Sep 23

Information Overload and 24/7 Access To Networked Media

Search Engine

Digital media is an outlet that is continuously being edited, advanced, and critiqued. With that being said, there is something for everyone, whether that be topics and information on news, entertainment, education and even politics. The tools of digital media helps its users obtain information in many quick and easy methods, leaving me to believe that it is definitely expanding our knowledge rather than impending it. According to Anna Notaro, author of The Lo(n)g Revolution: The Blogosphere as an Alternative Public Sphere? “Many of us seem to be convinced that “the information highway” will somehow transform our society into a better place. Some think it will fix health care and education.” Now information is everywhere. That same information has and continues to shape who we are as a society in addition to who we are as individuals. Without the internet, media, and technology, many advancements, discoveries, and information would not be manufactured, found, or spread.

 

With the presence of the internet it is much easier to research and look up people, places, and things. For some people it is beneficiary and for others it is quite the opposite. Jeffrey Rosen, author of The Web Means the End of Forgetting, highlights the idea that the internet could work against you. He brought up the story of Stacy Snyder, a former teacher in training , who posted a picture at a party with the caption “Drunken Pirate.” Rosen claims that “After discovering the page, Snyder’s supervisor at the high school she was working at told her that the photo was “unprofessional,” and the dean of Millersville University School of Education, where Snyder was enrolled, said she was promoting drinking in virtual view of her under-age students. As a result, days before Snyder’s scheduled graduation, the university denied her a teaching degree.” This is a common example of being penalized for your presence on social media in the workforce, and a professional atmosphere. Many employers and businesses do searches and background checks on potential future employees as well as current employees. It ensures that their business or company is not negatively impacted by the content put out by their representatives(their employees). While I do believe it is unfair to punish someone based on what they post online if it doesn’t intentionally target their job, business, or company, I do think as a professional you should carry yourself a certain way on social media especially if your account is public and includes your full name. Nevertheless, the tools of digital media are extremely helpful in the long run. They emphasize and shine light on many situations, stories, people, and things. With posts, websites, and apps, information is in the palm of our hands.

Sep 22

A Week without Google and Facebook

This assignment was probably the hardest thing I needed to do in a long time. Because Google, for me, is a way of life, it’s where I find my answers and where I get my news. With that being said I was only able to complete this assignment for 5 hours. At first, it was quite refreshing as I went outside for a walk and enjoyed the present. Nevertheless, that excitement quickly left, and my stress arose as I was concerned that I would be receiving important emails on my Gmail account. One thing that I wrote down while taking notes was how weird it felt knowing that Google was off-limit. Even though my time was short-lived in this assignment, It truly made me realize how important these sites were in my daily life. Moving forward, I will consider starting to monitor how much time I spend on these sites. I think it can be a fun idea to make schedule changes. Overall, this assignment was fun until I realized how much power Google has in my life and will probably not be re-doing this one.

Sep 22

Blog 2: Why do people create content online? What drives them to post, tag, and follow ?

Creating content online through social media, streaming, articles/blogs, etc has become immensely popular over the years. There are various factors that drive individuals to post content online. We’re living in an information age we’re sharing more information quickly, more often, and to more people than ever before. Different individuals share different information but one reason would be entertainment. They have a motivation to post to provide entertaining content to their followers. Most individuals are creating and posting to define themselves. By posting they’re showing people who they are, what their values, beliefs, and interests are. Others post online to feel a sense of community. They can find others who share the same interests as them. In doing so they’re building and growing relationships with other users. They’re able to stay in contact with people they might’ve not previously. Some individuals post because they might want to spread the word on a particular issue or cause they care about. In the article by Bill Joy, “Why the Future Doesn’t Need us” he mentions his concern in the future of technology and it’s constantly changing. Machines are the future and are constantly being programmed to doing things better than humans. This article was very eye opening being hes right the future of technology is scary and eye opening. 

