After doing some of the readings in class, I have found myself thinking more and more about high quality verse low quality internet access and what effects this has on an individual. I guess I had never really thought about what advantages I have while in high-access zones compared to those individuals who lack constant access to the internet, something which I take for granted daily. The internet holds an absurd amount of information on pretty much any given topic...ever. First created and experimented with in the 1960s, the Internet, in 50 years, has had extraordinary unforeseen results. 50 years may seem like a solid amount of time to formulate such a masterpiece as the internet, but, if we think about how quickly it has evolved once the internet became public, the time frame is less. Even thinking about my history of internet usage probably beginning around 1998, sources, information and capabilities of the internet were just beginning to arise with the start of email and online interactions. In 10 years or less (depending on the site/company) the internet has taken part in political, economic and social aspects of our lives, arguably more than any other technological advance thus far.
Prior to this class, I naively underestimated the power of the internet in our lives and the effect it can take on an individual who does not have current access to the internet. The other day one of my roommates was talking about privacy issues on face. She, like myself, has had full home internet access as long as she can remember and internet has become a huge part of her daily life in both leisure and task-oriented time. While talking, she unconsciously pulled up google, spit in a few key words and found an obscure privacy protecting website for an application download, simply after spotting a brand logo she recognized. Our generation, speaking specifically about 16-25 year olds with high-quality internet access, should foresee a huge impact. Our information seeking skills and surfing tactics put us at a huge advantage in comparison to those with low quality access daily, and, our parents generation. While I have discussed in our class midterm about high verse low quality access teenagers and the consequences the no or low quality access teens face, I am interested in what changes we should expect in respect to past generations.
For example, I am currently 20 years old, a junior in college and have been using the internet, as I expect many of my classmates have, for approximately 12 years (clearly, depending on each persons case). My parents have been using the internet approximately the same amount of time as myself, probably with the addition of a few years. When they were in college the idea of clicking firefox, googling whatever you could possibly want to know (literally….) and in less than a second be confronted with thousands and thousands of websites with possible information, sorted by relevance. As many companies are marketing and advertising specifically with the intended audience of individuals ages 16-25(ish) and using the internet as a base for such information, I would argue, we are receiving much more information daily than our parents did and ever will, and we should predict this to have a huge impact in the future.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Blog 4: Technology and Advertisements
Throughout my childhood and teenage years, my family always had cable and a television. I had become so accustomed to watching television shows and commercials on a daily basis that I never really thought about what I was receiving from these media forms. From June-December 2010, I lacked any access to cable television due to summers in the Cape and a semester in Rome. When I returned, I found myself shocked by what had happened in a mere 6 months. Facebook had taken over the television world.
I have always been interested in the advertisement industry as an Art History and Photography major/lover, and find odd enjoyment in watching, evaluating and critiquing commercials. I find the way companies work to address and interest the viewer to be of great interest. This past month, however, I noticed something shocking and new to me in commercial advertisements. Recently, without regard to the brand, product or age group, many commercials include a Facebook reference. Whether it be “Friend us on Facebook!”, or a Facebook URL address to find the company, more and more businesses are turning to Facebook for propaganda and advertisements. While I was well aware of the huge Facebook fad sweeping our nation and world, I did not realize this was quickly entering the television commercial world.
Advertisements tend to address a certain population depending on the product, with the goal of intriguing, grabbing attention or educating the viewer on the product. Commercials are a very interesting form of such advertisements as they allow actors, colors, music and placement to create a effective commercial. I find it fascinating not only that the Facebook has become so popular in our society, but, that businesses are now directly referencing Facebook as a legitimate post for information. It took only 6 months for Facebook to take over the media commercial industry, who can even predict its future influences on our society and daily lives.
Another interesting point of interest to me was the facebook terminology which has evolved within the last year or so. If a year or two ago I spoke about “poking”, “friending”, “accepting/rejecting a friend request”, I predict a large amount of the adult population would have little or no knowledge as to what these terms meant or what facebook even was. I remember being a sophomore in High School and my sister who was heading off to college, spoke of the facebook for the first time and it was a completely foreign concept. 5 years later, Facebook and all of its terminology and concepts are sweeping across a huge genre of age groups, regions, and social groups, truly becoming a phenomenon of our era.
