Week1 B: Social Media Use Today

 My own thoughts on social media and how it's used today. Ugh. What a complicated and truly sometimes terrifying question for me to answer! I'll start with the negative and end on the positive. I have quite a dichotomous view on social media that has been colored with a lot of professional trauma and personal benefit. 

I worked in mental health treatment with adolescent girls from 2013-2019...some would say the golden age of social media. Quite frankly, I watched as it progressively made kids sicker and sicker with the introduction of each new platform and the growing popularity of the existing ones. Girls were being exploited at a greater rate and in more insidious ways each passing year. It hurts my heart to think of all of the young kids who have been raised never NOT knowing what their classmates were thinking at any given time.

On the flip side. social media has given me so much in my life particularly as it pertains to motherhood. I've joined Facebook due date groups and followed TikTok creators that had babies when I had mine. I've reached out to strangers to donate my breast milk, to solicit opinions on preschools, and to just simply commiserate on how difficult it is to run a household. Without social media I think I would have felt much more alone in my parenthood journey.

As far as platform specific opinions I can sum it up briefly-

Instagram: mommy bloggers, product recommendations, childhood professionals peddling their wares. Business.

Facebook: Private groups only. Casually keeping up with distant family members. Personal

TikTok: New and relevant information cut down into easily accessible tid bits. Music I will be listening to obsessively. Mix of personal and buisness.

Reddit: For deep diving on highly specific or strange topics. Personal. Often deeply personal.

I primarily use social media to research topics or answer daily questions. It helps me to crowdsource information and opinions in a quasi-succinct way. I don't know if I would be as good of a parent or employee if I didn't have access to social media! What does that say about me?