Write a post about the current state of social media and the technology we use to consume it. As usual, take the post anywhere you want, but try to create an analytical argument about new media and what it's doing to us. Does social media, like much pop culture, connect or isolate us? Does it enhance our lives or detract from them? Make us more efficient or more distracted? How do these platforms affect communication, social interactions, psychological well-being, body image, sexuality, race relations, politics, pop culture, etc.? You can certainly respond to the readings to help guide your post. This will be one of the last posts, so make sure you get it done!
Social Media has completely changed the way we interact with people, and this is both negative and positive! I feel as though social media both connects and isolates us. The positives and connecting points to follow... Social media is a huge platform that allows us to connect to family, friends, and people that we never even met! Take facebook for instance.. We have the ability to locate friends from elementary school and become up to date with the happenings in their lives through status updates and pictures. Sure, we may not talk to this person over the phone but we are able to feel a sense of connection to whats going on with them. I read a post today about one of my facebook friends feeling scared due to trump winning the election and i felt as though i connected with that same feeling and liked the posts to signify that i too feel the same. I had the option to comment but i simply chose not too, someone else may have and that would have ignited a conversation allowing them to be socially involved with one another. Social media is powerful and it gives some people a voice that normally would not say anything in the real world. Its a tool that can be used for both good and bad purposes! some of the negatives of social media include feeling the need to always be into your phone! PUT THE PHONE DOWN!!!! It has become an addiction to for some people and this can be detrimental to social skills. You have some people who focus so much on social media that they have began to lose their grasps on the real world! They only become excellent messengers for the "DM" but once they go out in public they lack common communication skills. Being on the phone at dinner tables to check instagram and the latest happenings and not engaging with the peers around them. Its hard for some people to relinquish the power of having literally everything at their fingertips.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree and even made a post regarding a similar topic. Social media and technology is great, but is having a negative impact on our communication skills with one another. I even find myself being too involved in my phone.
DeleteI definitely DeeDee! It's good for reconnecting with old friends. However, social media does make social occasions less personal.
DeleteI agree, people need to put the technology down and try to communicate with people the old fashion way. I even find myself utilizing social media and technology so much. That I can’t even remember how to spell basic words. I have come dependent on auto correct and spell check.
DeleteI agree that people need to PUT THEIR PHONES DOWN. AT LEAST HALF THE TIME.
ReplyDeleteI agree that while social media brings us closer to those who are far away, it takes us away from the ones infront of us. Looking at how others are feeling and doing is a gift because it helps us connect, However, it is a little unnecessary that in the midst of busy lives, we divide our attention equally to EVERYONE, even those we have not met by using our entire time scrolling through facebook. We can instead, use that time for someone special, someone whom we really care about and build on that relationship, instead of everybody, but with little time and only a simple checkup.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that we use the Internet for is communication. Many of us say that the internet brings us closer because it allows us to connect to one another. However, there is a down side. A popular Facebook quote says “the internet brings us closer to the person far from you but it takes you away from the ones sitting next to you,” which shows that social media actually breaks us from our closest circles. It causes us to wonder and dream about being with someone while we are physically with someone else. In my our family, when we were not exposed to social media just ten years ago, we were still talking to one another to build family bonding time. However, now that our whole family is involved with social media, we often ignore each other to Skype with our friends and relatives from Vietnam instead. Therefore, from time to time, in the midst of trying to reach out to our long distant family, we were actually losing our own time for each other. Many people also say that the Internet helps us learn more effectively by providing more resources and information; however; we are actually getting more distracted by the Internet as we try to do our work; thus, defeating our educational purposes. I personally could never get work done when my computer screen is on. I whether get bored faster or get distracted by all the "fun" stuffs that the Internet brings such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchats, and Skype. These distractions cause me to lose the desire to continue working in an effective manner. I then find excuses to pause my work to have frequent break times on the Internet. Therefore, the Internet not only distracts us from people but also from work as well.
ReplyDeleteI can't recall any of the names of the tools that I know exist, but I know there are some browser extensions and other applications you can use in order to limit your accessibility to the more "fun" parts of the internet, as you call them. I know they've come in handy for a number of other people who have similar problems, though I've never managed to make myself actually use one.
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DeleteIn the very near future we will look back and lol at the clunky nature of our communication through social media. A future in which we are merged with implanted smart devices just like in "Black Mirror".