While I was well aware that social networking sensation was encompassing more parts of our lives than ever before, I don’t think I was aware of how fast and intense of a process it is. It leads me to question, however, if this phenomenon is simply a result of the way our culture was heading or if it is a new idea which had extraordinary unforeseen results. As our society is progressing and evolving, we should think to where we are headed, using all of these new technological innovations for the betterment of our society. I feel like prior to this course, I thought of social blogging in a trivial manner, irrelevant and illegitimate. I am beginning to look at it with more of a positive, progressive outlook, thinking of how such inventions can facilitate education and provide a well rounded genre of information for the public. Technology is a part of our lives we cannot ignore, therefore, I feel we should use its vast capabilities, as many already are, for the betterment of our society.
I have always been interested in the advertisement industry as an Art History and Photography major/lover, and find odd enjoyment in watching, evaluating and critiquing commercials. I find the way companies work to address and interest the viewer to be of great interest. This past month, however, I noticed something shocking and new to me in commercial advertisements. Recently, without regard to the brand, product or age group, many commercials include a Facebook reference. Whether it be “Friend us on Facebook!”, or a Facebook URL address to find the company, more and more businesses are turning to Facebook for propaganda and advertisements. While I was well aware of the huge Facebook fad sweeping our nation and world, I did not realize this was quickly entering the television commercial world.
Advertisements tend to address a certain population depending on the product, with the goal of intriguing, grabbing attention or educating the viewer on the product. Commercials are a very interesting form of such advertisements as they allow actors, colors, music and placement to create a effective commercial. I find it fascinating not only that the Facebook has become so popular in our society, but, that businesses are now directly referencing Facebook as a legitimate post for information. It took only 6 months for Facebook to take over the media commercial industry, who can even predict its future influences on our society and daily lives.
Another interesting point of interest to me was the facebook terminology which has evolved within the last year or so. If a year or two ago I spoke about “poking”, “friending”, “accepting/rejecting a friend request”, I predict a large amount of the adult population would have little or no knowledge as to what these terms meant or what facebook even was. I remember being a sophomore in High School and my sister who was heading off to college, spoke of the facebook for the first time and it was a completely foreign concept. 5 years later, Facebook and all of its terminology and concepts are sweeping across a huge genre of age groups, regions, and social groups, truly becoming a phenomenon of our era.
While I was well aware that social networking sensation was encompassing more parts of our lives than ever before, I don’t think I was aware of how fast and intense of a process it is. It leads me to question, however, if this phenomenon is simply a result of the way our culture was heading or if it is a new idea which had extraordinary unforeseen results. As our society is progressing and evolving, we should think to where we are headed, using all of these new technological innovations for the betterment of our society. I feel like prior to this course, I thought of social blogging in a trivial manner, irrelevant and illegitimate. I am beginning to look at it with more of a positive, progressive outlook, thinking of how such inventions can facilitate education and provide a well rounded genre of information for the public. Technology is a part of our lives we cannot ignore, therefore, I feel we should use its vast capabilities, as many already are, for the betterment of our society.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Media Diet
Saturday:
5 hours - tv, movies
3 hours - Internet
Facebook - 30 minutes
Email - 30 minutes
Stumbleupon - 2 hour
45 minutes - phone calls, texting
Sunday:
30 minutes - Internet (browsing - email, facebook (4 minutes), weather, scu.edu)
3 hours - Internet (Homework related)
30 minutes - phone calls, texting
45 minutes - Superbowl
45 minutes - Music/iTunes/downloading music
1 hour - TV/channel flipping
1 hour - iPod
1 hour - StumbleUpon
Monday:
30 minutes - Internet (browsing - check email, facebook, weather, blog)
1.5 hours - iPod
1 hour - Tv - Family Guy, The Office
Tuesday:
30 minutes - Email
20 minutes - Facebook
1.5 hours - iPod
3 hours - Internet (angel, school related)
2 hours - TV
Wednesday:
45 minutes - Internet (check email, facebook, weather, blog)
1 hour - StumbleUpon
2 hours - movie
1 hour - iPod
3 hours - Internet (homework)
Thursday:
30 minutes - Internet (browsing - check email, facebook, weather, blog)
3 hours - tv
2 hours - Movie
1.5 hours - Ipod
After keeping a media diet for a few days, a clear pattern was revealed in my daily media usage. I expected similar results as what I received and find these relatively similar to fellow students blogs on personal media diets. In general, I believe my media diet reflects a female 20-something college student with high-quality access to the internet, sometimes having a bit too much free time on her hands. During the school week, I noticed my media diet and what particular forms of media I was engaging in differed depending on amounts of school work and class requirements. Having full access to the internet on a daily basis, I engage in a large amount of “playing seriously”. I spend enough time browsing and interacting with different websites depending on my class schedule and what is due a current day, while I also have ample time to freely roam the web. Days focused more on school work, such as Sunday, my media usage was more productive and task oriented. In my spare time, after classes are over, mostly during the evening weekday hours, I would use the internet for browsing and surfing the web, particularly through my dear friend “StumbleUpon”. Looking at Saturday, the day of the week I claim to be “free day” lacking any school oriented work or engagement, my media intake shifted to more fun and light internet sights and more browsing on facebook, while still remaining a big part of my daily life.
