Monday, March 14, 2011

Final Blog

Throughout the course of this term my studies in Media have broadened. Not only have I learned a variety of ways that media can be used to inform and communicate, but I have put it to the test.

Just yesterday I received a  friendship request on Facebook from my biological father who I have not had any communication with since I was five or six years old. As soon as I saw the name I immediately fell to tears.
Mike is his name and he immediately commented on a picture of my brother and I . At first I thought....what a crappy way to come back into someone's life over Facebook......but that soon changed.

I realized that Facebook is the perfect outlet for a situation like this. Not only do I not have to interact in person (which could get me into trouble considered I have a few choice words for the man) but I have the ability to "creep" on him to see if I want to further any sort of communication with him. He seems like a totally normal guy who lives a somewhat normal life but the best part is this....


I have several brothers and sisters who still live in the Quad City area and thanks to Facebook, I finally got  to see what they look like. It is still very strange to me to think that there are so many questions I have that may not ever have answers.

The point I would like to make here is that although some people feel like social networks are stripping personalization and social skills away from human to human contact. I would have to agree...don't even get me started on text messaging. But in the case of my long lost dad.....Facebook changed my life and I plan on continuing my "creeping" sessions to expand knowledge of my potential family members. I may someday finally know what it is like to have sisters and more brothers. Had Facebook not brought my dad and I on the same page...I may have never known if he was still alive or not.


Save the media!