• Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram

  • My favorite "social" apps! It's where I communicate with my friends the most and get updates about their lives.

• Twitter

  • Probably my most private social media account. It contains many of my rants, worries, complaints, and more. Only my closest friends have access to my Twitter. It's also pretty educational for me. I often learn about news (local, national, global, gossip, issues, etc.) on Twitter first over other social media apps.

• TikTok

  • Who doesn't spend time on TikTok nowadays? It's one of the most entertaining apps for me. There are also many videos on TikTok about my interests (makeup, fashion, gaming), so I like them a lot, even though I get carried away sometimes...

Believe it or not, I learned most of my hobbies on YouTube. Learning how to crochet, how to read and write in Korean, how to make origami paper crafts, and even how to study for science are all things I've done with the help of YouTube. Of course, there's also the entertainment aspect of it which I find in daily life vlogs, mukbangs, and game reviews.

Newspapers, traditional media, digital media, the internet—these are sources of information for me. The media I consume isn't only for entertainment, but for knowledge too!

The picture above is me and a friend's game characters together. We are playing Genshin Impact, which is a fantasy open-world action roleplaying game. There are a bunch of other games I play, but they all fall under the same category/genre of games: Honkai Star Rail, Infinity Nikki, Wuthering Waves, and Cookie Run Kingdom.

A friend once asked, "How do you get such high grades when all I see you do is play those games on your phone?" >< I'm sorry, it's my stress reliever! I've liked playing games ever since the day my kuya introduced me to Roblox and Minecraft. I like it so much that I've started cosplaying game characters! (The 4th picture in the friends section is me and my friends cosplaying together :P)

For instance, I have enhanced my skills through media, such as my critical-thinking skills, creative skills, and even vocabulary skills. I also relax and reduce stress through the consumption of these media. A lot of my motivation has come from media because when I come across successful and happy people, I aspire to be like them.

There is also the negative influence though, like overconsumption, misinformation, addiction, and distraction. I am especially prone to procrastination because of media. But whenever I feel like I'm being too engrossed in media, I try my best to break away from it and remind myself of the goals I have yet to achieve.

Overall, I can say that media can be both healthy and unhealthy in my case. I have learned lots of things from media, but I am also prone to toxicity online. In order to keep myself healthy and safe, I will always keep in mind my rights and responsibilities as an individual, as well as my physical and psychological well-being, by engaging in other activities that do not require too much consumption of media from time to time.