DeleteGood post Haidang.
As I’m sure y’all have been able to surmise from the number of times I’ve derailed conversation to hop up on my soapbox, I have a lot of opinions on how current technology has been able to enhance our living experiences. Granted, my perspective is unique, so my uses of technology seems to veer from the habits of the typical person, from what information I’ve been able to glean from the other posts that have been written for this assignment. I don’t mean to say I don’t ever find myself distracted by the internet; I allow myself to get lost on the web fairly regularly, but even in that context, my internet browsing is far healthier than the alternative. Most of my internet browsing comes during the lowest points of my depressive downswings, so my other available options in that instance would be catatonic ambient emotional pain, at best. My ability to use the internet in times like this is one of the few things that allow me to remain connected to the communities I belong to, at a time in which I feel as if I am unfit to be physically around other people. I know I am not the only person who will use the internet in this same (or similar) fashions; some of the groups that I am most active on on Facebook are those that are focused around the support and assistance of neuroatypical queer folks. The internet, like many other things, can only be considered “good” or “bad” depending on how you utilize the tools available to you. It’s a framework through which you can design your own ways of interacting with the outside world, not a complete product in and of itself; pointing fingers at an abstract tool doesn’t really get anywhere. If blame must be assigned for the “downfalls” of our current society and the ways in which it has “distanced us from one another,” the only way we can point fingers is towards ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, this is pretty similar to what I wrote about as well (I promise I wrote mine before reading yours lol) I think social media can be really good to find out information and make friends with people you could never physically meet.
DeleteSocial media is a great way to connect with people, but I feel it is distracting us from those that we are connected with physically. As a whole, we have become distracted with our technical devices. Our devices are used while we eat, before we go to sleep, while we use the restroom, walk place to place, and while during events, and in many of these cases we should be paying attention to those around us instead of having our faces in our devices. Don't get me wrong though, these devices are extremely helpful (especially with keeping track of day to day activities) but as a community, we should learn to still give attention to those who are physically around us. This divide between those around us can be most evident between children and their parents. Children now days are growing up in a world based technology, and their parents more than likely didn't, so there is not much for the two sets to relate to. As the parents may not completely understand the technical devices, while the kids may not be able to communicate face to face effectively. Would you say that your family has become more divided with the growth of technology?
ReplyDeleteI agree that we have become more dependent on technology and we are constantly using it for everything. I also agree that technology has affected our family in negative ways but it has also help our world become more connected and open to society.
DeleteI feel exactly the same way about the proliferation of social media amd device usage in public spaces. We lose touch with our surroundings when our faces are looking down on a phone screen all day, and I feel like we are less appreciative of people. Personally, I know my family has a big problem with phone use when eating together. It definitely diminishes the amount of dinner table talk and makes me feel less connected to them.
DeleteMany people use social as a means to connect with all types of people. Social media allows everyone to show off or share their latest possessions or accomplishments. While it often connects the people that use it, it also disconnects the user(s) from the real world. For example, some people are so engrossed in their phones, they don’t make regular cashier or elevator talk. It has also gotten to the point where people don’t pay attention to their friends and family because Brittany’s Facebook post is just too good to stop reading long enough to hear someone talking to you. There have been times when my sister and I have been trying to get my mom’s attention and she would not answer. For some people, when they get on the social media, nothing else matters. For many people social media is the only place where they have a voice, so it’s that is that platform or the sole way the express themselves. For older generations, I believe Facebook is the just the way they reconnect or keep in contact with their former classmates. For many millennials and even celebrities, social media is used for letting the world know that they are “Keeping Up With The Kardashians”. Social media allows people to be anyone they want to be regardless of who they are in real life. All in all, social media is what you make it. It can either just be a means of entertainment, a way to express yourself, OR a way to show social status.
ReplyDeleteI definitely can relate to the distraction issue with social media within the family, and sometimes even my friends. When I try to spend time with my mom and sister, they would rather check facebook or look at snapchats. I try to utilize the time I spend with family and friends, and not isolate myself to social media. I wish others could do the same.
