I have a routine for whenever I meet someone new. Hi I’m Sarah and I’m from the country. I find that once I reveal where I’m from people become a lot more intrigued. I don’t know if that’s due to me being so vague as to where exactly ‘the country’ is or whether I don’t particularly fit the aesthetic of what a country girl is supposed to look like. Thanks to the success of the product; Cobram Estate Oil has put us on the map. That where I’m from, Cobram!

A small town along the Murray River, approximately 265km away from Melbourne. A town where everyone knows everything about everyone and where every second block of land has either been used for dairy farms, orchards, or to be completely blunt.. a place where rebellious teens can harvest weed (this sounds fake but I can promise you it’s not!). Fun fact, my big Italian family probably adds up to be about half of the towns total population…it’s so much more different in the big city.

Just when you would’ve thought I’ve talked enough about me, here’s a little more fun facts about Sarah! Enjoy…
My daily routine consists of a lot of social media time. When I wake up, while I’m eating, getting ready, while I’m travelling and as I’m going to sleep. The number of times I click onto that little addictive icon is actually horrifying. I’ve always heard people saying how bad being on the internet is for you; but to be completely honest, the internet is where I learn and hear about things I never previously would have.

Let’s take the news as an example. Every night at dinner time my family and I would sit around the table and dad would always have the news on. No talking, just listening. I hated it. It was my least favourite time of the day, no matter how hungry I was. I found the news boring, and being forced to watch it didn’t help at all.
“This is your future Sarah, you need to learn about the world.” – My dad, every single night of my childhood.
When my brothers and I would be naughty we didn’t have your usual punishments. There wasn’t any “no supper for you” or “you’re grounded.” Nope. Our punishment was to sit in front of the television with no other distractions and be forced to watch the news from 4pm until 7pm. I can’t even explain to you how torturous that form of punishment was. I would rather have been grounded for a month than suffered that kind of pain.

Fast forward 10 years and I still hate watching the news while its live on air however, when scrolling through my Facebook news feed if a news report appears I’m more than happy to watch/read it. When watching the news on television you’re forced to watch all the small stories that might actually have nothing to do with you. But when scrolling on Facebook, people I’m friends with are sharing news reports that are actually relevant to me and where I live.
When it comes to Instagram I’ve always referred to myself as a snooper. I’ve had the same account for nearly 9 years and follow over 300 other accounts even though I could probably only list off around 10 to you that I actually care about. I never post pictures or like/comment on other peoples posts. I guess I just like to see what other people are posting instead of actually engaging with the app and digital world. Maybe I’m less of an Instagram user and more of an Instagram abuser.

Wait that sounds really bad.. I just don’t contribute to the Instagram community.

Good save Sarah…

In Adrian Miles’ article ‘Blogs in Media Education: A beginning’; Miles emphasises on the importance of keeping blogs alive and in particular, using them as a useful tool throughout student’s educations. Miles states that “blogs can help you to recognise that your work is able to make a contribution to a larger community” (pg 67). By uploading thoughts and facts to the internet, we have the power to reach out and educate so many more people.
Now if we think of Instagram as being a form of a blog page, which I guess it is; we see that it’s a place where we upload and share whatever we want to the world- educational or not. Pages such as Tasty from Buzz-Feed have the power to educate and motivate people to start cooking or even try out new recipes they never would have made before.

Let’s face it, most people are more inclined to learn from a video or a photo instead of reading a book anyway.

REFERENCES:
Miles, Adrian. “Blogs in Media Education: A Beginning.” Australian Screen Ed 41 (2006): 66–9. Print.