Hi all,

Today I wanted to write a post about habits, and one of my unhealthy ones too. I decided its time to part ways with my Twitter account, but only for a week. Twitter has a lot of benefits to it, there’s lots of online movements on the platform and many people use it as a way to express themselves, promote content, and positivity, yet it is not always like this. The platform also has many negative uses, for example as I talked about last week, a lot of cancel culture comes from Twitter and people on the platform. Other negatives can include body shaming and shaming comments, which I have previously talked about here too on So Effortless and explained how they can be damaging to our self-esteem etc. I am going to explain why the sudden drive to ditch Twitter and what I think it will bring for me and my self-confidence.

I have seen many people give up certain habits, but Twitter is a deep issue for me. I never really used to use it but a few years ago I started out of boredom and now I am always on it! It is so wasteful of my time and sometimes damaging to my mind but at times it’s really entertaining. I always use it as a distraction when I have to do anything I don’t want to do or any work or assignments, it pulls me away from reality and I never get anything done, I just ending up wasting so much time it is crazy. You get dragged into multiple threads, some that are worth my attention obviously with the current movements online, but it can become overwhelming.

I also see Twitter to sometimes affect my mental health and well being with the information and images I am presented with. I follow a lot of the typical influencers, YouTubers and celebrities that post images and videos of the ” perfect body” a lot, now not to shame them, I am all for body positivity for all body types, even the “stereotypical” skinny look, but constantly seeing one body type being represented on a platform becomes irritating and makes me feel unincluded. Now, I can go ahead and follow a more wide variety of people on the platform like I do anyway, but still, I feel like the most popular page and the Twitter algorithm still presents and puts up mostly this image. Additionally, a lot of negative content towards a variety of different people is presented on the platform, which reading back affects me and probably others a lot too.

I see social media to be a sort of escape from reality, to see something funny and accepting but sometimes to see the harsh reality of things too, but the “sometimes” happens too often and it becomes a sort of a chore to log on and see what is happening in the world constantly. Again, I am thankful for the movements on Twitter that bring a lot of attention to crucial events happening that big media companies will not, such as online petitions and spread of important information to bring justice and peace to the public. So I am a bit 50/50 on the whole way Twitter operates because sometimes these movements are botched on the platform with false information and people not understanding and becoming disrespectful, which again this all explains why I am going to take a break from it all for a bit.

My aim to get out of this by the end of the week is to feel a bit better about myself, I know Twitter is not completely to blame for my self worth as it is made up of a lot of things, such as other online platforms I use such as Instagram and other real-life events. But I see Twitter to be a big part of this self-worth issue due to the reasons just discussed. I, a lot of the times also stay up late using Twitter, as mentioned by getting dragged into all sorts of threads and discussion on there, therefore losing sleep and thinking of a million negative things I just read or have seen, which do not aid my sleep. Having less hate and distraction in my life for a week, maybe more, will not only most likely aid my sleep but life in general. I also aim to get my information from more accredited sources, such as the news or websites with credits as sometimes I will read something on Twitter and take it as real, and I know this is a crime as a media student, but it happens to everyone, trying to make sense of something that you read online and starting to believe it can happen, it’s just important to know when it is happening and catch your self out and stop. This also happens on other platforms obviously but again, Twitter is my main issue.

I definitely urge people to do this as social platforms sometimes can bring us joy, but are not always the best choice for expression and free time either. I will try and post an update on this showing you how I did and if I did find it useful, social platforms can be addicting and distracting so make sure to always check if you are spending too much time online. Take time to step away and think about what you can do instead to fill your time, maybe a new hobby or something else that can bring you joy.

Love, Kasia x

Hi everyone,

Today I wanted to do the odd post on the topic of media, social and online media mostly. As many of you with any social network such a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram know that cancel culture is a big topic of discussion currently. With constant feuds and scandals with celebrities and influencers, we the viewers have come up with this concept of “cancelling” someone because of one issue or a past mistake. Today we are here to debunk that, explain what it is, why it is absolutely awful and to “cancel” it.

Cancel culture is the act of attempting to worsen someone’s personal image (a famous/popular person) online based on their current or past mistakes. It takes someone’s actions and blows them into huge proportions, which leads to fake news, fake additions to the story and unwanted opinions from fans and just the general public. Cancel culture can lead to influencers or celebrities losing followers, fandom and sometimes even their whole career.

I see cancel culture to be very toxic, but at the same time, I understand it to an extent. Cancel culture is based on quick judgment, people see a story repeated by different outlets and believe it from the get-go and the online discussion begins. People start digging deeper into this influential persons past, reminders of things they have done before come up and people base their opinions quickly from that. It is solely based on the idea that we should humiliate everyone no matter what status, for any sort of mistake they have ever made. There is no basis for communication or forgiveness in cancel culture and it is very damaging to anyone participating or receiving the “cancelling”. The people who cancel the influencer start to lack basic empathy for the situation and begin to forget that this person they are attacking or publicly shaming has a life, emotions and is human just as you. Try and reverse roles and see how you would feel if someone was trying to cancel you. On the other side, you also have the cancelee, who receives this hate and has very little they can do until it dies down, trying to address a whole platform of people in the midst of remembrance what you said 5 years ago and not apologised for is tough. I am not saying that there should be no repercussions for any bad deed the influencer may have done, I am just trying to show people who participate in it that the damage done is on both sides.

