Profile Pic
This is my profile picture for my professional Twitter account. Our district requires our accounts to have our images as the profile picture. This picture was taken at a back to school night when I taught third grade in a small Catholic school in 2015-2016. If it was up to me, my picture would most likely be my Husky Kai, as it is for my g-mail account. My current students do love when I am giving feedback on their slides, and my dog is bouncing on their slides.
My “Social Life”
Growing up as a millennial my social media experience began with my AOL Instant Messenger and Myspace. Chatting with my friends and posting my favorite song lyrics was the norm throughout middle school and high school. As a junior and senior in high school Facebook became the thing to do. Later Instagram and Pinterest were added as a part of my social media rotation.
I continued using Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest until the fall of 2020. In fall of 2020, I discontinued use of Facebook and Instagram. Mid Pandemic and pregnant with my first child, I decided it was time to take a break from social media to help with my anxiety. I was social media free (except for Pinterest and good reads) until taking EDU 776 when starting up my professional Twitter. I have kept my account since then, but must admit I am not the most active. I try to post to share with families and colleagues, but have to make a conscious effort to do so.
Hi Rachael! I feel like we had some similar beginnings with social media. I would come home from school most days in middle school and log into AIM to keep chatting with my friends. Then I got a Myspace and didn't even realize that I was copying code as I designed my page. High school brought Facebook, which I do still use occasionally. I never got into Instagram or Twitter, and I have a hard time staying recent on Facebook anyways, so I think I'll steer clear of those. It sounds like you made a good personal decision to step away for your anxiety, I think the non-stop social media is definitely making our students more anxious as well.
ReplyDeleteHi Rachael,
ReplyDeleteI completely forgot about AOL. That was the first social media for me as well. I would rush home from school each day to log in and connect with friends. I would spend countless hours drafting profiles and away messages to share.
How did you feel after taking a break from social media? I gave up Instagram for the month of January for similar reasons and had an interesting experience. I found the first few days I was really missing the app. I would open my phone and mindlessly look for it before remembering it was gone. After about a week or so I forgot about it almost entirely. I ended up going the month of February without it either. I only redownloaded it this month because I was going on a trip with friends and wanted to be able to share pictures. I have been recently considering re-deleting it because I am finding myself on it more frequently. I wonder if you had a similar experience. Thanks for sharing your post. I look forward to reading more this semester!
Thanks for sharing a bit about your view on social media, Rachael. You mentioned your "students." What is your role in education today?
ReplyDelete