Enough is Enough

Twitter is used daily, actually at every moment your doing something new, one may think "Did I tweet that yet?". If you post to Twitter, you’re a writer in your own right becasue you are not allowed to write a novel with a limit of 140 characters. However, you can tell a short story instead.  If you look at #OnlyOnTwitter you will find a number of posts about writers and writing, so you should join in the fun if your interested in the topics posted.Today, I ask myself is Twitter affecting our manners when it comes to having a sit down with

• friends or family
• at events
• or in relation to a one to one interaction?
• Does the media change our interactions? 

I recently went to a sit down lunch with an old friend, she was on her smart phone when I arrived at the lunch cafe' though I didn't think anything of it. Throughout the whole conversation we had, she was tweeting about our conversation and what we said about what topics. Enough is enough, I was trying to have an enjoyable lunch with an old friend though she was too busy with updating her tweets to actually engage in deep conversation. When you go out to dinner, out with friends or at work, be there. Enjoy the moment and than tweet about it later, one should not tweet as they are talking with an old friend in the middle of the conversation, that is rude!
                             This is what I suggest you do when going out to lunch with a friend :)

I believe that Twitter has to be monitored by what you say and when you say it. This monitoring should be done by yourself, not saying have someone monitor it for you.  Some people use Twitter  every few seconds which than makes your posts not as relevant or valued. Twitter is a great tool to use to get news out fast as well as receive news. Though, we must have to some boundaries when it comes to communicating on Twitter and wen we make a post. When we are off Twitter, we should be completely off Twitter when in an conversation or maybe at a concert. Twitter will still be there when your done eating or talking to your mom, friend, boyfriend.
Twitter has a positive affect on the world, though if you do not limit yourself when using it; your posts will be less valued. When in a one to one interaction or one to many, you should try to limit when you are on Twitter, so you can enjoy the moment and are not paying attention to what is going on with your "Twitter World". The negative affects of Twitter would be seen as less interaction relations with people and society becasue one may always be on your phone or laptop updating your virtual world.
I asked my mom what she thought about twitter, she said "Keeps me creeping on my kids". Hence, I will not post every second of everyday what  I do with my life on twitter, instead I will actually live my life and only make posts that are worth others to read.

Instagram does what for communication?

Perception is Reality.....

.....or is it? Recently I was chatting with one of my girlfriends about a mutual friend of ours who seems to have created a whole other personality via social networks. Its as if he has become obsessed with flaunty recent purchases, exploiting relationships to make himself look more popular, or completely over exaggerating an experience he had to make his life seem that much more exciting. We were trying to figure out where this personality may have come from or when it was created, but simply couldn’t. its as if he lives a quasi double life.

After some thought, I realized why he may be doing this, its easy. Social media, and in this specific example twitter especially makes it easy for you to get lost in another reality. You meet, tweet, and hold conversations with people that you don’t even say hello to in passing (yes, I’ve had this personally happen to me). Now don’t get me wrong, I know of plenty of examples where people have been introduced in 140 characters or less, hit it off, and became the best of friends and in one case even began dating, but in all of those instances all parties involved are the same consistent person on twitter and in ‘real’ life. However, I’ve also seen in the case of my friend people create a whole new persona. Through twitter space and time are virtually eradicated, you can communicate anything, to anyone (most of the time a large audience of hundreds of people), at anytime and in the case of my friend it has shifted power into his hands. You see through this persona he has created on twitter he has become an opinion leader. People have started to follow him to stay up to date on the latest parties, clothing trends, music, gossip, etc. he’s created for himself a personality that people are drawn to. I’m happy he has garnished this sort of attention, seeing as he makes his living from such promotion, and I’m sure the experience will be useful should he ever go into marketing.

I wasn’t so much disturbed by our friend’s dual personalities as my friend was, and after some thought I was in a way proud of him. He found an outlet where he could express himself that were beneficial to him. I still have to wonder though, of these new relationships he has formed with his twitter followers how many of them are real and genuine friendships, because it seems to me that he may be losing friends that he has known for qu9ite sometime because they are so annoyed with this glutinous boastful twitter persona.

I found this website to be a fairly accurate and amusing description of all the various twitter personalities you are bound to run into. For more laughs you can also check this one out as well.

Gaining Media Presence

            Last week I discussed how social media is changing the world of business. This week I am going to focus on a company that works with businesses to create a social media presence. This company is called Sprout Social.

            They work with company to help them gain a presence through social media websites. They can help track social media websites to see how many people are viewing information about a certain company. For example, they get updates when a company gains new followers on Twitter and can in return relay that information to the company. By being able to track this information, Sprout Social is able to give companies the information they need to see if their social media presence is helping their business.

            Sprout Social helps companies reach several different social media sites all within their site. They reach multiple sites with the same information so no matter what social media site a person uses, they will know information the company posts. Sprout Social also helps company monitor what kind of information people are searching and what they want to know about a company. This way the company knows exactly what they need to do to reach their audiences. This website is a perfect example of the important role that social media plays for business. It helps companies to make sure their company is using social media to their advantage.

