Hannah Fetty's Blog

Researching Pinterest gave me the opportunity to learn more about the social media platform that I did not previously know. There were aspects of the application that I never knew existed. For example, there is an option to take a photo of an object and search for pins similar to that photo.  It was really great working with my group on this project. While we all had our own separate parts, we each contributed to every aspect of the project. My part consisted of teaching others how to use Pinterest, as well as giving an overview of all of our research. However, in that, I got to explore the positives and negatives of Pinterest and look into the history and background of it too.  I have personally always enjoyed Pinterest. I've had mine for several years. I use it for recipes, workouts, and cute pictures of dogs. I also use it for future planning, like cute ideas for a wedding, or a future home, or parenting tips. It is so diverse with its content and perhaps that is wha...

We are eager to share, to retweet, to hashtag for good causes. We change our profile pictures to support things like the shootings in Paris. We do all these things and we tell ourselves we are making a difference now. The question is how much of a difference are we making? Is it enough to post on social media? I believe that it will absolutely raise awareness and perhaps even invoke questions within those who see your posts. BUT if everyone ONLY shared things, what would happen? Where would we get if everyone only did their fighting on social media? Would a change ever occur? What would have happened to the people who were affected by the hurricane if everyone had just kept everything on social media? What actions would have been taken in response to #MeToo if it was only on social media? My point is not to say that social media isn't valuable because it totally is. However, we cannot let the fight solely reside on social media. Let's make a stand.

Social media is a tool that can take many forms. There is certainly good to it as it amplifies many good causes and charities. It connects people with old and new friends. It serves as a way to build an online portfolio and community. There is also the bad aspect. This aspect might involve the time it consumes and the addiction that it many times causes. The ugly would have to be the way it amplifies bullying and trolling. It can bring out the worst in people because many times those people can remain anonymous. We can choose what our own personal social media broadcasts. Will it be good, will it be bad, or will it be ugly? I personally hope that we all choose to put more good out in the world with our social media. Lets start a revolution of positive posts.

When you post something online, do you ever think to yourself that it will go viral? That you will be an overnight sensation? That your entire life could be turned entirely upside down by a single tweet, Facebook status, or Instagram post?  I'm sure that most people do not put things online with these thoughts in mind. Most people do it to share a moment in life or to make a funny joke. They do not do it with the intention of being famous by any means. However, this is what happens. One tweet, status, or post grabs someone's attention. Repost. Then another's attention. Repost. Then 5 more people's attention. Repost, repost, repost, repost, repost. Before you know it, your post has been shared hundreds of thousands of times and you have become either the praise or the joke or the target of the internet. Many lives have been ruined and many have been amplified from a single post.  The saying goes, "Expect the unexpected." Maybe we should all post things a...

Social media has many pros and cons. It's an excellent platform to express yourself. However, if used inappropriately, it can also ruin your reputation. There have been several instances of people not being hired or even getting fired because of something they've posted on social media. What kind of things cause this? Posts that are inappropriately captioned or have inappropriate things in them such as alcohol can lead to such unfavorable outcomes. Users of social media must be wise about what they're posting. One must express themselves in a professional and responsible way. One must truly think through what they post before they post it. It is so easy to do these kinds of things without thinking because of the ease of doing so. So what are some things you should ask yourself before posting online? 1. Why am I posting this? 2. What would I think if I saw someone else post this? 3. Is this post truthful? 4. Am I posting this to show off or simply to share? 5. ...

What if I came up to you and started telling all the things I ate today and every small, silly thought I've had? You would probably think I was weird and you most likely wouldn't be very much interested in the conversation if I had to guess. Isn't this what we share on the internet? We share many meaningless posts that many people that follow us don't really care about most likely. Often times these "meaningless" posts could actually be giving people too much information. Is it telling them when your home and when you aren't? Is it giving away sacred information that could be used to find passwords for your accounts or information that could later be used against you?  Why do we feel the need to share? To invade our own privacy and make our entire lives open to the general public?  While it's wonderful to share our lives with others, I also think it is important to be cautious about what exactly we are sharing. What if what seems meaningless...

When I was little, I spent most of my time running around, playing outside, and daydreaming about life. My young self was filled with a need for adventure and wander and joy. I had not a care in the world. I simply lived for each and every moment. In modern times, I feel as though that wander and adventure have been lost. There is no room for imagination because children's minds are being filled with what the internet is telling them on their phones and tablets. Parents put a screen in front of their children's face to keep them distracted rather than having them engaged in the real world. Rather than venturing out into a world of imagination, they play in a world that's been created for them within the safety of parental control. Everything is created for them. They are passive participants in a mindless virtual reality. With this comes the loss of critical thinking skills, imagination, and adventure. It encourages kids to stay inside, to isolate themselves, and to act...

