To possess a genuine effect in journalism, I must become skilled at communicating effectively on multiple platforms and at reclaiming my time and attention, guaranteeing I use technology purposefully. I took a class in digital communities (CMNS3210_01) to understand best about myself and the role social media plays in my life.
Like most people, I spend most of my time on social media. I have thought about the amount of time I spend on social media, the quality of that time, and how it fits into my day-to-day life, which requires a balance between learning, self-improvement, and social connection. The graph I just made, showing my screen time, shows a clear fact I thought was true and that I spend more than three hours each day looking at social media. Although this does go under or over sometimes.
The time I devote to checking Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and now TikTok,
strangely it influences me on how I perceive things. On Instagram, I find joy
in many small, curated moments shared by friends and influencers. It’s a close
glimpse into the lives of others by way of photos and videos which is visual
storytelling at its best. The interplay of the personal and the public on
Instagram intrigues me, it allows communication that feels both intimate and
global. Meanwhile, Twitter’s become my digital town, which is an open space for exchanging thoughts, networking with others, and finding new ideas. It’s a
rapid-fire area where ideas can soar or crash in an instant, and the digital
journalist within me always seeks current events as well as trends.
My full career relies on my ability to connect deeply with people to fully
engage them with important stories that matter. We are right now in a time
during which information moves more quickly than ever, and social media is
still absolutely the primary drive for this. It’s easy to lose track of the
time, letting hours go by on social media that might not be helping me grow or
do my job as a communicator. Bringing down my screen time, in some manner, is quite a priority, I think. Even though social media is important in shaping my
career path, I still want to guarantee I am making time for some meaningful
offline activities like cooking, relaxing, and reading a book.