Lately I have been thinking about new media and how powerful of a tool it could be to shape our future. There are lessons they don't teach us in school—things we come across in the real world that need an explanation. In the past the only way we ever learned about these lessons was by asking someone. I remember there being times when I would pretend to know about something because I was too embarrassed to ask about fearing ridicule. I look back now and I understand how silly of a thought that is, but kids can be mean, you know? Today we have these things in the palms of our hands that have all the answers—the world is literally at our fingertips.

I think about social and mainstream media and its ability to shape who we are, and who we want to be. I also think about how it is a tool that is used to keep us all in line. We passively “like” things because it is easier than actually showing support for whatever it is; we just click and move on. We guage ourselves, and our success' on how many followers, shares, or likes can generate with our personal information, our opinion, or our image. We also judge others on these same variables. I guess what I am saying is nothing has really changed, just the arena the game is played in.

When it comes to my new media experience, generally I follow people, organizations and groups that fit my beliefs and interests. For the most part the content I follow generates posts about topics that interest me, and the people that comment on these feeds generally feel the way I do. However, the people that don’t feel the way I do, post in a fashion that comes across as an attack on the person I am, or the person that I want to become. It is important for people to not forget that content does not simply fall from the sky into these devices that have somehow earned so much of our attention. There are people on the other end of these comments that have real feelings, thoughts and beliefs that deserve the same respect as the ones we all posses and feel should be respected.

As a society, we need to be better about recognizing bias in the media and the power this bias can have on us. We can Google just about anything; we can find any slant we want, find the answer we wish to find (regardless of whether it is true or not) and treat it as though is the truth. This I feel is one of the downfalls of new media. These perceived truths are easily dispersed through social media and create a vicious cycle of misinformation.

Gay marriage, transgender bathrooms, bullying, marijuana reform… the list goes on. There are conversations need to be had, and questions that need to have answers. Regardless of the topic or where you stand on it, new media platforms are the perfect arena for conversations to take place. You can navigate relatively anonymously and ask questions that may be taboo in your community. You can seek out information and form your own opinion, without the pressure to fit your family or community’s ideal.

Hopefully, moving forward we can better grasp the social benefits these devices that have demand so much of our attention give us. It is bigger than pictures of cats, memes, and biased—on demand—information. It is an opportunity to learn about things we were too afraid to ask about, too embarrassed to purchase books about, or too ashamed talk about. New media allows us to realize exactly how diverse the world is, and how, while you may feel alone in the world, there are people just like you, in the same position as you, and looking for the same information as you.