Me and social media – my relationship to social media technologies

I still remember the feelings of my first time to use QQ (Chinese chatting software similar as MSN) chat with some strangers in the virtual world. You do not know what he or she looks like, how old is he or she, where he or she come from, etc, even there is some descriptions about this person, but it is still suspect. It was such a funny thing you talked with people from different part of the country, make friends with them; and even some of the people get married at last. These things are often heard from my friends. Around1999 to 2002, for my experience, “internet amour” was so popular among teenagers in china. Boys and girls started looking for their lovers from the internet. Some girls in the south China spent one day and night by train come to north china, in order to meet their boyfriends. I also experienced to meet with a boy who I knew from the internet. I did go to the place where we should meet, but I did not have the courage to talk to him, instead just watching him walk away. After that, we never talked to each other. I cannot explain why I did that, it is just weird.
And after graduated from high school in China, I went to Europe to continue my university study in 2002. At that time, it was so inconvenient to contact with my family and friends in China. I do not know what they are doing, how they look now, what is new for them, and so on. I miss them very much, and feel lonely. Since the new social media appeared, for instance, MSN space, I can follow their updates; know what happen to them, I did not feel I am far away from them anymore. We share our information on these social medias, leave a message at anytime. More communications are created by these social medias.
And some social media like xiaonei.com (similar as facebook), it helps me find my old friends and classmates who I did not keep in touch with for some years. It is really a big surprise when you find these people by these social medias and say thanks to the people who invent these technologies.
As I talked above, thanks to the social media technologies, which make my life more dramatic, convenient, and comfortable.

By Qiong Jia