This week in my new communication technologies class we focused on social media and how it plays into our daily lives. It's safe for me to say I'm very connected to social media--I have a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and this blog. Many of these things have very practical uses for me. Over the summer, I used all of these platforms except for Pinterest to advertise a garage sale I was having in order to raise money for my trip abroad. I used Facebook to share advertisements of the garage sale I posted in a local online newspaper, I used Twitter to keep people updated about things I am selling and when it is, and I used Instagram to take pictures of the things I was selling and keep people interested.
Another way Facebook has proved itself extremely useful is that my town at home has a group on Facebook called "Long Valley Virtual Yard Sale", where people who live in town can post pictures of things they are trying to sell, including the price and details, and people can comment and say they want it and they arrange a time to meet and there you go! Basically an ebay but just for our town. I was able to sell an air hockey table, a David Winter collection, and many other things! And I got to meet some new people as well, people who I never would have met even though they live right in my town.
In one of this week's readings, 'Studying Internet Studies through the Ages' by Barry Wellman, I found it interesting that John Perry Barlow believed the Internet would bring a utopia of widespread global communication and democracy, whereas Hightower believed the use of the Internet would wipe out in-person contact, and neither of these things quite came to be. The Internet has definitely made the world seem a lot smaller--I am studying abroad in Australia but thanks to Facebook I know exactly what my friends and family are up to at home and can communicate regularly with them. And while it is true that if I need to ask someone a question who might just be up a couple flights of stairs in the next apartment, I will text them rather than walking all the way up there and asking them in person, I still know how to communicate in person. In fact, that is why I became a communications major--because I am fascinated by the way people communicate face to face and all the subtleties that go into a conversation.
In our other reading, "Internet giants can earn with ease, it's the churn they must fear" by Sheehan Paul, it discussed that Facebook is on the road to extinction--basically the same thing will happen to Facebook that has happened to every other social media before it--it can't keep up with the new generation and it dies out. As of right now I can't really picture a world without Facebook, I'm not really sure what will come next.
I came across a very interesting article on the New York Times website called "Nice to Meet You...Again" by Henry Alford, which discussed the idea that sometimes you can spend so much time on the Internet "Facebook-stalking" or looking around on Internet dating websites, that when you actually see these people in person you can't remember what you know about them from online and what you would know if you hadn't looked at their profile's online at all, and the embarrassing moments this can cause. This hit home for me because I have TERRIBLE facial recognition, and can't remember names...I will get a friend request on Facebook and think I've never seen the person before in my life until I realize the next day in class that I have been working on a project with them for the past week. Oops. Anyway, social media definitely has its negatives and positives. It all changes so quickly that it is hard to keep up with what the negatives and positives are.
Alford, Henry 2013, 'Nice to Meet You...Again', The New York Times, New York, viewed August 26, 2013 <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/fashion/nice-to-meet-you-again.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0>.
Click here to take my survey, "The Impact of Social Media on the Mental Health of Young People"
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