Final Reflection for Participatory Media Assignment
After taking this Participatory Media class this is my final reflection and my takeaways. Some of the things I learned that I will carry with me even after leaving this class are one, just how important our use of social/participatory medias are impactful for our generation and the generations to come. For example, the tragic Stoneman School shooting and what the kids that went through that ordeal did to raise awareness to stricter gun laws by using the hashtag #NeverAgain on multiple social media accounts. I think that it is so important for us to realize that we can use social media for good and push for better laws. Because of the #NeverAgain hashtag, recently California has taken away guns from people that are deemed dangerous. According to the New York Times, “California is one of only five states with “red flag laws” or extreme risk protection orders allowing the police to temporarily take away guns from people deemed by a judge to be dangerous, often after a family member or acquaintance raises concerns” (1). This proves that social movements made online are extremely effective and people are listening. Also I have applied some of those concepts to my Twitch streaming and surprisingly it works, I raised awareness on cyberbullying on my channel’s livestreaming. I just decided to talk about cyberbullying, the use of participatory media like Twitch and what happened to me with being called a “titty-streamer” or “camwhore” just because I am a woman playing games online and on my livestream. My viewers were very supportive and encouraging. One person donated money to cyberbullying networks because he watched my stream and was moved about the movement of no cyberbullying allowed. I thought that was so special and important.
If I had to pick my favorite assignment of this quarter was definitely the Deprivation Study because before I even did this assignment I never knew how much time I spent on my iphone and relied on the internet. It was an eye-opener and a challenge to me since I stream on Twitch so interaction on multiple participatory medias such as Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Discord and the Twitch chat were crucial to building a constant stream of audience and developing a relationship with my viewer base. That was one of the most difficult things I had to give up during the Deprivation Study and I noticed that my viewers really relied on this everyday interaction because since the deprivation study was for 24 hours, after I caved around 10pm and checked all my social medias, my viewers were sad they didn’t see my posts or snaps and some of them were even worried that something happened to me. It was shocking because I had only been gone not even 24 hours and it showed me just how heavily we relied on social media interactions and the internet.
An assignment that challenged my thinking was the social networks, sharing and value assignment. I never thought about what I posted from middle school until high school and I just posted almost every single hour on Facebook and I never thought that there would be so much data on my online presence. Even now in my college years, Facebook still has all my past posts and notes stored on it and will remind me of those cringey posts with the memories thing. Also I figured out nothing is deleted permanently because I downloaded the data from my Facebook and saw so many videos that I made in middle school and posted on Facebook even though I deleted it. But it’s crazy and creepy that I can still access those now in college although I clearly remembered that I deleted it. So, Facebook does save everything….
Some themes that I want to keep studying in participatory media culture is the use of participatory medias for the greater good like activism or using my platform as a known streamer to support causes I believe in like getting rid of cyberbullying, helping the younger generation with suicide prevention and eating disorders. I want to keep studying how I can use my platforms to start more movements to help people. I think that it is very important for us to understand that everything one says online will affect whoever it is on the other side of the screen. People can get triggered and I think that we should think before replying on social medias and understand that some people are sensitive and it’s not okay to be negative and degrading or be learn to share our opinions in a way that can form engaging and positive interactions.
Johnson, Kirk. “States Mull 'Red Flag' Gun Seizures from People Deemed Dangerous.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Feb. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/us/red-flag-laws-guns.html.












