I can safely say that my blog is taking shape and slowly becoming a space for me to rant all the ramblings which my friends can't be bothered to listen to. Here I am again with another rambling on something that has been pressing my mind for the past couple of months, social media.
More specifically I am looking at Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. As a self-confessed internet junkie I will happily admit to spending hours each day switching from one site to another site filling my hours up by looking at other peoples posts, and of course it wouldn't be a Kat Lowe blog without me now offering my input as to why these sites suck.
Addiction/Time filling
Its times like summer and half term where I am more aware of how much of my time I fill by just looking at these sites, lets face it, we've all done it where we have scrolled down twitter, switched to Facebook, then to Instagram followed by sending a few cheeky snapchats, this cycle then gets repeated I would like to say about 5-10 times a day. And why? Maybe I am hoping to find some golden post which will enlighten me but more often than not I just look at pictures of sunsets and Starbucks and girls bitching about their peers.
I am often left thinking, what would I do without the internet? Lately I have been trying to spend less time actually social networking and I have to admit I am finding it a bit of a struggle to find other stuff to occupy my time with. The ease that comes with social networking makes it so addicting, in brief bite size chunks I am able to get daily updates on my close friends without actually having to talk to them, I am even able to get updates about other peoples lives of whom I don't even know (admit it we have all done a bit of Facebook stalking here and there)
Privacy
As just mentioned we all do a bit of stalking on social media sites, updating ourselves on a friends breakup through just looking at their tweets rather than actually asking them about them, but there is certain aspects of these sites which I find a little bit more creepy than just that.
I am talking about how Facebook allows you to see when people were last online, before this feature I didn't give a thought as to when my friend was last online but now I am aware of it, likewise to the feature where you can see when people have read your message. Who thought of these two goddamn awful features? For the anxious and often insecure teenager actually knowing that someone is ignoring you is the equivalent of being shot. Whereas before I wasn't aware of when people have been online or not, I could rationalise them not replying to them simply being busy. However now we see that they haven't replied to your text but they are still on Facebook and they are still tweeting, so obviously they are not busy (or maybe they have been kidnapped and they are being forced to still tweet)
Snapchat allows you to see other peoples best friends and though there is some confusion on whether your 'best friends' are the people you snapchat the most or the people who snapchat you the most, there is no need for this feature at all, because in honesty what does it matter who your best friends are? Unless you are with a dickhead/bitch most peoples partners aren't going to be sending or receiving naked snapchats but yet still when you see that girl you don't like up there, one can't help but think.
Sites like Twitter and Instagram allow you to view other peoples favourites or what pictures they like, again this feature really isn't needed. Although some may say that it has been used to actually bring more awareness to new content, the amount of fights I have seen break out over "You liked that slut Ashley's photo on Instagram" or "I see you're still favouriting your ex's tweets"
All of this information is not necessarily useful to any of us, but instead it feeds our inner addiction as we are allowed an insight to a persons life which is actually kinda private.
Space
I imagine the days where having no internet were slightly more peaceful. Whereas before you would see a person in person and then not really be able to communicate with them unless you had a messenger pigeon, loved writing letters or were telepathic, now we are able to communicate with people constantly.
Not able to get hold of someone via their phone? Cool just Facebook message them, that didn't work? Direct message on twitter. There are now endless ways to keep up to date with people and although this is useful if you are trying to maintain a friendship or relationship which has a lot of distance, more often than not the people we communicate most with are the people who we could quite easily go out and see.
Just as everyone needs to have the social interaction needs met, people also need space in order to recuperate. If you spend a lot of time with anyone eventually you will find yourself a little bit agitated or bored, this is not because we are not interested in the person, but because we need to allow ourselves a little bit of freedom and variation in our lives to keep a balance.
So basically I can conclude social media sites as a way of feeding our insecurities, I have not even begun on how they can be used to create a false persona or how how they can be used for things such as bullying. But I just thought I would write this post as after discussing with a couple of peers I have realised how sometimes my more often than not irrational thinking has been due to social media sites. I am very keen to try and limit myself from these sites as though I can see there benefits, I also see them as destructive. I wonder just how many friendships/relationships have ended due to these sites?
