Brandy Constantine

I started out reading this to argue the concepts that were implied because the ideas presented were very different than what I believed true. I love my social media because I can stay connected to my closest family and friends so I am on it a lot daily. This made me want to defend the idea that the sites are negative because I use them for a purpose that is not negative. After reading the book I found that I see 1000s of negative posts daily. I never considered this would affect me but then I started noticing how consumed I have been with my social media usage. I was checking the sites constantly and refreshing in the hopes of new comments or likes or messages. I did this while driving, hanging with friends and family, and everywhere you can imagine. I also noticed I had been posting negative responses to people I cared about a lot. In fact, it seemed like my purpose for being on the sites was to argue with others and I was not even aware of it. Even worse, I found that I was subconsciously posting selfies exactly like the people I followed online copying the poses, facial expressions, and other acts that were being presented to me. This book made me aware of my poor online habits. I was skeptical at first about core values because it sounded like the author was going to preach at me. The way these ideas were presented was a more natural approach where incidents were discussed that actually occurred and the author explained how the acts either supported or violated the specific traits given. The book is short and to the point. You may not agree with every idea but it will at least make you aware of certain areas of your life that you may need to hear about because you may be like me and not be aware you are acting out social media addictive habits in real life.