Why I Heart My Media

What I love about new media is the fact that it can be a stage for everyone. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, things you make can get in the spotlight and seen by thousands of people. This way I am able to see a lot of creative and sometimes crazy things, just from the comfort of my own sofa. I think this is very inspiring.
Here are some videos I thought were creative and funny:

 

Elf Godefroy

 

The relationship between media and me is something that’s hard to explain. It can be seen as some sort of ‘open’ relationship. The only difference is that about 7 billion other people have the same kind of relationship with her and I’m ethically only allowed to be with one other person, but it works. I’m currently not in an actual person-to-person relationship, but I consider myself to be in a person-to-phone relationship since the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is checking messages and memes on my phone and the last thing I do before I go to bed is the same thing.

Even though my significant other has 7 billion others to satisfy all day and every day, she is still able to work hard for me whenever I want her to. She just needs to charge up sometimes, which we both do during the same time of day.

It’s sometimes hard for me to see her with other people, especially when I’m in a conversation with them. I’ve come to realize that: “Can you put your phone away please?” is not necessarily a phrase that is used when irritated, but one that is used when jealous. It’s just that people don’t want to admit their serious relationships with machines yet, since it’s not socially accepted and I understand. They secretly want to be on their phone as well and can’t stand the sight of someone else getting ‘love’ from their device. However, more and more people seem to realize that their phones take more than half of the time they are awake and these people are so reliant on their phones that they almost can’t go without.

This description of media is really close to the description of an actual person-to-person relationship. So basically everyone, including me, loves media in a very literal sense.

I have tried  to live without media. Sure you can survive, if you have other people around, but living without any kind of devices when you are alone has already, at least for me, become impossible. How do you contact people? What are you supposed to do when you are at home? How do you share your life? Lets just admit it. Media is controlling us. Don´t fight back, people. Life is good with media!

Tino Vanhanen

Media has never been as relevant to my life as it is at this very moment (and yes, I can already hear the “no sh*t, you’re doing a media and information course” comments). Living abroad for the first time in my life, (social) media is the only tool I rely on to keep in touch and communicate with my family back home. Without it, I’d never wake up to 15 texts from my mum reminding me to do the dishes daily. So you could say I’m forever grateful, I guess.

Media allows us us to stay connected with people who we might otherwise have lost touch with and follow their every move, thanks to the phenomenon known as oversharing: your third cousin just got fired AGAIN or your high school friend just posted a picture of her newborn child, gathering loads of “Aw!” and “So cute!” comments (even though we all know newborn babies are never cute). In other words, media keeps you constantly in the loop.

Media is a powerful tool. It helps us stay constantly connected to the rest of the world like never before. News (both real and fake), ideas, trends and art are now being spread across the globe more efficiently than ever. And most importantly, it is home to thousands of hours worth of cat videos.

Kanyarat (Lily) Wong

Connection.

This sounds stupid, because everybody is always talking about media taking away our ‘real’ connection with the world. Maybe that’s true, but that’s not my point.

Media creates a connection to the world you don’t know and to parts of the world you can’t reach.

My father can now Skype his mom, even though she lives 2000 kilometers away.

My mom looks for museums and expositions she’s interested in, media gives her an easy way to find those.

My sister watches series from all over the world, she likes non-dutch television.

I like seeing new things, finding new things, searchings for new things. Media makes this a lot easier.

We connect the things we like and the things we want in life to media, media is a way of connection to worlds you otherwise wouldn’t know.

That’s why I heart my media.

I love media for all sorts of reasons. One of them is that media give me information about a variety of things. Such as news, culture, music and food. I can use my smartphone to find good music or recipes, but also to look up what is happening in other parts of the world.  Of course media does not only give information about things we’re dealing with right now, it can also educate us about the past. If you’re a history buff like me, you probably follow more history accounts on Instagram than actual people (which is totally okay). I don’t have time to go to the library, pick out a book and actually sit down to read it. That’s why I love media and of course my smartphone, because I only have to scroll through my Instagram feed to see historical photos and facts. Things I probably wouldn’t have seen if the media weren’t around. And the best thing is, that I can do all this while waiting for my train or eating my dinner!

1988
Fredrik Dan Olof Ringholm is born in the city of Strängnäs, Sweden.

1989-1992
Watches The Land Before Time (Don Bluth, 1988) at least 3 times a day, every day.

1992
Younger brother is born.

1993
Parents buy him his first console, the Super Nintendo, to help him deal with no longer being at the centre of their attention.

