An Aging Millennial Describing Social Media as a Historian
“Back in my day, we would log into AIM and wait for at least an hour for our friends to come home from daycare and get on the dial up”-Me 👵
Social media as it was and as it is are digital worlds apart in terms of convenience, versatility, saturation, and use. However, the spirit remains the same. It’s all about connecting in one way or another. Connecting with an audience, a new buddy, sharing our art, and getting free stuff a neighbor thought about throwing in the garbage, but decided to gift to you or I. This of course is to name a few standard examples of the way we connect online.
I, like many, have had an on again-of-again, sometimes bitter, sometimes loving relationship with social media. I won’t talk about AIM messaging again because the memory of the sign on sound still haunts me.👻 I’ll take it a little closer in time to the memory of Myspace and my BFF Tom. Anyone remember Tom? I do. Myspace was the grandpappy to Facebook, Instagram and all the sites we would think of first as social media. I remember my elementary school choose to ban Myspace even at home and lectured about the sins of social media. It was a private school, so this wasn’t weird.😬 Despite this unenforceable rule, I made a Myspace and began my decent into the new world of social media. Since then, my use has steadily increased of course with a few bumps here and there where I tried to go off-the-grid. Whenever you try, though, there is always a reason to return.😵💫
Over the years it’s become more of an outlet for me as a 30 somethin’ for social activity then anything else. My friends all have kids and/or husbands so it’s a great way to keep in touch where otherwise we would struggle to regularly chat. It is sad to think of the generations that would have to send unanswered lost letters in the mail to try to get acquainted with old companions. 🐎✉️Let’s hope they didn’t move.🤞
It’s really amazing and I’m grateful for that reason alone. Connection is everything in life. 👯♀️💛
Now, let’s discuss my social media successes and failures. I’ll go ahead and list them off then elaborate on a few. My strengths would be Reddit, Discord, and Pinterest. With Reddit and Discord, I usually get a few laughs or likes and then I feel special. 😀Pinterest works for me because I’m good at crafting visuals. Here’s where things go array for me. I would say that social media that is very public such as Facebook and Instagram give me stage fright and require more updates than I usually have time for. I’m better with one-on-one social media usage and visuals. I’m a solitary social media user. Shy to post, quick to comment.
What do I want out of this class?? (Surprise it’s a school assignment to my followers *tumbleweed* )I would like to gain the skills it takes to promote my future catering business. I am a returning student to the culinary program.👩🍳🍕🍗🍝 Also, I’ve got a new Etsy sweatshirt business that hopefully I can promote via my posts for this class, so I have something to talk about. Otherwise, the world will be hearing about tea-time with my cat 20 times. 🎩☕️🐈
-Samantha Scotti