DeleteSocial media has both positive and negative aspects. Some of the positive aspects include being able to connect with friends, obtaining news faster, and allowing shy people to become more open. For instance, Facebook has allowed friends and family to connect from all over the world. For me, I am able to connect with my family members from Korea through this social media network. Social media have also allowed shy students to become more openly to people. Through these sites and apps, shy people are able to easily express themselves from through sharing, liking, and chatting. Although social media can help in many ways, it will also hurt our society. Social media will open up to stocking and cyber bullying. For instance, before social media there was no cyber bullying, but due to the internet bullying has become easier and more common. This is because through the internet everyone can see it and so bullying has become a larger problem because more people will know about it. Social media also allows stocking. This is because people are opening up their lives to everyone around the world to people who they don't even know so stocking has become easier and more common.
ReplyDeleteAlthough social media has pros and cons, I believe that they help our society more than it harms us. This is because the cons can be prevented by the users. For instance, stocking can be prevented by making your profile private, and cyber bullying can be prevented by teaching student and users to be thoughtful of other users.
Social media has ruined the "Social" in our lives. Although we think communicating with people , sharing information and pictures, and the quickness of transformation enhances our person to person experience, it actually does the opposite. Socializing without actually being around the person or thing we are communicating with physically creates a growth of distance between us spiritually. You can't necessarily feel a vibe through a typed message, see the persons body language, nor hear their tone. Not having to change the expressions on our faces when we send a message can cause us to have a stale face when talking to someone in person because we are not used to having to match our face to our words. The extreme boldness and cruelty of people online has also made trust for each other diminish, greatly. We now know that people don't share their true feelings in person all the time, but online they change, so it's kind of like everyone seems to be displaying fraudulent personalities (and this is naturally unsettling for us).
ReplyDeleteSharing most, if not all, of the moments of our lives (and our thoughts) ruins the excitement of getting to know each other in real life. So, we prejudge and assume the person is who they say they are on social media. The intimacy and special personal moments are not as intimate and special. Complete strangers can go to some
People's social media profiles and learn everything about them ( from where they work, to what their kids are doing in school). Social media
has us in a state of over sharing. Unless we keep
More things private and face to face, instead of
public, we will be doomed.
The social media craze has definitely affected our society in positive and negative ways. I sometimes miss the days when only Myspace and YouTube entertained my life outside of school and sports. Time spent with friends and family seemed a lot more meaningful, and our phones were only used for phone calls. After buying my first iPhone, I did not realize my life would be altered with all the new apps and other fancy technology that comes with it. Social media apps like Snapchat and Instagram connect countless people around the world, and creates the cloud our society cannot get enough of. The apps help us stay connected to one another and builds relationships for business, family, friends, etc. The cloud has also created a world where phones are permanently attached to people’s hands. People do not experience life the way it used to be because of social media, and it also causes harmful distractions. I have witnessed people almost crossing the street while traffic roared by because they were on their phone. It is a society that prefers to see the latest Instagram post of their favorite celebrity, rather than secure their own safety. Our culture has turned shallow and image based. Men and women base their looks differently because of social media. The term selfie will always bother me, and I will always refuse to take one. It shocks me how social media has affected corporate and politics as well. It is hard to believe that figures like the CEO of a major corporation or even the president use apps like tweeter. New media in general has changed our society and how aspects are perceived. It is fascinating and also scary to imagine what our life will be like in the near future.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, social media and technology have both positive and negative effects on society. It is really up to the people to decide how it will effect their lives, some people just get so caught up in social media that they don't realize it has taken over their life in a negative way.
DeleteFace in the Books, Not on Facebook! – Grandma
ReplyDeleteIn a World Where we are confronted by countless social sites and apps, a world where social media accounts outnumber their creators 5.54 to 1¹ and a doomed Facebook fights byte-and-e-mail to avoid the same grisly fate as MySpace… Yeah, I have no punchline lol. Amid the boom of Facebook in early 2006 the two most popular social media platforms were MySpace and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), both of which remain active but defeated (myspace.com currently stands at #2,177 on Alexa). Believe it or not, Facebook was launched just 8 months after MySpace! One simple reason why the former prevailed where the latter failed is the dynamic news feed on its home page, an obvious necessity for effective social networking in hindsight. Facebook also includes all the features of most other social media vehicles. It does everything #Twitter can, everything Instagram can because it OWNS Instagram, it siphon’s traffic from YouTube through embedded videos, SnapChat is just a gimmick anyway (there-go those apps that record your “temporary” snaps), and even through Gmail, now synonymous with email, Google+ remains “hipster”. However, the greatest reason for Facebook’s staying power lies in three words, “login with Facebook”. Now it functions as the default user account for most other platforms on the internet, enabling us to roam through cyberspace with a single identity and password. With 1.8 billion active users (~25% of the world’s population), Facebook will stand at the center of social interconnectivity until its next major paradigm shift.
