My Relationship With Media

Media: the main means of mass communication (especially television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet) regarded collectively.

I would say my relationship with media is somewhat healthy. I own a laptop that the family occasionally shares when theirs break down, a radio/CD player that only plays on bad days, and a very old Samsung phone I could live without for a few days.

My time with media ranges immensely on what I have to do that day. But truthfully speaking, even if I have a workload to do, media always manages to convince me to procrastinate.

I'm probably the least addicted to the currently popular apps out of all my friends. Vine and Tumblr don't exist in my life, Instagram and Twitter come up once or twice a week and Snapchat and Wattpad are reserved for slow days. Though, if there is an app I use daily, it would have to be Facebook. (gasp) That's right. Facebook is not dead, my friends. It is still very much alive and has been an active part of my "media life" for the past five years.

But even though my daily time with social media is not as long as other people, I know the short experience still takes a toll on me. Over the last couple years that I've been privileged enough to have a phone, I noticed that my behavior in public and communication skills have become limited.

On good days, I'm still able to get my emotions across and have a good bonding moment, but on other days, I can't seem to express my appreciative or apologetic feelings sufficiently enough. When I have to walk down a very long hallway and there happens to be a single person walking the opposite direction towards me, I sometimes attempt to pull out my phone and stare at something like it's extremely interesting to avoid eye contact. Texting also became easier than calling because the expressions emojis have are universally understood by most users.

Of course, there are positive benefits to social media. I'm able to keep in touch with family and friends in other parts of the world through simple means. Just liking a post on FB or commenting on a picture initiates a conversation. Which means, you don't necessarily have to randomly call up the person and start an abrupt conversation about how their life is so far.

In other words, social media (it could just be technology in general also) has become a comfort zone where I can avoid or alter a situation or relationship with a person, sometimes even beautify reality.


The simplest way I think of media is as a friend who keeps up a good image in the public eye, is a good listener, but a horrible secret keeper.