Social Media Reflection

I have been a student at the University of Arizona for 5 semesters now, taking only courses that have been related to my major, nursing. Every semester I have had a strict schedule for which classes I had to take and which ones I was not allowed to take for the reason that I would not be allowed to graduate on time. This past summer, I decided that I wanted to get some of these mandatory classes out of the way so I had time to take a course that I had an interest in and something that I will never have the chance to take again. This is how I came to my decision to partake in this course. I have always had a fascination with social media, but only knew about it on a surface level. When I was searching for classes to take, I came across the

Before this class, I only thought of social media sites as a way to talk to my friends and share some funny posts. I know see that social media can have a bigger impact on society or an individual. One example of this is when recently one of the kids from my high school went missing. Through social media, the parents were able to post pictures and updates about anything they wanted to share so other individuals could help them find their son. Within hours, social media posts were blasted on every site to help find their son and within hours someone had wrote to them that they had found him. If I didn’t take this class, I would have never been able to notice what social media could actually do for some people. This is just one example of how I now understand social media on a deeper level. Another example that I have noticed is on Twitter. When an individual or a group wants to start a movement, the simply post a hash tag to start a trend. Within seconds, millions of people will be tweeting the same hash tag and a new movement is formed. This example shows the power of social media and what it can

I find myself trying to identify what types of personas individuals are trying to portray and trying to figure out the type of persona I want to portray. I think it is really amazing that I have just taken a class that I can use in the real world, and in my everyday life. Many of the classes I have taken, I feel have been somewhat pointless. For instance, I have spent years learning math equations and algorithm’s and I have yet to use them outside of school. When I do any sort of math, it is usually basic and done through my calculator. I feel that instead of having these mandatory higher education math classes, students should be required to take classes that they can actually use on a day-to-day basis. For instance, I will always need to do my taxes, but I was never taught this in any type of course. This is a class that I think should be required to take. The first reason I think this should be a required class is because I found it very interesting and enjoyable. Secondly, social media is something that almost every American teenager uses in his or her lives. I believe that social media usage will only increase over the next few years. Classes should be taught about social media and the ways that it can affect society in a positive way. I think that this would be beneficial for many individuals because more people would be likely to participate in movements