Month: February 2018

There is continued speculation that the internet is making us become less intellectual and more dependent after each generation. Some ideas that make me a believer of this topic include; search engine stupidity and multitasking.

Ever since the creation of google, people have been using the internet platform as a source to look up information and ask questions of the unknown. Many students listen to a lecture or speech and If they are unclear with words, instead of asking, they look them up on google. Author, Nicholas Carr, makes a good delivers a good point in his article, “Google is making is stupid,” when he states that the internet has become our primary source of information, and is effecting our way to learn and interact in everyday activities. Students today are not processing what they learn as much as they used to, because they are becoming too reliant on looking up the answer other than learning it.

Clay Shirky makes a strong point when he states that technology in the classroom is a bad thing, I believe so as well. If us as students always were on our phone and multitasking, then we would never fully process all of the information into the brain because we are occupied by other social aspects. While in class, being on your phone would be considered a distraction, not multitasking. I know that on my part, I am not a very good multitasker, I would have to be told something twice or maybe three times until I can really understand. This would just make the classrooms misdirected and kids would not get the full education that they deserve.

In the article, “does the internet make you smarter?”, it talks about how the advancement of technology is going to make children less intelligent. As the generations pass, the more people will be reliant on technological devices and google. Soon, to process information, everyone will need to look towards google first before learning the information first.

In todays society, Digital technology has made a major impact on our lives, and continues to alter our society in generations to come. Social media has become our societies major activity for entertainment, and Facebook has become one of the most utilized social media platforms of them all. With Facebook becoming one of the worlds major social media platforms, it comes with question as to: is Facebook making users lonely? or more connected? Due to people being so involved with their phones, our societies fear is, not being accepted by others on social media.

In Stephen Marche’s article, “is Facebook making us lonely?”, he explains that the media is making it more difficult for humans to connect with one another nowadays. His thoughts could be seen to be true, as our communication over text and social media databases has became more prevalent over time instead of having a person-to-person communication. It is also stated that being lonely leads to isolation, and when you are isolated, you are dissconected. Although, in the article, “Facebook isn’t making us lonely” written by Eric Keilenberg, he is pretty much going against Marche’s theory and referring back to his article as “not a lot of proof”. Keilenberg thinks that there is no evidence to see that social media has made people introverted, and that if anything is making us more connected as people. In the article “The Intimacy of Anonymity” by Tim Wu, he infers that posting on the internet leads to over-sharing, and at that point it feels like a reality TV show. As humans, our search for approval and likes on social media has made us vulnerable and formed a culture of over-sharing. Yet, on the other hand, I can see why this is becoming a trend, because it is common to be discovered over social media to land jobs, or opportunities from companies in need. This gives us humans, a need for exposure and a need to catch others attention.

I would argue that social media is making us more connected as a society, because it is easier to communicate with people you couldn’t have without the digital technology. In my life, I stay connected with everyone that i was acquainted with, due to my digital device and I am perfectly okay with it. Being a college student, I wouldn’t be able to keep in contact with all of my high school buddies without my cell phone and social media. I don’t think this has made me more introverted, yet I can still be close with the people i need to even though we lives many miles apart.

In the article “Love Online,” is narrated by a father whose son, Henry, was involved in an online relationship. Henry had met Sarah in an online discussion group, and they hit things off from there. After exchanging each other’s phone numbers, Henry and Sarah were getting even closer by sending each other virtual gifts and virtual candy. Sarah’s father has been screening his daughters’ phone calls and listening into the conversations between Henry and Sarah. The father did not approve of this at all and thinks that his daughter should not be talking to boys unless they know another personally. Sarah’s father then filed a courtship and gathered every conversation that Henry and Sarah had and put it on paper. Although, Henry and Sarah’s relationship was shown to be a strong bondage, and henrys father agreed to accompany him on a trip to see Sarah. After making the trip and spending time with each other, they have many commonalities and were social off the bat. Yet, the relationship terminated later after the interaction, not due to the distance or because the real life experience didn’t meet expectations, they just couldn’t get passed the fact that Sarah’s father didn’t approve. After many years passed, Henry continued to try the online relationships, and encountered many other women over the internet.

 

This article exemplified the major impact that technology plays on our lives and even our relationships. In regards to Sarah and Henry’s relationship, they considered themselves “dating” even though they only sent numerous messages and a handful of pictures. This caught my attention, because I don’t believe that this could be considered “dating” unless both counterparts are interested in each other’s personal traits too, not just because of their conversations online. Although, this relationship lasted a long time and they both had the same amount of interest to see each other in person.

