What does Digital Literacy mean to me? How does it affect my life?

I am 22 years old, and I received my first phone at the age of 13. I was allowed to create my first social media account when I entered into eighth grade. The first platform I used was Facebook. My mom was my first social media friend, and I used the account to post pictures from vacations and sports. When I got to high school, I was then convinced to get a snapchat and Instagram account. This is when social media really started to become integrated into my life.

From kindergarten to eighth grade, I added a small parochial school. It consisted of one hallway and my graduating class was 19 kids. We had some kids leave and some kids transfer in over the years, but for the most part, we all were sort of like siblings. I had a great experience there and I loved it. But it did not prepare me for high school at a regional public school. Freshman year was a huge change for me. I went from wearing uniforms that looked like I was a target employee and never wearing makeup, to being introduced to girls who wore lululemon and woke up 3 hours before school to do their hair. With this new environment came the pressure to have social media. If you didn't have it, you were considered "weird". So, I succumbed to the pressure and got every social media account under the sun. I still have, and use, most of these accounts to this day.

I think I handled the pressures of social media better than the typical teenage girl, but it still took a toll on my mental health. The only people immune to the pressures are the ones who don't exist in the social media world. Especially being so young and impressionable, you do not realize that Instagram is basically a bragging platform where people post the best parts of their life and edit their nose to the size of a black bean. I wish I knew the importance of digital literacy in those years.

To me, digital literacy means the ability to be able to distinguish what is real and what is fake online. Whether that be an image, news, or a person's opinion. Realizing this, has really become a part of my life. For example, I do not participate in social media "politics". I believe that every person should be able to use their platform however that like, but they need to realize the dangers of posting a Daily News article on their Instagram story that provides baseless claims. The issue of this is that there are people out there who will believe everything they see or read online.

I am excited to learn more about digital literacy and how I can further educate myself in our evolving digital word. I believe that it is important enough that all people who own a phone should be encouraged to research ways to become digitally literate.