Reflection Paper

I am starting with the assignment about a phone that was left in a taxi cab before her wedding. Someone found the phone and didn’t try to return it and gave it to his girlfriend. The original phone owner bought a new phone and transferred the pictures to it and found a bunch of pictures that weren’t hers. Her fiance went online and posted numerous videos about the phone being found in the cab and not returned. It received a lot of attention from the village community. Through social media there was enough attention to get the police involved. They investigated and was able to retrieve the phone and give it back to Ivanna. This shows the power of putting information on media sites to accomplish a main goal. I learned that communities can come together to bring justice upon the rightfully accused. This would inspire me to go to social media with an issue that I am having. I would create numerous posts about the issue and follow the comments and advice from other people. In the past I would try to handle problems on my own but this shows that it helps to have other people respond and give their life advice. The more people that get involved with helping someone the more attention that issue receives. This will influence my field of study and career by making me more aware of how to solve a problem that I am having. That might be with gaming, coding, IT, programming or other computer related issues. Online content can be a vast  amount of information from many different ethnicities, ages, identities, religion etc that would give a person many different points of view. When you ask people that you know about issues that you are having it is from a much smaller group of people with probably the same background as yourself. 

The next assignment is the comparative assignment involving Henry Jenkins. He talks about how technology affects society. He talks about how new technology can change people’s perspective on things happening in the world. .In the videos, Henry talks about how technology can be used cooperatively to change aspects of the world around us and that as a group, we can put whole knowledge together in a complex way. He talks about how technology has become a tool we use to better ourselves for the future. Henry also states that our decisions on media can help make technology better and help advance it and upgrade it for further use in the future. This assignment showed me that technology can be perceived in different ways and may help or hinder people and their lives. 

The next assignment is the Future of work assignment. In this assignment I talked about how AI is taking over people’s jobs. Companies are making more computers and robots to take over the job that live people have been doing. This is helpful to getting things done faster but can cause job loss for many people too. The employees must work harder to keep up with the speed of the robots. The employees also say that they are not put into a position where they could become creative with the work they do. The employees feel that they are easily replaceable.I feel like I need to have a career that has longevity and can only be helped by robots. 

The next assignment is the Facebook as signment. This assignment was about how Facebook may or may not be making people more lonely. Not going to lie but I never used facebook for its intended purpose so I never really relied on it to make friends. It is helpful for keeping track of my extended family that is far away and to see how they are doing. It is a good resource for people to sell their business and find potential buyers.I have seen recently that there are a lot of ads on the site and less of the people that I want to keep in touch with. 

My blog: I attempted to work on the blog website. I made the blog by using the articles and videos from past assignments. I was able to view other student’s blogs and I felt like I was on the right track. I was able to find experts in the field of internet communication but I was not able to add them to the blog. I did attempt to add one of my professors but I didn’t get a response. I made some comments on other student’s blog sites. I really didn’t have any traffic to my blog. So, really nothing to track. I may have done that wrong. I learned how to shorten my URL for any site that I create. I have never used Twitter and I feel like it is not helpful to anything in my life. I did create a page. I found out that it was a site to complain about whatever is affecting that person’s life. A Youtuber that I follow, “The Gaming Terrorizer”, posted a joke on Twitter about Amber Heard after the Johnny Depp trial. All the “Retweets” were negative and was being called a woman hater and a misogynist. I just feel like he was overly judged about a joke that was out there already and he just re-told the joke. After that he was banned from Twitter. The only thing that was found when I googled myself was my blog that I created and Facebook. 

