Getting Personal
Technology and social media as a use of communication is very important to me, all my extended family live in Europe. I use social media to stay in contact with friends and family as often as possible and it's extremely useful with time differences. It is easier for myself to message my friend at 7am before I go to university and receive a reply 10 hours or so later. It also allows for cheap and affordable communication as calls and texting to international numbers can cost extreme prices. I would say Facebook, Instagram, snap chat & WhatsApp to be the apps and websites I use the most to connect with overseas family and friends. Whereas Tumblr & twitter have been platforms I have used to meet new people world wide. I have been using social media since I was 7 or 8 years old, with Bebo & MSN being the two main sites I would use. When I was 10 years old I joined facebook and this allowed me to communicate with friends and family through a various of different ways and has ultimately helped me stay in contact with people I can rarely see face to face. I believe at such a young age I was influenced by trends when I joined up for these social media platforms but possibly too naive and juvenile to understand the sites when it came to my own privacy. I now fully understand my privacy when it comes to what I share online and what companies can access this information; but I deal with this by following my own morals and standards on what I feel comfortable sharing with friends or complete strangers in this new era of technology and social media. I have used various apps and websites that have allowed me to meet people from all around the world with similar interests and hobbies. I believe I have made friends who I am only able to speak with online due to distance. I have also made friends by meeting up with people off the internet, which I do with all my personal safety in consideration. The internet and social media has allowed me to stay in contact and socialise with people from all around the world and has also allowed me to create new friends who I regularly see and meet up with in everyday life. Technology has definitely influenced my life in a positive way.
