Honestly, I originally took this course because I needed to fill my gen ed requirements. I did not really even understand what Emergent Media was exactly. I quickly came to realize it was a very interesting topic that is very relatable to my generation especially with our technology growth in recent years. Looking at all the assignments for the semester, I did get very overwhelmed. Once it was broken down into the weeks, it was very easily adaptable. I enjoyed learning how to use this blogging website because I have never blogged before. I feel like i learned a lot of things from this course that will be beneficial in the future such as making a LinkedIn account that I will be using in the near future to look for opportunities in my field of study. I enjoyed the quizzes as well to keep us on our toes and keep us watching the films. Another thing I was very anxious about was the video we had to post on YouTube. I have never had to do that for any of my classes yet and I am glad I was able to get my first one out of the way. I appreciated that you put the effort in to email us every week reminding us of the assignments we had due the upcoming week as well. Giving us a variety of media to work with in order to present our assignments to you was a perfect way to emphasize the meaning of this class that people probably do not even realize but I found very clever. My favorite topic was learning about the sports and how the different caps for each league worked I found that very interesting and that was information I have never thought about before. Many of the lessons that were taught are things that seem obvious but make you think very deeply into such simple topics and that’s what I loved the most about this class. I am shocked at how much information I was able to obtain on an online class.

In a world growing with hundreds, even thousands, of stalkers and hackers online, it can be scary to put information on the internet. You hear of people getting credit card information stolen or social media accounts being hacked almost regularly. The internet is a scary place but with the right security and caution we can avoid these issues. When I first create an account online I always make sure I am private so no random person can look at my pictures or information I am sharing. I have gotten my credit card number stolen before and it is very scary. Luckily it was only one transaction and I was able to recover the money through my bank. But, through that experience I have learned that you cannot just buy from any website or trust anything you see online. I now only put my credit card number online if I know it is a secure trusted website. Even with secure websites there are still hackers that can find out your information. Another thing I have fallen victim to is downloading unneeded programs that have messed up my laptop. You have to be very careful with everything you agree to and look into everything you do on your computer because you have no idea who is watching. Make sure to password protect everything from accounts to just your phone or laptop itself. Do not be afraid to ask many questions before giving information about yourself to any person or program. No questions are too much. You only have one identity and if that is stolen it can be very dangerous for you and for others around you. The easiest way to avoid this is to not share any information with anyone you do not know or trust. It can be very tempting at times and you may feel safe but coming from someone who has been tricked multiple times into giving unnecessary information to someone, please be very careful.

Media literacy is something that I could consider myself fluent in but before this class I would not understand what that meant. I also have learned that it is our perspectives and how we interpret the meaning of the media.  It is causing us to be pushed away from some our skills and forcing us to develop other skills. Media literacy focuses a lot on the changing world we live in today. It is our ability to recognize that and organize the information in order to interpret the meaning of a message.  We find out so much of our information and knowledge through media. If we have never seen or experienced something, we are able to know so much about that topic through the media we encounter. We are able to relate that to our lives and then continue to share that information with other people which I find is incredible. Our media literacy depends on our personal locus, our knowledge, and our skills. If we have motivation to learn about the media and combine that with our previous knowledge and our skills we will be very media literate. Someone who is not mediate literate is able to become media literate with practice. We can analyze the media very carefully in order to find the medias real meaning it is trying to portray. Media literacy is a continuum meaning there is many different levels of being media literate, it is not black and white. There are different stages depending on your knowledge and ability to decode media. Many people go through most of the stages at a very young age. Some people move into the later stages but some people do not depending on their interests in learning to become more media literate. We need to increase our media literacy because information is constantly changing as time goes on and also because we need help deciding which actions are beneficial and which ones will hurt us.

Social media plays a very important role in my life. I spend hours a day scrolling through Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, VSCO, Facebook, etc. I also use snapchat as one of my main ways of communicating with my friends. I could not imagine my life without social media. I feel as if it keeps me connected with people from that I have met from all over. I have friends from many different parts of my life and to be able to see how they are doing is very beneficial to me. For example, I met a few girls on a cruise ship a few years ago from Alabama and I am still able to communicate with them through social media and I think that is the amazing part of social media. I do think social media takes up too much of my life right now. I sometimes focus too much on trying to look good on Instagram or have the perfect profile picture. I think it is sometimes toxic to my mental health to look at all the “perfect” lives on these websites and compare to them when in reality they do not even look like that in real life. That is the scary part about social media today. So many people feel the need to have the best account or funniest videos and when they don’t, they become insecure about themselves and it may lead to mental illnesses. I believe social media has impacted me for the better because of the communication it allows me to have but I could definitely see some of the negatives it has on my life as well. It takes away a lot of my time I could be spending on homework or out with my friends. We don’t even realize how much time we spend on social media because everyone nowadays is doing the same things it just seems right. I sometimes wish I could go back to when social media did not exist to see how much different the world would be.

I originally picked this course because I was in need of general education points in the communication goal. I wanted to pick a class that I had some interest in as well. Emergent media struck my attention because I am overly obsessed with my phone and social media. I spend hours a day scrolling through Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, etc. I could confidently say I am probably addicted to social media. This class was perfect because my major is not related to social media whatsoever so I can get a small touch of it while still sticking with Speech Pathology as my major. I am still learning more about what exactly emergent media is about and it is exciting to see more about what I will learn during this semester. So far, I find it very interesting and very interactive compared to other online classes I have been apart of. I enjoy the discussion posts and the ways we have to respond to others in order to learn different ideas. Blogging is something that is very new to me. I have read many other people’s blog posts though out the past couple years, but never thought about creating a blog myself. I think blogging can be very beneficial for the author. It creates a space to write thoughts, feelings, or ideas in an organized way and have it to look back on in the future. I also think blogs can be even more beneficial for the readers of the blog. The many blogs I have read have been very inspirational or motivational and that is the beauty of blogging. The information you are putting into the blogs can be personal or vague but either way the person writing the blog and the person reading the blog is getting something from writing those stories. I am excited to see what interesting blog posts we will have to make throughout the course and to find out more about myself as I am writing my blogs.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.