Trees, opulent, towering beings created to keep this world held together through its vast under the surface connections. In other words, trees are really cool. As I was walking around my beautiful campus at UCF, I couldn’t help to notice the trees around me. Their beauty literally smacked me in the face. The trees hanging over the sidewalk as I long board enhances my limbo skills and the roots that over grow and crack up the sidewalk so that I go flying in the air when I run into them, always keep me watching. However, it got me thinking that trees are really great. They supply us with the nutrients and oxygen, and the love and security we all need.  So I was thinking to myself, “How can I blog about this without sounding like a bohemian?” Later that night I went to a Bible study, we were talking about how we are like trees that bare fruit and sometimes need pruning by taking out things that don’t belong in our life (Bad friends, bad boy/girlfriends, bad habits, autoplay on Netflix, etc.). The coincidence goes even further when I bumped into a friend that was telling me how when she gets upset with people and they respond in a way contrary to what she likes, she cuts them out of her life, like a bad tree branch. So I stumbled upon this picture from one of my social media sites and I thought it was a great visual for comparing social media and trees.

Though certain trees are very complex and I am no botanist I will put it in a way that maybe some middle schoolers can understand. First lets start at the very beginning (a very good place to start).

Trees start off as a seed that when it is planted in good soil it will flourish. Make sure that you personally surround yourself with good people that are conducive to you and your personality. In the same way make sure you don’t have people that keep posting negative posts, images, and comments about you publicly, no one needs to keep that rocky soil near them. Example, an acquaintance that follows you on Facebook that constantly posts on your wall derogatory and negative posts, either hide it, or just reap it out. You don’t need that negative energy in your digital space. Rather include people in your social media that will uplift or make you feel better (to tell you the truth, 95% of your followers will only like/ read your post and never really say anything, but its good to rake out the bad). Next, make sure you get your water and sunlight, both metaphorically and literally. Just like a tree needs water, make sure you get a constant flow of what is going on around you. Keep up with the trends, the movements, the appropriate responses. There was a trend going on called #WhyIstayed for domestic violence and there was a company (DiGiorno’s) that used it in an inappropriate way by accident, so they had to cover their butts by apologizing through twitter. Here’s the article.

They knew the trend but didn’t get the context. Just like ALS ice bucket challenge, make sure you are aware of the situation before you partake in the trend. That lead to the sunlight part, make sure you also take a step back from the social media world and enjoy the realistic things. Some trends seem to be kind of stupid (yolo, swag, etc.) so make sure you take a step out get some real sunlight and realize some stuff are just stupid. There was a video about a hashtag killer that wanted to stop the trend of #firstworldproblems by getting third world people to say something about our first world problems. Here is a video.http://youtu.be/vFXWIArfQ80

Now that the tree has grown, put its roots deep into the soil, and started to produce necessities for man it is ready to stand the storm and rage the war against time. Keep your roots planted deep. Though social media is supposed to be a surface level expression, don’t shy away from getting a little deeper and show people who you really are. Make sure you also have something to back yourself up and not make yourself out to be “fake.” In order to not be “fake” make sure you are rooted well in whatever you say online.

I like this photo because the humble one is usually the one that has the bigger reward, rather than the show off. He will get his instant gratification, but the humble will receive the actual prize.

Produce things that are going to help out other people that are going to build others up. Mom’s advice is right “If you have nothing nice to say…keep your mouth closed because I will throw my chancla .” (Oh mom, I miss your loving violence, and it is still a threat to me this day.) If you have a problem in your life find a way to distress yourself over it, write it and burn it, smash a plate, yell, talk about it , whatever, but remember that you have digital footprints that follow (those subtweets can be used against you). Share whatever you want to share, whether it be a deuchie shirtless video of you singing, or an obnoxious complain, whatever you want just know there are reactions to every action you have and try to keep others out of it. If you notice that there is someone that is being over the top (close to cyber bullying) mean to you, cut those branches. I had a friend I needed to cut out. I am so 1000% better after I cut him out of my life. Keep good care of your tree and your social media presence and have social media etiquette. Go on guys grow and be fruitful!.