What is your interpretation of the term ‘social media’? What have you learned from the Sensis reports? Include 2 or 3 references from academic sources.
Social media is undoubtedly an important platform used by millions of people across the world. We have transitioned from traditional forms as media such as print to digital media. In America the percentage of 12th graders who read a book or magazine every day from 60% in the late 1970’s to 16% by 2016 (Twenge, Martin and Spitzberg, 2019). For many when they wake up the first thing, they will do is check their social media, at least speaking for myself. When looking at how I use social media I can categorize it into two sections. The first category would be as a means of communication, whether that be with friends, families or other groups. This is without a doubt the main reason as to why I am on social media and I’m sure this is the reasoning for many others. The second category is using social media as a way to consume content and digital media. Nowadays many people use social media to connect with groups of similar interests such as photography and can share their content together. It is also used a platform for media outlets such as news corporations making it easy to inform the public on what’s going on in the world. This is essentially how I would describe social media, and this is further echoed by Jermiah Osbourne-Gowey in What is Social Media? Gowey states “At its most basic level it is simply a collection of websites and applications designed to build and enhance online communities for networking and sharing information”. Looking at the sensis reports its quite useful to see just how much information they have on people’s social media usage. Recently I feel as if I’ve been spending too much time looking at my social media and have wanting to cut back on my time on those platforms. One key statistic that I found interesting was in the age bracket of 18-29 49% of people say they spend too much time on social media. That number is quite high and I think goes to show just how much of an influence social media has had on society.
Osborne-Gowey, J., 2014. What is Social Media. Fisheries, 39(2), pp.55-55.
Twenge, J., Martin, G. and Spitzberg, B., 2019. Trends in U.S. Adolescents’ media use, 1976–2016: The rise of digital media, the decline of TV, and the (near) demise of print. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(4), pp.329-345.