Having done a similar media diet tasks in past classes, I do note some changes in my media intake due to my access to such media and its impact on my media intake in the future. Throughout my childhood and teenage years, my home had high-quality access to the internet and it never seemed to cross my mind that this was not necessarily the norm. Such intake, particularly in reference to my internet usage, quickly led my attention to social networks, specifically facebook. I would spend countless hours browsing and clicking on facebook things, using it as a tool of procrastination. Up until the last 2 summers, I pretty much always had the internet at my fingertips. Living in Cape Cod with friends the past two summers, I experienced my first period of no cable and no internet. It was the first time I was confronted with two things which took up so much time in my life to disappear, and as a result, my daily routine changed dramatically. No longer did I have the ability to plop down, open my laptop and click away, and quickly, in fact, much faster than I thought, my interest in both cable and internet and particularly facebook drained. I no longer cared about facebook clicking or watching tv and I have to say, its effects were really beneficial and led too more face-to-face interaction and closer friendships. When September rolled around and my high-quality access life resumed, I found myself incredibly less interested certain sites which once ruled a part of my life style. While my media intake quickly returned to a large number of hours per day, my interest and consumption shifted. Still I see a pattern in how I spend my leisure time as being consumed by media, however, I do find it interesting how drastically different I spend my leisure time in low verse high quality internet access homes.
My media diet, I believe, is a pretty good reflection of my daily activities. Clear patterns were illuminated to me in what I media I used and when I used it. The mornings consist of about 30 minutes of “updating” myself, (ie, email, facebook, weather.com, cnn.com, finishing up homework), and afternoons are filled with school related media intake and evenings are subject to more leisure media usage such as tv browsing or listening to music. As an art history/photo major, I use my computer always for Art History class notes and digital photography projects. As our technology class uses the internet a lot for class discussion posts and blogging, and my other two classes are Art History and Photo, my media consumption is greater than if I had another schedule, in fact, I have spent more time this quarter on my computer than ever before. I also have realized that I am incredibly reliant on my iPod for almost all of my daily activities. I have always loved music and it has been a hobby of mine, hence, a great deal of my time, while sporadic throughout the day, is plugged into my ipod
We rely so much on technology as a part of our lives today, that my media diet did not come as quite a shock. I feel my media usage is relevant to my daily schedule and demands, however, technology has a clear role in my life. Without high-quality access to such media on a daily basis, I would find myself, as a college student, at a great disadvantage as so much of my media intake is in context to school demands. I definitely use media as my main intake during times of leisure, whether it be StumbleUpon or watching another Family Guy episode, technology plays a huge role in my daily life.