This video helps explain what Sprout Social does and how they help businesses...

I HATE it when...

          The computer has completely revolutionized the society we live in today.  I remember pretty early in Elementary school I had to have pictures for a project and my dad had to look them up for me because I didn’t know how to “google”.  But by 6^th grade I spent more time playing SIMS than I did actually interacting with those around me.  My generation has grown up right along side the invention of DVD’s, CD’s, and high quality computer games and we have totally embraced all of it.  It seems like today there is a media for everybody no matter what you are into.  The constant invention of new things, the bettering of what was once “top of the line”, this attitude is what fuels our society to keep buying and keep grabbing at new media.  Apple, a company that sold 17.07 million iphones in the September Quarter with a revenue of $28.27 billion, has capitalized on this constant need for more better than any other company I know. (http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/10/18Apple-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-Results.html)    

            There is always something new at Apple, the iphone or mac laptop you are holding will never stay the most high tech device for long.  This constant updating and reaching for what we don’t have has made our view on technology of today a space bias.  My MacBook Pro computer is 2 years old and it runs on an old program, is without facetime, and is larger/less eco friendly than every MacBook Pro sitting in the Apple store’s today.  In only 2 years!  Space bias, including rapid social change and media that is less durable, has become Apple’s specialty.  Their marketing of new products reaches millions of people over long distances; however, almost instantly once a huge audience has been reached they turn around and the iphone 4 they just bought is lame compared to the iphone 4S.  It’s enough to make you crazy always reaching for the best, getting it, and then within a year you are right back where you started and have to reach again.

I HATE it when:

I HATE it when I walk into the Apple store and a 12 year old is getting a new computer.  SERIOUSLY?  You’re 12, you do not need a machine like that for 6^th grade.  I’m judging your parents for spoiling you and resenting my own parents because they obviously don’t love me as much as your parents must love you. 

I HATE it when I sit down at my computer to relax and do what I want for 30 minutes and I look up and it’s been 2 hours.  Where did my time go?  What have I really been doing?  What have I actually accomplished???  It’s as if the media of today forces you to suffer from space bias because the rapid social change is something you have to keep up with so you update yourself on your brand new computer which is now old news because you just spent 2 hours reading about and shopping for the cool new computer you wont be able to afford until the newer new computer comes out because then the current new computer will go on sale… I’m out of breath just typing that sentence.  It’s a cruel bias to live by.

I HATE it when I see media that used to be classic having to change to keep up with our constant need for updates.  For example, the poor radio has been forced to do nothing but music since TV made it possible to watch entertainment instead of just listen.  Now, with the invention of computers, the Internet and Pandora, radio had to take out all its commercials and provide XM radio just to keep up and still entice people to listen.  What happened to the imagination you used to use when listening to a scary story?  Sometimes, in our hurry to make things better, we forget about the positive attributes of the old stuff.

            In conclusion, space bias of media relates very closely to computers and the constant need to update in our society is supported by the crazy people at Apple.  Steve Jobs set up the marketing of his products perfectly to fit into the type of society suffering from space bias we are today.  It’s an up-to-date world out there and everybody is just trying to keep up.    

  

Rise of the Planet of the Apps

Imagine if 10 years ago, somebody told you that you would soon have the ability to access a vast network of media and information wherever you are, streaming in high-definition right in the palm of your hand and able to be retrieved with just a tap or swipe of the finger. Compared to the state of technology back then, would this have seemed like a stretch of the imagination? Would the ability to harness the power of the World Wide Web in a device thinner than a wallet and faster than the latest notebook computer of that time seem like science fiction?

Fast forward to the end of the decade, and science fiction has become a reality. Technology has evolved at a whirlwind pace, and has had an astounding impact on our media ecology. In fact, it could be argued that this mobile revolution has created a new media ecology entirely. Never before have we been able to access media in such a manner. These mobile devices are not merely an upgrade from devices past, nor are they a niche product out of reach to all but the most savvy, hip, or wealthy users; they have created an entirely new mindset in which we access and share media, a mindset that continues to grow while leaving behind the outdated modes of the past.

Certainly, this technology has already proven to be highly beneficial in numerous ways. Obviously, the most important improvement of mobile media is the ability to access content anywhere, anytime. No longer are we tied down by wires and cables, no longer must we look for physical media such as DVDs, books, or magazines. Smart phone in hand, we are able to watch any number of movies, read any number of books, or check any number of scores, all at our own leisure. We can do this on the bus, on a plane, at the doctor's office, at a restaurant, etc. etc. And with the speed of today's wireless connections, we can access this media just as quickly as on a traditional wired connection. If anything, mobile media has expanded the boundaries of our media ecology, like Magellan sailing uncharted waters.

With mobile media, we also have an increased ability to personalize the content presented to us. It wouldn't do to think of a smartphone as a media blender, pureeing all of the content in the world into one homogenous form, or as a tossed salad with all of the ingredients thrown together and mixed up, heterogeneous but hard to pick apart. Instead, a smartphone is more like a vending machine whose contents are decided by us individually; we simply push the button to dispense the media of our choice. We don't have to dig for specific items like in a salad, we get to choose what ingredients are used and how they are presented.

