Social Media

[Yahtzee]

Does it do more harm then it does good? What are your thoughts on the subject/if you do have use various forms of social media, do they accurately reflect you as a person? or is it the best parts of you?

[Christovski]

It is really a double-edged sword, definitely depends on how you use it. 

I honestly use Facebook to keep up with friends I don't get to see normally, and for sharing links with people.  I post a minimum amount of personal information, aside from pictures.

Twitter is basically my "follow interesting people/people who post interesting links" device, so I don't post anything there.

So really for me its a source of information, if someone tried to gather information on me they might get basics and learn my interests but nothing really intrusive.

I usually check them a couple times daily, but only on my computer, so it isn't very pervasive in my life and I don't obsess over it.

I've seen others who I think utilize social media too much, people who have to post repeatedly each day, etc.  but for me its a tool to keep in touch with people I might not text/call that often, but are still good friends with.

[crovv]

I agree with Chris. I actually deactivated my Facebook for the last bit of the summer (which ended up only being a couple weeks, because my Comp Sci class has a group on it that we're supposed to use as a forum but never do).

I used to be really dramatic, angsty, or ranty on Facebook but I don't see the point anymore. I can write on my own and not show anyone to get my feelings out on that front, and I've been unfollowing pages I used to follow because they're all spammy or stupid or just not what I'm into anymore. I'd honestly have a better life if I didn't have my Facebook, Tumblr, and even my Twitter even though I'm in the same boat.

Twitter is basically my "follow interesting people/people who post interesting links" device, so I don't post anything there.

[AlphaWeeaboo]

Yeah. Chris basically summed up what I was gonna say.

For what it's worth it's useful but carries a lot of bad side effects due to people using it too frequently among other reasons.

Hell, just today some friends of mine were browsing around and found my old myspace and bebo accounts. Needless to say they were pretty cringeworthy.

[Proxy(Toxxie)]

Social media is indeed a double edged sword heh. I don't have a Facebook anymore. I got a google plus but that's pretty much empty.

Whatever you put on there is bound to be sold to third parties anyhow. But it's gotten to the point where some companies use social media as a way to judge applicants. Heck, even some banks have began checking your friends to determine whether or not to accept you for a loan. I don't care to be judged like that for what i do online. And Ive been slowly separating myself (unsuccessfully at times.) So that online and offline cannot be linked.

Social medias has a ton of benefits though. Simply the fact that practically the whole world is able to talk to each other has amazing benefits for entire countries.

That being said, there are a ton of idiots out there who have gotten into legal trouble for what they have posted. 

[Finniespin]

Either way high chance people will still find you using google search.

[Christovski]

Which is why I search for myself every once in a while to ensure nothing important/private shows up, and fix it if it does.

[Yahtzee]

What do you guys feel about Social media and its impact on personal self esteem/identity?

[crovv]

What do you guys feel about Social media and its impact on personal self esteem/identity?

On this front, I feel like Social media brings out the best and worst of humanity. Its not so much the problem with anonymity that we might have with things like forums, 4chan, reddit, etc., but more the "Look at how great I'm doing in my life" that people then go "Wait, if they're doing so great, why am I not?" Its giving a false image to a lot of people, and letting people compare themselves to others and possibly lie about their lives to feel better about themselves.

The person I am/was on Facebook is not who you will see when meeting me in person and becoming my close friend. Then again, the person I am in public isn't who I am either, unless I'm with people I'm really close or comfortable with. While I'm getting better at this in person, I think people who don't know me but see me on Facebook might get the wrong image.

Going back to self-esteem, however, there's the cliche that people are looking up their exes on Facebook and being like "WAAAAAAAAAH I DON'T HAVE A GOOD ENOUGH LIFE", and I think that happens daily with teenagers and adults alike, not only with their exes or once-friends, but also with anyone.

[Pillz]

Facebook was invented to make Privacy uncool, and it's working.

It allows people to put all their facts out for the public eye, and their lies too.

What do you guys feel about Social media and its impact on personal self esteem/identity?

