After this week’s class lectured by Jesse Miller, a Technology and Innovation guest speaker, my perception and understanding of social media and its relation to the internet expanded. Personally, I enjoy social media because it enables me to connect with my friends and family from around the world who I am unable to see very often. To me, it has always appeared, or seemed to appear, as a safe space to post updates about my life and activities that I have done and am willing to share. However, Jesse’s talk this week sparked me to start being more weary of what I post online. Since I am attending UVIC and am now enrolled in a professional program, I, of course, only post appropriate content and am sure to have my privacy settings in check. Although I feel comfortable with my privacy settings and am sure to only post minimal content, there is still a nerve inside of me that somehow feels that it is not private enough. Social media and the internet can be a difficult and scary place. Although social media has a plethora of beneficial aspects, it is important to be cautious with the content posted and ensure that you are not over sharing your personal life.

Jesse’s ted talk video (https://youtu.be/FiGclrVXAws) from his personal website (https://www.mediatedreality.com/) really got me thinking about social media as a whole. I used to work as a server at a few restaurants downtown, and while serving I would notice that certain families would bring their iPads to their table for their children to use. When the kids would get restless at the table or begin to misbehave, the parents would offer them an iPad, I suppose to distract them and refocus their attention to the screen. As Jesse mentions in his ted talk video, “[these children] are not behaved, [that] child is pacified”. This quote from Jesse’s ted talk explicitly relates to the experiences that I had while serving these “well-behaved” children. The parent’s goal here is to divert their children’s attention away from misbehaving by giving them something to refocus their attention on. However, the parents are only enabling their kids to stare in front of a screen for longer and possibly teach them that if they misbehave, their reward is playing on the iPad. Despite there being several benefits to technology and social media platforms, it is important to set boundaries with these devices. Although they provide significant means of communication and a space for resources, it is important to use them with discretion and be aware of what is at risk from using them.