Who wants a lesson on digital citizenship anyway? The point of being on social media is just to get connected to people and eventually become popular, right? If your answer is wrong, then why are you so desperate about building a positive reputation on the internet? Yeah, you could easily defend yourself by claiming “it leaves good impressions to the universities I’m applying.” Why do colleges care about your digital presence anyway? Anyone would fake a good reputation for the sake of their future. Therefore, while maintaining a good reputation online, how would we ensure the credibility of the information we receive digitally?
Reputation…or Mask?
In traditional schools, you’re penalized for making a mistake. But that won’t work in the new information culture, in the digital world we live in today. – Daniel Greenberg
Reputation is such an ambiguous concept. Whenever you’re tempted to do something fun but has the potential to ruin your reputation, human nature would support you since it could be entertaining to the world and yourself, but your conscience is more considerate about your presence and future and stops you from doing so. As a digital citizen, doing things that appear to be interesting but not necessarily decent or moral, such as exchanging dirty jokes in private chats or tagging your friends under memes to insult or make fun of them, are all acts that could indicate you’re a hilarious person to some or could ruin your reputation tempestuously. Worse than negative rumours in real life, the disgraceful reputation you created online could never be changed, because they are permanent no matter how hard you try to get rid of the mistakes you made.
Instead of faking a good reputation, why not actually build one from the bottom of your heart? People are judgemental, and that’s the unchangeable, brutal fact. In such a world where people directly believe what they see with their own eyes, think twice before you do anything on the internet! Being a good digital citizen is not only being responsible for what you posted, but also for the posts you liked, the comments you gave, the messages you texted, or even the merchandises you purchased online. Indeed, digital citizenship does sound somehow terrifying. It’s like having Regina George, who judges every single aspect of you, in your school. However, as long as you learn to respect and be considerate, troubles should keep themselves away from you.
What really triggers me is, how on Earth am I supposed to know if the things I see are real? The thing about being a good digital citizen is not only being respectful and nice, but also being honest about the things you post. Yes, everyone wants to make them look as good as possible on the web, including me. However, doesn’t it trigger you when you spot false things that were posted on the internet? As ironic as it seems, skepticism exists in me while I’m scrolling through social media. When I get over-engaged to the posts or people on the web, it feels like being trapped in a deep despair, where you aren’t able to find the truth.
“The World is Mine!” – Dopamine
The moment you enter the digital world is the moment when your world suddenly became infinite. Undeniably, the virtual world knows no boundaries and allows you to do almost everything you want. For instance, becoming popular, which I believe is the ultimate goal for certain people, is something you could pursue. Let’s be shameless about this, because to be honest, I desire fame as well. We always want to show the world the best of us, perhaps too much sometimes as we lost ourselves while surfing the net. Before moving on, I want you to ask yourself: who do you care the most? Without second thoughts, the answer is commonly “myself”. Am I right?
As we engage ourselves with others as a digital citizen, social media triggers dopamine, which is a chemical that makes you feel good, to be released. As we post things, whether it’s about our life, pet, accomplishment, activities, or anything else, we get “approvals” from others as we gain likes and comments from others. As we achieve some popularity, we are never satisfied and desire for more dopamine to be released. As the cycle goes on like a snowball effect, it turns into obsession towards social media and causes us to lost ourselves in reality. Meanwhile trying to maintain a perfect reputation on the web and being a good citizen, please ask yourself, am I really happy? Or am I kidnapped by social media through my obsession?
“Are you really happy? Or just on the web?”
The Ultimate Two-Sided Blade
The development of the internet allows us to be connected to the world. Living in such an era when information explore like bombs every single moment, it’s really important to keep our moral standards. Who knows? A single meme you had sent or even a word you had spoken could twist your bright future into a dull one. Take a look at the graduates who were revoked by Harvard just because of their inappropriate behaviour on the web. How would you justify a group of students who got into Harvard and created a private group chat that exchanged sexually and racially offensive jokes? The internet benefited them by allowing them to entertain themselves through discrimination, but karma hit them pretty soon as they exchanged their glamorous opportunity in order to do so. Was it worth it? To me, Harvard made the right decision to rescind the offers, because by doing so, they’re preventing students who discourteous and dishonest at the same time.
After reading the article mentioned in the previous paragraph, I was baffled and shocked. It’s not only because of the students’ immaturity, but also because of my behaviour on social media. Sometimes I comfort myself as I claimed to believe what is private remains private, but I was proven wrong. Your digital presence might seem to be invisible, but it could be revealed any second and turn your life upside down. Play the role you should play instead of trying to hide and fake.
Anyhow, I still enjoy social media as it actually helps me to accomplish things such as promoting an event. For example, as I hosted a fundraising event with my friends last semester, I promoted it on Facebook in order to inform the public about it. Besides promoting the event, the post would look good on my profile as well! 🙂 Social media might appear to be something that’s skin-deep, but the intentions behind a post, a comment, or even a like could be under-interpreted at all times. Obsession over social media is seemingly out of control, but it could be easily solve in simple ways such as turning out all notifications on your phone. As I tried such method, I found myself having less concerns on things such as the likes I got on Instagram or the amount of text messages I received. In addition, it also decreases my will of entering social media and allows me to live a more fulfilled life (well, at least in my opinion). While signs of popularity somehow gives you an illusion of superiority and causes dopamine to be released, it’s still something that only exists in the virtual world, the digital world that seems to be right in front of you yet is forever out of reach.
△the post I posted on Facebook in order to promote our fundraiser
Oh well, if you disagree with “using less social media allows you to enjoy your life more”, wouldn’t you mind to take a look at the attached video? I hope it helps 🙂