Thinking and Writing about Digital Media

My personal media consumption used to have a heavy reliance upon Facebook. After some thought and self-reflection last semester, however, I deleted the app from my phone and have limited my Facebook use to once a week or every other week. Now, I use Instagram as my main source of social media. It is nice because I follow a lot less people on Instagram and I can actually keep up with my families posts without getting stuck in the endless scrolling that happens on Facebook’s news feed.

Another social media platform that I really appreciate is Pinterest. I spend a lot of time on Pinterest gathering recipes, gardening tips, hairstyles, date ideas, etc. I treat pinterest as a place where I can learn and get inspiration. Last week, my husband and I planned our date night off of some pins I had saved.

I also read a lot of articles on google. Whenever I am curious about a subject, I like to google it. Typically, I make a rule of finding three legitimate sources on a topic before taking that information to be sound. If it is a subjective topic, I try to find articles on both sides of the argument before deciding my personal opinion. I find that I’m able to gather a more complete picture that way. I think that this will be very useful in a secondary education setting. Checking sources for research is crucial, especially for students acting as a designer or dramaturg for a show. It is also crucial for me as a future teacher in making sure that the things I teach to my students are accurate and useful.

With my media consumption and creation, whether it be reading a book on my phone, watching a movie, or posting on my blog, I typically ask myself if it will encourage growth or learning. I have a hard time with media that doesn’t encourage or challenge me to expand my mind or understanding in some way. I have couple different blogs. One is for this class, another was for BYU’s Art’s Bridge and two others were started as a way to use my writings to uplift others. I never posted purely to express myself, but rather usually had a challenge or moral accompanying the poetry.

Other personal guidelines that I employ with my media consumption is that relationships come first. My love language is quality time, so if I am doing an activity with someone else, I try to limit my use of digital media. I try to be present in the moment to be able to really interact with those around me. I’m not always perfect at this; sometimes, I will answer a text in the middle of a conversation with someone if I feel the text is important. However, I do my best to put those I am actually with first.