Showcasing Hobbies Through Social Media

What do you do in your spare time? Do you play sports, dance, or play an instrument etc.? Have you ever had an achievement that you want to share with your friends, or do you feel like talking about it with them, since you feel proud of said achievement. I know I have, for example, just yesterday I won a bowling tournament that I have been trying to win for 10 years and I was very proud, so the first thing I did on the way home was post about it, I posted on Snapchat and Instagram so every one of my friends who weren’t there saw it because I have been trying to win for a very long time. When it comes to social media everyone is usually trying to portray a positive image of themselves online for others to see. Others may also showcase your success if you are on a team with them, for example last week I did another tournament with 3 other people, we all posted something saying how proud we were for never giving up and always believing in one another. Another positive scenario for showcasing hobbies is organizations show off their athletes, dancers in a competition or showcase of their own, or music schools/theatre companies promoting their shows for people to see. All in all I think being able to promote hobbies is a very positive thing, it makes you proud being able to show your achievements off, and seeing other people post from groups/teams you are apart of makes you feel good as well knowing they are proud of you as well. So, do you have a hobby and if so do you enjoy sharing your accomplishments?

Facebook: Do you enjoy sharing your accomplishments? See how others feel:

X: Do you ever overthink about posting your accomplishments? Check this out!

Have you heard about Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift?

Taylor Swift is one of the biggest artists worldwide, if not the biggest considering on average she had 72k people at her eras tour. Therefore I’m sure most people have heard of her whether they like or dislike her. Travis Kelce, known as a football player for the Kansas City Chiefs, how many of us that don’t watch football knew who he was? I can bet not a lot of people did, at least not as many as Taylor. As we know celebrity relationships are usually put on full display by the paparazzi, and that’s exactly what happened. Personally I don’t watch football so I was not aware of who he was, although the minute Taylor Swift was spotted at his game alongside his mother I then knew who Travis Kelce was, since it was all over my TikTok for you page. Every second or third video was pictures from the game or videos of her in the suite. Now I would say Travis is probably one of the most well known NFL players now, since his relationship with Taylor went public he has gained 1.1 million Instagram followers. Now when you search up “Travis Kelce” on Google the first thing that pops up is articles about his new relationship with Taylor, you can scroll through the articles for quite some time and you’ll notice most are all about them. With all of that being said let me ask you this, have you seen all the posts and articles about them? Did you know who Travis Kelce was or vice versa, did you know who Taylor Swift was?

Twitter/X post: New relationship between popstar Taylor Swift and NFL star, let’s talk about it!

Facebook post: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, are they the newest celebrity couple?

Has TikTok had an impact on music?

TikTok has become a very large platform among every age group. The average person spends 56 minutes and 22 seconds a day, and 6.06 hours a week. In this time you tend to hear tons of different sounds and audios. Some audios you hear multiple times a day, for example you may hear a song on an edit multiple times and if you like it there’s a possibility you are going to want to check it out.

A lot of people promote their music using TikTok to reach a larger audience, it’s giving artists an outlet to express their thoughts and feelings about the releases. Since teens and young adults don’t seem to watch much TV, they watch Netflix or other streaming services. I asked a couple and they even mentioned they don’t listen to the radio when they are driving, since most have Bluetooth they listen to their own playlist.

Songs that trend on TikTok often end up charting on BillBoard 100 or Spotify Viral 50. 67% of the app’s users are more likely to seek out songs after hearing them on TikTok. (www.businessinsider.com)

Therefore I do think that TikTok has an impact on music nowadays, it’s definitely positive and we are seeing an increase in artists as well as higher numbers music sales.

If you use TikTok how do you see it influencing your playlists? Has it changed your music taste at all?

Has Social Media Affected our Daily Lives?

In 2023 social media platforms like Instagram has 1.35 billion users, Facebook has 3.03 billion users signed up and about 2.94 billion monthly and TikTok has 1.67 billion users. This means that about 40% of the worlds population is using these 3 platforms. (www.demandsage.com) (www.stastisa.com)

When talking to a few teenagers they all said the first thing they do in the mornings is check their phones, answer their snapchats, scroll through Instagram etc. all before getting out of bed. A couple of adults I asked said that they spend 30-45 minutes before bed scrolling through Facebook to see “updates in peoples lives”, back when social media was not a thing we would communicate with people to hear about their lives by calling them or meeting up for a coffee, even at a park to sit outside. Some teenagers even say they don’t spend as much time with their friends since they can text or facetime them whenever they want to talk.

Companies are losing employees because nobody wants to work, younger generations are so attached to their phones that they don’t want to get out of the house and work for long amounts of time. A lot of young adults tend to stream on Twitch and Youtube since it’s considered to be “easier” they don’t have to leave the house and they can do something they can enjoy.

Researchers have concluded that a strong relationship between social media platforms with an increase in risk of depression, self-harm, anxiety and loneliness. 20-25 years ago kids never used social media the way kids do now. This results in a lot of cyber bullying causing kids to stay home, not go to school therefore losing out on their education. (www.simplilearn.com)

Students I have spoken to have mentioned that they are always on their laptops doing school work which causes a strain on their eyes and they also tend to lose some sleep because they don’t have enough time to wind down before they are ready to go to bed.

It’s like we rely on social media to dictate our lives, to see all the news, so therefore yes, I think social media has begun to affect our daily lives. How do you think social media has affected your daily life?