My essay was supposed to be about this topic: How do social media change our understanding of individual identity, with regard to the kinds of people we have in our social networks? But after doing some research and I have watched the new movie about how Facebook was invented, I would rather write an essay about how Facebook controls our life and how children and youth are exposed to these social networks.
Essay.
The world today is very controlled by our social networks. They control how we connect with other people. We are now able to exchange content like pictures and videos to each other wherever we are in the world. We use these networks as a connection channel, where we easily can reach each other and our personal life is not that private anymore. We love to share our personal information with other people. If we take a look at Facebook in particular, here we can become “friends” with whoever we want. But are they all our “friends”? We add the people that we do not actually know by heart, but we know who they are. Are we still willing to share all our information with them? Clearly we are.
When I was thirteen years old there were no such thing as social networks, and to get in touch of each other we used our “old” cell phones or went to each other houses. Our personal life was well covered unless we wanted to tell other people. These days it is normal that children even in primary school have Facebook. Is this really a smart thing? There are always a lot of teasing in this age group, is it wise to open for several ways to let them bullying each other? The development of Facebook has gone to far, and my opinion is that children that age should be outside playing, not sitting inside writing on Facebook.
A statistic survey about teens and social media says that “Content creation by teenagers continues to grow, with 64% of online teenagers ages 12 to 17 engaging in at least one type of content creation, up from 57% of online teens in 2004”, (teen and social media, 2008.) This shows that the teenage use of social network has increased and we can only imagine how it will be like in five years. Internet is a dangerous place for young people and the parents or guardians should set strict lines and teach the children about safety online.
“Social network sites (SNSs) such as such as Friendster, CyWorld, and MySpace allow individuals to present themselves, articulate their social networks, and establish or maintain connections with others”, (The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:” Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites, 23 aug, 2008). This is a very good description of what social networks are. These networks has not excited for very long. I remember I got my first Facebook profile when back in 2007. And when I have talked other friends about when they open theirs, they all respond with the year 2007. We have all heard about the new movie that is released about the beginning of Facebook, called “the social network”. It shows that Facebook started back in February 2004, but where only for Harvard students at first. The man behind Facebook is named Mark Zuckerberg, and he is worth billions of dollars these days. Facebook has spread worldwide, and everybody knows what Facebook is. “Created in 2004, by 2007 Facebook was reported to have more than 21 million registered members generating 1.6 billion page views each day (Needham & Company, 2007), (at el The benefits of Facebook.., 23. Aug, 2008). This shows how fast it reached people, and it is still growing.
But how does social networks like Facebook and other networks influence our life? Is it possible to get addicted to Facebook? I believe it is absolutely possible to become addicted to this network, and the younger people are when they start a profile on facebook, the higher the risk is. “The Internet has been linked both to increases and decreases in social capital. Nie (2001), for example, argued that Internet use detracts from face-to-face time with others, which might diminish an individual’s social capital”, (at el The benefits of Facebook.., 23.aug, 2008). I think this argument on how internet decreases people`s everyday social life is very interesting. We do talk a lot with friends and relatives on Facebook. Is this keeping us from actually talking to them face to face? I think people will become more “stay at home” persons as Facebook keep developing. There are always new apps and games and so on. And through Facebook you can see what goes on in people`s life. Some even have link to their own blog on their profile where they share even more information about themselves. Is Facebook and other networks replacing our real social life is a question I would like to raise. I think Facebook is going to be such a huge thing later on, even more that it is now. That might involve several risk as people becoming antisocial and are more willing to sit at home on Faceook than actually going out meeting friends and other familiar people. This is how predict the future. We are able to access Facebook wherever we are, on the phone, computers and so on. Soon there will be other more specialized technology on how we can be on Facebook constantly.
“The strong linkage between Facebook use and high school connections suggests how SNSs help maintain relations as people move from one offline community to another. It may facilitate the same when students graduate from college, with alumni keeping their school email address and using Facebook to stay in touch with the college community”, (et al The benefits of Facebook.., 23.aug, 2008). Facebook is a network where we are able to maintain contact with people we graduated with or went to a camp, concert, dated and etc. And when we go overseas to study like I have done, we are able to keep touch with the people at home. I have to admit that my Facebook use has increased after I came down here. I hardly used Facebook before, maybe three four times a week at max. I feelt there were more important things to do. I feelt talking to people face to face was the most important thing. I can understand the importance of Facebook to be able to have contact with friends and loved ones. But what I do not understand is why children and youth in primary school and the early years have to be exposed to Facebook and other networks in the same way adults are. Where are the parents? Back in Norway there is a young ten year old girl that has made a blog where she writes about her life as a ten year old. Children that age are not able to realize what is proper behavior or not, and other children write ugly comments on her post. This girl also uses video blog and the videos has been uploaded on you tube where people have remixed them to bully the girl. I think this is a really good example on how social networks can increase the bullying and teasing in this age group. My question is, should there be an age limit to some of these social networks? I think there should be restrictions on how old people should be before we have seven year olds with their own Facebook profile. There is a lot of people with wrong intentions out in the world and to maintain the security over our children there should be rules and restriction to the usage of these networks. The development in social networks is huge, and new ones are invented all the time, my concern is how the children and the youth are being exposed to them and how it is making them even more inactive as we have seen with video and computer games. I hope that these social networks take this growing problem seriously before it is out of control.