Sep 22

Blog #2

This week’s blog was to spend a week without using any Google and Facebook Products. Personally, this was a very hard assignment and if there were a grade I would fail miserably. Google and Facebook being the most popular engines and companies in the world own many companies that are included in my everyday use. Companies that I used often that are owned by Google and Facebook are FitBit, YouTube, Waze, Instagram, and  WhatsApp. To not use these applications for a week including both, Google and Facebook showed me how much information these products hold and how much I rely on their products. For example, I use WhatsApp to communicate with different family members who are not in the country.  I usually like to send them messages throughout my week. Without WhatsApp, I realized it was the only application that I have to communicate with them easily and efficiently.  I tried different ways to contact my cousins but it was definitely harder than contacting them on WhatsApp. Also, I use Fitbit on a daily basis. I recently lost 100 pounds and my FitBit has contributed to my weight loss journey tremendously. When I took off my FitBit for the week, I had to estimate how many calories I burned during my workouts and for the day. Sometimes estimating is not accurate and the FitBit has many qualities that I was used to calculating my calories for workouts, my heart rate, and the time.  During the week I found myself checking my wrist, even when nothing was there. Overall, this was a great experiment and I noticed that technology has both emotional and physical attachments to me. Google and Facebook have influenced the world and their products solve many problems.

 

 

Sep 22

Blog 2: A Week without Google and Facebook:

     I accepted the challenge to attempt to go a week without using Facebook or Google and see what the results would be. Usually I check my social media platforms whenever I get a notification. I use social media to stay in contact and stay up to date with friends and family. I use Google a lot in my daily life for school, online shopping, and random questions I need answers to. It gave me a lot of anxiety at first not having access to platforms that have become such a part of my everyday routine. At the same time it was a very liberating feeling to disconnect for a little while and focus on the present. The second day felt strange waking up and instinctively checking my platforms and remembering I couldn’t. I was able to start my day quicker cause I usually would scroll for 10-15 mins before getting out of bed. It made me become more aware of how often I would check my phone and how useful Google was. The third day was the most challenging and each day became more apparent how dependent I was on social media. I ended up using Google on the third day because I was confused about a term for a class. 

       As a society we have become so dependent on technology and feel the need to constantly be connected. As Nicholas Carr states in the article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid, “the Net is becoming a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind”.There are advantages to easily having information accessible. In comparison, disadvantages would be overusing it and not being as productive as a result. A disadvantage Carr touches on is losing our ability to read in a traditional sense and skimming because of our need for information instantaneously. I enjoyed this assignment because it made me realize the importance for your overall wellness to disconnect once in a while. At first it was stressful because I was so used to being connected but felt relaxing to take a step back. 

Sep 22

Blog 2- A Week without Google and Facebook

Essentially, I believed this assignment would be very very easy for me considering how I don’t have any social media platforms on my phone like Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. I havent for about 2 years now and I do not regret it, but this is not a Social Media assignment this is Google we are talking about. A necessity in life! Well my generation’s life and I am speaking for myself. Google isn’t necessarily a Social Platform, it’s more of a platform that computes data. Although I do not use social platforms Google I use a lot. The first day wasn’t so hard. The next day wasn’t too bad, but it was worse. The third day I had an Economics Exam and it was over. I was on Google almost all day trying to search up explanations for questions, sometimes it didn’t even have to do with economics. I use Google for my Job, School and Social life. Facebook on the other hand was kind of easy. Facebook, as I like to say, is too raw for my taste. I got off of Facebook for the simple fact that I saw something that no one should ever see ever in their lifetime… I never looked back. Life is not difficult when Google or Facebookis removed, it’s just boring. I’m not the smartest person in the world and Google has a lot of things that I won’t really come across so easily. It is very convenient among other things. That’s like if a teacher told you “Please read Life of Pi and explain in a 1 page paper what happens to the tiger?”. You will most likely search up what happens to the tiger before you have to read the whole book to figure it out. It’s just convenient.

Sep 22

Blog 1- Why do people create content online? What drives them to post, tag, and follow?

