#is the editing good? no. but cut me some slack this computer only has 2018 premiere pro essentials on it lol

[wuxian-vs-wangji]

😏😏😏

[iloveschool234-blog]

"Not an unhealthy addiction, I just Luv apps - Sydney Essex’s Media diet”

Some background: In high school, I might’ve considered my relationship to my phone as unhealthy. The thought of my phone’s battery dropping below 80% would make me restless. When entering a room, I would scan the room for outlets, in case I needed to snag my phone some juice. 

Although I’ve grown beyond this obsessive behavior, my habit of sleeping with my phone beneath my pillow has remained. Each morning, if my alarm finally succeeds in waking me, I instantly grab my phone. My first instinct is to check the time. I can move from my bed to officially begin my day once I have opened Spotify and turned on my current favorite tune. Spotify is the application that I don’t even realize I am using - yet it constantly runs in the background as long as I am not directly interacting with another human. Whenever I settle to begin work, I seamlessly transition between Spotify on my phone to Spotify on my laptop.

Walking towards campus, I ease myself into the world by checking my favorite news sources and messaging apps. The newest addition to this routine is my subscription to theSkimm, which feeds a quick and easy-to-read newsletter to my email inbox. My not-so-reliable news source comes from the news stories on the Snapchat discover page. While others may find the articles here not worth their time, there is something about the whacky and so-obviously fake article titles - and my weekly Cosmopolitan horoscope - that I find extremely entertaining. It’s so bad that it’s good. 

I open up iMessage to check my family group chat, which usually contains a text along the lines of “Good morning family! 💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽” or “You good, Syd?”. On days when I am too lazy for words, I click the camera icon in iMessage, open the front facing camera, and send a quick selfie of myself. I primarily use iMessage to communicate when directly messaging with another person. I use Facebook messenger, which is the main form of communication between members of my house. The house group message is filled with too many extraneous conversations. I simply check it to make sure it is not my week to take out the trash. And finally, for Slack… the messaging platform used by my dance group. I associate Slack with work and responsibility, since there is always a constant stream of delegating and coordinating tasks. Although it is necessary that I am up-to-date, there is an overwhelming sense of relief that comes when my Slack notifications are turned off. 

I am an app loving, social media addict. As an app lover, I find myself spending a ridiculous amount of time in the AppStore, downloading and testing new apps until I discover something that has a unique concept and has been implemented with an intuitive user interface. I’ve cycled through many photo or video editing and social media related apps. MVPs include Ense (it’s Twitter, but you record sounds), Triller (quick, easy music video making), R4VE (photo editor with stickers), and Glitché (another photo editor with crazy effects). Much of the mindless time I spend throughout the day involves making new content to share with my friends and my social media sphere.

I actively embrace social media. Often, it seems that social media posts are dictated by the events you have attended. You go to a concert and share that you were front row. You can create a social profile by broadcasting where you go and who you go with. My posting habits are not necessarily driven by this desire, but rather whenever “I’m in the mood to post”. There is a satisfaction I feel in the action of posting. For me, each platform (and on some sites where I run multiple accounts, each account) serves a different purpose and satisfies a different mood. Instagram feeds my fluctuating current obsessions via posts that have been curated by the Instagram algorithm on my explore page or sent to me in DMs from friends. This content ranges from dance videos, memes, and delicious food to ASMR videos, Dua Lipa pictures and creative coding graphics. I never hesitate to interact with other users, throwing a like, commenting, or replying to a story. My Instagram posts serve two purposes: (1) an outlet to share content I believe to be entertaining or created on the apps mentioned previously and (2) the desire to create a colorful and funky feed. Unlike Instagram, where I follow accounts of people I know, Twitter connects me to sphere of very funny strangers. My tweets act as a personal documentation of non-sensical phrases that I hear or pop into my head. I usually whip out my phone and before I even realize, I’ve typed and posted the tweet. In comparison, Facebook has faded into the background. I only use it to stay up to date on local events and Penn related content or share promo from the organizations I am part of.

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A post shared by zach lieberman (@zach.lieberman) on Nov 23, 2018 at 12:33am PST

After reflecting on my media diet, I’ve observed an interesting dichotomy between the ability to control the information you receive and the desire to put information out into the digital sphere. I find myself falling on both sides. Sometimes hoping to cut off certain responsibilities associated with being plugged in and other times, hoping for my shared posts to go viral.

There’s a lot of discussion about our generation being consumed by technology. However, instead of suppressing my passion for social media and the digital landscape, I hope to use it to drive my computer science studies and ultimately, a career in technology. I love the circulation of shared data in every possible form - from Instagram DMs to tweets to friend listening activity on Spotify. I have no shame in being an active contributor to cyberspace. I still know how to disconnect and often, find relief when my phone dies - so I no longer receive Slack notifications.