Reflection

It's interesting when you look at your reflection on a spoon, and depending on the side, you're inverted or the correct orientation. Reflections can be helpful in seeing the world from a new perspective and for analyzing oneself. This past semester has been a long reflection of social media usage, its effects both positive and negative as well as its potentials.
We've explored how social media amplifies communication, reaching a larger audience not bound by geographical locations. This has accelerated the Arab spring revolutions and has been a platform for changes on a smaller scale as well. Social media has destroyed people's careers because of users' oversharing, and it has also created career opportunities for viral accounts. Ultimately, we have reflected that social media is a tool and it is up to the user whether they will let it control their lives or be a positive assistance. That being said, there is so much that social media is used for; from communication, education, business and marketing to activism. Parents and children have used it to vent to their followers, demonstrating public shaming and other harmful practices that exploit their loved ones. It is important to be mindful when using social media because of its potential to cause harm, and to sit back and reflect every once in a while if we are being used or vice versa. If we aren't paying, then we are the product. We must be careful with that. 

Empty Bowls

Social media has been under fire for having so many negative consequences and potential harms towards its users.  In the past it was acknowledged how social media platforms have accelerated the spread of videos which can ruin a career or public image. However, there are may more things this tool has been able to accomplish in connecting communities. In gaining publicity for social justice issues, for amplifying the impact of fundraising and for spotlighting causes to make a change.

More recently, I came across an invitation on social media for an 'empty bowls' fundraising dinner advertising a dinner displaying pottery by local art students, symbolizing all the empty bowls in the community of those who are food insecure. This is just one way that social media platforms have been able to connect me, because the invitation is not just in one physical location, but in many online. In reaching more people, it raises more awareness for those that are food insecure. 

Taste test

Do you notice that before chefs bring out a new dish for the world to experience, they run it by some people with sample tastings and to perfect visual appeal? Do people question this? Not at all.

It is encouraged that before it is put out for the world to taste and judge, it is generally approved by some trusted companions to make sure it depicts the chef's experience in the best light. Anything short of that, it would be taken back to the kitchen, improved and sent out again for another trial.

If only social media was like that. People these days are sending out tweets without really being aware of the potential harm (or good) it could cause. They aren't considering the weight of it or the fact that once it is shared with the public, there is no taking it back. Even if deleted, it has been screenshot and seen by followers and that cannot be undone. This is something users should consider with sending potentially easy to misinterpret messages even if it is as a joke. It could ruin someone's career and possibly their life.

Through social media, parents have also exposed their children's humiliation and shortcomings through public shaming. By posting these videos and images online, they are not only destroying their child socially, but psychologically. It makes one wonder if they had done so in the spur of the moment or truly thought about the aftermath of their actions. If they could send out a sample before sending it out to the world to see, it would have likely been flagged and not pursued. 

Distasteful Shaming

When it comes to values and ideologies, many of us have aligned views about certain universal morals.A wise man who gave a Ted Talk explained, there are some people who see humans before ideologies, and there are others who see ideologies before humans. What this translates to online is the brutality of public shaming- tearing people up and forgetting they are human while exposing them for messing up on social media.
In the culinary world, this can happen to a lesser extent when people criticize the cook for not adding enough salt to a dish, over cooking slightly,  or other spur of the moment mishaps that get blown out of proportion and can ruin reputations.
There is nothing that comes out of the act for the one shaming, but it can be a devastating mistake for those who slip up. Online, there is no forgetting. While many can delete posts, it cannot undo the damage once it has been sent out, viewed and screen shot. It only takes one person to ruin careers, even unintentionally. In person, there is not the same audience unless it was captured on camera and shared online. Either way, this practice, whether online or offline, is distasteful shaming, which leads to trolling and other taunting behaviors which go on without consequence to those trolling, but with heavy consequence to the one who slipped up. We must remember that by creating this community online, we are not celebrating free speech, but punishing those who do. 

Not so private

Why do renowned chefs have top secret recipes? It seems almost like a thing of the past, that our grandmothers hold onto their secret prized recipe and one must earn it for it to be passed down.

Some people are of the understanding that recipes are meant to be shared. On the other hand, some will protect their secret recipe and intentionally leave out an ingredient if they reluctantly share it.

When it comes to social media, some people do not care to privatize their accounts and occasionally are guilty of oversharing online. While this is not the same as oversharing a recipe, it can similarly have unintentional consequences. 

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, provide their users with privacy and security settings. These are to protect their content from being public to the world. There is some wisdom behind privacy, and our grandmothers knew all about it.

The ugly side

Toast has two sides and sometimes if the underside is burnt, you can't tell because it's flipped over. Social media is like a piece of toast. It's ugly side cannot be ignored though. Recently in class we discussed negative aspects of social media; specifically, catfishing. 

Catfishing is when people make fake social media accounts with a fake life. It is a spectrum, where where people deceive to different extents. 

Many people resort to catfishing by creating fake social media accounts. Being able to express freely online isn't the concern,  but people who are psychologically affected because they were "catfished".  People look online for spouses and dating partners and then are devastated finding that the other person is nothing like the profile they were communicating with. Social media allows for free expression but doesn't filter out these fake accounts and allows them to continue to deceive other people. 

Filters and Bubbles

So when it comes to social media, filter bubbles do not mean the same thing they'd mean in the kitchen. However, we can still understand their meanings from understanding filters and bubbles you'd find in the kitchen. In social media, filter bubbles refer to a person being isolated to their own personal opinions because website algorithms like Facebook and Google will select what they predict the user wants to see based on past searches and past clicks. This narrows a users exposure to countering opinions and other views.
Idealistically, we'd expect that having diverse friends on social media will diversify our news feed. However, it is clear that filter bubbles will only reflect our own views and minimize posts that are unrelated or opposing. In the kitchen, filters allow liquids to pass and remove impurities or solids. Bubbles are formed with soap and reflect an enclosed space. This same concept is applied with filter bubbles as one is in an enclosed space with irrelevant information filtered out of our screens.