am now without media and how it’s shaped and moulded me. We all like to think that we are somehow in control of who we are and what we present, i’d like to disagree. Who we are is constantly changing, if you could go back and talk to your old self from a year ago, you would most likely realise that you can hardly recognise your thoughts and opinions. In the interconnected world we live in I feel this quick evolution of ourselves is due to our media consumption and how we participate within a globalised media world. Media challenges us, it pushes us to further our horizon. I do not just mean on an opinion level, and that we get introduced to new perspectives, but media comes in so many different shapes and forms. Media is a beautiful spun web of art, knowledge, expression, manipulation and exploration that lead into shaping our personalities. The way we have come to express ourselves through media and which media we decide to consume can influence our souls a lot more than we like to admit. I think people are shy to acknowledge this as we think it would somehow make us less unique and more of an automated copy. I can promise you this is false, as if you go back and look at all your google searches, the instagram accounts you follow, the books you’ve read and music you listen to, you’ll find no one else has consumed the exact same media in that exact same order, which should prove to you that your media consumption is more unique than you could imagine. Each piece of media you have consumed, produced or shared has left a tiny mark on you, some more than others, usually those that are very emotionally loaded. I think its beautiful to think of all these pieces of information, connection, creativity and emotion coming together like a puzzle piece to create a very own media you!

Student Number: 13998765