Senior accounting and finance major
Over the course of the past couple of months, especially winter break, I have become an avid Tumblr user. It was inevitable; I’m a bored college student with too much time on my hands and a strong need to express my feelings about a variety of issues and fandoms.
In this process, I’ve come to understand that Tumblr is more than just a soundboard for people’s feelings. It’s a powerful social tool that manages to secretly make people well-rounded human beings while pretending to simply entertain them. Here are some of the lessons two months on Tumblr have taught me:
Fandoms are powerful tools that help us analyze our world in universal and easy-to-understand terms.
Tumblr is full of long-winded rants detailing complicated theories about what exactly is going on in fictional universes. Fundamental to these rants are diverse philosophies on how the world actually works. Fan theories cover social, economic, political, psychological, scientific and artistic issues at an incredibly advanced level, but they resonate because they come within the package of a fictional universe we know and love. These debates apply our educations in ways most educators only dream of.
There is way more out there to learn than I ever thought possible.
Over the course of my college education, I’ve been lucky enough to be exposed to a number of social issues, but nothing I’ve experienced has come close to the depth and richness of my exposure to these issues on Tumblr. There are blogs upon blogs focused on every issue under the sun. And though there is a high variance in quality between the genuinely intelligent discussion of these issues and the stereotypical “Tumblr angst” style of discussion that people are more familiar with, it’s very easy to filter through posts and find the really good ones. Now that I have, I’m learning as much on Tumblr as I do in my classes most days.
The Internet is the perfect place to find your voice and creatively express yourself.
A person’s Tumblr blog is an extension of that person’s self, a collection of the different thoughts, ideas and feelings that make up that person’s psyche. There are so many different posts, fandoms, social movements, political movements, underground communities, artistic styles and strange memes floating around that no two Tumblr blogs are exactly the same — and the older blogs get, the more individualized they become. In addition, because Tumblr is a semi-anonymous content hosting service, anyone can freely post their original content: art, writing, music, GIFs and more. Especially for newer, less-experienced artists who lack confidence or an audience, Tumblr is an excellent way to get started.
Everyone is full of surprises.
My favorite part of Tumblr is getting to see things I never expected people I know to love. Besides porn, which is rampant, people reblog references to obscure shows I didn’t think anyone else watched, rants about economic theories I didn’t think anyone cared about or long discussions of social issues I didn’t expect them to be involved in. Tumblr lets people see their friends’ personal side, not just the superficial side they’re accustomed to. In doing so, it makes friendships closer and more fulfilling and, on occasion, creates friendships where there were none before.
When I started using Tumblr, I expected it to just be another mindless website that I would use to procrastinate. I was wrong. Tumblr is a phenomenal tool and an excellent place for personal growth. It’s so amazing, I don’t even mind that it’s slowly stolen all of my free time.
Ezra Fishman is a senior accounting and finance major. He can be reached at efishmandbk@gmail.com.