5 hours - tv, movies
3 hours - Internet
Facebook - 30 minutes
Email - 30 minutes
Stumbleupon - 2 hour
45 minutes - phone calls, texting
Sunday:
30 minutes - Internet (browsing - email, facebook (4 minutes), weather, scu.edu)
3 hours - Internet (Homework related)
30 minutes - phone calls, texting
45 minutes - Superbowl
45 minutes - Music/iTunes/downloading music
1 hour - TV/channel flipping
1 hour - iPod
1 hour - StumbleUpon
Monday:
30 minutes - Internet (browsing - check email, facebook, weather, blog)
1.5 hours - iPod
1 hour - Tv - Family Guy, The Office
Tuesday:
30 minutes - Email
20 minutes - Facebook
1.5 hours - iPod
3 hours - Internet (angel, school related)
2 hours - TV
Wednesday:
45 minutes - Internet (check email, facebook, weather, blog)
1 hour - StumbleUpon
2 hours - movie
1 hour - iPod
3 hours - Internet (homework)
Thursday:
30 minutes - Internet (browsing - check email, facebook, weather, blog)
3 hours - tv
2 hours - Movie
1.5 hours - Ipod
After keeping a media diet for a few days, a clear pattern was revealed in my daily media usage. I expected similar results as what I received and find these relatively similar to fellow students blogs on personal media diets. In general, I believe my media diet reflects a female 20-something college student with high-quality access to the internet, sometimes having a bit too much free time on her hands. During the school week, I noticed my media diet and what particular forms of media I was engaging in differed depending on amounts of school work and class requirements. Having full access to the internet on a daily basis, I engage in a large amount of “playing seriously”. I spend enough time browsing and interacting with different websites depending on my class schedule and what is due a current day, while I also have ample time to freely roam the web. Days focused more on school work, such as Sunday, my media usage was more productive and task oriented. In my spare time, after classes are over, mostly during the evening weekday hours, I would use the internet for browsing and surfing the web, particularly through my dear friend “StumbleUpon”. Looking at Saturday, the day of the week I claim to be “free day” lacking any school oriented work or engagement, my media intake shifted to more fun and light internet sights and more browsing on facebook, while still remaining a big part of my daily life.
Having done a similar media diet tasks in past classes, I do note some changes in my media intake due to my access to such media and its impact on my media intake in the future. Throughout my childhood and teenage years, my home had high-quality access to the internet and it never seemed to cross my mind that this was not necessarily the norm. Such intake, particularly in reference to my internet usage, quickly led my attention to social networks, specifically facebook. I would spend countless hours browsing and clicking on facebook things, using it as a tool of procrastination. Up until the last 2 summers, I pretty much always had the internet at my fingertips. Living in Cape Cod with friends the past two summers, I experienced my first period of no cable and no internet. It was the first time I was confronted with two things which took up so much time in my life to disappear, and as a result, my daily routine changed dramatically. No longer did I have the ability to plop down, open my laptop and click away, and quickly, in fact, much faster than I thought, my interest in both cable and internet and particularly facebook drained. I no longer cared about facebook clicking or watching tv and I have to say, its effects were really beneficial and led too more face-to-face interaction and closer friendships. When September rolled around and my high-quality access life resumed, I found myself incredibly less interested certain sites which once ruled a part of my life style. While my media intake quickly returned to a large number of hours per day, my interest and consumption shifted. Still I see a pattern in how I spend my leisure time as being consumed by media, however, I do find it interesting how drastically different I spend my leisure time in low verse high quality internet access homes.
My media diet, I believe, is a pretty good reflection of my daily activities. Clear patterns were illuminated to me in what I media I used and when I used it. The mornings consist of about 30 minutes of “updating” myself, (ie, email, facebook, weather.com, cnn.com, finishing up homework), and afternoons are filled with school related media intake and evenings are subject to more leisure media usage such as tv browsing or listening to music. As an art history/photo major, I use my computer always for Art History class notes and digital photography projects. As our technology class uses the internet a lot for class discussion posts and blogging, and my other two classes are Art History and Photo, my media consumption is greater than if I had another schedule, in fact, I have spent more time this quarter on my computer than ever before. I also have realized that I am incredibly reliant on my iPod for almost all of my daily activities. I have always loved music and it has been a hobby of mine, hence, a great deal of my time, while sporadic throughout the day, is plugged into my ipod
We rely so much on technology as a part of our lives today, that my media diet did not come as quite a shock. I feel my media usage is relevant to my daily schedule and demands, however, technology has a clear role in my life. Without high-quality access to such media on a daily basis, I would find myself, as a college student, at a great disadvantage as so much of my media intake is in context to school demands. I definitely use media as my main intake during times of leisure, whether it be StumbleUpon or watching another Family Guy episode, technology plays a huge role in my daily life.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Blog 3: Technology and Social Interaction
