Why I Heart My Media

Media is an element that can not be separated from our lives. In order to respond to the question ‘Why I love Media’, it is crucial to define love. My definition of love is to enjoy, have passion in and to appreciate. To begin with, being born in the start of the 21st century, I have never been separated from Media. Although most of the time noticing its company was difficult, cameras that recorded my childhood, news from the television, music from speakers and radios and lectures from school were all media in my life. Now that I think of it, I have always loved Media and its complexity, convenience and company. 

Although I am still a scholar barely understanding the peak of the summit about Media, and despite being familiar with media for about twenty years, there are so many more ideas and concepts behind Media. These are divided into various fields and each needs a tremendous amount of study. One part I love about Media’s complexity is that learning about it would never end, and better products and outcomes may arise from Media each day. No one can say they are truly familiar with everything about media, making it interesting for scholars, as they have the opportunity to discover new concepts and ideas each day, and this is why I love media.

Yoonah Park

13548417 

In this globalized world we live in it is often easy to loss sight of our priorities. We tend to get sucked in the new hustle culture. Were taking time for the things and people we love is seen as a weakness. However, in the last few months I have learned what it is to loss one of the most important things. Sometimes as a student we are so overwhelmed with books, friends, partying, videos and assignments that we practically have no time to think about our own personal needs. In other words we spend so much time doing “things” that we forget to stop and appreciate the world around us and be grateful for the new relationships with friends we have made. But also we tend to forget about the people that were there from day one… FAMILY… As a foreign student I felt homesickness for the first time and let me tell you it sucks. However, I have never had a better relationship with my family because of distance. Of course if it wasn’t for media I would not be able to contact my family, friends and my partner all over the world. Media gave me the opportunity to put perspective in my life. I was able to cherish deep conversations with my parents and keeping in contact with family members that I haven’t seen in years. I understand that medias have caused us to be a bit more antisocial in some circumstances but in others they have saved families from distance. – Caroline Astier 13731734

I have really complicated emotions on media. Sometimes I love media the same as I love my life. Occasionally I think media is like an unseen big hand manipulate my life.

When I was a child, my parents tried their best to avoid me from digital media. Because they think the TV show and series will teach me badly. At that age, I thought digital media was a monster so bulk and powerful that it could easy to swallow me.

The first time I began to use media was in middle school ICT lessons. The first ICT lesson was an impressive experience for me. I knew I could virtually find the information and research.

From that time, digital media started to immerse me in my life. I can do lots of things in the media that completely unconsciously change my lifestyle. I began to rely on my phone. When I want to eat, the first thing that comes to my mind is neither cook for myself nor going out to eat. I turn on my phone and click the Delivery App. Media make my life much more convenient. I only need to lie down on my bed and do some ‘fingers exercises’. Then I can complete most of the work.

The intensity of loving media become much stronger after I go abroad to study. Although my friends, my families and I are all in different countries, we still can contact each other frequently. There is an invisible bridge that connects me to my friends and my family. Before I arrived in the Netherlands, I thought it would not be easy to adapt to the new life individually. However, the video calls make me feel I don’t apart from my family and friends. They are still with me only in different ways.

Even media can give me a general and colourful world. Sometimes I still want to be away from it for a short time. The ironic thing is I do not want to spend too much time on media. The time flies when I am watching videos on YouTube. I will spend the whole day time only watch other people daily Vlog. When I realized the time, one day was passing. I would regret what we had done for this day. Also, when I focus on my study and reading, some messages send from Apps always distrust my work. For example, the message popping up from Instagram “someone like your post and give you a comment”. That unseen big hand control my motion as I am a marionette. I will pick up my phone and click Instagram and then satisfy my curiosity. In the end, my attention is difficult to turn back to my work again. The feeling of crossing up the whole plan is making me mad.

If you ask me a question, “Do I love or hate media?”. I will not hesitate to answer it “I Love Media!”. Every coin has two sides. I want to stand on the positive side to view media even sometimes I would be a swing voter. Most of the time, the balance in my mind is Love Media is overweight.

