A Day in My Life: Digital Media & Personal Branding:
Digital Media is a big part of my life, and has been since I graduated high school in 2007. As it’s gained popularity, more of my life has become relient on digital media from touchless pay, to reading the news, over time, mostly everything has been digitized. Using these types of media makes it easier to share my feelings, and grow my personal brand.
How I Use Digital Media Every Day:
As someone who works from home, my job requires me to use media everyday. I work at a hospital billing company, researching and following up on denials from Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans. Every weekday, I logon to my computer, connect to a VPN, and clock in, all using the internet and different media sites. I then work claims all day on various websites, researching why they were denied and following up with the insurance.
While I’m working, if I’m not on the phone or needing to listen, I am playing YouTube or Netflix to help with the silence of having no coworkers but my cats and old dog. I often play music as well to fill the silence or hear new songs.
After work, I tend to play on my phone. I look at Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest, and listen to music through Apple Music. I also text and interact with my friends and family during the day regarding plans for dinner, get togethers, or just keeping in contact.
My Positive & Negative Reactions to Digital Media:
I miss privacy. I miss the computer living in its own room, and logging on only to briefly be on social media, read the news, and catch up with your acquaintances. Social media, especially short-form content like TikTok, has made people comfortable with sharing even the most mudane and secret parts of their lives. It’s taken away childhoods, innocence, and plastered the lives of children in dangerous, dark places. AI has made it worse. Darker. Scarier, and more dangeous. Often times, I feel like I am in a Sci-Fi movie before the robots take over, and I long for the safety of life before.
But the scroll. It’s addictive. The countless, neverending supply of videos. The hacks, the silly, the wholesome, the outrage, the politics, the extravagance. I feed the machine because I am a part of it. I love the knowledge, I love the people, and silly animals I get attached to. I cry alongside the people who knew them when they pass. I celebrate milestones and laugh at trends.
I appreciate social media for the way it has spread knowledge about disease and why voting matters. I appreciate the inclusive nature of a lot of it, sheding light on the nuances to life, the rare and unknown things that need funding or research. It brings me so much joy to see people living their authetic selfs, body positivity, inclusivity, and diversity. I love it for sharing uniqueness and bringing us together.
However, under the promise of bringing us together, there is a dark, unfettered rage of those who crave attention. There is so much negativity out there, evil people given power, and things I learned about that I wish I had never known. There are people who threaten others, say heinous things, argue about facts, deny real things, and spread a disease of hate that plagues us. For that, I hate social media. I hate the poison it has given us.
Digital Media and Marketing Today:
Digital media has given everyone the tools to make a brand. It has bolstered businesses that no one may have otherwise known about, and it has made businesses responsible for things that others have shed light on.
Brands all have access to the ability to instantly promote and push out content for themselves where we see it as posts, ads, and interactions. People can interact immediately, which sometimes favors them, and other times does not. Many times, when a company has something that people disagree with, the pushback is instant. This is a way for brands to be held accountable, although sometimes, it seems as though the apology is for show.
To balance this finicky market and succeed with digital marketing, a brand must really know their customers. For example, Wendy’s has been known for years online as a company that will “clap back” at other brands and online trolls. They were able to do this by interacting with their customers and gaging their reactions. Other brands do this sometimes, like Samsung, who will consistently make jabs at Apple. Then there’s things like Dunkin’ who has a sarcastic spider donut every Halloween that says some pretty interesting things. People have come to know this and expect it as year after year, the spidey donut comes with snark, sarcasm, and some unhinged responses.
Conclusion:
At the end of the day, despite my mixed feelings on social media’s presence, its presence is undeniably a big part of my life. Digital media in general has encompassed so much of our lives, mostly for convenience, and has brought the ability to share whatever we’d like, for better or worse.
I won’t deny the ease and enrichment that digital media has brought to my life, and the countless ways it has made it easier. I appreciate the adaptability, the endless nonsence, and the knowledge it continues to provide us with. The truth is, no matter what, digital media isn’t going anywhere, and we’ve all adapted to it in ways that we never saw possible.
Leave a Reply