How Social Media Changed My Life

How Social Media Changed my Life

By: Gage Kalkbrenner

We all know about how social media has revolutionized the world in recent years. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn, as well as video sharing sites such as Youtube, have become the mainstay for social trafficking and social interaction. Social media has spread to phones, tablet devices, and of course, through the computer. Thanks to this revolution, people have established online communities, companies have increased their viral marketing, and smart device sales have increased tenfold. I use social media every day of the week, whether it's for chatting with friends or family, or for hitting up Google for a search or two. I'd like to list some of the social media sites that I use and how it's affected my life.

Facebook

Now Facebook obviously needs no introduction. It's probably the biggest social networking site that's out there right now.  Now let me tell you exactly how I first got into Facebook. It was around the time of my early years in high school. I think my mom was the one who wanted me to get into Facebook because she and some of my other relatives were using it. To be honest, I wasn't that much interested in using Facebook at the time. In fact, later on in my high school years, I deleted my account. I rarely, if ever, used it for anything and I thought it was pointless for me to still have it. However, when I began the game design program at my college, I had to create a Facebook account again because it was required on the syllabus that we make one to keep in close contact with our professor as well as the other students. Initially, I was none too thrilled to have another Facebook account, and I probably had plans to delete it again once I finished the game design program. However, over time, I saw that some of my friends had Facebook accounts, and eventually, we made our own private chat so we can talk to each other every day. Now, I use Facebook every day because it allows me to keep in contact with my friends, since we don't really have the time to hang out due to school work, jobs, or other matters. It's amazing to note that I started off not wanting anything to do with Facebook, but after some time with using it, now I'm using it every single day! Facebook has allowed me to remain connected with friends and family even if we're not all together in the same room. Seems as though Facebook's magic rubbed off on me!

Youtube

 

Youtube is another site that I use. Like many other people, I also upload videos to my channel, albeit from time to time. I mostly use it to watch all kinds of videos whenever I have the time or when I'm just bored. I don't remember exactly how I first discovered Youtube, but it must've been when I was still in middle school. One of the first videos I saw from there was a gameplay video of Super Mario World, I believe. Over time, I slowly became more and more enamored by Youtube until eventually, I started going there every day. Eventually, I made an account in 2009 when I was still a freshmen in high school, which I named DarkMurdoc666, and I still use it to this day. As of now, I have over 3000+ videos, which garnered a whopping 6,588,506 views in total as well as 1,554 subscribers in the process! Yeah, I had a lot of time on my hands, but not so much right now. I only upload videos whenever I feel like it and especially if I have the time to do it. I've been so busy with college and other matters lately that I can't upload videos as much as I used to. I've gone from uploading videos practically every day to just once in a while, and not just because of my current workload, but also because of how tiring it is to upload so many videos in rapid succession. Regardless of that, I'm still proud of the videos, views, and subscribers that I've accumulated. Thanks to Youtube, I'm able to see videos that other people have made, as well as give them the opportunity to come around and see my videos. Some videos that I see are good, and some are bad, but they're still videos nonetheless. I'm amazed by how much I use Youtube nowadays! I mean, having over 3000 videos and 1,554 subscribers was no easy feat, unless I managed to put a lot of effort into those things. Without Youtube, I would probably be stuck using some other shoddy, poorly-made video sharing site with tons of restrictions.

Google, Yahoo!, and Bing

It's no secret that everyone's heard of Google, Yahoo, and Bing. These sites not only provide search engines but other things as well, like providing news and map functions. These are the three sites that I use for searching for stuff, although I tend to primarily use Bing for searching stuff, while Google is my secondary option for searching stuff, and I use Yahoo just to check my email most of the time. I believe I started using Google when I was in elementary school, but I can't remember which grade it was though. For a long time, I've used Google to search for stuff, whether it was for websites I wanted to go to or for information that I needed for a research paper. Then, a few years ago, I discovered Bing. After using it a few times, I just sort of stuck with it and made it my primary search engine, even though I used Google for way longer. I can't say why that is, but I think it has something to do with convenience. Regardless, I still do use Google when Bing can't provide me with any adequate search results. And as for Yahoo, as stated above, I mostly use it just to check my email. I first got a Yahoo account a few years ago during my junior year of high school, I think. Before, I used to use the Verizon email service, but I didn't really use it all that much, so I opted to create a new email account. Over the years, I've used Yahoo to send and receive emails, as well as to read up on some news. Every now and then, I'll get the urge to search for something on Yahoo, but that's very rare of me to do so. Thanks to these sites, they've made my quest for searching stuff much easier, and then some!

Well, what can I say? I've fully embraced the social media revolution! I wouldn't be surprised if some new social media site or something comes out and I wind up embracing that as well! Facebook, Youtube, Google, and all of these other sites have definitely made things more convenient for me. If social media and all of its luxuries didn't exist, then we would have a lot more complications and difficulties that we wouldn't be able to overcome so easily. I'm so glad to have social media in my life, otherwise I'd be a totally different person right now. Viva la social media revolution!