Technologies influence on social interactions is undeniable as we locate the mass amount of communication devices used on the web today. While there is much debate on whether the impact has had a positive or negative effect on everyday face-to-face interactions, I believe there are both many pros and cons. Personally, I don’t think technology has negatively impacted my everyday face to face interactions and I feel like I still hold close personal relationships and can engage fully in one-on-one interactions. I think that technology and the ease in communication with friends and family has simply made me lazier. Instead of calling someone, I will just send a text, Facebook message or email. While I am well aware of how much I use technology to communicate with other people, I also don’t think it has taken away from my one-on-one interactions. I find it really helpful to have emails, texts and other messages to resort back to in order to remember something better than if someone simply told me in a phone call. While I usually am overwhelmed with the feeling that technology is taking over our lives in a negative way, I can’t dismiss the amount of ways it has aided in my life. Being one of the only people I know without a blackberry or a cellphone with internet available, I never assumed I minded until I was abroad in Italy last semester. While all of my friends could quickly BBM (blackberry message) their parents, I had to use email or Skype to ever get in touch with my parents. Not that I am complaining as the programs are simple to use, but it became difficult with time difference and schedule conflicts to be able to find a time to talk to my parents on the phone and be able to fill them in on my experiences abroad. Skype became my main tool for contacting them to have a verbal conversations once every week or two, and email became my main source of interaction as I would send them my journal I kept while I was abroad. My parents would constantly forward my long emails describing what I was doing with my days and where I was traveling to the rest of my family to keep them updated on my life. When I returned, many members of my family expressed how thankful they were for the emails and felt like they were with me abroad. I feel like there was no better way to share my abroad experience if it weren’t for my ability to email my parents every week explaining what was new and alerting them to not worry as I was still alive.
While I think there are many beneficial aspects to technology and social interactions, I can’t dismiss the latter. In reflecting on my own use of technology for interaction on a daily basis, there have been occasions of miscommunication through the use of technology, which face to face interactions would not have caused. Using written text rather than verbal communication allows for the reader to invent the emotion of the sender. When you get a text or email, the individuals voice is not present. I have experienced situations of, for lack of a better word, emotional miscommunication where either I, or the person I am communicating with, has misunderstood the emotion or opinion trying to be displayed through written text.
In general, I feel both positively and negatively to technologies impact on social interactions on a whole. I think it is impossible to deem its impact as either positive or negative as a whole as I feel it is individualized and individuals use of technology is vastly different worldwide. However, I do think it is important to note certain trends and issues present while using technology for social interactions. The internet allows anyone to convey anything about themselves whether factual or fictional. While I think it is possible for websites such as online dating sites, Craigslist, message boards, fan sites, online gaming, or virtual worlds to allow for legitimate personal relationships to form, it is also possible for one to essentially create a completely new identity. While individuals involved with such websites have different motives for its use, it is possible for those “scumbags” of the world to invent a pretty profile to seem “legitimate”. In a world full of billions of people means that, while we would like to assume all that is posted on the web as coming from decent, intelligent individuals, there are clearly going to be situations where this is not the case. While I think it is possible for people to create meaningful relationships via online communities, one must always be cautious of how simple it is for one to invent a new identity with the internet.
Another important aspect of technology and social interaction that I think is worth commenting on is the age in which an individual engages in such interactions. I think it is very important for children to engage in face to face interactions throughout their childhood to be able to use technology for social interaction in a beneficial way. I think one must grow up interacting face to face rather than online to establish relationships as a key to growing up. I am so thankful that I did not use technology for social interaction during at least the first 10 years of my life and while technology is made communication easier for me at this point in my life, I really did not need to use it during my childhood and don’t believe it is good for a child to engage in such interactions as their minds are constantly developing. In conclusion, I believe that in general the use of technology for social interactions can be both positive and negative depending on the individual and how he or she uses the internet.
While I think there are many beneficial aspects to technology and social interactions, I can’t dismiss the latter. In reflecting on my own use of technology for interaction on a daily basis, there have been occasions of miscommunication through the use of technology, which face to face interactions would not have caused. Using written text rather than verbal communication allows for the reader to invent the emotion of the sender. When you get a text or email, the individuals voice is not present. I have experienced situations of, for lack of a better word, emotional miscommunication where either I, or the person I am communicating with, has misunderstood the emotion or opinion trying to be displayed through written text.
