Back in STEM & Reflecting on my current online presence

BACK IN STEM

Wow wow wow wow, 

First and foremost I want to say it feels good to be writing on this again. It has been almost 2 years now since I have participated in the S-STEM Train Program and getting to go in person to ASU-West and seeing some of my old PC alumni just made my day on that first Friday. I am super interested to read all my old blogs as well, though I will take a guess and assume they are either moody, self-congratulatory, or just very burnt out lol.

REFLECTING ON MY CURRENT ONLINE PRESENCE

When I had heard that we were going to be writing about this I genuinely had to take a second and think about my time on the internet. I have been using a computer since I was about 7 years old (2008), and have just about seen it all online; in a way, I might be considered "old internet". Between mySpace, Ebaum'sWorld, Pirate Bay, Napster, and everything else that screams y2k web design I have either somewhat participated or observed the goings-on online. In a funny way, I think I am pretty lucky now because all those years prior have made me pretty cautious about what I post. 

That being said, I want to burn my Facebook to the ground! 

There are so many things that I have liked that have either become out of vogue if not problematic. Whether it was a meme page that now posts controversial advertisements or celebrities who have now been revealed to be terrible people. Things like my Facebook I keep today still just so I can stay connected with family, but on apps like Instagram, I try to stay hidden with a private account that doesn't even use my name. Not that I'm necessarily up to anything, but because I use that space to be a little more open with things like my experience with depression I would prefer to keep it to a more closed circle.

Despite all this, I 100% still see the value in my online footprint. For people like my dad who has been in Mexico on a temporary deportation deal for the last 10 years, social media provides a method for us to communicate and for him to keep up to date on what I'm up to. 15 year old me still probably posted some cringy stuff, but that's just a few clicks to clean.