 

I think that the internet is a good way to meet someone, but not to date. Also, its obnoxious to have a long distance relationship that lasts longer than a month over an online social media platform. On the other hand, that is just my opinion, and people are free to have arelationship in any way they please. This shows how large the internet can play a role in our lives, and maybe soon, everyone will be dating online, due to the fact that everyone is invested in their cell phones and technical devices now a day.

“It takes a Village to Find a Phone” by Clay Shirky

In the article “it takes a village to find a phone”, written by Clay Shirky, is about a woman named Ivanna left her SideKick cell phone in the backseat of a taxi cab. Ivanna has her friend Evan, a programmer in the financial industry, emails her cell phone to try to get a hold of who took the phone. After a few days pass, Ivanna finds out that the cell phone is in the hands of a girl from queens, as seen from a photo that she recovered from her new phone. Ivanna tries to convince the girl named Sasha to return her “SideKick” back to her. While Sasha continues to refuse, Ivanna uses Evans network intelligence to post this story across multiple social media  sites. As time passes and still no return of the cell phone, Ivanna and Evan try to look towards the police for help. The police report this issue as a lost phone and not stolen, so they could not do anything about it. Evan then goes back on social media and posts about the police and their inaction towards the situation. All of this grabs the publics attention and they begin to retaliate across more social media platforms and the police change the report as stolen. Sasha then gets arrested by the NYPD and Ivanna gets her “SideKick” back. And this story goes viral.

“The Future of Reputation” by Daniel J. Solove

In a Subway in South Korea, a woman dog poops on the ground in the middle of the subway. Passengers tell her to clean it up, she then tells everyone to mind their own business. She then posts pictures of this occurrence on her blog over social media. Within hours, the public attacked this woman and she was known as the “dog shit girl”. Places she went and even family was recognizing her picture from the web and the public sees her as “she doesn’t deserve privacy”. This story then became mainstream and it was almost impossible for this girl to get away from all these speculations and rumors.

How does new technology enable a new kind of group-formation?

-Technology has brought us social media platforms that millions of people are on daily. I believe our society is more connected now that technology is available to us because we are more interested in whats happening in other peoples lives besides our own. The public will remain connected because it has just became a way of life for us humans.

On page 17, Clay Shirky refers to Tim O’Reilly’s concept of “architecture of participation.” What does that mean in the context of these two articles.

Author, Clay Shirky expresses Tim O’Reilly’s concept of “an architecture of participation”, this is basically saying that the internet has became a social satire for our everyday lives. In these particular articles, the social media platforms have become a baseline for connection. Many Years ago if these situations were to happen, then the sidekick would not have been retrieved and Ivanna would still be without her sidekick. With so many people on the internet so often,there is always someone listening to what you have to say, people will help and stay intrigued by stories over websites and apps. This has shaped the way our society acts today.

“When we change the way we communicate, we change society.” Discuss this statement by making reference to the contents of the two articles.

Once all the social media platforms were available for the public to use, that changed our society immensely. Well explained in the article “the future of reputation” written by Daniel J. Solve, we are more prone to gossip and cyber bullying and our information to be leaked. These may be bad, yet we also are more connected with our society and have brought people closer to one another. Communication is easier yet human interaction has weakened. Also, society is so engaged in their phones and television that news is brought to the public within seconds and people hear about things way earlier than they would if technology weren’t around. Although, humans communicating over the internet has made our society introverts in a way and more reliant on a device than ourselves.

After reading these two articles, what do you think motivates people to share information? What is the source of trust, for example, when sharing information on an online dating site? What makes people take the risk?

I believe, people share their information and stories over the internet for attention and the feel of acceptance. There is a sensation of connection to the world when you post or like something on the web. Yet sometimes it may not be trustworthy to do and sketchy at times, the internet can be a good source to make friends, to meet your love, and to even land a job. I believe all these factors is what makes us humans want to post and look on the web to be a part of the new generation and stay connected.

What are the most important lessons you have learnr from these two articles about communication technologies and their effect on our society?

Some lessons I learned after reading these articles is that, i need to watch what I post sometimes because you never can know when something you say is wrong and could backfire on me because all it takes is a rumor to scatter across the web. Also, I know that other people will have my back on the internet and i can make a big impact on something by asking the publics opinion on things. I also know that internet isn’t terrible, yet can help me at most times in need.