I am sitting here with a little bit of writer's block for my 3rd entry this week. I actually have written volumes and volumes of profound insights in my head this week, but when I sat down at the keyboard I didn't know where to start or how to organize my thoughts. When this happens for my students I always tell them to just start writing and see what comes out, you can clean it up later...or not.
This class has made me more aware of my social media activity-how I use it, when I use it, why I use it. I notice things I didn't notice before like just how much people talk about social media. I had a group of teen athletes at my house the other day. As any good mom of a teenage boy does, I listened in on their conversation from a distance. Some would call it eavesdropping, I'm calling it reach for my Web2.0 class. The boys were flopped all over the family room and they were casually talking about swimmers they "know" and swimmers they follow on Instagram and have become friends with through that platform. They also talked about the need for an Instagram account for recruiting purposes, some of them keep their accounts very private and professional and a few of them are like an open book that could potentially be found on a banned book list! In the span of 15 minutes they talked about a few different platforms. Snapchat and Instagram were definitely the most popular. I found it interesting that a music app where your friends can see what you're listening to was the line in the sand for some of the boys. They were mortified at the thought someone would be able to know what song they listened to and how many times they played it. Really? That's a problem, but posting a photograph of yourself doing some "non-Disney activities" is ok???
I tried to dip my toe into the Diigo world, but I am not hooked on that yet. It sounds like a great idea because I'm forever asking myself, "Where did I read that?" I'm also spending more time on Reddit as part of my community paper assignment. I'm really liking that. For my job, I posted on the community forum about an unfortunate incident that happened in one of my classes. I generally don't post there because they aren't the friendliest group...shhh, don't tell them I said that! I was pleasantly surprised at the positive comments and support that was left on my post, including one reply from management that confirmed my belief that I am working with the right company.
Finally, my thoughts on social media this week also took me to a sad place. I learned about the passing of my friend's wife through a Facebook post. She apparently struggled with depression. I have a family member who also battles depression. Although some people do share their struggles publicly, depression is often a lonely battle. My family member is pretty open about his struggles, but I feel it's not my story to tell so I won't go into details. I will say the power of social media most likely saved his life one day. He was on a message board, I can't recall which one although it was not related to mental health issues, but he was chatting with a total stranger. They were talking about music and that somehow turned into talk about his bad day. In a twist of fate, the stranger worked for the suicide prevention hotline. She talked to him for a long time and has since become a "friend" and checks up on him sometimes. It turns out my friend's wife was fighting the lonely battle. It reminded me that you can't always believe a person's social media presence is the whole picture. It also made me think that if we were more open and honest with our posts, maybe the world wouldn't be so lonely. RIP - SJF
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