Why I Love Social Media

Image: computerclipart.com

20 years ago, I first discovered the internet. It was 1996 and I was in my 2nd year of college. In those days, forums were the main way to communicate with lots of other people. I found a forum for Star Wars fans and suddenly I had all these like-minded friends.

While the internet has changed a great deal from those days, I still use it every day. In fact, most of my life is run by the internet. I work from home via the internet, I do all my banking and bill paying via the internet and of course, I use it to talk to my friends.

I have local friends but most of my close friends live far away from me. I'm an an introvert with chronic pain so there are days I don't leave the house. But I do long for human contact outside of my husband and child.

This is why I love social media. I can talk to my friends without having to leave my house. Some of my closest friends are people I've been friends with for years but have never met in person. A lot of my friends are also people I only see one a year at conventions that I talk to a lot over social media (mostly Facebook).

I never understand why people want to take breaks from Facebook. More power to them if that helps them out, but I could never do it. While Facebook isn't perfect, it works for what I use it for. I can message people directly, I can see what people are up to and I can talk with people who share the same interests in private groups.

A friend of mine is very ill. We are part of the same private group and most of the posts from this weekend were us worrying over lack of news. Praying and sending good thoughts and just huddling together via the internet as we worried and worried. I probably checked Facebook for updates every five minutes. Once we got an update, the relief was palpable. She still very ill but she's still with us.

Also after the shooting in Orlando, it was nice that my friends who live there were able to mark that they were ok. And of course, social media gives people a chance to mourn these awful tragedies together.

Social media isn't perfect, and I'd love to be able to get together with my friends in person. But until science finds a way to make transporters a thing, social media will have to do.

A Global Community

Last night, I was doing something fairly normal. Emily had been bugging me for a few days to play Kingdom Hearts so she could watch and try to read some of the dialogue. While I was trying to beat a boss battle, something horrible happened in Paris.

Once I got online, while Emily was getting her pj's on. I started reading about it. My Facebook feed was filled with pictures of the Eiffel Tower, words of comfort in French and the Twitter hashtag for people in Paris to use to find somewhere safe to go.

It reminded me of a day many years ago. I was in my last year of college, and I was playing a video game because I didn't have class until later. One of my roommates came to my door to tell me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center.

Even though I don't live in France, last night made me feel a little like it was 9/11 all over again. I thought it might just be me because I've been feeling anxious and out of sorts this week. But when I posted my feelings on Facebook, several friends said that they felt the same.

Thanks to the internet, I have friends all over the world. Granted most of them live in the US, but spread out. I do have friends across the pond and in other countries. My friends, even though I only know most of them via the internet, are very important to me. In one group, a friend posted that she loved us all. The feeling was quite mutual, for I love my friends very much even if I've never met them in person.

We are becoming a global community thanks to the internet. We can share our sorrow for the lives lost in Paris, and huddle around the computer to get information. But we can also use this internet to comfort one another in times of tragedy. We share our joys as well.

I'll have more to say about the goodness that can come from social media later. But I'm very happy to be part of a global community. It has allowed me to become friends with some awesome people I would never have met without the internet.

Dragon Con Cospitality Lounge

Dragon Con is only a couple of weeks away. Lots of excitement on social media as the con gets closer, but there was an announcement yesterday that has gotten a mixed reaction.

The 10th floor of the Marriott is a large open space that has traditionally not been used by the con. It has over the years become one of the most popular places to do meetups and have photoshoots. The only time I've ever been up there was for a BPAL meet & sniff my first Dragon Con ever.

But this year it's being turned into a cosplay rest area where no photography is allowed. The Cospitality Lounge, as they are calling it, is being hosted by Riot Games. I like this idea as a place were cosplayers can go and rest or do repairs. But I never really used the 10th floor before so I'm not losing anything.

I can understand why people who use that area are upset though. It's two weeks before the con and a lot of the cosplay photoshoots have already made arrangements. Now they have to scramble to try and find another area that won't be too crowded and big enough to contain a cosplay group. I've actually never done a photoshoot - but I've seen pictures and they can be large gatherings.

Hopefully those groups will find places to go and hopefully the cosplay area is pretty cool!