My former classmate Jennifer asked if I would let her share a guest blog post. It’s nice to get a peek into the mind of another social media enthusiast and coffee lover. Without further ado, meet Jennifer.

I’m Jennifer: amateur writer, Facebook junkie, comic enthusiast, and never without something to read in arm’s reach. I drink way too much coffee. I’m engaged to the best man I’ve had the luck of meeting, Josh, and am headed back to school for a degree in Organization Communication and Public Relations. We’re shacked up in a little bungalow in Canton with our four cats. 

There’s no question that technology has expanded our horizons far beyond what they were even five years ago. Our access to news and information is unprecedented and vast, and I use the internet for these reasons as much as the next person. For me, however, the most valuable resource that technology has to offer is the myriad of ways I can explore my world through social media. After all, I’ve always been able to find information on, for example, the lifespan of a fruit fly.

I just had to work a little harder to get it. I’ve always had TV news networks, they were just not quite as current as the information I can get now. What is different is my ability to connect.

See, I have fairly severe social anxiety. At its best, it’s a little inconvenient but I can work past it pretty easily. At its worst, it’s debilitating and the mere thought of going out to meet a friend for coffee or picking up a phone can give me a full-blown panic attack. With the evolution of social media and the way it’s increasingly entwined with nearly everyone and everything out there my options for being involved and interacting with the world around me have broadened significantly.

The most used apps on my phone? Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. Pinterest. Tumblr. Continue reading →