*I tried to use Facebook in every sentence.
¹According to a survey by Global Web Index
http://blogs-images.forbes.com/insider/files/2014/11/social_media_strategy111.jpg
I personally really like new technology and social media. I do see the negative aspects of some social media though. I know some people who have gotten addicted to the validation they receive from social media and are constantly obsessed with their online image. I think social media is a really good tool, it's just people sometimes misuse it. To criticize social media I think would be misplacing the blame, as it's just an online platform that reflects who we are as people. To say that it's making society less "social" depends on what you think social means. I've seen "funny" pictures on Facebook of a bunch of people sitting on a train with everyones heads in their phones suggesting that if they didn't have their phones that they would all be talking to each other and meeting new people. But if you google pictures of people on trains before phones were invented, they are all just reading their newspapers. I think social media has also made it possible for certain pieces of news to go viral without having to pass through news organizations. Police brutality is just somewhat recently become something the public is more aware of, but I'm sure it's not a new phenomena. Because people have phones with cameras that can instantly post videos that can be seen and shared by anyone with internet access, the media has less control over what we see in regard to the injustices that are taking place. Online communities are also important for groups such as queer people who, unlike racial minorities, do not usually grow up around people who understand their circumstance and struggle.
ReplyDeleteExactly, it's all about how you choose to use it. Everything will have a positive and negative outcome. Great post.
DeletePersonally I feel it does both. Social media, the internet in general distracts us, isolates us but also informs us. I didn't grow up in a home where we had "family time". We all pretty much just did our own thing. So I can't say the internet distracted me from that bonding time, but it did distract me from real life problems. While mom and stepdad were fighting, if I wasn't writing songs in my book I was spending more time on MySpace rather than paying more attention to a broken home. When it comes to isolation, I noticed once everyone got cellphones and the house phone disappeared we all spent more time in our own rooms rather than in the living room watching videos. Like I said, it's not like I had an ideal family household where family dinner at 6:30pm was a tradition but at least some communication existed.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to enhancing our lifestyles.. speaking on a more positive level. I would have to say Instagram has given me access to a cleaner, healthier lifestyle by seeing certain fitness trainers. Of course we have all encountered the fakes with body enhancements but there are many positive outcomes when it comes to social media as well as negative. Now that I have started my own business, it is much easier for me to network also. Creating different accounts and making it easier to access my items is also very rewarding. There will always be negative and positive opinions about everything in life. It's all about how you use them.
Social media, as we define it today, is a relatively new phenomenon. Starting with the first primitive internet chatrooms in the 1990s, it has quickly evolved over the years into a multi-billion dollar industry with many popular formats. Hundreds of millions of people utilize social media sites every day, with sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Reddit becoming household names. There is no question that social media has an enormous influence on today's society, and primarily the generations that have grown up with it. As a college student and user of social media, I can contest to this. I can't go outside my dorm without seeing someone on their smartphone these days. A majority of people would rather browse on their Facebook timeline than ask each other about their day or interact in any way while waiting in line or sitting in a public place. It is for these reasons that I would have to say that social media, while created for the purpose of bringing people together, actually does the opposite most of the time. We don't seem to take the time to appreciate our surroundings like we used to, and as a result, we aren't living life to the fullest. I'm guilty of looking at my phone often as well, but I am trying to remedy this. I am restricting my social media usage to times when I am by myself and not with other people, so I can pay full attention in social settings. I am also limiting my time on social media sites each day in order to hopefully become more productive with the extra time I'll have. I feel like if other people make game plans like mine, they will also benefit in the long run and have better outlooks on life.
ReplyDeleteThe interesting thing about social media and the technology used to conduct it is that it has made the average citizen feel like they are popular and have a lot of friends when in actuality they are alone and estranged from the real world. What most people fail to realize about social media is that it is not real, it is a virtual reality. However, social media has a major control and effect on most people lives and this is how everyone stays in contact with people now. Social media also reveals information to others who barely know you, or don’t know you at all, but because of this virtual reality it makes people feel like they really do know you. Social media has changed a whole lot about the world we live in and more importantly how we get our news and information. Another major influence that social media has is on our self images, self esteem, and what is popular; people look to see what is trending in fashion , there have been reports of children killing themselves from bulling on social media, and social media is the new ‘go to’ for what is current. With tablets and mobile phones, the world of social media travels with us everyday all day right in the palm of our hands, it is so easy to access and some people don’t realize that is their only form of communication, which isn’t really verbal face to face interaction. Social media and technology definitely has its ups and downs and it’ll be interesting to find out where it goes from here.
