Joe's Blog

  Social media continues to charge forward every day as a significant pastime for people, especially adolescents. With it, kids can communicate with friends, indulge in their passions and interests, and be introduced to old and new experiences. As brought out by Bronwyn Williams, “Online media technologies have allowed students to construct new performances of identity and yet also reinforce existing social identities from their face-to-face relationships” (Williams, 2013, pg. 300). I decided to interview my 14-year-old twin nieces (we will call them “A” and “B”), as they both just recently got Instagram accounts and also listen to music through the Apple Music platform. I wanted to see how much their social media has impacted their lives so far. First, I asked them how much time they spend on Instagram per day. They told me about 3 hours. When asked what kind of posts they like to see, B said “I like makeup [tutorials], and funny videos and stuff,” while A agreed and added “guit...

 The topic I chose to examine is playlists. Whether through Apple Music, Spotify, or any of the other platforms available, it seems as if virtually everyone has their own musical playlists for their lives; some people have multiple different playlists they access based on the daily activities they are involved in (work playlist, exercise playlist), or what emotions they are experiencing at a given moment (happy playlists, angry playlists). A person’s music collection acts as an expressive soundtrack to their life, revealing so much about them.   I view this as a new literacy, as playlists can be an opportunity for someone to learn about others and themselves. My goal is to create an engaging and effective way for students to reveal who they are and learn more about the music they listen to and love. The project involves having each student look at a favorite playlist they listen to. It could be a playlist they created themselves, one being shared with them by someone else, o...