Snapchat...Good or Evil?

Pretty much everyone with a pulse has heard of the social media app picturing a white ghost on a yellow background. If not, well welcome to Snapchat. Snapchat is a way to communicate with other people by sending pictures. Sounds pretty fantastic right? Let's dive deeper into the world of snapping...

I am a victim of the app of Snapchat. I sit in bed at night for hours just opening several photos of my friend's faces or dogs or pointless household items. I typically respond with a simple picture of my face, but hardly any conversations are had. This realization made me really start to think about how truly pointless the app is. Rather than having conversations in person, we, as a society, tend to send stupid pictures of nothing to each other... How crazy is that? Snapchat is a way to hide behind a screen and act like someone that you are not. You can say whatever you want and send it for 2 seconds without having to actually have a conversation with another human being. Most people snapchat people they don't even know for hundreds of days but when they see them in person, they avoid eye contact. After they see them without having a conversation, they will send them a snap saying "It was so nice to see you earlier!" How ridiculous is that? Our society is so dependent on having conversations through a screen that we forget how to have a real conversation with words and another person. That's why I wonder whether Snapchat is truly a good social media app. It's great to get to talk to a friend that moved 12 hours away over Snapchat and see how their new lives are, don't get me wrong... However, I find that it makes it so incredibly easy to hide behind a screen to be able to talk to people. If Snapchat was never invented, would teenagers and young adults have better communication skills? It's hard to say for sure, but I am starting to believe that this could be the case. This is where I sit and ponder whether Snapchat is truly a good source of social media or not.

Resharing on Social Media

In the reading, I found so many things very interesting and insightful about social media. One thing in particular that stood out to me was the idea of resharing on social media. Whenever we enter a social media source, it is crucial to reshare posts and "like" our follower's pictures or tweets. I have never thought that resharing is the ultimate test of social media. Our main goal on any website is to show love to the people that are on there as well. When we post images or tweet a funny joke, we expect our friends to reshare and send our media to other places. We should, in turn, do the same thing for them. Instead of leisurely scrolling through our social media accounts without doing much of anything, we should be liking or favoriting all of the posts on our feed. I have never thought that a like from me or a retweet could make someone's day a little better. It is interesting to think about how much social media can affect a human being's life. We each expect our friends to share our posts, so why would we not do the same thing for them? Additionally, our main goal on social media should be getting a lot of reshares. This kind of contradicts what I have been previously taught about social media. I was taught that it doesn't really matter how many likes we get on a picture or tweet, and if we like it we should post it and not worry about the amount of reshares. Where I think this is slightly true, I also believe that the main reason anyone posts is to get likes and draw attention to ourselves. I think this is super important to remember because social media has more of an effect on our developing world than ever before, so we need to fully take advantage of it.

Week One as a College Student!

Ohio Northern University. Last fall, when I made the decision to attend this college, many factors played into it. Not only was I offered the chance to be on the softball team, and several great scholarship opportunities, there was something more than money and sports at ONU. The atmosphere of the campus was far different than any other visit I had been on. It felt like a family and I knew the moment I stepped onto campus that I would call this my home. When I moved in on August 16, 2018, the excitement really set in. The first week on campus has been hectic, to say the least. Between working out, starting classes, making new friends, and adjusting to community bathrooms, I haven't had the time to sit and really reflect on how amazing it truly all is. From welcome weekend to studying in the library, the opportunities here are endless.  I have learned so much already which makes me extremely ecstatic for what is to come. Even though I know it won't be easy, I am positive that eventually it will be worth it. I have high expectations for my college experience and I will do everything in my power to meet those expectations. Getting the chance to come to the college of my dreams is something that I will never take for granted and something that I will be grateful for every single day. Everything about ONU is so incredible; the people, the facilities, the professors, the classes, and everything in between. The last week and a half has been everything I have wanted and more, and I can not wait to see all the opportunities that the next four years will bring.