Why I Heart My Media

Why do I love my media? It seems like an easy question, but is it really? As someone from this generation, I grew up with media. As a kid, I used to love playing games on our massive and heavy laptop. I remember saving up all my pocket money to go and buy the 5 euros Sims expansion packets from the local toys store. Once I got older, I realised that the internet was a thing. I could spend hours editing pictures of horses on Photoshop for this horse game website to earn digital ‘money’. I eventually got into YouTube and would post videos about, once again, horses. And then there was social media: Hyves, MSN, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp and so on. I am that kind of person that might be just a little bit too obsessed with them. But it has always been such a good addition to my life.

As a child we were always warned about the ‘oh so dark side of the web’. That we should not get in contact with strangers. Me, being a typical teenager, still did. I made so many internet friends on social media. Internet friends that really did turn into good ‘real life’ friends. I’ve got one group of friends who I know because of Instagram. Apparently we all liked photos and had the same interests. Media giving us the opportunity to form a group on WhatsApp, we got to know each other more and more and eventually met up. And even though we all live on other sides of the Netherlands, we still do see each other quite often. We talk to each other every day in our old group chat and I am pretty sure this will last a lot longer. Isn’t that just amazing?

Last year I lived in London as an au pair and I seriously wondered how au pairs before the internet made friends in a new city. Facebook gives many au pairs the opportunity to just post in the hundreds of au pair groups: “I’m free this afternoon, anyone want to go out for coffee?” or “I really want to go to this and this movie, anyone who would like to come with me?”. If it wasn’t for Facebook – and there are even apps for this – I would probably be much lonelier in such a huge new city.

Furthermore, when you live abroad, media are giving you the chance to still get in contact with home and your loved ones. There is Skype, Facetime, WhatsApp and tons of other media platforms that can keep the close connection. Because of media you know what is going on at home; you can have conversations like you normally would. Personally, I met my boyfriend in London while living there, and if it wasn’t for media, I am not sure whether a long distance relationship could work as good as it does with media or if it could even work at all.

Moreover, I have always been quite creative. It used to be drawing as a kid, but it changed into Photoshop, posting it to Instagram, video editing, posting it to YouTube and writing, posting it onto a blog. I absolutely love it. It makes me happy when I have created something which I can be proud of – and even get nice comments about.

I also think that media are just great for a bit of relaxation. I bet we all get home after work or university, let ourselves fall onto the sofa with some food and a drink, watch TV, Netflix or YouTube videos and check our Facebook and other social media. There is just a lot of entertainment on it, which makes us forget a bit about our busy lives and enjoy the content that is on our devices.

So why do I love my media? I love my media because they give me the opportunity to be creative, meet and connect with people all over the world, stay in contact with my loved ones and they give me some great entertainment. All that media, which I so adore, are on my phone or laptop, hence why those are currently the two closest objects to me. Are they to you? Do you love your media that much?

– Amber Kouwen

Living in the twenty-first century may be the most exciting century for the younger generation. The possibilities and changes you get with media as a teenager and a young adult can change your life drastically. For example, young entrepreneurs building their own Social Media accounts, gaining thousands of followers, getting sponsorships with admirable brands and creating communities all over the world, all because of media. The way the younger generation thinks about the world in media diverges immensely with the older and more conservative mindset. As my parents told me, it was completely normal for people to live their whole life in the city they were born in, not knowing the activity in other parts of the world. Media has brought a big U-turn in this standard principle in a global way, a personal way and even creative way. For me as a young adult, starting in a new chapter, my world is an open and endless space of opportunities because of media.

I love telling and experiencing stories. For a long time, this could only be done through speech, until the written word was invented.

Nowadays, there are many different platforms through which to tell stories, each platform bringing something new to the table.

Through film and television, a story can be told through visual images. It gives us a look into another persons life, or a great cataclysmic event. It’s as if we are there, living in that story, watching events unfold.

There are books, which have the freedom to create a much more detailed world and isn’t limited to a certain timeframe, such as 2 hours, or chapters being x minutes long. They describe the mental state of characters unlike anything a film can produce, the internal struggles that make a character likable, relatable and flawed.