Do you ever post something on Instagram, and watch the post for the next several days just to see how many likes you get? I know I have and still do. I struggle with the need for likes and comments. But why? Our society has placed such a high value on getting the most likes or just getting a lot of them. It's like we not only define ourselves by these standards but also the quality of our friendships. I feel like humankind as a whole has a natural tendency to want to be well-liked. So getting likes starts to become about how well we're liked. However, is this a true measure of that? Does it really show that a person genuinely likes you? Just because someone follows you on social media does not show the depth of relationship you have with that person. Shoot, I follow people I've never actually met in person. The point of this article is not to condemn these thoughts and ideas, but rather to point your attention to something bigger. There is value and friendship beyond th...

You could say that I am a fairly competitive person. I love playing games. If anything competitive is going on, I am totally down. A campus christian organization that I am a part of (Chi Alpha) had a game night the other day and after playing several other fun and challenging games, we decided to finish up our evening with a game of spoons. To be quite honest, I've never been good at spoons. I don't typically react quick enough to grab a spoon. (To my surprise I actually won both rounds we played. It was a miracle.) While playing spoons, the goal is to get four cards with the same number on each of them. So, you pass the cards around until someone gets four of the same numbers and grabs the first spoon. From there, it's a free for all. There's scratching, hitting, stealing, punching,... anything goes when you're trying to get that spoon. Okay, I may have over exaggerated slightly as to how violent the game got, but you get the point. The person without a spoon in...

Have you ever just shared something on social media based on the title? Or perhaps based on the picture? Have you done it without reading the actual article attached?  I'm sure at one point we've all done it. Or we've at least shared something we've barely skimmed over. This is extremely dangerous because as we promote and share stories and articles and other links onto our social media, others will assume that we are advocating for whatever that story might be saying. And, what it might be saying may not be the truth.  With the ever-changing capabilities of technology, it has become easier and easier to publish things online. Literally anything can be posted on the internet. All you need is access to the internet and something to type with in order to publish for thousands and even millions of people to view.  With this in mind, it should be noted that one can make up whatever they want for the world to see. If I wanted to, I could theoretically write a stor...

Have you ever noticed how the pictures that your tagged in on Facebook end up being the most hideous pictures of you? Like you always post the most beautiful and polished photos of yourself to make your profile look great. Naturally. But what about those gosh darn tagged pictures? The one from that time when you had that really bad haircut in middle school? Or the time you broke your nose and blood was gushing everywhere? Or that one where someone caught you perfectly right in the middle of a sneeze? Yeahhhhhhhh...... all those. Those are the best, right? I bring up these horrendous pictures to make the claim that these pictures are necessary. They are important. They are valuable. Why, you might be asking yourself. Well I can tell you in one word. Memes. Yes, that's right. Memes . If there was never an embarrassing or awkward picture taken of anyone, what would we use to make memes with? The question is, what makes a meme successful? What makes it get shared to the point th...

I think we've all lost something that's super valuable or important to us. A few years back, my mom, grandma, sister-in-law and I went on a girls' beach trip. It was great... until my mom lost the diamond in her ring. My dad had just gotten it for her for their anniversary. Her original engagement ring had fallen behind the sink years ago and it was impossible to get to. She had wanted a new ring for so long, and then when she finally got one, the diamond managed to fall out and was untraceable. Our first response as faith-filled women was prayer. We were praying and searching and my mom was quite frantic. She had lost something that was valuable and that had become a part of her life. Plus we had been on the beach earlier that day which meant the diamond should have literally been ANYWHERE. Long story short, we found the diamond in the bathroom of the condo we rented for the week. Praise the Lord. But I look at how this situation created panic and chaos and I think wha...

Evolutionary Theory is a concept that was created by Charles Darwin. While I am not a fan of the theory nor do I personally believe it to be true, there is one aspect of the theory that I believe applies to social media. The concept of the survival of the fittest has been used to describe the piece of Darwin's theory called natural selection. Natural selection is the process of eliminating weaker species or versions of a species. The favored ones must outdo the weaker one in order to survive. In other words, something greater and stronger must exist for another species to be wiped out. Thus, the survival of the fittest. I believe that this theory is applicable in the world of social media. Social media is constantly changing and adapting. New platforms pop up constantly. The question is, what makes a social media platform so popular? What makes one completely die out?  Facebook has been one of the most popular social media sites for the past several years. However, could it ...

Have you ever sat in gum? Well I have. Not to mention that it happened in my favorite white dress! The neon-colored gum stubbornly weaved itself into the stitching of my dress, making it nearly impossible for any cleaner, any treatment, or any cleaning method to remove this horrid, sticky substance. Why is this relevant to the internet you may be asking? What if I told you that social media is the chewing gum of the internet? What if I told that it sticks to us and leaves remnants that make it hard if not impossible to get rid of? Social media looks glamorous. It's the thing everyone couldn't wait to sign up for and it's the thing they still can't wait to log into each and every day. It's the place where people share their own lives and where they second-handedly experience others'. But what happens when the strain of keeping up with every social media platform just becomes overwhelming and overbearing? In my personal experience, I would love to get rid of...