Student Number: 13083627

My relationship with media is complicated. When I start thinking about why I love media, I simultaneously have to admit to myself, that they are part of my identity. I like to think of myself as someone who does not depend on technology. But since I know that we cannot escape media, I am trying to think about what exactly it is, that I love so much about them. 

I love that media make me feel less alone. Although my friends live all over the world now, I am always connected to them. When everything goes wrong, I know that they are only one call away. Also, when I feel unsafe, I feel like my phone is protecting me, as if I am never really alone.

I love my music, biking with my headphones on while my favorite band is singing to me. Without my music, life would be less magical and simply boring.  

I love how media enable me to educate myself about any topic there is. Media save me from actually having to talk to people about certain topics or issues, especially those I am insecure or embarrassed about. 

I love online shopping and not having to leave my house for it.

I love having the opportunity to take photos and videos at any given moment, and sharing them with my friends. Actually, I enjoy upholding this slightly better-looking, “cooler” version of myself on Instagram. Online I can control how people perceive me. In real life, being yourself can be really hard. 

I love watching my favorite movies, getting inspired by creative content and people online, trying to do the things they do. This is certainly not only a positive aspect about media, since this constant comparison with others can be extremely demotivating and painful. 

Without media, my world is small and restricted to time and space. 

Media are my favorite people, my source of inspiration and my happy place. And even though my love for media includes a variety of emotions, I think it works just like any other relationship in life:

If you spend too much time with each other, it can be overwhelming and unhealthy. But if you spend some time apart, you start to appreciate them more, you start to realize what it actually is that you love so much about them. 

Student number: 13965735

There are multiple reasons for why I “heart my media” but the main one is being able to stay connected no matter where I am. What I mean by staying connected is not about staying connected to the whole entire world but more about staying connected with the people I love. This is probably a very popular topic but I had to share my thoughts on it as well since moving abroad would be a completely different story without media.

Moving to another country is all about starting a new chapter in life, finding your own footing and surrounding yourself with a completely new set of people. This is all fun and games but, in my case, I didn’t want to completely detach myself from the life and the people I left behind in my home country. Therefore, media plays an even bigger and more important role in my life than ever before.  

Through media I’m able to follow along with the lives of my loved ones through the good and the bad and vice versa. An unbelievable number of things can happen within a short period of time and if we couldn’t stay in touch regularly, we’d struggle to catch up with everything that has happened when we finally see each other. Thankfully, we can communicate and share moments daily with the help of media and feel as if we were closer to each other physically than we actually are.  

Student ID: 13885553 

Media is so involved in our life that when I was posed this question my mind went blank, its involvement in my growth and my everyday life feels as natural as breathing automatically, my relationship with media is almost seamless since at this point it’s just a part of me. I can’t tell if I like it or hate it as I wouldn’t be able to imagine a life without it, I feel like I am almost obligated to appreciate media as I wouldn’t be able to live without it. 

Although I don’t particularly like being dependent on media it definitely has its positives, I can’t deny I have learned a lot through it, a large portion of my knowledge is based on things I’ve seen online whilst scrolling through different platforms and websites. Media is also a great source of entertainment, having access to movies with just one click is something no one would’ve imagined even just 40 years ago and it’s a cheaper and more convenient option compared to buying CDs or going to the cinema. 

In closing, I love my media because it has helped me grow into the person I am right now and I wouldn’t want to change that.

ID: 13673238

Why do I love media? For me, media has always held a love hate relationship in my heart, specifically social media apps. I feel as though the relationship I hold with these apps, in this case Instagram, is a deeper representation of my relationship with myself, how I see myself and how I feel about certain things. 

I love using Instagram and I hate that. 

I hate that I love this app. 

I hate that I love getting likes and comments from people on my posts. 

I hate that I love how It feels when I get a new follower and I hate that I rely on my follower count to feel beautiful and valued. 