Sources: http://en.scientificcommons.org/51860816 and http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00367.x/full
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Response to week 10 lecture.
Censorship / Privacy in social media.
This week lecture was about the privacy on the internet, such as Facebook, there is really not any privacy there. There where also information on how Facebook was founded and how fast it reached people around the world. People believes it is innoncent, but it could in the future become a vry dangerous social network, if the people behind it developes security and privacy polices for the users. Privacy online is very important and people are not aware of teh fact that they are easily exposed with the all the content they put out there.
What would happen if the internet dissapeared one day? The world is developing around the internet. That is how people get their information, that is how news is spread and so on. There is an interesting topic to think about, what will happen if it suddenly was gone? It is scary to think about, but I do think that it will soon be developed again.
This week lecture was about the privacy on the internet, such as Facebook, there is really not any privacy there. There where also information on how Facebook was founded and how fast it reached people around the world. People believes it is innoncent, but it could in the future become a vry dangerous social network, if the people behind it developes security and privacy polices for the users. Privacy online is very important and people are not aware of teh fact that they are easily exposed with the all the content they put out there.
What would happen if the internet dissapeared one day? The world is developing around the internet. That is how people get their information, that is how news is spread and so on. There is an interesting topic to think about, what will happen if it suddenly was gone? It is scary to think about, but I do think that it will soon be developed again.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Week 9 tutorial task and tutespark.
For the essay topic I have chosen topic number 5. I think this is an interesting topic because for example Facebook is a huge social network these days, everybody has it. And as I have said before, what people write, photoes and videos can tell a lot about a person. So I think I will have a lot to write about.
5. How do social media change our understanding of individual identity, with regard to the kinds of people we have in our social networks?
Evaluation of the course.
I must say that I was kind of nervous and excited about this course when I enrolled. I was nervous because I am very bad at computers (especially macs), and I was excited because it sounded very interesting. I have learned a lot in this course, especially about research! i now know how to make a blog, which is a good experience. There has also been some downs if the tasks has been very hard, but a challenge is always good.
3 good things about the course:
- gaining knowledge about computers and the internet.
- gaining research skills.
- develop myself into the blog society.
3 not so good things about the course:
- I think that week 5 tutorial task was very unethical.
- should be more instruction on how to upload things to the blog.
- should have been proper information about how to use the URL adress the right way from day 1.
But overall it was a very good course! Good luck in the future with new students!
5. How do social media change our understanding of individual identity, with regard to the kinds of people we have in our social networks?
Evaluation of the course.
I must say that I was kind of nervous and excited about this course when I enrolled. I was nervous because I am very bad at computers (especially macs), and I was excited because it sounded very interesting. I have learned a lot in this course, especially about research! i now know how to make a blog, which is a good experience. There has also been some downs if the tasks has been very hard, but a challenge is always good.
3 good things about the course:
- gaining knowledge about computers and the internet.
- gaining research skills.
- develop myself into the blog society.
3 not so good things about the course:
- I think that week 5 tutorial task was very unethical.
- should be more instruction on how to upload things to the blog.
- should have been proper information about how to use the URL adress the right way from day 1.
But overall it was a very good course! Good luck in the future with new students!
Response to lecture week 9.
Cyberpunk.
This week lecture was about cyberpunk. The lecture notes where not very readable. And as I have been very sick I did not partcipate in theis lecture. The picture I got out of the lecture notes is that it was a lot of focus on computer games and so on. Something I am very against. i think that children should be outside playing and develope themselves and not sit inside the house playing games. I have never really spend any time playing this games (all though I remember my brother did play a bit when we grew up), I was just not interested. I found it quite boring actually, and that is why I have never been interested in computers either. I think it has to much influence on our lifes and controls it to much.
Anyway, we learned a lot about cyberpunk in last week tutorial/tutespark, and I want to refer to what I wrote about cyberpunk in that task.