In general, I feel both positively and negatively to technologies impact on social interactions on a whole. I think it is impossible to deem its impact as either positive or negative as a whole as I feel it is individualized and individuals use of technology is vastly different worldwide. However, I do think it is important to note certain trends and issues present while using technology for social interactions. The internet allows anyone to convey anything about themselves whether factual or fictional. While I think it is possible for websites such as online dating sites, Craigslist, message boards, fan sites, online gaming, or virtual worlds to allow for legitimate personal relationships to form, it is also possible for one to essentially create a completely new identity. While individuals involved with such websites have different motives for its use, it is possible for those “scumbags” of the world to invent a pretty profile to seem “legitimate”. In a world full of billions of people means that, while we would like to assume all that is posted on the web as coming from decent, intelligent individuals, there are clearly going to be situations where this is not the case. While I think it is possible for people to create meaningful relationships via online communities, one must always be cautious of how simple it is for one to invent a new identity with the internet.
Another important aspect of technology and social interaction that I think is worth commenting on is the age in which an individual engages in such interactions. I think it is very important for children to engage in face to face interactions throughout their childhood to be able to use technology for social interaction in a beneficial way. I think one must grow up interacting face to face rather than online to establish relationships as a key to growing up. I am so thankful that I did not use technology for social interaction during at least the first 10 years of my life and while technology is made communication easier for me at this point in my life, I really did not need to use it during my childhood and don’t believe it is good for a child to engage in such interactions as their minds are constantly developing. In conclusion, I believe that in general the use of technology for social interactions can be both positive and negative depending on the individual and how he or she uses the internet.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Blog 1 SOC49
Required Blog 1: Social Networking and Privacy
Your task for this assignment is to record your thoughts on the prevalence of social networking. How often do you use social networking sites/tools like Facebook, Twitter, or FourSquare? How much time to do you spend texting, tweeting, or checking status updates on your phone or computer? Do you think the cultural move toward social networking, constant access, and the loss of privacy it sometimes brings about is a positive/negative trend on the whole? What are some of the benefits and drawbacks of this entanglement between our personal lives and technology? Have you ever "over-shared" or texted, tweeted, or posted something you have regretted? Do you ever worry about your privacy when it comes to using these tools?
The extreme prevalence of social networking is a phenomenon our culture, and my generation specifically, have seen grow exponentially in the past few years. I have had a Facebook account since sophomore year in high school, while prior to that, I had AIM (instant messaging) and a Web-shots account for my photos. I would say that I used social networking the most in the first two years I had Facebook, while my interest has drained extremely in the past few years. While the Facebook fad of posting photos, friend requests and invitations has diminished for myself, I was a definite part of it for years. The amount of stalker-like information you can find on different people and friends, the updates on relationships and who-knows-who along with the easy accessibility of Facebook aids in its fame and popularity. While I must admit I was a Facebook fanatic for a few years and spent hours on Facebook daily, currently, I use Facebook for quick messaging, staying in touch with friends from high school and recently for posting photographs for my family to see my study abroad trip. Texting has become a very quick and easy way to contact someone and email has only further aided in our fast paced culture. Personally, I have stuck to Facebook, email and texting as my social networks, while I can see the fad running wild with Twitter, FourSquare and many other networks.
I think that the cultural move toward social networking, constant access and the loss of privacy brings both positive and negative trends on the whole. I find the ability to stay in contact with friends from high school or younger and the ease in communicating with someone at such a fast pace are beneficial. The ability for my parents to reconnect with friends from high school and my generations ability to stay in contact with old friends can be beneficial in many aspects. While we tend to not admit that we are all internet fanatics in some sense or another, our culture has become so technologically advanced in the past few years that we are almost completely reliant on internet use on a daily basis. However, there are also many negative aspects of social networking as well. It seems to me the obsession with posting, poking and commenting take away from the one-on-one personal relationships of the past. Even in comparing when I was a child growing up to the current generation of children growing up in a culture which is so overwhelmed with technology there is a large difference. Even though my generation has experienced extreme technological advances, the younger generations which enter our culture during a time where technology is flourishing seem to start using technology at a younger age. I wonder if the younger generations are using social networking for maintaining relationships or merely creating artificial ones. The social networking fad came about only in the past few years and allowed my generation and old generations to reconnect with old friends, but how will social networking effect those younger than myself? Facebook came out initially for college students, however, now anyone can get an account. While it may be beneficial for my parents generation, I do feel children (6-14 years old) will suffer more intellectually and socially from merely online interactions than generations than they would if social networking was subject to an older age group.
