my life has revolved around different aspects of the internet since i was at least 11 years old. growing up with something as powerful as the web has had its ups and downs, both influencing my life in both a positive and negative light.
as a youth on the interwebs, i would mainly use twitter, instagram, and even snapchat to connect with the people i already knew and meet new friends from around the world. for years, i conversed with hundreds of different people across all kinds of platforms about music, television, and life in general.
spending time with family watching cartoons and lifetime movies turned into sitting in my room watching meaningless youtube videos by myself. hanging out with friends in person turned into 6 hour oovoo calls with people i just met in some random twitter group chat i was added to. it was a quick and honestly pretty strange adjustment
from about 11-16, i would create fan accounts for my favorite artists and make friends that i still have to this day. i not only used social media and the internet as a talking platform, but also as an educational source, which did help me deal with certain social, political, and personal issues that arose in my life during the time. i would discover different aspects of life that i probably wouldn’t have known about if it weren’t for the internet. sex education, awareness on world issues, different perspectives on issues that i was going through were all apart of this experience.
i have always been invested in social media and the internet in general, spending my time and energy making conversation with people i barely knew, searching the web trying to find new things to learn about, but it wasn’t until i started my own business and brand that i took my internet activity and presence to a different level.
once i started my venture into photography, i had to up my twitter, instagram, facebook, tumblr, snapchat, and reddit game by 1000%. i wanted to be successful. i had seen it happen, people around me gaining opportunities by the force of social media. it was all so obviously obtainable. i had to get out there, make a name for myself, network and be as marketable as possible. which is exactly what i did. i went from spending my leisure hours on twitter, instagram, and youtube to spending half my day on every app and website imaginable trying to network and get my art out into the world; make new opportunities for myself.
i am currently invested in social media way more than i ever thought i would be and it is kind of infuriating. i check instagram up to 10 times a day, i’m scrolling through twitter for hours, i’m flicking through snapchat and my email, updating my website…. social media has completely taken control of my life. and it sucks.
i care more about little things that don’t matter than i ever would’ve years ago
i look at who people are following as if that’s a tell tale sign as to who they’re actually friends with. i look at post activity as if it matters in the grand scheme of things. i constantly watch my follower count fluctuate and it frustrates me. it sometimes slips my mind that half the people in this world do not care about social media as much as i have learned to, as much as i have seemingly been groomed to.
i’ve lived on the internet for almost 10 years and it’s warped my sense of reality.
the social media culture has done a lot for me in my life, but it has also fucked with me to the point of almost no escape, to a zombie like state that is controlled by meaningless numbers and interactions.
-eva
