Social Media Reflection
I am part of the digital generation. As a young adult growing up in New England, technology is incredibly accessible. Such accessibility, in part, creates this overwhelming, deep-set compulsion to be active on social networks.Forgive me for generalizing, but everyone is on social media.
Okay, let me amend that. Nearly everyone my age (minus maybe Marcus, and what he lacks in Facebook he makes up for in tweets) who has access to the Internet uses social networks in some capacity. No matter how strange social networking seems when you examine it closely and in light of its unique, sometimes overpowering function in our lives (as we did in our Facebook Version of You essays), the fact is that if you do not maintain a Facebook, oddly enough, you are the odd one out. Thus, using social networking sites is in one sense fundamental to my communication needs. If I need to reach out to someone I have yet to exchange numbers with (and even then, I would probably text them), I usually turn to Facebook to send them a message. In high school, my class Facebook page was an essential source of information, a place reserved for communication among all members of my grade, with posts including everything from event reminders to stress-relieving YouTube videos. Facebook may be losing some of its utility and relevance to applications like Yik Yak and Snapchat, which favor instantaneous, impermanent, and in some cases even anonymous sharing of information, but it nevertheless remains a particularly popular forum for sharing photos (sometimes that one meticulous Instagram post isn't enough -- you have more photos to share with your friends and loved ones, so you create an album on Facebook).
In terms of actually connecting with other people (as in, sustaining a back-and-forth conversation), Facebook is waning as a medium. Gone are the days of wall-to-wall posts and group "inboxes." Now that so many people have smart phones, it's easier to simply use iMessage or Groupme to communicate. To me, Facebook is more useful for static content and messages that are less time-sensitive, such as a club page's post about an event they will be having at the end of the month. Twitter I stopped using altogether. Although it was fun to peruse the amusing tweets in my feed, I was getting nothing personally out of the 140-character, one-sided conversation. I had hardly any followers, and was perhaps bad at crafting clever and succinct tweets, because like Derek Thompson (The Unbearable Lightness of Tweeting), the number of people that actually read let alone favorited my tweets was limited.
How communication differs across social media platforms (Facebook statuses vs. tweets vs. Instagram posts -- all have different limitations and almost different "standards") is one discussion. How communication differs online versus in person is another entirely. In general, my communication online is far more calculated than in person. I'm more confident, smarter (ok, I can Google things), and wittier. Why? Though texting is often instantaneous, there exists the liberty to take as much time as desired to craft an ideal response. Or not respond at all. In person, I can’t just stop responding in the middle of a conversation, lest I confuse or offend.
That said, communication online is usually fast-paced. It has to keep up with the "stream." Thus, online conversation is all about concision. In person, I may drone on and on about something, tripping over too many "likes" and "ums." Communicating online eliminates many of those fumbles. In a similar vein, using social networks can actually enhance one's rhetorical skills. For instance, using applications like Instagram has actually helped me to make detail-oriented decisions and formulate concise arguments. Anyone who has an Instagram account knows that getting the filter and caption right are key components to an effective post. You have to condense what you want to say about the photo into a short, snappy caption if you want to garner attention. Even if you're not hunting for likes, what you say (or don't say) about the photo you're posting greatly affects how it is received. What are you trying to communicate? Why are you posting this? The caption is your argument.
Despite the benefits of social networking, there are obviously several hurdles to consider. Online communication and texting are notorious for robbing messages of tone. It is extremely difficult to discern the fullness of a phrase, its emotional significance, without the sound of vocal delivery and the assistance of facial expression. What you meant to be sarcastic, your recipient might take seriously. Your delivery is utterly compromised.
It is important to remember that who we are online is not who we are in real life. The personas simply cannot be identical. Even if we wanted to, there's no way we could accurately capture every detail of ourselves, make a cohesive whole, and upload it to a social network. When looking at something like Dan Kennedy's Pleased to Meet the Facebook Version of You essay, it is easy to recognize how social media profiles are projections of our best, most happy-go-lucky selves. Our Facebook profiles are the highlight reels of our lives -- they provide a small snapshot of who we are and what we do. We make conscious decisions about what we post and don't post, thus manufacturing an a skewed version of ourselves online, molded to fit our individual needs and desires. I am guilty of this myself. I post pictures with my friends, and I feel left out when I miss a big group photo that surfaces on Facebook, as though social media provides an essential validation of of friendship. If you don't make it clear online, are you really friends with someone? This warped way of thinking is dangerous not only to one's self esteem but one's ability to live in the moment.
Don't "do it for the Instagram." Do it for the real-life experience.
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"Things I Saw Today"
Bicycles are everywhere on campus. Plus, now that spring is finally emerging, more and more members of the Dartmouth community are putting their winter-rusted gears to the test and breaking out their bikes. Perhaps because of their ubiquity, it is surprisingly easy to overlook these two-wheeled contraptions. I don’t have a bike up here at school, so my time spent by the bike racks is limited. I walk past bikes perched outside my dorm, along the walls of the library, clustered by ‘53 Commons. As I stroll to class, I watch other students glide by. I’ve become desensitized to the frequent whir of wheels and overall presence of parked pieces of metal.
For this project, I generally wanted my photographs to have some sort of central theme. Initially, I was planning to showcase “spring at Dartmouth,” inspired by the ironically overstocked “suncare” aisle CVS has just premiered. Naturally, one of my images featured bicycles. As I was taking the photo, however, it occurred to me: I’ve never stopped to actually look at some of these bikes.
My focus narrowed drastically in that instant. I began to explore every avenue on campus in search of quirky bikes. I experimented with different angles, trying to appreciate the details of the pristine, the customized, and the worn-out. I tried to imagine the students who ride these bikes – I feel as though the diversity of bikes really reflects the diversity of students on the Dartmouth campus. Likewise, perhaps what this collection of images is missing is a concrete human presence. Who exactly are the owners of these bikes? Do these bikes even say anything about Dartmouth students? I tended to focus on small details and may have missed bigger pictures.
I also think the composition could use an audio component. The silence may make it somewhat boring and overly-dramatic.
Overall, I had a lot of fun with this project once I pushed myself to stretch my creative muscles (even if that meant receiving several stares from people who probably assume I have an insta-gramming problem).