In the video Tim Berners-Lee: The next Web of Open, linked data he described linked information as follows: boxes with loads and loads of data, which would then lead to getting lots and lots of things sprouting from this data. In most of these plants it’s not just 2 boxes full of data supplying life for these plants it’s that whatever it is “someone is always looking for patterns in the data ”. Linked data is basically structured data that is linked to more data. The Examplt Tim Berners-Lee uses is ” because they had their genomics data in one database and they had their protein data in another. Now, they are sticking to it onto–linked data–“. The way I would imagine this works is if you are trying to answer a complicated question like he says in the talk you can and are able to narrow it down just based on the simple fact that these two have their own set of data on blogs on their own. Bill Joy, “Why The Future Doesn’t Need Us” is kind of a scary yet eye-opening read, it shows us how easily replaceable we can be. For example, I have once been to this place called “Smacked” . This is a macaroni restaurant that has a computerized register with no cashier personnel at all. It was very interesting to order because there was no sort of communication about my food. It was cooked by people and then I received it with barely a word said like “Enjoy!” Discussing Public Sphere’s remind us that societal issues are important and need to be addressed. In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr he states ” They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. When Carr says “They” he means Google. It’s hard to just simply have a thought process in general when you can easily find an answer to something on Google without coming to that conclusion yourself. I am definitely a victim of this as well. The way I can quickly scan over long passages and grasp all the information I need to create an answer or even opinion on the article is incredible. I believe the idea of why people create content online is because it is simply just more of a convenient way to communicate to the world your ideas. The drive for them is that they always have more and more to conquer and to learn and more attention for them to have. The experience was definitely stressful since this is used most of the time it was hard to be without Google.

Sep 22

Why do people create content online? What drives them to post, tag, and follow?

Online content creation has been something a lot of us have been doing in recent years. There are various reasons people create content online. One reason is for followers. People need some weird validation in their lives that forces them to always feel like they need to be great and always happy, never a bad day. When they do have a bad day, they post about it on social media sometimes even of them crying and by doing this they are trying to seek validation from strangers which is not healthy in my opinion. This need to be wanted and liked by strangers has been very overrated. Another reason for content creation is to help and inform people. For example, a video series of RV building may sound boring but to certain target groups it could be very interesting and help people with the same thing. I believe a lot of people create content to help people, and even entertain. People make daily vlogs to give them a glimpse of their everyday life, but instead of sitting around, they force themselves to go out and do something so their life is always interesting. So people post,tag and follow for entertainment.

Sep 21

A Week Without Google or Facebook

This is a topic and assignment often discussed in various classes and it’s my second time participating in it. However, despite this being my second time participating in a similar kind of assignment, my response has not changed. For me life is simpler and even easier, dare I say. More relaxing? Of course. But why? Because I’m living in the present moment instead of being distracted by social media and online content. My productivity also increased and I found myself idling way less often. Instead of idling on my phone, I either did chores around the apartment, read books, or went outside for a bike ride or long walk. In “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Carr mentions how this ease of access to information has been beneficial but at the cost of our attention span. Yet when I disconnect from the internet and social media, I find my ability to focus on a task for extended periods of time to be returned to a healthy level.    

 

Sep 21

The Public, Spheres, Blogs, Linked Information

People create content for a vast number of reasons but I’d say the biggest would be for attention. As social media continues to expand, so will the amount of people trying to do anything in order to become famous. The rise of social media platforms such as Snapchat and Tiktok have allowed for a countless amount of trends and challenges to be performed and uploaded by various “influencers” as well as the average consumer. All of this drives the cycle of attention seeking and the endless social media race for “clout”. Other reasons include for a long term documentation of their lives, sharing with family and friends, and for expression.  

The long term documentation of people’s lives and sharing with family and friends, are to some extent interchangeable as the intentions behind them are very similar if not the same. Connection and a desire to be remembered are two reasons which I strongly believe play a role in people’s creation of online content. Sharing with family and friends builds up the previously mentioned desire for connection and to be remembered. Even after death, pictures of you posted on social media accounts will remain, and this perhaps eternally honors your request to be remembered. However, expression of the self is a driving force behind the creation of online content which I find all the more interesting and variable. To me, the process of creating the content and sharing it with others is a form of art. Different people post different things that they resonate with and find meaningful. In the article “Great Wall of Facebook: The Social Network’s Plan to Dominate the Internet- and Keep Google Out” we see the importance of how Google’s algorithm has affected the content we consume, as well as the interactions we have with those around us. As a result, I have begun to see the algorithm as another significant reason that drives people to post and follow the content they do. The algorithm in a sense is self sufficient as it provides people with content and in return people also feed it content that helps it to evolve. The creating and sharing of content has also become easier as explained in the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr. The harnessing of the internet, its algorithms, and all its data resources has drastically contributed to the massive and rapid development of all these social media platforms in which millions of people create and share content.