As social media has become increasingly popular, especially among the upcoming generation, more and more often I hear people talking about Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and a host of other communication networks. And the more I hear them talking, the more confused I become.

I have always personally been against the idea of becoming a part of the whole social media culture, mainly because of how involved I see everyone becoming. I did not want to get myself hooked on checking my account and looking at everyone else’s all the time, so getting an account was not on my to-do list, let alone on my radar. My other reason for staying out of the world of social media was simply that I had no idea whatsoever of how to do it.

I was happy to remain that way, but a few weeks ago, to my dismay, our adviser, Greg Stobbe, announced that we as a journalism Feather staff (@thefeather), we were going to learn how to use social media, starting with Twitter. I was not only disappointed that I would now have to worry about tweeting each day, but I panicked because I did not even know the meaning of half the social media words I heard all the time.

Coming from homeschool, where I did not really need to know much about social media or computers in general, I have never been very technology savvy, but until I got a Twitter, I had no idea just how much I didn’t know about it.

Before getting my own account, I knew what it meant to post a comment and upload a picture, but I certainly did not know how to do that. Beyond those two skills, everything is Greek to me. I do not know what most of the buttons on the home page even mean, and I just figured out how to purposefully get back to my home screen the other day.

It took me an entire class period to figure out how to put a photo on my account, and even then someone else did it for me. Many times, I find it extremely difficult to even log back into my account, so I just give up and leave it for the day.

The other day I hashtagged the words the and good, and Stobbe showed me once again how not to make the same mistake again. Even then, I still messed it up.

For about the ninth time I asked him, “Okay, where do I put this now?”, only to be answered with a, “You goof! That doesn’t go there! And why did you hashtag that?” He then looked at a previous “tweet” and after listing the mistakes in it, suggested that I just delete the whole thing and start over.

This whole experience with Twitter has been really discouraging and frustrating, and honestly, I don’t see what all the fuss is about. I hear people whining, “I haven’t checked my Facebook for 20 minutes now” or, “Why haven’t you ‘liked’ the picture I just uploaded?” or “She hasn’t responded to my tweet yet.”

PODCAST: My social media embarrassment: Feb. 8 , 2013–

First thing that comes to my mind? “I haven’t even been able to log into my account today. Quit your hollering and carrying on; you’re going to live.”

Apparently I am going to need to learn how to use these networks for college, so I guess there is some advantage to having one now. I know for a fact, though, that there is no danger of me being sucked into dependence on social media. If I don’t understand it, there is no way I could get hooked on it.

Stobbe has told us that Instagram is the next social media destination for The Feather staff, and I still need to become Facebook savvy. Forget about the fancy stuff; by then I might have figured out how to correctly tweet by myself. All I know is that after this whole ordeal, I just hope that my next encounters with communication networks will be better than my last one.

For more podcasts, visit the media page. It can be found on the top menu bar. For a recent podcast, listen to Live from Callyfornia with Cally Fries and her Feb. 8, 2013, podcast, Kill ’em with kindness. Be sure to follow The Feather Online via Twitter (@thefeather), via Instagram (thefeatheronline), and on Facebook (thefeatheronline).

For more opinions, read the Feb. 8 article, Fifth Quarter creates sanguine atmosphere, relaxation (PODCAST).