The article by Sarah McQuate talks about how people can go into a “dissociative state” when using social media, where they scroll without really paying attention or remembering what they saw. I thought this was interesting because I’ve felt that before too, just scrolling for a while and realizing I didn’t really process anything. It made me think about how social media design can easily pull people in and affect how aware we are of what we’re doing.

Social media has both pros and cons for mental health. One benefit is that it helps me stay connected with people all around the world. As an international student, my friends live in different countries, so it would be hard to keep in touch without social media. By seeing their stories or posts, I can know what they’re up to and easily reach out through DMs or calls. However, one downside is how visible numbers are on social media. Like followers, likes, and comments. Since numbers are easy to compare, people might start to measure their own value or popularity based on them, which can make them feel insecure or pressured.

This article about Sampling a music talks about how musicians take parts of existing songs and reuse them to make something new. I thought this really connects to the idea of replication and variation from the chapter because music samples change and spread kind of like social media posts do. (From a small piece of a song can turn into something completely different when it’s used in another context.) It made me realize that creativity often comes from reusing and transforming what’s already there.

I thought it was really interesting how the chapter compared social media to evolution. It made me realize that posts kind of “evolve” too like when people add comments, quote tweets, or make new versions of memes. I see this a lot on TikTok, where one simple video turns into so many different versions as people keep adding their own twist. It’s interesting that how creative that can be, but also a little scary because no one really controls where it goes, and sometimes it ends up spreading negative stuff or misinformation.