Social Media Audit

   Digital Tattoos, much like the ones on our skin, are extremely difficult to remove. The pictures, information, and comments that we make on social media are even more permanent than I previously thought. I thought that it would be appropriate to start by answering the question posed in Nicole's Video: Do you have any tattoos? I have three tattoos and in fact, posted each one to my Instagram account immediately after getting them. They are not very big, but each one represents a special memory that I had while living in Asia. Each one falls into the decoration/inspiration category and are constant reminders of how special my experiences were (cheesy, I know). The first tattoo was from the most magical experience that I have ever had; zip-lining to and staying three nights in different tree houses in the Laotian jungle (Check out The Gibbon Experience if you are keen on traveling to Asia. It was life changing). The next tattoo was paid for by one of my best friends who wanted to get matching tattoos to remember her first trip to Thailand by. The final tattoo was done in Saigon to commemorate what I thought would be my last week living there (I would end up going back for three more years after that tattoo was done). Phở is a way of life in Saigon and I ate it almost five days a week, sometimes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Thai basil is said to better survive under the heat and pressure than regular basil and that resonated with me as living in Saigon was full of constant heat and pressure. At this current point, I am happy to report that I do not regret any of these tattoos, but of course, that is subject to change. 

Image Source: Blog Author's Instagram

                                                                            

Image Source: Blog Author's Instagram

Image Source: Blog Author's Instagram

  While luckily I can say that I don't regret my actual tattoos, I can't say the same about the tattoos that have been left on several of my social media accounts.This week, I decided to choose the Audit option as my adventure. I currently have Instagram, Snapchat,LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. Like I have mentioned before, I chose to deactivate my Facebook page in 2020 due to it causing me much more harm than good. This video, while extreme, always reminds me of the toxicity of social media. I have always felt like we carefully curate our social media presence to highlight the positives while leaving out the negatives. I actually had a blog while I was living in Asia and one of the main purposes was to highlight that my life wasn't all beaches and fancy vacations. I would always get messages from my friends saying,"I'm so jealous, you're always at the beach." Which inspired me to start my blog, Vietnammed. I wrote it and posted it to Facebook often to share that in fact, my life was not just a beach. Here is a post highlighting that if you care to peruse: Misadventures After a Failed Attempt at Island Life).  

  In 2020, I felt like anything that I was posting was irrelevant to the chaos that was happening around the country. I often posted political posts, posts in support of teachers in the pandemic, and my support of the Black Lives Matter, Anti Asian Hate, and other movements happening around the country. Leading up to the 2020 election, I felt like Facebook was a mind field of political posts and found myself getting caught up in the mess. I also found myself feeling more isolated by seeing any positive posts. Teaching during the pandemic ripped my heart out and the toxic positivity that I was seeing on Facebook was suffocating. Although my account is usually deactivated, I will admit that reactivating Facebook for this course brought me some joy. It turns out that although I don't love Facebook for most things, it IS great for birthdays. I often use Facebook as a way to connect with friends on my birthday. I often post something like this:

Image Source: Blog Author's Facebook

    It just so happened that I had a birthday last week and selfishly, I loved having Facebook on that day. I often struggle with how to connect with my friends without
Facebook. It was a social crutch for so long and I often miss friends' birthdays, events, and life updates. Despite this, I think I will deactivate it soon and continue to check in periodically. It is impossible for me to delete Facebook because it houses so many of my photos and that is why I think it has a hold on so many people. 

    While I do have Twitter, Snapchat, and LinkedIn accounts, I barely use them. I do check LinkedIn when I am hunting for jobs, but since I am currently not looking for a job, I don't find the need to go on. I also feel like LinkedIn is a bit awkward. I often get requests from people that I met once in college asking me to endorse their skills. How am I supposed to endorse people that I have only met once at a party. I suppose I could endorse their communication skills? I have never been much of a Twitter user either. I had one while I was in Vietnam but only posted three updates. When I was teaching in the states, I was forced to get a Twitter account for my classroom. I never used it and often found it feeling disingenuous. Once, after being very excited about a project my students created in the pandemic, I invited my principal to join our Zoom room. She posted about how proud she was about the project at the same time e-mailing me about a petty concern she had with one of the pictures that one of my students had used in a project. After that incident, I never checked our school Twitter. I only use Snapchat to keep in touch with one specific group of college friends, but otherwise, I go days without checking it. 

    My most used social media account is definitely Instagram. While I love looking through pictures, I also struggle with this app. I constantly delete Instagram, only to download it a day later. This is silly, but sometimes I will archive posts if they involve someone that I am having a conflict with. This seems crazy, but sometimes I just feel weird about having pictures up when I am struggling with a personal event. When I deleted Facebook, I went three months without Instagram, but eventually craved the connection and re-downloaded it. I feel like these breaks are necessary for my mental health, but I think I will continue to use Instagram as my main social media platform for now. During the pandemic, I came to terms with the fact that I was going to post my true feelings on Instagram sometimes, despite the like count. The hidden like option definitely helps with this. I have decreased the amount of posts that I actually make these days and am more of an observer. 

Image Source: Blog Author's Instagram 

     I am definitely guilty of deleting posts that would be the equivalent of someone getting a tattoo with the wrong spelling. For example, as I was revisiting my old blog, I cringed at the photos that I had with a tiger. While traveling in northern Thailand for the first time, I was unaware of the terrible things that these tigers endure while in captivity. Obviously, tigers that are taking photos with humans are under a lot of stress and on several drugs to keep them calm. Now, I try to use my experience to teach others to avoid those places at all costs. So--if you see someone riding an elephant or posing with a tiger in their dating app profile--you can swipe left 😂.

    For now, I am just going to keep Instagram as my main form of social media. Who knows what other forms of social media will pop up in the next few years!? I will leave you with one of my favorite examples of "a bad digital tattoo" from my former Facebook self. Just look at the timing on both of those posts!

                                 Image source: Blog Author's Instagram

      One more quick note: Writing this has definitely made me worried for my former students and their posting habits. If this post was made by an 18-year-old me, imagine the posts that 10-year-olds think are appropriate to share. As this article notes, our brains are not fully developed until we are 25. I should not have had a Facebook at 18 and they surely should not have pages before that. I know that many apps have age limitations, but I know many of my students have skirted around the rules. My hope is that when they are old enough they will watch The Social Network, take internet privacy rules seriously, and listen to their grown-ups and teachers about the implications of digital tattoos.