Who do you think you are?

What is my role in this new media age? I see myself as another millennial who spends their day on social media interacting and absorbing the text and images that are being thrown at me. Of course the action is voluntary – but not always do I have the freedom to select what type of messages I am being exposed to. Typically the media I am exposed to is from using applications such as Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Discord, and Reddit. My role on applications like these are to both be a viewer of the media shared and to occasionally share the content I find to be interesting. Between my group of friends, we would discuss the videos or pictures we find and state our opinions on them. Whether it's the news, gossip, comedic content, or aesthetically pleasing images, my friends and I would have something to say about them. However, this media that we share is usually purely for entertainment or occasionally for educational purposes.

Based on the media that surrounds me, some parts of my personality are shown through them such as a gamer, young adult, woman, millennial perspective, as well as a New York City resident, and my interest in photography and graphic design. However, another piece of my identity is missing. Although, I am American, a part of me is comes from a Russian lineage. Thus, I am usually not surrounded by media that represent my culture. This may be due to the fact that even though we are so connected to the world over social media, I still feel disconnected from certain aspects of my identity. I was also born in Israel and feel like there is very little coverage being shared of what occurs in my birth country on a daily basis. My relatives that live there inform us of any missile strikes or that they have drills and shelters set up for these severe emergencies. Therefore, even though I can always be updated on mainstream pop culture, this other aspect of my life is neglected.

On the other hand, the media that you could catch me double tapping, up-voting, or reposting does represent my interests pretty well. I love being updated on all things gaming; so whenever I see a post that may for instance, debate which eSport could possibly make an appearance at the 2024 Olympic Games, it fascinates me. Or when dedicated travel Twitter or Instagram accounts post new photos, it amuses and astounds me. Thus, with these examples it is not hard to tell that my relationship with new media is simply just casual. Although it would be intriguing to be an online activist of some sort, my media participation is limited to socializing with friends and sharing entertaining content.

This is an example of one of the aesthetically pleasing posts that I spend my days retweeting on Twitter or double tapping on Instagram in order to help procrastinate any of my responsibilities.