0 When I first looked at the assignment I was overwhelmed and I am pretty sure that I didn’t do this paper like you needed me to. I tried to blog through the other sites and had a very difficult time. So, after days/weeks of struggling through it, this is what I came up with. I don’t usually go into any social media pages except for “Discord”. This is an app that other gamers go onto to talk and play video games together. One person creates a server page and they become the admin of that server. The Admin can create chat pages within the server for everyone to use the chat page. The Admin then adds people that he wants to have access to the server through an invite. The people accept the invite and they become a group that plays the same video games or are just in the chats about the video games. I am an owner of my own  server called “New Sanctuary” and it was made in 2020 after there was a major blowout of my college friends group that ended in the deletion of the server. This server was called, “Sanctuary”. The owner of the server decided to delete half of the friends and it only contained the people that he wanted to continue an online relationship with. This is what pushed me to start my own server page. The way to start a new server was to go into the Discord website and create a new server and add several chat servers which included general, gaming, league, overwatch,& call of duty. Then you add the people to the server and they can enter any chat room that interests them. There are chat rooms that you can talk using your voice and others that are typed. It’s a useful way of communicating with people with the same interests and there are ways to meet up in person. For example: if you put in general chat an “@food”, anyone that is in that category would get a notification of a message about that topic. For me it signals to my friends to decide on where to go for dinner. This is an easier way to reach a group of people without having to call or text them. 

URL Website Addresses

Twitter

https://tinyurl.com/2p9726p9

Facebook

https://tinyurl.com/49r2fda4

This assignment is on the Pokemon TV series Wikipedia page. One of the discussions I found on this topic was the discussion of whether it is acceptable for a Wikipedian to change a formatting style. This was found in the “Talk” tab of the Wikipedia page. There was no further discussion on that issue because it was agreed on by the community. Another discussion that was being made was to add specific day, month, and year because the standard was only mentioning the year in most anime articles. He expressed the importance of complete dates and to be able to provide the appropriate context in order to give a vivid introduction to the article. The respondent is stating that they don’t believe it is necessary to use specific dates because the details can be found in the body of the article. He believes that things can be left very general. The editor comes back and states that the respondents’ arguments were invalid and arbitrary. The editor says that the respondents’ arguments were not strong enough to bother changing it. The respondent noted that the editor went back and changed the date to a more general one despite not agreeing with what the editor stated at the beginning. The respondent was asking for specific guidelines that state that TV series articles need specific dates. The respondent concludes that maybe they need to talk to more editors to reach an agreement. The editor states that they were fine with the format that the respondent requested and stated that he hopes this resolves the issues. The final thing the respondent says is that they were glad the editor came to an understanding and the respondent could not find other discussions that indicated whether specific dates or general dates make a difference in TV series articles. The discussion started very professional and informational and then it quickly became very personal when the respondent said, “Ok? And what is your point?” which made it feel like a personal attack. Then the editor retaliates with a verbal response tearing his point down. But then, the editor decides to take advice and make the changes. Then the respondent came to a consensus even though the editor basically backed down and went with the respondents suggestions. I feel like, in the middle of the discussion, they were not respecting each other’s inputs. The respondent engaged in personal attacks. They started to have an edit war but ended up reaching a consensus that they both agree on. They ended their discussion peacefully and appropriately. Some of the patterns that are being edited contain information on airing and production of the Pokemon TV series. Other patterns of discussion are the comparisons of the Pokemon TV series and the Pokemon games. Another pattern that is seen throughout the revisions is labeled critical reception meaning the critics are saying the show is boring and repetitive (which I kind of agree). The review of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl states that it is overly simplistic but still would be enjoyable to watch for children. Due to the conflicting critic reviews there are many discussions on how to revise the TV series. To review possible edit wars I went to the “View History” page. Some of the words that stuck out to me were “reverting possible vandalism”, “undid revision”, and “remove misleading 4th paragraph”. After further reviewing the history, some revisions are disregarded and others are relevant and changes are made. 

I found it interesting that the revisions are completed by anyone with an idea. When reviewing the revisions, it shows two columns of different lines. The first column contains the original content and the second column is the requested edits to the original line by line. 