 

 

Getting rid of cancel culture would be the only way to properly understand the way that communication between fan and celebrity should actually be. There should be an understanding of mistakes and why this issue happened in the first place. There should also be respect for a certain boundary, I mean you can be a fan by all means but only to an extent, no matter how close you wish you were with this influencer or celeb your only a fan, your opinion and input on their personal issues or doing is just that, an opinion, which most of the time they don’t really care about if it’s negative. I feel that people who mostly engaging with cancel culture don’t really understand this, you can reprimand as much as you can but to them your just another person online trying to be noticed, and just trying to tell them what to do or how to act.

Cancelling someone doesn’t really do anything as most of the time they won’t notice specifically what you say, all you are doing is filling your life with the negativity of another person who most likely does not even see you, wasting your time trying so hard to change someone who might not even know you exist. Trying to make them accountable is only making you angrier and more stressed in life, give it up, if this influencers behaviour is bad enough then their time will come to leave the spotlight, without your cancel input. The truth bomb hurts sometimes and people need to hear it.

To finish off, I am not saying go feel bad for all influential and popular people we have in the world, they should face consequences for their actions just as many of us do in life normally, but cancelling someone completely due to mostly fake news and basic human mistakes that can happen to anyone is not healthy, and is also one of the many reasons that social media is also not the best for our mental health. I think this should be dependant on the situation, look at how big the issue is of this influencer, if it is a past mistake and they have shown change then I do not see a reason for “cancellation”, yet if this is a larger issue that ha never been addressed or apologised for, then yes I agree that there should be some consequences such as loss of followers or money. But never cancelling someone and their career. Everyone should get the chance to change and apologise for their mistakes, no matter how big.

Love, Kasia x

Hi everyone,

Studying media has allowed me to see how complex it can be and how it works behind the cameras, theoretically. The media specifically picks what stories to share with you to influence your opinion and knowledge on specific subject areas. The media is also here to inform, connect and educate so everyone is aware and can participate in world decisions. Certain channels chose sides and views on politics and global affairs and influence those who are watching, so I see it to be important to explain and debunk how this all works and how stories are manifested in different viewpoints.

This post will mainly focus on Polish and English news and social outlets as this is what I have access to and surrounded by on a daily basis.

To start with, I want to discuss how media is focused on the negativity around the world rather than putting out more positive stories. The media has a tendency to do this as bad news sells and is more viewed than good news. Unfortunately, there is more reaction and popularity in negative stories as they are longer lasting and have more effect on a wider range of people. I will give you an example from the past few days of such news, as I watch Polish news every day on the channel TVN24, and I will now list what has been broadcasted for the past three days:

1. Two small aeroplanes crash at a local town picnic event.
2. Elderly man dies on a train from overheating, the train is delayed for 8 hours.
3. One train crash, due to a vehicle not stopping at train tracks.
4. People leaving their children in hot cars.
5. Two accidents on opposite sides of a motorway, one caused by slowing down cars to take pictures of the already existing accident on one side of the motorway.
6. A 10-year-old girl has been raped and found deceased on the side of a small town.

Now, firstly it is clear to see that these events are crucial to report as I mentioned earlier, to inform the public. It allows people to be more aware of certain situations happening and how to prevent them, to be educated on what not to do and to think about the families of the people involved. But what could be reconsidered is the repetition of the stories and the amount. Viewing such negative news on a constant basis is directly linked to people behaviour and self-esteem, which is degraded by the no break of negativity and rarely seen, positivity. The media need to re-construct the layout of the stories and break them up to have a more constant flow. Report the awful things happening in the world in order to educate and inform but also include all the good things happening in the world and the advancements we should celebrate.

Another area in the media that I would like to discuss, which most people probably already know about, is the severe focus on news coming from developed countries and ignoring any other news coming from less developed countries. By developed countries I mean the US, UK and certain countries in Europe. It is constant that all we see in the news is from the UK or occurrences in American and that’s it mostly unless you look deep into media webpages and reports then maybe you will find something there, but not on the main pages of publications.

Not long ago there was uproar on social media as news broadcasters were focusing on big current news in areas that they wished to report or that have bigger stories associated to them, but meanwhile, no one was speaking about the government massacre against civilians in Sudan, where a peaceful protest were supposed to give them freedom but ended in hundreds losing their lives. It was up to untrusted sources of many social media accounts on Facebook or Instagram to share such news to us and finally get it reported on some accredited media journalist platforms, but still not media giants on television. This is just one of the many examples that occurred during this time and is not in the knowledge of the public.

The media unfortunately picks and chooses what we see and how we react, we are not made aware of smaller countries with bigger issues than Donald Trump visiting the UK, and there is nothing we can really do about it unless there is active involvement in the media. We wish to know world news, not chosen news and how we can help as a population. We need more information so we can be attentive to others who may really need our help, not just economically developed countries.

I do not mean to discredit any negative news in developed countries, I am simply trying to bring light to the issue at hand. The aim of the news is to deliver knowledge on current affairs everywhere, not where they choose.

Love, Kasia x