There are games, which give a much more interactive spin on the visual story. Giving someone a sense of control over a story instead of just watching it, making them feel like the story is, in a way, their own, can summon emotions beyond compare. The feeling of dread within a proper horror game far surpasses that of a film, because now the player has to find his own courage to continue, now the person is IN the story. Now the person can save the world himself. Now the person has to make the ultimate sacrifice himself. Or herself.

Then there is the internet, which created stories on a much smaller scale. Real stories of real people who otherwise couldn’t be heard. Suddenly, everyone has a voice, although some stories tend to be more interesting than others (I don’t care about your last COOKING ADVENTURE MOM, NOW GET OFF FACEBOOK). On the other hand, important stories throughout the world can become much more apparent. Real issues can now be seen, making us much more aware of how the world is, rather than we’d only perceive it to be.

Lastly, I will say that speech is a medium upon itself, and creates yet another niche within the storytelling world. Because stories transform when passed on, different versions arise, until one day, you get great stories, not capable of being created by one man, yet ascended into greatness by the imagination of all people.

All different kinds of media transform the telling of a story into something of greatness. That is why I love my media, because through it I get to experience it all, I get to have so many options when it comes to creating it all. Because without media, there are no stories. And without stories, the world would be a much more boring place.

– David Kingma

I think the main reason why I love media is because it makes my life so much easier. I realised this when my phone broke and I had to live without it for a week. You can do so many things with your phone. Apps like rabobankieren, google maps and, 9292 have made my life better. We really need to appreciate this more, because I feel like we look at the negative side too much.

Juliette van Zetten

The reason why I love my media is that I can still be connected with my American friends whom I met during my gap year. Through Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook I stay updated on what is going on in their lives. I don’t have to talk to them everyday to stay close and when I do talk to them via Skype or FaceTime, it doesn’t feel like it has been ages when I last spoke to them.

And vice versa, when I lived in the United States, staying in touch with my family was really easy too, because of my media. I never really felt homesick because I could talk to my parents whenever I wanted (most of the time).

Media makes long distances feel like nothing and that’s why I Heart My Media.

The question makes you feel that you should love your media. And in some ways, I do. But this question also made me think about why I don’t like my media. Sometimes.

People’s media reflects who they are; their interests, aspirations, their needs and their regrets but also who they would perhaps like to be. A sporty, healthy, sky-diving-adrenaline rush loving person for example.

That’s why I love my media. I can learn, educate myself and grow. But I can also become a professional contemporary dancer and cook the best chocolate cake just with a click.

I love and enjoy media because it involves me with things that happen all around the world. Nowadays it’s not just your friends you have that you share interests with, but it’s the whole internet that’s full of people with either similar or surprisingly different ideas. This goes as far from being inspired to being provoked. Media for me is great, because it’s as relevant as it gets and the cool thing about it is that it’s changing all the time. It never stays the same, not for a single day. It’s something that stretches really far: from film, to advertising, to the way you stay up-to-date on the news. So, as I’m part of the ‘internet generation’ it is impossible to think away the internet, along with all media. It’s a part me, I guess..

– Gaia van Maanen

I heart media because you would know people your care (or sometimes don’t care) through social media: where are they, who are they with, what are they drinking or eating, are they getting more fat or slimmer, if your ex-boyfriend/girlfriend has got a  better life than yours right now. It saves your time from keeping in touch with everyone, but you can still upgrade their status even though you are not with them:

“Hi Song, today you have been to there there there and there.”

“HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?!?”

“I saw your Instagram story:)”

 

Guansong Zou

 

One reason why I love media is because you can express your feelings and emotions without feeling judged or embarrassed. Some people have a hard time telling others how they really feel face to face so social media provides a solution. You can write a blog about your life or how you feel and the world doesn’t even have to know the author. For a lot of people it is easier to explain themselves through typing words, because you can re-write and think about what you’ve typed. Social media gives people confidence.

So next time, when you feel like it’s a Monday again and someone asks you how you feel because you look extremely tired because you had to much to drink the night before, just say “read my blog” and they will stop asking questions.

Eva Brocken

I love media because it connects me with global news, international friends and gives me endless job possibilities. As a media influencer I can provide different media content from almost every part of the world. I love how every story from even across the world can reatch you within seconds.

We also gain more control over our media devices all the time,which is great. he faster technology develops, the faster we gain new abilities to control it. And by having control over your media, you can connect with even more people. As the slogan of Nokia used to say: Nokia – connecting people.

 

Elviira Luoma