1994
Enrols in pre-school. Fakes literacy by pretending to read aloud from books.

1995
Begins a life-long infatuation with the English language, through consuming daily shows on Cartoon Network.

1996
Younger sister is born.

2000
Baldur’s Gate: Shadows of Amn is released on PC.

2003
First time truly connecting with an album of music – Mörk Gryning’s Maelstrom Chaos.

2004
Finishes primary school. Pursues his love of the English language by attending the IB-diploma programme.

2005
Creates his first avatar in an online environment, a jaw-less undead, in World of Warcraft.

2007
Establishes screen-name Paraprax. Graduates with an IB-diploma.

2008
Number of people who know of him as Para or Paraprax equals or surpasses that of those who know him as Fredrik.

2010
Changes home server in World of Warcraft and joins the same guild as a young Dutch woman.

2011
Meets the analogue representation of the woman he’s spent hours upon hours
every day conversing with through the digital world.

2012
Updates Facebook relationship status.

2013
Last known login to World of Warcraft. Begins work at Mariefred public library.

2016
Realises how massive an amount of money and time he has invested in the digital world. Exemplified by 428 games and 329 DLC’s owned on the Steam platform alone.

2017
Moves to the Netherlands, to live with his life partner and begin his studies of
Media and Information.

So, why do I “heart” my media? Because media has, for the duration of my entire life, been entwined with who I am and what I do. Through it, I found interests, inspiration, escape, confidence, love and a calling. I constructed the above lifeline to be an example (not exhaustive by any means) of how at any given time along my lifeline media – in the form of media products, but also the devices and the activities and social commitments I’ve maintained through these devices – has played an integral part in the formation of my identity.

I heart my media simply because I love life – and I can’t (or won’t) imagine life without it.

When you ask me why I heart my media, I don’t really know how to anwser that question. The truth is that I can barely remember a live without my media. My media has become a part of me and to what extent can you love a part of yourself?

The things we did as a kid, like playing outside, playing board games, reading a book, have all been replaced by the media. Nowadays children grow up with tablets and play games on their tablets, instead of boardgames. They even read stories on their tablets, books are no longer cool nowadays.

When I grew up, I got a mobile phone when I was 11. Nowadays children get a mobile phone or/and a tablet when they’re 6. Sometimes I’m jealous of them, because they have so much fun ways of learning, but then I think of how those children will never enjoy the fun of board games. I love to learn form paper, but i think in a while the children will never experience that. Despite all that sort of things, I can’t live without my media.

When your mobile phone is broken, you will notice how much you depend on him. I call the mobile phone a him, because a lot people see their mobile phone as their baby. I think that says enough.

I love my media, because it cheers me up when I’m down. I can stay in touch with my friends, even when I’m on the other side of the world. My media allows me to stay on top things that would require an amount of time to find without it. I know what all my friends are doing and where they are. I can play games on my phone when I’m bored. I always know when it’s going to rain and if I have to bring an umbrella. My media helps me to move from one place to another.

I heart my media, because of all the above reasons. My media is a part of me and I depend on it.

Maaike de Lang

I have 900 friends
online we talk
for hours
I sit in my room alone

I have 900 friends
in my pictures
no one but me
and my bathroom mirror

I have 900 friends
who sent a happy birthday
to the one place
nobody showed up

I have 900 friends
to uphold
my social life
I should stop

I have 900 friends
I don’t know
anyone
that really knows me

I have 900 friends
we still talk
and I can’t stop
sitting in my room alone

Solange Husson

Although I’m not really sure how to define my current relationship with media, it’s safe to say they have changed my entire life. Without media, I’d be a different person, in a different place with different interests and morals. I’m not even sure if, without the profound impact media have had on my life, I’d be studying at the University of Amsterdam right now.

Media platforms have helped me develop a sense of being. It wasn’t until I started using media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, that I became painfully aware of the many problems that were going on in the world. These platforms gave me a chance to share posts regarding the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and help spread awareness regarding racism and sexism. Social justice is extremely important to me and media have helped me become more vocal about these issues, therefore giving me a chance to acknowledge and use my privilege for good. This is something I value very much.

Media have also given me a place to meet friends and talk about things I’m passionate about. Thanks to Twitter, I am now able to text my best friends who happen to live in The United States. I can even meet up with them when they get a chance to come to beautiful Amsterdam, which has already happened once or twice. I also value this very much, because I know that without these people I’d be absolutely nowhere.

Talking about what I love, mostly with other people, has changed me as a person. I am grateful for what it has done and meant for me, since it continues to help me grow as a human being. Even though I know there are plenty of downsides to media, I have yet to regret my decision for using social media platforms and being so active online. Having found my voice there, I know they have a lot more in store for me in the (near) future. Knowing how media have helped me become aware of the world we live in, there’s hope for this generation to make the world a better place. Like Mark’s buddy Barack Obama said: Yes We Can.