Social Media Diaries

There has been access to Social Media for many years; however, I believe that now we are in a time where people have begun to overload on sharing via social media. When did sharing every little detail of our day and for some, even the personal moments (emoji shocked face) become the norm? What has happened to using discretion?



I remember when Facebook was used for networking purposes for college students. To get to know your peers a little better and you didn’t feel pressed or “too hype” if you sent the friend request first. I remember when we would get hype if a cute guy or girl accepted our friend request. Then some of us were on Black Planet, Myspace with our fancy backgrounds, top 8 and our music playing. Remember when you just broke up with your boo and had Keyshia Cole- I Changed My Mind as your song?

Over the years, using social media for recreation has now transformed into sharing too much of our lives because it’s the norm. The Twitter sensation took over with just 140 characters about whatever we wanted to share. Next up was Instagram. We all tried to be photographers for a minute; we posted the sun setting, the city skyline or our feet in the sand in Miami. However, that didn’t last too long. Some of us start posting things just for attention and for likes. Some of us won’t even post a picture unless we think we will get over 50 likes. Most of the time people think they need to show some skin, flash money, jewels, cars; and for those that want a one way ticket to jail, drugs. It’s as if these likes determine our self-worth or self-approval. ‘My followers must didn’t think I looked cute, if I only received one like’.

Then we have the different social network users; in this case I’ll make three categories. We have the users who follow the “unwritten rules”. They post a couple of times a week; when they are at events, working out, special occasions, and milestones in their life, pics of them and babe and maybe one selfie. Then it’s the “share too much” users, they use these social networks as their personal diary. We know when they are in or out a relationship, just got into an argument with their babe, and what they had for every meal of the day. They may have posted a pic in their underwear and write the infamous ‘idk why all these thirsty guys be in my DMs like’. They post sexual pictures, with different positions, etc. Then later on they write ‘it’s just for fun, don’t judge me’. Oh, but we are. Unless we know you personally, what you post is a reflection of you. Then these “share too much” users sometimes get caught up in scandals and we all know how these risky pictures and gossip stories spread like wildfire through the social media world. Lastly, there are the bitter users (emoji rolls eyes). They’re mad when it’s too hot, too cold, they're angry at their boss, boyfriend, girlfriend, children, cat, and dog. Negativity overload.

Let’s get back to our old ways, using social networks to network socially. These platforms if used correctly, can be your way to get yourself out there; for example upcoming comedians, bloggers, artists and fashion designers. But make sure you become famous for the right reasons. For my self-conscious users, you are gorgeous, that double tap on the screen doesn’t determine your beauty or self-worth. For my "too personal sharers", the next time you go to share with these strangers, co-workers or your friends, think twice before you press that send button. (Note: some jobs even ask you to pull up your social media pages during interviews.) For the negative users, woosah; life is too short to be that angry, trust me you’re missing out on a lot. And remember social media users it is okay to press that unfollow button, luckily Twitter has the mute option, but for the rest ‘Ctrl-ALT-Del’. Let’s all try to work on using discretion while using social media sites. It’ll benefit us all in the long run.

(Photo cred: mashable.com)