Technology has become such an overwhelming force in our lives, it is hard to even imagine life without such websites and communication technologies. In terms of privacy, I find the amount of information social networks present and the terms and services agreed to, particularly in terms of Facebook, are incredibly frightening and misleading. The fact that our personal information is sold to companies for research and advertisement seems really ridiculous to me, and personally, I find it somewhat comical the extent to which companies will go to to target a certain age group. I see the ad’s on my Facebook and am always curious as to how they know what types of products to aim at my account, however, I never actually follow any of the ad’s or end up buying something from the ad’s on my page. I do understand that researchers would use such information for marketing, however, I wonder how beneficial such marketing actually is.
Your task for this assignment is to record your thoughts on the prevalence of social networking. How often do you use social networking sites/tools like Facebook, Twitter, or FourSquare? How much time to do you spend texting, tweeting, or checking status updates on your phone or computer? Do you think the cultural move toward social networking, constant access, and the loss of privacy it sometimes brings about is a positive/negative trend on the whole? What are some of the benefits and drawbacks of this entanglement between our personal lives and technology? Have you ever "over-shared" or texted, tweeted, or posted something you have regretted? Do you ever worry about your privacy when it comes to using these tools?
The extreme prevalence of social networking is a phenomenon our culture, and my generation specifically, have seen grow exponentially in the past few years. I have had a Facebook account since sophomore year in high school, while prior to that, I had AIM (instant messaging) and a Web-shots account for my photos. I would say that I used social networking the most in the first two years I had Facebook, while my interest has drained extremely in the past few years. While the Facebook fad of posting photos, friend requests and invitations has diminished for myself, I was a definite part of it for years. The amount of stalker-like information you can find on different people and friends, the updates on relationships and who-knows-who along with the easy accessibility of Facebook aids in its fame and popularity. While I must admit I was a Facebook fanatic for a few years and spent hours on Facebook daily, currently, I use Facebook for quick messaging, staying in touch with friends from high school and recently for posting photographs for my family to see my study abroad trip. Texting has become a very quick and easy way to contact someone and email has only further aided in our fast paced culture. Personally, I have stuck to Facebook, email and texting as my social networks, while I can see the fad running wild with Twitter, FourSquare and many other networks.
I think that the cultural move toward social networking, constant access and the loss of privacy brings both positive and negative trends on the whole. I find the ability to stay in contact with friends from high school or younger and the ease in communicating with someone at such a fast pace are beneficial. The ability for my parents to reconnect with friends from high school and my generations ability to stay in contact with old friends can be beneficial in many aspects. While we tend to not admit that we are all internet fanatics in some sense or another, our culture has become so technologically advanced in the past few years that we are almost completely reliant on internet use on a daily basis. However, there are also many negative aspects of social networking as well. It seems to me the obsession with posting, poking and commenting take away from the one-on-one personal relationships of the past. Even in comparing when I was a child growing up to the current generation of children growing up in a culture which is so overwhelmed with technology there is a large difference. Even though my generation has experienced extreme technological advances, the younger generations which enter our culture during a time where technology is flourishing seem to start using technology at a younger age. I wonder if the younger generations are using social networking for maintaining relationships or merely creating artificial ones. The social networking fad came about only in the past few years and allowed my generation and old generations to reconnect with old friends, but how will social networking effect those younger than myself? Facebook came out initially for college students, however, now anyone can get an account. While it may be beneficial for my parents generation, I do feel children (6-14 years old) will suffer more intellectually and socially from merely online interactions than generations than they would if social networking was subject to an older age group.
Technology has become such an overwhelming force in our lives, it is hard to even imagine life without such websites and communication technologies. In terms of privacy, I find the amount of information social networks present and the terms and services agreed to, particularly in terms of Facebook, are incredibly frightening and misleading. The fact that our personal information is sold to companies for research and advertisement seems really ridiculous to me, and personally, I find it somewhat comical the extent to which companies will go to to target a certain age group. I see the ad’s on my Facebook and am always curious as to how they know what types of products to aim at my account, however, I never actually follow any of the ad’s or end up buying something from the ad’s on my page. I do understand that researchers would use such information for marketing, however, I wonder how beneficial such marketing actually is.
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