I learned that the Wikipedia site was more complicated than I initially thought it was. After years of my teachers and professors telling me not to use the site for information for papers, I now realize the reason. Practically anyone can create a page of information. It is a long process to get the page approved. And after it gets approved, page can go through numerous edits on just about any part of the information. There is a group that is considered the Wikipedia community and they have a set of core principles that they live by. These include act in good faith, seek consensus, avoid edit wars and never disrupting Wikipedia to illustrate a point. I found this interesting and sad that you need to have a rule to be nice to other people that may have a different opinion than you do. I understand that it is needed after I read some of the edit wars. I wasn’t sure what they meant by disrupting Wikipedia to illustrate a point, but it illustrates the point of using direct discussion and following the rules of the community. There is a possibility of getting banned from Wikipedia. Which means that you can no longer post or edit or create a Wikipedia page. It is possible to be able to re-enter the community by appealing the decision and pleading your case to a consensus of editors. 

To get started on creating a Wikipedia page you must work for a notable company, have a unique idea, and research Wikipedia to make sure it hasn’t been created by someone else. There is a lot of information to learn about the Wikipedia page development. I had no idea that there are revisions and talk about every page. I thought that the page was created like the old encyclopedias and the information was taken from years of research. So, before you present your information, you must research all the steps that it takes to begin writing your page. The first thing that needs to be completed is to create an account in order to create your Wikipedia page and to be able to edit other pages. To build your profile on Wikipedia, it seems like people do a lot of editing of other people’s pages. I see the same usernames popping up in different but related sites.

The most important thing to have is verifiable sources. They need to be factual and unbiased. Be careful of copyright infringement on photos that you use on your page. If you are including other company’s information, you will need to add a link to their site. If everything is in place then begin writing your text. When this is completed, the page needs to be submitted to Wikipedia for review and can possibly be rejected. If the page is accepted, it can be placed in the public space. I would think that would be the end of it. Now you must continue to monitor for updates and revisions from others or even updates from your company that may be happening every day or week or month. I personally don’t understand why anyone would go through all of this and not get paid for it?

Facebook Assignment 

Today I will be writing a comparative essay about the articles, “Facebook isn’t making us lonely” and “Is Facebook making us lonely?,” while also talking about how relevant are the contents of these articles today considering how social media has evolved and changed? In the first article “Facebook isn’t making us lonely,” they talk about how alone everyone is and that it is due to the lack of interaction outside of Facebook that is causing us to be lonely. It also talks about how people have become more isolated and that one in four Americans lose the confidence to interact with society. The article also says that Americans are not often isolated, but we spend too much time worrying whether we are or not. The article also says that “people who feel lonely in their lives offline are likely to bring that loneliness to Facebook.” The article also adds that the loneliness is not coming from Facebook, rather, it is coming from ourselves and that the answer of is Facebook making us lonely is no. However, the article says that Facebook is doing worse for our loneliness. Facebook is causing us to crave a sudden demand for attention and with it we cannot be the same. We can never put down our phones, stop using social media, or stop using the internet.  

Now for the next article, “Is Facebook making us lonely?.” In the article, it talks about how Facebook has made us more densely networked than ever and yet there is research to prove that we have never been lonelier. The article also talks about how the body of a former Playboys playmate, Yvette Vickers was found dead in her apartment, mummified by a nearby heater, with her computer still on. The article also says that the more connected we are with technology the lonelier we get. 

 The more we use all the new ways to socialize, the less we have of a society. The article also says that Facebook is becoming larger than many coffee industries and it can be compared to an addiction surpassing another addiction. The article also says that the addiction that Facebook had given its’ users was the constant hunger for a response. The article thinks that Facebook/social media is trying to distance you from your actual friends and social life outside of technology. The article states that, “In 1950, less than 10 percent of American households contained only one person. By 2010, nearly 27 percent of households had just one person.” (“Solved A passage is given below. The instructions for the – Chegg”). The article also says that loneliness is also making us miserable. The article also says that over the years, the quality of society has dramatically decreased. The article also says that “If you’re lonely, you’re more likely to be put in a geriatric home at an earlier age than a similar person who isn’t lonely. (“Is Facebook Making Us Lonely? – The Atlantic”) You’re less likely to exercise. You’re more likely to be obese. “You’re less likely to survive a serious operation and more likely to have hormonal imbalances.” (“Is Facebook Making Us Lonely? – The Atlantic”) You are at greater risk of inflammation. Your memory may be worse. You are more likely to be depressed, to sleep badly, and to suffer dementia and general cognitive decline.” 

