I am taking a class called Media English on Wednesdays now whose purpose is to learn how to “mediate” yourself in this world teeming with social media. In this class, “mediate” means “control.” These days, media has an enormous, even adverse impact on our lives. How do you protect yourself from those influences even though social media is everywhere?

In my case, I have some social media accounts such as LINE, Twitter, Instagram, so and so forth, but only LINE and Instagram accounts are activated. On top of that, I use them once in a blue moon, which means that I do not have to worry about the effect of social media as long as I keep using them as I do now. However, I am not saying that I am addicted to a smartphone, but I use my smartphone to watch videos on YouTube and movies on Netflix for a quite long time. All I can do to mediate myself is try to stay away from my smartphone and get used to life without the Internet as much as possible. I know that trying not to use the Internet is way too hard because our lives are associated with it.

In a world where people need the Internet, they should control themselves when it comes to how to use media; otherwise, they might spend a lot of time in vain.