More specifically I am looking at Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. As a self-confessed internet junkie I will happily admit to spending hours each day switching from one site to another site filling my hours up by looking at other peoples posts, and of course it wouldn't be a Kat Lowe blog without me now offering my input as to why these sites suck.
Addiction/Time filling
Its times like summer and half term where I am more aware of how much of my time I fill by just looking at these sites, lets face it, we've all done it where we have scrolled down twitter, switched to Facebook, then to Instagram followed by sending a few cheeky snapchats, this cycle then gets repeated I would like to say about 5-10 times a day. And why? Maybe I am hoping to find some golden post which will enlighten me but more often than not I just look at pictures of sunsets and Starbucks and girls bitching about their peers.
I am often left thinking, what would I do without the internet? Lately I have been trying to spend less time actually social networking and I have to admit I am finding it a bit of a struggle to find other stuff to occupy my time with. The ease that comes with social networking makes it so addicting, in brief bite size chunks I am able to get daily updates on my close friends without actually having to talk to them, I am even able to get updates about other peoples lives of whom I don't even know (admit it we have all done a bit of Facebook stalking here and there)
Privacy
As just mentioned we all do a bit of stalking on social media sites, updating ourselves on a friends breakup through just looking at their tweets rather than actually asking them about them, but there is certain aspects of these sites which I find a little bit more creepy than just that.
I am talking about how Facebook allows you to see when people were last online, before this feature I didn't give a thought as to when my friend was last online but now I am aware of it, likewise to the feature where you can see when people have read your message. Who thought of these two goddamn awful features? For the anxious and often insecure teenager actually knowing that someone is ignoring you is the equivalent of being shot. Whereas before I wasn't aware of when people have been online or not, I could rationalise them not replying to them simply being busy. However now we see that they haven't replied to your text but they are still on Facebook and they are still tweeting, so obviously they are not busy (or maybe they have been kidnapped and they are being forced to still tweet)
Snapchat allows you to see other peoples best friends and though there is some confusion on whether your 'best friends' are the people you snapchat the most or the people who snapchat you the most, there is no need for this feature at all, because in honesty what does it matter who your best friends are? Unless you are with a dickhead/bitch most peoples partners aren't going to be sending or receiving naked snapchats but yet still when you see that girl you don't like up there, one can't help but think.
Sites like Twitter and Instagram allow you to view other peoples favourites or what pictures they like, again this feature really isn't needed. Although some may say that it has been used to actually bring more awareness to new content, the amount of fights I have seen break out over "You liked that slut Ashley's photo on Instagram" or "I see you're still favouriting your ex's tweets"
All of this information is not necessarily useful to any of us, but instead it feeds our inner addiction as we are allowed an insight to a persons life which is actually kinda private.
Space
I imagine the days where having no internet were slightly more peaceful. Whereas before you would see a person in person and then not really be able to communicate with them unless you had a messenger pigeon, loved writing letters or were telepathic, now we are able to communicate with people constantly.
Not able to get hold of someone via their phone? Cool just Facebook message them, that didn't work? Direct message on twitter. There are now endless ways to keep up to date with people and although this is useful if you are trying to maintain a friendship or relationship which has a lot of distance, more often than not the people we communicate most with are the people who we could quite easily go out and see.
Just as everyone needs to have the social interaction needs met, people also need space in order to recuperate. If you spend a lot of time with anyone eventually you will find yourself a little bit agitated or bored, this is not because we are not interested in the person, but because we need to allow ourselves a little bit of freedom and variation in our lives to keep a balance.
So basically I can conclude social media sites as a way of feeding our insecurities, I have not even begun on how they can be used to create a false persona or how how they can be used for things such as bullying. But I just thought I would write this post as after discussing with a couple of peers I have realised how sometimes my more often than not irrational thinking has been due to social media sites. I am very keen to try and limit myself from these sites as though I can see there benefits, I also see them as destructive. I wonder just how many friendships/relationships have ended due to these sites?
