Many people use social media to amplify their spunky, outgoing personality that is epitomized by their social butterfly persona. These people are outspoken and are seemingly carefree of what anyone else thinks of them because they're living their best lives, and they want to share it with the world. They also genuinely care about what others are posting and pay close attention to what they're reading. My mom is one of these people, and I wish sometimes that I could be. There are other people who use social media just to take a break from life for a minute and escape from the world by scrolling down a timeline where everyone else voices their opinions, hardships, and celebrations. I feel that I fall in the latter group. Even though I have stated before that I simply want to live in the moment and do not care much to post on social media (which is still true), I wish that I still had the other characteristics that come with the people who take part in the active social media usage. When school is in full swing, stress and anxiety peep in and try to take over, and I'm sure most students can relate to this. Throw in working a few days a week, club meetings, and mandatory events to attend and one's plate is pretty much full. I love everything I do, and I am happy to do it, but sometimes it all becomes too much. So where do I go? To social media, of course, because while I am scrolling and clicking from one site to the next, all the other things go away for a short period of time and my brain can rest for a bit. Social media is my reward system and my time waster. When I have down time, social media is my first stop, and although most see this as a way of coping with "loneliness", it is simply my reliever of stress and landfill of frustrations. This all sounds fine and good, so why do I wish that I could be the opposite? Mostly because the other people efficiently portray that they do not have anything to worry about, even though they surely do, and it would be enjoyable for me to be able to take life a day at a time, little by little, and stop taking it all so serious.

With the recent shooting that took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, a lot of my social media timelines are filled with nothing other than news reports from this tragedy, pictures of the suspect, and more than anything, posts from the students and parents affiliated with the school who will be scarred for the rest of their lives. Because these students are so active on social media already, it is not surprising that this is what they took to in order to express their feelings about what happened on Wednesday. Reading each post makes me feel even more remorseful for the pain they had to endure, given the videos on Snapchat that had the rifle going off in the background and pictures of texts between family members who did not know what the outcome would be that day. I am glad that they are using these media outlets to take and have a voice, hopefully to make a difference. However, many others are using the media in a negative way-a lot of politics are being thrown out there, and it is disheartening to me that pushing an agenda is the priority when 17 young lives were lost. Yes, something needs to be done, but spreading so much negativity is dividing our country when those who were victimized should be lifted up and helped to find peace. I saw an article that said Russia was using bots and troll accounts, just as they did in the 2016 Presidential election, to  divide us. They have posted pro-gun ads and also ads that were against it. Manipulation of our media by foreign countries as well as those who do not consider their words before posting are out of hand and something needs to be done about it.

The act of someone or something "going viral" seems to be one of the most random things, and although there are cues for the hows and whys of it happening, most posts aren't created with the intention of it spreading hundreds of thousands of times. During winter break, a friend from high school shared a tweet that had a blurry, low quality picture of her Christmas tree and then a regular photo of the Christmas tree with more detail, and she correlated this to her wearing or not wearing her glasses. It was clever, and to many who rely on contacts or glasses, it was probably relatable. However, generic twitter pages stole the tweet and started sharing it as their own and it even made its way to Facebook. Undoubtedly, it was even more popular on their pages and she did not get credit, but her Twitter following still grew as a result of it becoming widespread. Many people want this, more or less, 15 minutes of fame, and some even get upset when they share something that has been similarly done in the past does not get the same feedback. Personally, I have never understood this desire to become "famous" because even though it seems awesome to accomplish, there are many people out there who are going to have negative feedback about your post and even about you, because many people go lurking through your pages after this occurs. I have never really posted much on social media though, with minimal pictures and videos on my profiles and few status updates or tweets that are of my own creation. Most of me thinks that no one cares about what I have to say, but it is also because I enjoy having privacy to where not everyone knows every detail of my life and has an opinion about it. With that said, I feel like more people should actually apply the Kermit the Frog meme "but that's not of my business" to their daily lives and butt out.

I have always been one to cherish every moment, to live in the present, and take in every bit of my experiences because memories last us a lifetime. With that said, I take minimal pictures, which I may regret later on down the road, but my mom has tagged me in enough to compensate thus far. In that respect, I do not think I would be losing out on much if everything digital were to go away, unlike the vast majority. However, I honestly got quite stressed when I thought about of all of the school work I have spent countless hours on and put hard work into that would be gone forever. This is not even to mention the anxiety that builds when considering the effects that this would ensue on a day to day basis. For school, I have an online class this semester that could simply not be done, online homework that could no longer be completed, PowerPoint presentations that could no longer be accessed, and looking information to complete other assignments would be increasingly difficult. I am not even exaggerating when I say I am nauseous at the thought. Furthermore, we use an online scheduling system for my job, as well as a system to check in guests, sign out equipment, and log packages for the students on campus. When these systems go down, it takes at least twice as long to keep everything in check, and the utter confusion that comes along with it is enough to drive you crazy. Most importantly, though, I would not be able to stay in touch with with my family and significant other while at school. This would take the largest toll on me, given that I talk to my mom and boyfriend all day, every single day. In class, we discussed how the world would function as a result of this and how many people would survive. In my opinion, the world would spiral out of control, and it would likely be my death sentence.