Hello and welcome back to another edition of Conversations with Karla! Last week, we talked about social media’s depiction of athletes and the various pros and cons of being active on social media. This week, I met with Madison Veilleux, a fourth-semester pre-teaching major and human development and family sciences minor, to talk about the role social media played in her decision to switch her major.
Veilleux entered college as a pre-med student. She explained how she felt confused about what she wanted to pursue in college, but had always considered going into the medical field. She said these intentions were influenced by the media she was surrounded by. She described how on social media, one sees other peoples’ lives from one perspective, giving the impression that they have their lives together. “You’re not seeing the sense of reality — that they’re confused too. They might be struggling just as much as you,” she said.
Due to the false impression some content creators portray of student life on the medical track, Veilleux said she didn’t consider the different factors of her life that would be impacted, the biggest of which was that she felt her aspirations for starting a family would be pushed aside or delayed. She said, “I don’t think I would have had the career path I wanted and the family life I also wanted, because that’s important to me too.”
That summer, Veilleux worked with Educational Resources for Children in Enfield, Connecticut. She worked with children who would enter kindergarten in the fall, and as part of the program, they structured each day like a school day. “I just loved it,” she said, “I loved what I was doing and I was excited to go to work every day, and that made me realize that I could do this for the rest of my life.” In addition to these positive first-hand experiences, Veilleux also explained how social media’s portrayal of a pre-teaching student’s life was more informative than that she’d seen from medical students.
She talked about her interests in teacher-related content such as “day in my life as a teacher” or “here’s my after school routine as a teacher” videos on TikTok and how this content gave her a better understanding of a teacher’s reality. “I could see other people living a life that I could see myself living,” Veilleux added. However, the decision to switch majors was not an easy one to make. Veilleux expressed her greatest concern was what other people would think of her decision.
When she graduated high school, Veilleux’s initial intentions of going into the medical field were amplified by social media posts from family members. She explained her mother’s affinity for posting on Facebook and how she will likely post when Veilleux graduates from UConn with a teaching degree or when she starts teaching in her first classroom. Veilleux said that she doesn’t want people to see that she switched majors as “an easy way out.”
Another thing that pushed Veilleux to change her major was other college students’ depictions of their lives on social media. She explained how she had seen other students on the medical track enjoying what they were learning, causing her to reflect on how she was not getting that same experience. She then talked about how she would see other students who were not on the medical track but still enjoyed what they were learning. Ultimately, this was the kind of content that inspired her to make a change.
Veilleux explained how she’s noticed a narrative progressing on social media that reassures people that it’s okay to feel uncertain about their paths and that change isn’t a bad thing. She thinks that this kind of environment should be promoted and that high schoolers shouldn’t feel pressured to know exactly what they want to spend the rest of their lives doing. Veilleux encourages anyone reading this article to explore different paths and be open-minded about the future.
That’s all for this week’s Conversation with Karla! See you next week when we’ll meet a new student and discuss a new topic.