I hate that I feel the need to compare myself to others on the app, yet I can’t quite find the strength to stop doing it. It’s almost a good feeling to start to hate the way I look. It’s like getting suck in this realm of doing something I know I shouldn’t do. It’s a bittersweet feeling because it’s makes me feel like shit afterwards, yet it’s still beautifully addictive. 

I hate that I feel the need to “reinvent” myself through different aesthetics and that I beat myself up for not maintaining these ideas about myself through every sector of my life, even what I sleep in. 

Yet I love doing this. 

I love hating on these things, yet I keep doing them. It’s this hypocrisy that keeps me going back to the app. This love hate relationship, almost as strong, powerful and compelling as going back to a toxic relationship over and over again. It’s like pulling away from the one who keeps hurting you, yet you continuously go back because you love the feeling of the pain they bring you. And you know how horrible it is to keep going back, yet you can’t stop yourself. 

I hate that I need to feel the validation this app brings me, yet I love the validation. 

I hate that I won’t believe my boyfriend when he says I look pretty but I’ll believe random people on the internet, yet I love the justification they bring me. 

I hate that I can’t delete this section of my life, I hate how toxic it is, I hate what it does to me, yet I love it. I love this sickening double-edge sword. 

I hate social media, I hate instagram, yet I love it. And I hate that I don’t know what to do about it.

The most important thing that media taught me is that everything we experience is okay. Someone else can have the same experience somewhere else in the world.

   For instance, I am a full-time introvert and antisocial person. When I moved to the Netherlands, I was excited about new coffee spots to try, new paths to go for a walk. However, everybody around was talking about how excited they are about partying and drinking. I do not enjoy parties, hate being drunk. I think parties are boring (especially when you are new in the country and do not have friends, lol). Every time I see Instagram stories from parties, I feel lonely and isolated. YouTube vlogs where international students talked about the same or similar problem made me realize that it is okay to feel that way.

   Another example from my experience can be that I am a big fan of Twitch streams. I suck at video games, but I enjoy watching other people play them. However, nobody from my environment is interested in that. Moreover, my friends do not understand why I like them and how I can spend hours watching random people play video games. I did not have to who to talk about my passion. But then I found fandoms on Twitter, Instagram, Reddit who share the same passion as me. Now, I know that there are people who understand me.

   Even the most basic example shows this, ask Google the most stupid question, and there will be thousands of websites on this topic.

   I hope there are more people whom the media taught this. And maybe even in this course, someone is writing a blog post on the same subject.

Thanks to the media, we are not alone.

ID: 13965204

It’s hard for me to define my relationship with media. Media has a lot of perks but it does not always make me feel good, about myself but also about other things that do not have anything to do with me.

I love being able to have contact with friends and family that I don’t get to see everyday. I love how, if I have to wait for something or someone, my phone can keep me from getting bored or not feeling at ease because of all the people staring at you. I love how media gives me the opportunity to see what is going on in other sides of the world, good or bad.

On the other hand, I am not sure how I feel about the fact that media is taking over industries and the fact that staying anonymous is almost impossible: every website you visit needs you to accept their cookies, give out information etc. There are camera’s recording your every move on every corner of the street etc. Even though I don’t have to stay anonymous and hidden, it would be nice to know that if I wanted to, I could.

To conclude, I am not always a fan of all the sides that media has but media bring me joy as well and because media will be a big part of our lives, I’ll just focus on that.

Student number: 13951033

Earlier this year I spent a few months abroad, as a part of my gap year. I was excited to go on this adventure and experience so many new things, but with this excitement also came a certain anxiety. I was anxious to miss out on everything at home.

While I was away, my grandmother turned 80. My whole family gathered to celebrate her birthday. I heart my media because they allowed me to experience this day with everyone. I video called them, received photos and texts and almost felt like I was there with them.

That was when I truly realized the positive effects media have on my life. I started looking at media as a way to stay in touch and grow closer to people. My media enable me to stay friends with the people I met during my gap year and to become friends with the people I am meeting in Amsterdam.

Student ID: 13649809