ReplyDeleteTechnology has become the focus of our world. With technology and social media, it has offered countless possibilities and comes with many advantages. Although these advantages can offer a lot to some people, it is also allowing for those who are on social media to obsess with what’s seen online and is distracting those in their own lives. With the expansion of technology it has made us lazy. You can potentially have anything you want without going anywhere.
ReplyDeleteSocial media offers so much entertainment to us and we don’t even have to leave our couch! People used to go out into music stores to get the newly released cd, or the theaters to see the next number one hit movie, but now with the use of technology, we can get whatever we please with the touch of a finger. The same goes for shopping. Online shopping has drastically increased because of the use of technology. Causing some panic for retail stores. Online shopping allows people to avoid going to the mall, seeing people, and not having to wait in line. You can just sit at home and order what you want, and if its bad? Easy ship it back and reorder.
Not only has social media and technology made us lazy physically, it is also making us lazy thinkers.
Basically anything you want to know is online, and not hard to find. If we are stuck on something it isn’t difficult to go and just Google what the answer may be. Not only is it easy to find out information, but also Internet can very easily shape your opinions. Not sure how to feel about a subject? Online sources that may be biased can easily tell you one thing, which can make you automatically think that that’s what you should be thinking.
Technology and social media offer both advantages and disadvantages and it will be very interesting to see how we use it in the future.
Social Media has taken over the world. This is how we communicate with each other. We have Instragram, Snapchat, Twitter Facebook, etc. Everywhere you go people are on their phones and recording their whole live for people to see. If they are not recording on Snapchat then they are posting pictures on Instagram. I think social media helps us stay current on what is happening in the world, but it also limits us on having a natural conversation with other people. We would rather end each other a text or emoji then talk on the phone or in person. I definitely thinks this hurts us and future generations on having face-to-face socializations. I do not think we should wrap our entire lives through social media to the point where we forget basic communication skills and interacting with other people outside of smartphone and IPads.
ReplyDeletesocial media definitely has some benefits, but unless it is treated with respect it is a bad influence on our lives. First, social media onlly shows the best parts of people's lives. This can lead to active users of social media left feeling that their lives are worse than those they view. in addition to this, there is pressure to re invent yourself online, meaning that, like the video we watched in class said, our genuine lives become less valuable to ourselves. It's important that we remember that social media remains a form of entertainment and not our whole lives. Too often are we consumed by our mobile devices and forget to enjoy the moment. Someone made a great point in class the other day. They said how frustrating it is too go to a concert and be unable to see the stage behind all the phones. People pay good money to see a concert, then become enveloped in recording it for their friends instead of enjoying it themselves. This type of behavior is becoming more and more prevalent in more social situations than ever before. Now it's hard to have a conversation without the person you're conversing with pulling out their phone. Movie goers can't make it an hour and a half without checking snapchat, or instagram. While it's fun to be a part of, we need to make an effort to respect the fact that social media is fully capable of controlling our lives.
ReplyDeleteTechnologies and the Internet is a huge part in everyone life. It basically dominates the world. This domination can either be a good or bad thing. With technologies today we can interact and connect with family, friends, and even strangers around the world. Even though these advantages can offer people a simple and quicker way to interact with people without being face-to-face, it can impact us negatively. One reason is because we become obsess with these new technologies, as well as dependent on them. Some of us feel as though we cannot get anything done without these technologies.
ReplyDeleteSocial media offer us variety of entertainment, such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc. It’s nice to come home after a long day of work or school, and relax in bed with something like Netflix. However, it seems as though people are dependent on these social media. Instead of going out and interacting with others and being involved, people are coped in their bedroom. Besides that, we have other social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter that is controlling our lives on the down-low. Everything we do and say is just half or not even who we are. People tend to pretend to be someone else. Also, social media gives some people the courage to say things that they wouldn’t have the gut to say in real life. Overall, I think that social media have more of a negative effect on people then positive.