Jesse Miller joined our zoom class as a guest speaker and prompted us to think about our social media usage. I have actually been on social media since I was 8 years old. I remember that when I got a Facebook account when I was that age, I thought I was plenty old enough. Looking back on it now, I would not want any 8-year old to have a Facebook account because they are way too young to know about the dangers of having an online presence. I asked my mum if I could get the account because my older brother was getting one and I felt left out since I would have been the only one in the family without one.

Next, when I was 11, I joined the writing website Wattpad where I had two accounts and wrote short fiction stories. I gained over 100 followers on there, so I would consider my time on Wattpad to be the beginning of me learning how to speak to followers and have an online presence.

The next year, I then joined Instagram where I made a personal account to share with my friends, and a fandom account where I posted about my favourite YouTubers.

Reflecting now that I am older, I have come to realize just how prevalent social media has been in my life. Whether I realize it or not, I have most likely been influenced by what I have seen online and I really have grown up with the concept of trying to gain likes in order to feel validated.

As I’ve gotten older however, I feel that I’ve come to realize that likes and comments on social media posts are often arbitrary and do not affect how much I am liked by my family and friends