My favorite platform is usually Instagram.
Instagram.
Probably Snapchat
and regular iMessage on iPhones.
We text a lot.
Texting.
Text message.
Text or Group Chat with my friends.
Group text messages.
Facebook Messenger.
They're always on it.
I'm always with my friends,
but when I'm not with them,
I'm always talking to them on social media.
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I definitely say sometimes it's beneficial,
because you go home,
and you might have had an argument
with your sibling or your mom,
and you just need to talk to your friend,
or you might need help with homework or something.
Being able to always be just, like,
a phone call or text message away from each other
allows us to kind of establish a relationship that's closer.
Reaching out to the person right when you need them,
so that you don't have to wait until you see them at school
to talk to them,
that definitely brings us closer.
Texting is, like, an easier alternative.
Take out your phone and communicate with someone.
There are definitely things
that maybe I wouldn't tell anyone in real life
that I feel more comfortable telling them
on social media or online,
because it's just...
It's not the same as saying it to someone's face
as it is to text it.
I know that my friends... or not even just my friends,
but my family or anybody I can talk to,
I know that they are available to me.
Yeah, I never really feel depressed or anything like that,
just because there's always somebody to talk to
and always somebody that's there for you.
That's kind of a good thing about social media.
I could not imagine what it would be like
if I couldn't contact them so quickly.
Our lives are so, like, integrated with social media
and contacting, like, other people,
that I don't think I could imagine not contacting them.
There can be an invasion of space and privacy
over not just, like, social media,
but all forms of modern technology.
We have each other's location, like, 24/7.
Yes, there's been people
that have contacted me for multiple times
that have just been constant and annoying,
that have just got on my nerves.
If there's someone that is constantly reaching out to you
and you don't want that person to be contacting you,
that can be irritating, and it's kind of a hassle.
I've had my phone taken away
from my friend texting me too much.
I had to turn it off completely.
Like, I had to turn it off when I was in class
because it just started making so much noise.
I've had a friend who's contacted me way too much.
And one of the downsides is
that I kind of avoid that friend in real life and at school,
so they feel a little neglected,
and it kind of hinders our friendship.
There's kind of, like, a pressure that, like,
if one of us doesn't, like, respond or, like, keep texting,
we're going to, like, not talk again.
I've had a friend contact me too much
to the point where I've asked them
to give me some boundaries and some space.
I would usually tell them in a respectful manner.
Over texts, you either, like, just flat out say it,
or you kind of ghost them.
I used to have a friendship where we would text nonstop.
Like, we would get to the point
where we'd get irritated with one another.
That was, like, nonstop, like...
"Where you at, where you at, where you at,
"what are you doing, what are you doing,
why are you not hanging out with me, why are you not that?"
It got to the point where we're, like, "Leave me alone."
Like, sometimes we could be, like,
too much part of each other's lives,
and it's not really good,
because we're kind of taken away from our own lives
because we're constantly looking at theirs.
In the beginning, some people don't understand boundaries.
I would have to constantly communicate to them
that I have my boundaries,
even through online, through social media.
I don't find it as much as a problem,
because I've practiced it,
and I've learned to get better at it.
I do believe that technology leads to boundary issues.
I feel like technology has created a sense
of a really tight-knitted community,
but in a way, it's too tight.
I feel that when we have conversations online,
it kind of takes away the magic from talking face to face.
It definitely can get a little overwhelming,
and it makes it difficult to hold conversations in real life,
because you talk about everything over social media
or through your phones.
And then, if we do talk about something,
it's normally, like, social media-related,
or we have to, like, pull out our phones to talk about it,
so you don't really get to be in the moment with your friend,
because you're on your phone.
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