Hello everyone, I hope that you are doing great! I know that I have been starting every blog post with apologies for being away and an encouragement to return back to our goals, but I am actually happy that I am acknowledging my abscence and always reminding myself of my motivation. I hope that this also motivates you to work towards your passion, no matter how “behind” you might feel. -surprise, there is no such thing as being behind, your life and timeline is incomparable!- And trust me, I would know because I decided to write blog posts weekly but I am writing them monthly at this point, but I am still proud of myself and I am happy that I am following my passion!

Okay, after a lenghty intro as usual, I want to introduce this week’s curation. It is about digital age and what that means for us and the society. I once heard that the people we read in history books, like famous philosophers, politicians etc. had access to hundreds or thousands of people to share their ideas or work. And now, even if we sometimes complain about the digital age and the internet, we have now access to millions of people. We can learn from each other, and learn about our experiences which was not possible 100 years ago -for example now I can learn what are the popular breakfast items in South Korea with a simple click, or I can learn about the most pressing political problems in the EU with a simple search-. Also, which I think is mostly outlooked is that we can share our opinions and experiences and reach millions of people in minutes.

There is an abundance of influencers sharing their insights on various products and significantly influencing the economy and job sector. They cover a wide range of topics, sparking discussions and debates among their audience. And sometimes, having one person share their idea on something may cause misinformation. While the influencer lifestyle may not always be appealing and can sometimes lead to misinformation, I believe the solution lies in empowering more individuals to become influencers. By encouraging more people to share their ideas and engage in diverse conversations, we can tap into the unique contributions that everyone has to offer. This approach would introduce a refreshing variety of content on social media and the internet, allowing us to shift our focus away from singular instances of misinformation to a broader spectrum of meaningful topics.

And in this blog post, I want to share 3 resources, one for learning from the internet, one for starting creating content online, and one for reflecting on your use of the internet. I hope that you find something that sparks your curiousity for the opportunities of the digital age.

Part 1:Learn

Let’s start by sparking our curiosity. We know that there is a world of knowledge out there on the internet, but if you are like me, it feels easier to just scroll through reels or TikToks. Believe me, I find it really hard to actively research something when I have a selection of fun and easy things to watch on my Instagram. So, if I need to fulfill my desire to learn new things, I need to spark my curiosity first. To spark my curiosity, I need something easy to navigate and learn from as a start, rather than scrolling Wikipedia and trying to find information that’s relevant. As a solution, I found Khan Academy, Coursera, and Crash Course on YouTube. With these platforms, I just need to choose my interests as a start, for example, art history. On these platforms, there are courses on art history – and lots of other stuff – and the only thing I need to do is sign up for them and move with the course schedule. I don’t need to know where to start or which information is relevant; there is already a nicely structured course like in uni. I just need to watch short videos and complete simple assignments. When I was starting my self-learning journey in the digital age, structured courses really helped to set my foot in because it’s easier to follow them, and you feel proud when you complete tasks and can see your progress. That’s why I recommend people who want to spark their curiosity to start with structured online courses rather than websites, podcasts, etc., as resources.

Part 2:Create

So, it’s time to share your energy with the world, and you might be wondering how to finally start showing who you are. Well, I assume that you are probably familiar with blogs since you are one of the very few blog readers that I have. I think blogging is a perfect start because you just write your thoughts for your own eyes in the beginning because it’s harder for people to discover blogs. Blogging will help you in your future creative projects because writing is the base of creating content. For example, you may find it easier to film Youtube videos because it will be easier for you to plan and write a script. I started blogging with this video, and I think it gives you what you need for starters.

If you want to have a “hard launch,” I would recommend trying to shoot short videos for Reels and TikTok. It is more likely that you will gain popularity sooner than by writing because your content has a higher chance of going viral. And, tbh, most of us are scrolling on our Instagram in our free time, and you are probably familiar with the latest trends for short videos. So, if you want to create content in the form of videos, I think Reels or TikTok is easier to start with. I started creating content on my Instagram page with this video and I think it is good for starting your own Instagram blog.

Part 3:Reflect

I think it’s essential to talk about the downsides of the digital age after we talked about learning from it and sharing our own content. Social media, being online, and constantly trying to create content may have potential negative effects on our mental health. Comparing ourselves with others on social media is something that we do inevitably while watching stories or reels. Using social media as an escape from the real world is something to deal with for many people.That’s why I believe we need to reflect on our use of social media. Years ago, because of these negative impacts of social media/internet, I quit them altogether. But, as I mentioned, I believe the digital age has a lot to offer to us. We have these platforms to learn from and a way to express ourselves. And I think a great and easy way to distance ourselves from the negative impacts of the internet is reflecting on our screen use.

Whenever I am on my phone or laptop, I try to ask myself these questions as a form of reflection:

– What am I doing right now?
– Am I using the internet in a way that benefits me?
– Am I escaping something that is happening outside of my phone?
– How much time have I spent here already?
– Does this make me feel good? Will I regret being on my phone later in the day?
These questions help me to be mindful of my use of the internet.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this week’s curations. Take care of yourself until the next one!