Jasmine - 16
Jasmine, 16
Media Consumption: 5-6 hours per day
Favorite Media: Instagram/Snapchat
How do you and your family interact with media/technology?
My family and I use media/technology mainly as a way to communicate as I am currently studying abroad. My mom always sends me some inspiring content to encourage me and uses technology as a tool to monitor my study progress. When I am unmotivated to study, she tries to encourage me through text messages.
How do you and your peers interact with media/technology?
We share the stories of our daily lives and try to stay in touch despite the distance between us. My roommates love to play video games and sometimes our host family would shout at them because they are being too loud. I also reach out to my friends when I am feeling troubled. I feel comfortable chatting with them about anything online because I do not need to worry about being awkward when not knowing how to give an appropriate response.
What do you use media for?
For me, I use it for communicating with my friends and keeping up with the information concerning the boyband I like. It is also a window for me to have a sneak-peak into others’ lives because I can use social media to have a sense of what it feels like to be another person by looking into their profiles and the content they post. As I am an introvert and can be a bit shy when it comes to meeting new friends, social media is a shelter for me. When I am sad, my online friends would comfort me and they’re not judgemental at all. Also, scrolling through social media and looking at the pictures of my favorite boyband brings joy to my life. So for me, not only it is a way to learn new pieces of information, but it is also my safe place.
What is your favorite/least favorite thing about media/technology?
Social media helps me to connect with my friends back home. It minimized the distance barrier. Also, when I want to learn something new, I can easily use the internet to find videos or blog posts to self-learn. I don’t need to rely on people when I have questions on different topics. The major detriment of social media is that people can say anything they want online since there are no consequences for online behaviors. Bullying, outrageous comments, or false news are some common phenomena. However, there are no effective ways to regulate the usage of the internet.