designing media podcast

Social media and the internet have a significant impact on people's lives, both positive and negative. Some join social media to stay connected with friends, while others feel pressured to join. The negatives of social media include peer pressure and the need to keep up with everything happening online. Cancel culture and the use of platforms for activism have also emerged. Technology will continue to advance, and parents struggle with when to allow their children access to technology and social media. Acceptance and education are key to creating a safe online environment. It's important to be aware of our digital footprint and manage our time spent online. Hi guys, I'm Carly, and I'm Tori, and welcome back to Chatting with Carly and Tori. Today our podcast is going to be centered on identity through digital media and how social media and the internet as a whole affects how people are brought up. But first, let's take it to the streets and see what others have to say. When did you first join social media? I joined social media in some grade, and I got Snapchat, Instagram, and Musical.ly. When and why did you first join your online community? My online community was first joined at nine years old, in like fourth grade, and I joined it because everyone was joining it, and I was like, oh, I need to get onto that. So I did. Do you regret joining social media when you did? Yes, because I used to read a lot, and now I'm a fierce addict to my phone, and I regret it a lot. When and why did you first join your social media? I was 11, and it was because I was moving away from my home, so my mom finally let me get it, so I could keep in contact with my friends. Clearly, after having heard everyone's responses, I think that we can both come to the conclusion that social media has two sides, a positive side and a negative side. On the positive side, we can clearly tell that people join social media as a way of feeling like they can keep in contact with their friends. Tori, do you feel like you have any sort of experience on that? Yes, actually. I think that I'm able to see the positives of social media easier just being an introvert, because I often need just space by myself, and even though that, in some cases, is to me, and I'm distancing myself from others and their lives, with social media, I'm able to still stay in touch with all my friends and keep up with what they're doing, even from the comfort of my home and away from other people, which has been really nice. But, of course, there's also the other side, which I absolutely understand, but what negatives have you really seen from social media? I feel like a huge downfall on social media's behalf is the need to feel peer pressured into joining a community that you're not really ready to join, as well as feeling the need to keep up with everything that's happening on the platforms, leading people to start doing things that they shouldn't be, like doing drugs or going out and vandalizing, and I just feel like that's just a huge downside on social media's part. Okay, now let's take it to the streets to hear what people had to say after they felt that they were peer pressured into joining these communities. What was the main driving cause that had you download it in the first place? Everybody I knew had it. It's like, if you want to be included, you need to have this. I wanted to just do what everyone else was doing, and if people are on Snapchat, I just wanted to be on the Snapchat and just be a part of it. Do you remember any culturally significant moments in life that you feel like made you have to alter your identity online? Like, a lot more activism postings since 2020, and like those protests and stuff. I feel like I have to use what platform I have to speak out against things that I don't agree with or I do agree with, and stuff like that. Nowadays, I have to express my opinion on everything. As Jordan stated in the questions that she answered, you can clearly tell that social media brought along this cancel culture during a time of horrible, horrible things that were going on in our life. Cancel culture started in the beginning of the pandemic because people started feeling that they had to be the ones to put others in line instead of allowing nature to take its course. I absolutely agree with this. I think one thing that I really saw post-COVID was just the reposting post to your story on Instagram. That was really common, at least for people that I had on my feed. They would just post these posts about things happening around the world that they didn't know much about just because everyone else was. There's kind of just this pure pressure to just use your platform to speak out on just different things to a point where people were doing that for things they didn't even know what they were talking about. How do you think technology is going to continue to change over the next coming years? I think we'll have just more advancements in new types of social media. As these new things come out, our parents will continue to be unfamiliar with them. Then maybe it'll be like what happened with me where I'll get to have these things just because they don't know what's going on. Maybe when I have kids, there'll be something that they want to get on that they end up getting on that I just don't know about. That may be super detrimental, but I just have no way of stopping them because I am not in the loop and I don't know what could be happening. Is there something that you can't really avoid nowadays? Clearly, after having heard those audios, we can tell that technology continues to adapt around us every day. Now, let's take it to the streets and hear other people's perspectives on the adaptation of technology. If you were to have children of your own, when would you allow them to have technology? I would allow them to have technology probably early on, but I wouldn't allow them to have social media early on because I think it can be harmful. I would let them have a phone in 6th grade so that they can call me and communicate with me, but no social media of any kind until first year of high school. And how would you enforce that? With the stuff built into the phones. I'd have parental controls on whether they can download apps and then I'd let them get it first year. I think that this is a point that is becoming more and more common as technology continues to advance. Just that fear that it can instill in the older generation and parents and even us as we see younger generations discover more and more technology and just the internet continues to grow as a whole. Carly, have you noticed this in your life? I definitely have had some firsthand experiences due to the fact that when I first joined my social media, I knew that my parents were extremely afraid of it and because of that I felt the need that I had to hide everything that I was doing. But I can 1000% now see that the acceptance is the key to making a safe and a comfortable environment on social media. I 100% agree with this. I think, I know for me that when my parents were more strict when I was younger, I would hide my technology and my internet usage so much more than I did as I got older. My parents started to realize that it wasn't as bad as maybe they could think and they started to educate me on how to use internet safely more and that was way more beneficial than when they would just say, no you're not allowed to have any social media. Oh my god. Oh my god. To summarize today's episode, we're not trying to instill a fear in anyone. If anything, we're trying to re-educate everybody and allow them to know that the best way to continue to grow alongside with social media is through acceptance, through knowledge and through education. And on top of this, it's really important to be aware of your digital footprint and be conscious of how much time you're spending online every day and just think about how that's affecting you personally. Thank you! Bye!