This week lecture was about cyberpunk. The lecture notes where not very readable. And as I have been very sick I did not partcipate in theis lecture. The picture I got out of the lecture notes is that it was a lot of focus on computer games and so on. Something I am very against. i think that children should be outside playing and develope themselves and not sit inside the house playing games. I have never really spend any time playing this games (all though I remember my brother did play a bit when we grew up), I was just not interested. I found it quite boring actually, and that is why I have never been interested in computers either. I think it has to much influence on our lifes and controls it to much.
Anyway, we learned a lot about cyberpunk in last week tutorial/tutespark, and I want to refer to what I wrote about cyberpunk in that task.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Week 8 tutorial tasks/ tutespark!
Negative impact of technology on humanity.
I have chosen the topic "negative impact of technology on humanity" as my cyberpunk.
I think topic is something that is important to look at as the world today is developed around technology. How could we even survive without technology. It has a huge impact on our lifes, wherever we turn there is technology in form of a mobilephone, laptopp, tv, microwave and so on. I am not a good internet searcher (but I have become much better after this course), but I managed to find a page that involves this issue. http://www.cyberpunkwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=What_is_Cyberpunk%3F.
My topic has a following description on the tutespark blog: "Negative Impact of technology on humanity: In a cyberpunked near-future, technology runs rampant, and usually manipulates most societal interactions. Dystopian near futures are very common, but so are futures where the impacts of specific technologies are played out in a world only slightly different from the present. Sacred societal boundaries are often crossed with regularity. Often the earth is severely damaged. Crime and drug use are often key supporting themes".
On this page there is a link to an youtube movie about what cyberpunk is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D80jhU6t-VA&feature=player_embedded.
Cyberpunk is according to the first link: "Cyberpunk is about expressing (often dark) ideas about human nature, technology and their respective combination in the near future".
they kind of highlight the issues according to for example technology in an ironic way, so that we will recieve the message.
i managed to find a video on youtube that is named: The Role of Technology in Society. This ia video that shows how family life has been impact with technology over the years, and how it is affecting the families everyday life. Back in the old days before TV arrived the family sat around the table together to have dinner, then came the TV and soon the attention around the dinner table was at the TV box. After the TV came all the other technology, like discman, mobilephone, gameboys, MP3`s, laptop and so on, and suddenly the family life was all about these inventions, not about each other. It is quite often we see a mother walking around with the baby carriage and talkes on their cellphone. Especially cellphones impact not just our lifes but evryone around us as well. We talk on the phone while we are driving and risk being hurt in traffic, we are constantly by our phones ready to answer everytime a message ticks in no matter where we are. We often see people walking around with their head down texting. How will this use of cellphone affects our health in the future as it is already affecting us a lot. this video shows exactly what i am talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1-iiYRe5KE. (I have problems uploading the videos so I can only share the links.)
After watching this movie I suddenly think of all the newsstories that pups up in the papers from time to time about cellphones and the cancer risk. Since cellphones has not existed for so long it has been difficult to do a lot of research on this problem, but they have found out that it could have an effect on for exampe brain cancer and other tissues. I know this is not a very current news story right now, but I have to say that I think this issue is quite current anyway, and tehy are still doing a lot of research on it, and there will always be released new dicoveries on this field. For a couple of months ago there was a story in one of Norways top news papers about how carefully parents should be when they buy cellphones for their kids. I have tried to find the news story again, but it is not possible. Well i remember I read the article, and it said that researchers find out new things about cellphones impact on our health everyday, and the cancer risk. They claim that talking a lot in the phone gives a higher risk of getting brain cancer, having your phone in your pocket can may even make you steril, and sleeping with your phone next to bed can disturb your sleep. The articke said that to give a cellphone to a six year old was not very wise because of all these new founds, and if you are going to give them one, you should have restricions on how they should use them and how many hours per day. I did some research online and found a page where they explain a lot about cellphone and why it could be danger. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/cellphones.
I have chosen the topic "negative impact of technology on humanity" as my cyberpunk.
I think topic is something that is important to look at as the world today is developed around technology. How could we even survive without technology. It has a huge impact on our lifes, wherever we turn there is technology in form of a mobilephone, laptopp, tv, microwave and so on. I am not a good internet searcher (but I have become much better after this course), but I managed to find a page that involves this issue. http://www.cyberpunkwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=What_is_Cyberpunk%3F.
My topic has a following description on the tutespark blog: "Negative Impact of technology on humanity: In a cyberpunked near-future, technology runs rampant, and usually manipulates most societal interactions. Dystopian near futures are very common, but so are futures where the impacts of specific technologies are played out in a world only slightly different from the present. Sacred societal boundaries are often crossed with regularity. Often the earth is severely damaged. Crime and drug use are often key supporting themes".
On this page there is a link to an youtube movie about what cyberpunk is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D80jhU6t-VA&feature=player_embedded.