It's terrible and my little sister tried to get one but we deleted it after a month or so because we know how terrible it can be. I did some snooping on my sisters friends too (all 5-6 graders, ugh) and a few of the other girls were being complete bitches on facebook about really stupid shit. It was like Mean Girls status dramatic bullshit. They were commenting on my sisters boyfriends page about how he should be this other girls boyfriend and my sister stole him; and then the bitch starts making cracks about how my sisters weird, one girl tried to defend her; and they also commented on how she doesn't check facebook so she wouldn't see any of it and lol'd.

So I did the rational thing and reported them all for using Facebook underage, bullying and the one girl I really hated got her account closed somehow the next day.


I think trying to "friends" with hundreds of people you hardly know is a stupid goal and is partially why I despise facebook. I only have a hundred or so friends after deleting the extras and there's still about 50 I could do without but haven't deleted for no apparent reason. Everytime I go on facebook I see the same few people's shit and it just annoys me while offering an occasional laugh or opportunity for conversation.

For the most part it just feels empty, and I would much rather my sister and everyone else just find real direct friends that they talk to and keep in contact with them. You don't need some big website where everyone is socially connected ALL the time. It makes sense once schools over but I don't even know.

I prefer Tumblr though, because at least on there you're adding/following people you don't know based on what pictures they post, and it's mostly anonymous unless you don't want it to be.

[Christovski]

100 friends?  Dayum.  I have maybe 50, and at least 15 of them are set so they can't see any of my stuff but my profile, I just didn't want to hurt their feelings by rejecting their request (family, friends of friends etc) I just try to use Facebook as a communication tool and TBH its really good at allowing me to touch base with friends that I wouldn't normally wouldn't be in touch with because of how I am about calling/texting.  Facebook has its uses but friggin noone under like 16 should be allowed to use it its just so bad for social development at that age.

I still hate the fucking birthday tracking thing so everyones always guilted into saying happy birthday even if they don't give a shit.

[Ðeath.]

I still hate the fucking birthday tracking thing so everyones always guilted into saying happy birthday even if they don't give a shit.

People are guilted into that? Jeez.

The way I see it, it's just over-all bad; The fact that more than 0 suicides have been committed because of something that happened on Facebook, completely has ruined my view on it. I still use it, briefly, and not to the degree of "I need Faesbewk to serviv" but y'know, keep in touch.

[Christovski]

I still hate the fucking birthday tracking thing so everyones always guilted into saying happy birthday even if they don't give a shit.

People are guilted into that? Jeez.

Well it sends you emails telling you someone has a birthday that week, then on your page it will have like "It's [name]'s birthday today!  Write on their wall!" or "You should get [name] a gift!"

So kind of annoying, plus I end up getting "happy birthday" from people I don't even really know just friends of friends and it is weird.  I usually only post something if I have something funny/interesting to say for their birthday.

[EagleWulf]

I think social media, aside from basic necessity of communication, is only good/bad depending on the person that uses it. For intelligent people, it is a tool to contact friends, and it is also a way to reach out and spread ideas and promote goodwill. For unintelligent people, it is a way to waste time, start fights, and whore out on likes or shares or retweets to make themselves feel better. To those people, it is nothing more than a toy to waste hours on. I fall somewhere in between the two, where I recognize the value of social tools, but I also abuse them myself sometimes. I probably spend over a thousand hours logged in to Facebook each year (which is really shitty).

And though I have wasted much time on there starting fights, whoring out on likes, and lurking the drama posts, Facebook is pretty much the reason I was somewhat popular in high school. I've probably added like 150-200 of my Facebook friends, out of the total 1800 I have. Those friends are nothing and mean nothing, and though they were never real friends, Facebook popularity did make my high school experience somewhat bearable. Half of my good friends I have today, I'm friends with because of Facebook. I used to meet kids in high school, who would just come up to me saying, "Wow, you're [EagleWulf]! I finally met you, all my friends talk about you!" and of course, I had no idea who those friends were. People who know me because of Facebook. And though this is totally depressing, things could be shittier. It all depends on how you use it. I could have done a lot more in my high school experience than just sit on my ass all the time feigning popularity by getting likes that don't matter by friends I don't really have. At the same time, I got to know and date some pretty hot girls who knew me because I was popular on the net. It was a waste, sure, but I could have had a worse time.

[Leetgrain]

#YOLO

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