Summative Blog Post

Thanks for the replies I am just getting used to blogging!  I just wanted say that I thought that very important points were brought up in the discussions.  I also think that school both elementary and high school should be teaching younger children as well as teen the implications of social media websites.  We use social media on a daily basis and now children are not restricted to what they can access because every seventh grader has a smart phone with access to all social media pages like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.  I think that children are very naive and do not know everything about social media and therefore need to be taught what information they should share and what they should keep private, that it is important to block their profiles so that people cannot have access to the information and pictures that they do share, and that not everyone you are “followers” on your social media page is who they claim to be.  As a communication student I am aware or at least a lot more conscious the information that I share on my social media pages.  However I do not think that younger generations as well as parents understand the implications of posting information on social media pages.

Also the fact that people with shy personalities now have the ability to communicate without feeling as insecure was also an important point.  This can allow people who have trouble communicating to get their “voice” to whoever they want it to reach without having to feel embarrassed or awkward.  However I think people that have trouble communicating face-to-face are not going to gain any skills by continuing to hide behind a computer screen or cell phone to communicate with others.  It is almost like social media is enabling people that have shy personalities to gain any confidence because they would rather communicate through a written message rather than face-to-face. 

However on a brighter note I also believe that social media allows us to now communicate on a more global level.  We are now able to send and receive information at a extremely fast pace.  I think that everyone that has any type of social media account embraces this new form of media, especially our generation.  We are constantly checking our smart phones, email, and computer to see what updates we have received in the last two minutes.  I do believe that social media is a step forward however I also believe it to be a step back.  I consider it to be a step back because we are so addicted and reliant on our social media pages.  People also have become extremely vain thinking that others actually care what you ate for breakfast.  However this is a negative perspective on social media and there are many positives for many people.