One of the similarities with the two articles that I talked about is that both talk about Yvette Vickers, the Playboy playmate, who died alone in her house and was found mummified. Another similarity that both articles have is that they both talk about the psychological impact that Facebook and other social media platforms have on peoples’ social lives and society. Another similarity between the two articles is that they both talk about the impact Facebook has on people outside of the social media platform.  

The relevancy of the content from these two articles and how it is affecting how social media has evolved and changed is that social media has grown even more than could have ever been imagined. With the release of TikTok, Discord, and the continuing growth of streaming sites like Twitch and YouTube, social media has become a must have for the new generation. However, with the growth of social media, people are now even more starved for attention. Now more than ever, people are on their smartphones, staying home, and becoming less social with the world around them. People have also become more triggered or, to put it better, more sensitive to social drama and media drama. Where if something happens on social media, they feel that their life is now meaningless.  

As far as my use of social media involving Facebook goes, I had barely used Facebook for anything except videogames such as Candy Crush and Battle Pirates. Other than that, I was playing a multiplayer game one day and someone playing with me found my Facebook account from the info on my gaming profile then renamed themselves as me and started harassing me in the game with the info on my Facebook. As far as social media in general, I use Discord to talk with my friends and play videogames with them. I also use YouTube to entertain myself with online videos and I use Twitch to livestream to people so that I can entertain them. I tend to stay far away from social media like Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, etc… because I do not need to know about any information that can be gained from them. This way I do not need to know the next hashtag drama alert or how bad the world is or how stupid people are. I can go outside and hangout with my real friends and enjoy life instead of being stuck talking to strangers behind my computer screen. 

In the short story, “How to find a village phone,” a women named Ivanna lost her phone in the back of a taxicab. After a while of not being able to find it, she bought a new phone. When she had the photos transferred from her old phone, she found pictures of someone else in photos she never took. On the photos was the email address of a women named Sasha. Evan, Ivanna’s fiancé, started emailing Sasha about the phone and getting it back from her. Sasha refused to give the phone back, stating her boyfriend had given it to her and that she was not going to give it back. After Sasha told Evan this, he starts to post about the phone and his situation on Myspace while also telling all his friends about it. Eventually his post got seen by a website called Digg and, in a few days, it went viral. People from all over were offering to help Evan get the phone back. After getting the police involved and the cooperation of the village community involved, Sasha was arrested for the theft of the phone and Evan got Ivanna her phone back. Of course, Evan and Ivanna dropped the charges and Sasha was released from police custody. This was all able to happen because a community came together to help these two people get their phone back.

The Three Video Comparison 

To start off this comparison of the three videos, I would like to point out that Henry Jenkins is in all three videos. One comparison that corresponds to all three videos is that Henry talks about the effects of technology within society. He also talked a lot about how technology can change people’s perspectives on things happening in the world. Another comparison that is in the videos is that Henry talks about how technology can be used cooperatively to change aspects of the world around us and that as a group, we can put whole knowledge together in a complex way. Another comparison Henry talks about is that technology has become a tool we use to better ourselves for the future. Henry also states that our decisions on media can help make technology better and help advance it and upgrade it for further use in the future. He also says that with the possession of technology, we have helped create collective intelligence through media for all over the world to see. With this collective intelligence, it can help in things such as school, jobs, and in life. The final comparison is that we are using technology to shape a better world for the future.