Month: February 2018

In this weeks readings we were faced with an interesting dynamic. In one reading we were getting all of the reasons why google is making us stupid while the other article claims the opposite question. In is google making us stupid we are faced with claims such as google provides us information within a few seconds and we have grown impatient when it comes to reading articles and blog’s we tend to just skim through it. Another reason why he claims that google is making us stupid is because of how little work and research you need to do to find your answer. All you have to type in is a few keywords and you have exactly what you are looking for. However in the article that states the opposite asking if google is making us smarter I tend to lean more to this argument that the 1st. In Does the internet make us smarter one of the key ideas that I agree with is the abundant flow of information. With Wikipedia being the worlds fountain of knowledge we take peer review to the next level. I think this is a credible argument and has indeed made us smarter as a whole. The internet provides an outlet for people to expand their knowledge and also feed the world their knowledge as well.

I found these articles to be interesting because of the compare and contrast style we got from both articles about Facebook making us lonely.  I thought that the article supporting Facebook making us lonely is true to a certain extent. In the article they were talking about how you were able to connect to millions of people in an instant you still have this sense of loneliness. By seeing all of these interactions you expect to see replies and likes to your posts but because of this instant communication you feel like you have all these connections to others you get this desire to talk and share with others but you will always end up with this sense of loneliness. Another point that I wanted to discuss was the anonymity aspect that new technology provides. This gives users this mask that they get this false sense of security that they can make mean comments and feel like it isn’t actually them saying it because of this anonymous setting some social media sites allow.

Future of reputation. This was a really intriguing article because of how influential social media is. The article Future of reputation went in depth about how fast information spreads through social media. In the article it was really crazy to read about just how fast the story about this woman’s dog pooping on the train spread. The most interesting part about the article is that something as small as an accident like this would be blown up to the point where she couldn’t walk out in the public without public shaming from others. This is deadly when it comes to social media because of just how instant this connection makes to its audience. We all know that social media memes spread like wildfire and with this case its no different. I think that it is possible to see the effects of social media when taking into accounts like this. The news spread of her dog and wound up actually ruining her reputation. This is not good because its out of your control to a certain extent. This article was helpful because of how informative it was about how news spreads and the damage social media can deal to its users.

Online Love. I think that this article was really eye opening in that it shows how new communication technologies were able to connect with people all around the world instantly. What I found interesting was that even though they were able to send messages instantly to each other the article still mentions how they were sending hand written letters and food to each other even though they were hundreds of miles away. I found this interesting because they had to learn about themselves as well as each other from so far away. The article says that they were 15 at the time of knowing each other and I found this to be odd because it honestly shocked me. When I read that both partners were 15 years old I thought that it was kind of weird for both people to be taking such an interest in each other. Both were at an extremely young age and I thought that it was kind of scary for both of them to be making such risky moves and encounters like actually meeting each other. Thankfully for them everything worked out fine until they eventually out grew each other and decided to move on with their lives. I think this article helped me open my eyes to the dangers and benefits of using technology to meet new people and create bonds with other users.