SOCIAL MEDIA AT DIFFERENT AGES

 

Stacey Leandre, 23, is a former student of the university and dished just how much she’s involved with social media. “My friends forced me to make a Facebook but I SO against it until sophomore year of college. I finally gave in.” Many young people, including myself, are a lot more reluctant to make a profile for the latest social media site than one would imagine. A huge reason I kept my Facebook as long as I did was because I loved seeing updates on my family members that I don’t get to see or talk to often and vice versa. It’s sad to say but the reason I even created a Twitter was because it was required of me by a past professor, she would have us tweet a minimum of twice a week about the class or anything pertaining to the topic we were reviewing that week. In Stacey’s case it was never required of her from an authority figure, but instead peer pressure from her friends. “Apparently having a Facebook isn’t good enough anymore, now they keep asking that I make an Instagram or something. I was proud to even get Snapchat, that’s enough for me right now.”

But then you have other young people like Kelsey Huntington, 21, who are social media savvy and quick to jump on the latest trend. “Right now I have Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and a Vine account. But I only really use Instagram, the others I barely check except for Vine because they actually have funny stuff on there.”

To find someone who was the polar opposite of Kelsey and other I went to an elderly woman whose name is Anna Boutelle, 77. “We bought our grandchildren those things for Christmas or birthdays but I don’t know how to even use the Nook my kids got me last year.” When I asked Mrs. Boutelle what social media sites she was on her response was, “Facebook is where I see all my friends and family.”