pink glasses

honestly, a blog about anything

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Canadian-ness and Social Media

The only social media apps that I actually see information about Canada is either on Facebook, which consists of mainly my family members, and instagram, which I follow an account in their that touches on certain things happening in my area. The rest of my social media I feel consists of a lot of American news and people. For example, TikTok. I am pretty sure if I counted the amount of USA Tok I get in comparison to Canada Tok, the USA content would have 10x more. I feel as though it is because America provides a certain "creator fund" that Canada doesn't on TikTok. Furthermore, Canada is largely stigmatized as a place where things are significantly less vocalized, especially when it comes to certain problems that happen in Canada, the USA and worldwide. Many issues that Canada faces, for example forest fires, are less likely to be known than, say, a huge fire that broke out in California. as serious as both of those issues are, forest fires are constantly happening every single year in Canada and I barely hear about them, but when the fires happened in the USA, EVERY SINGLE post that was on my social media was about it.

In my opinion, everyone should be able to be scrolling on social media and have an even mixture of what is happening worldwide, but most importantly people should also be able to find out what is happening in their own country more easily, without having to rely on mainstream news. I personally want to hear news from the people in my country going through it, rather than what is being broadcasted on television.

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Traditional Media vs. New Media

I remember traditional media only consisting of newspapers, poor quality television shows, and music/movies that were in a circular disk you would put into a dvd player or cd player. These days, everything can all be compiled into one device. Although, there is no doubt that the ability to access all media you want from one device is useful and intriguing. I personally, quite enjoyed the act of taking a disk out of its case, plopping it into the dvd player, and waking up to the extremely loud disk menu screen that played in a loop after you've fallen asleep to the movie. The same thing goes for watching my parents flip through the cd case in the car to find the best greatest hits album to listen to on a long road trip. That kind of nostalgia you don't get too often anymore. Before the ever-growing rise of technology, life seemed much simpler. Even though, technology makes it easier to view literally anything, the amount of mental tug-of-war that comes along with it makes it so much harder. Every now and then I find myself going back and watching movies that I have on dvd, just to get the feeling of when I was a kid!

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My Role as a Media Audience Member

I feel I take on more of a passive role with media, even though I do have some active qualities when it comes to certain things I see that intrigue me. I normally use media as objects to feed my boredom, like scrolling on TikTok or instagram because I feel getting too involved in certain scenes can be detrimental to a persons mental health. I try to stay away from commenting or engaging with certain media because it is so easy for words to be misconstrued and there is a huge chance you will be utterly attacked by people for simply not believing the same things they do. Social media has become one of the most inclusive, exclusive environments. In other words, while social media has many different chains of inclusivity, one must always be on guard for something to be judged or ridiculed. I also watch out for the extreme amounts of misinformation that is pushed out on social media. The social media world is hungry for all things attention, in that regard, people can, and will say anything to put themselves up on a pedestal of "I'm the best influencer" energy, all the while putting out the same content as everyone else. For the past year, I would say, I have cut down on my media intake and have focused on more things that benefit me intellectually. That being said, with the little amount I do engage with social media, it is more on the passive side of things, as I do not necessarily like to keep my nose stuck in a phone for too long.

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Commercial Interest and How Annoying it is

I feel for me personally, commercial interest is a complete waste of time. Most of the time when I am watching something and an advertisement appears, I'm frantically searching for the 'skip ad' button. I honestly cannot remember a time where I actually enjoyed watching an ad. I find that commercials are literally everywhere I go, and no one is able to escape them like an ex that keeps stalking your every move. I understand that commercial interest is a way for companies to profit in a quick way, but for the people that don't like advertising getting shoved in their faces, couldn't we have a option for advertising to be taken off of our media and leave them to the people who actually use it? I honestly value other peoples reviews better than the ads, trying to sell their "100% natural product, but with a bunch of other chemicals that I can barely pronounce". Don't get me started on the commercials that are trying to sell some sort of medication that has the side effect of death, at the end of a sped up list of the other side effects.

All joking aside, most of the commercials I see are companies selling a product. What I'd like to see more of is commercials encouraging people to spread kindness, help the people in need, and non-profit organizations that are set in place to help people. This world is a sad and scary place. Let's show more kindness to the people that need it.

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Media Convergence and its Effect on Me

Media convergence is literally the act of converging many different useful devices into one tool to help shape one's every day life. Before cellphones were even an option, people had to rely on newspapers to know what is going on in the world, cassette tapes/records if they wanted to listen to music, and a huge physical map to give them directions on where to go. Having a cellphone that can do all of those things and many more has notably changed me and my mindset, for both the good and, admittedly, the bad.

Having a phone that does almost anything imaginable does come with its perks. For example, when I am up late at night and I can't sleep, I generally turn to scrolling mindlessly on social media or playing little calming games to make me feel sleepy. I really like that my phone is a vessel for endless guitar tablatures and can literally teach me how to play guitar in the comfort of my own room as well. I am also an avid user of messaging platforms as I am currently far away from most of my family. Using my phone has given me the opportunity to stay connected to my family as well as socialize with friends that I am unable to hangout with due to distance. I also spend a lot of time on Spotify, my chosen music platform. I enjoy that music is literally at the palm of my hand anywhere I go.

Furthermore, the downside of having a phone is that I am personally not as sociable as I used to be outside of "social" media. I have come to learn that without being able to thoroughly think about what I am going to say in conversations, and having the time to type it out, I have a difficult time putting my thoughts into words or even gathering my thoughts adequately at all. During realtime conversations it takes me significantly longer to formulate what I am trying to say and I often lead off into many different directions. I also rely heavily on my phones map system, which in turn causes me to lack in my sense of direction unless I have been to the place more than 100 times. Social media has also been a significant place on where I learn about what goes on in the world. Because there is so many different things happening and so many different opinions, it is easy to get lost in misinformation and knowing what to believe.

Although, my phone has given me countless of good, I have to be mindful about the amount of time I spend on it. It is a tool, not a lifestyle and the more I figure that out, the happier I am.