Cyberpunk is according to the first link: "Cyberpunk is about expressing (often dark) ideas about human nature, technology and their respective combination in the near future".
they kind of highlight the issues according to for example technology in an ironic way, so that we will recieve the message.
i managed to find a video on youtube that is named: The Role of Technology in Society. This ia video that shows how family life has been impact with technology over the years, and how it is affecting the families everyday life. Back in the old days before TV arrived the family sat around the table together to have dinner, then came the TV and soon the attention around the dinner table was at the TV box. After the TV came all the other technology, like discman, mobilephone, gameboys, MP3`s, laptop and so on, and suddenly the family life was all about these inventions, not about each other. It is quite often we see a mother walking around with the baby carriage and talkes on their cellphone. Especially cellphones impact not just our lifes but evryone around us as well. We talk on the phone while we are driving and risk being hurt in traffic, we are constantly by our phones ready to answer everytime a message ticks in no matter where we are. We often see people walking around with their head down texting. How will this use of cellphone affects our health in the future as it is already affecting us a lot. this video shows exactly what i am talking about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1-iiYRe5KE. (I have problems uploading the videos so I can only share the links.)
After watching this movie I suddenly think of all the newsstories that pups up in the papers from time to time about cellphones and the cancer risk. Since cellphones has not existed for so long it has been difficult to do a lot of research on this problem, but they have found out that it could have an effect on for exampe brain cancer and other tissues. I know this is not a very current news story right now, but I have to say that I think this issue is quite current anyway, and tehy are still doing a lot of research on it, and there will always be released new dicoveries on this field. For a couple of months ago there was a story in one of Norways top news papers about how carefully parents should be when they buy cellphones for their kids. I have tried to find the news story again, but it is not possible. Well i remember I read the article, and it said that researchers find out new things about cellphones impact on our health everyday, and the cancer risk. They claim that talking a lot in the phone gives a higher risk of getting brain cancer, having your phone in your pocket can may even make you steril, and sleeping with your phone next to bed can disturb your sleep. The articke said that to give a cellphone to a six year old was not very wise because of all these new founds, and if you are going to give them one, you should have restricions on how they should use them and how many hours per day. I did some research online and found a page where they explain a lot about cellphone and why it could be danger. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/cellphones.
Response to lecture week 8.
Virtual philosophy.
Virtual philospohy is about what we "think" is real is actually not real. Virtual reality involves our two senses like sight and hearing. This makes us able to think that something is real when it is not. Like when we read a book, we can have the same reactions to become mad, angry, sad etc. as if we experienced the same in real life. When we play for example a computer game and we are competing against others in a car race, it could feel as it is real life. We are to caught up in the moment to separate fiction and real life.
I think we all have heard about women wanting to have a baby so bad that they loose their period and the pregnancy test is positive, even the blodtest because the woman produces so many of the hormones women get when they are pregnant. They can even feel fetal movement! this a serious menatl illness, but still, it is something virtual, they are so blinde to the feeling of wanting to become a mother that their body belives it as well, but in real life they are not.
Virtual philospohy is about what we "think" is real is actually not real. Virtual reality involves our two senses like sight and hearing. This makes us able to think that something is real when it is not. Like when we read a book, we can have the same reactions to become mad, angry, sad etc. as if we experienced the same in real life. When we play for example a computer game and we are competing against others in a car race, it could feel as it is real life. We are to caught up in the moment to separate fiction and real life.
I think we all have heard about women wanting to have a baby so bad that they loose their period and the pregnancy test is positive, even the blodtest because the woman produces so many of the hormones women get when they are pregnant. They can even feel fetal movement! this a serious menatl illness, but still, it is something virtual, they are so blinde to the feeling of wanting to become a mother that their body belives it as well, but in real life they are not.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Week 7 tutespark.
Free software.
- Try some free software - good examples which are free and easy to download are: Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Gimp, Audacity, amsn, pidgin, etc.Try to use it exclusively for a few days - then decide whether you like it or not! Say why/why not.
The only free software I have used is Mozilla firefox. I used to have it on my computer along with the Internet explorer. But suddenly one day it disappeard, so now I had the chance to get it back. I like Mozilla Firefox because it is easy to use, it is faster than internet explorer. I would definitely recommend Firefox to other friends.
- Try some free software - good examples which are free and easy to download are: Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, Gimp, Audacity, amsn, pidgin, etc.Try to use it exclusively for a few days - then decide whether you like it or not! Say why/why not.
The only free software I have used is Mozilla firefox. I used to have it on my computer along with the Internet explorer. But suddenly one day it disappeard, so now I had the chance to get it back. I like Mozilla Firefox because it is easy to use, it is faster than internet explorer. I would definitely recommend Firefox to other friends.
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