The app has become revolutionary in its ability to organize media into tidy little squares, much like the buttons on a vending machine. We are able to condense an entire genre of media into that little square, and arrange those little squares on our screens in a manner that is most convenient to us. We can place the most important ones on our home screen, hide the less important ones, and choose to not even download the ones that we have no need for. This level of personalization does not end there. Within the app we are given even further options to customize the content to meet our needs. We can choose which scores we want to see, which movies we want to be recommended, which headlines to be on the front page, which cities' weather forecast we'd like to view. We can adjust the frequency of updates or the way in which we are notified of updates. And when we no longer need that app, we can easily remove it as if it were never there.

In a way, mobile media has enabled us to become the masters of our own media. It enables us to live within the same media ecology, but access it through an individual lens. Mobile media does not just give us a longer leash, it removes the leash entirely and gives us the freedom to access and explore our media environment in ways that we could only imagine a decade ago. Mobile media has given us freedom, and at the same time, it slowly tightens its grip on our daily lives...

Making a Virtual Corkboard

Aside from networking and friendships becoming a virtual reality, even things such as picture sharing, calendars, and posting ideas on to corkboards have creeped into the virtual realm. The social media site I’m talking about today is Pinterest. This is one of the newest sites to have reached the ranks of extreme popularity, especially among women. So what is this site and why do people like it so much? Pinterest is a site where you essentially create a virtual corkboard. You can pin pictures, recipes, even hobbies to different boards. And when you click on the icon it takes you to the original link where that picture was found. Users even have the options to create their own pins of ideas they liked or found.

http://pinterest.com/

The reason this fits into this topic is because this at one point used to be a physical reality as well. There was a time when people would have actual corkboards and would use them for a variety of purposes. Though it was good idea (I’ll be honest, I still have one), there are advantages to having a virtual corkboard. Media ecology talks about the abilities of our new technological world. Some of the abilities of Pinterest include collaboration and surfability (yes, I know this isn’t a real word, but it works in this context).

The whole point of Pinterest, is to allow users to be able to look at other people’s ideas and repin them to their board. You can also suggest pins to other users if you think it’s something they would be interested in. There is no privacy on this site, and it’s so all users can interact with one another. Also, it’s nonlinear. Users are able to click on a pin to enlarge it, then click on it again to take them to the link. Sometimes there are multiple links embedded, so you have to do a lot of clicking before you find the original sites, and other times it’s directly connected.

Pinterest takes a unique approach to the social media realm, by taking something that most people wouldn’t think about and turned it into a major hit. The idea of being able to create a board of ideas that you can quickly reference at anytime is not only convenient and interesting.

I found love on a....

During recent years, dating has inconvenient for people. Dating sites such as Christian Mingle, E-harmony, and Match were designed to help people potentially find the love of their lives. All you do for these websites is take a quiz about your personality, write a bio, and post a picture. And with these three things you are thought to find love and at the same time weed out the people who you would never be interested in. Dating sites were geared towards the exhausted people who have been looking for love (http://youtu.be/lGBqPnZi4bw) and for the people who are too busy in life to go out and explore the world of dating.


So what is it about dating sites? Recently, my friends have been talking about joining one because to them they are tired of finding lust in the clubs and bars. They want true love right here and now. But since when has dating become such an inconvenience to people? Such an inconvenience in fact that people run to those dating websites, and hope to find someone by next week. But what do you gain or lose when you are using a dating website? Well for one you can gain confidence. When "meeting" someone on the internet you can really tell a person how you feel about them because there is no face to face meeting and no intimidation. Face to face communication is in jeopardy because you spend more time online finding someone, and communicating with them that when you meet you already know everything about them so there is not that much to communicate. It takes the element of surprise out of dating.

Compared to our parents generation, I think that dating has lost it's element of surprise and has become inconvenient to people. Our parents did not have the complication of the internet to find love, they had to meet people through friends, or at places. Our generation is taking out the leg work, and making it so that we can find love through a computer screen by posting a bio and a picture. I leave you with this commercial about dating websites. Enjoy! http://youtu.be/EGDCqDa3Om8

Why do we even bother?

Why do people get these accounts on social networking sites? I mean, we see our friends and family everyday for the most part but why do we have these accounts? Why would we want to distance ourselves even more from our loved one by adding a middle man, such as a Facebook or twitter. Yes you can connect with friends whom you don’t normally see but why is this “solution” for communication causing such a distance?  

I can start with a testimony; I know I got my Facebook account because it was “exclusive” at the time. You had to be invited to get an account and granted I saw my High school pals every single day and for 7 hours a day but just in case I didn’t catch one of them that day I could easily go write on their Facebook wall. Beyond MySpace, Facebook , though it was highly unnecessary at the time It was prepping me for a bigger world of social media sites….Sites such as twitter, LinkedIn, foursquare.

The more of those sites I gain membership into the more “friends” I got and the more people I could remain in contact with. According to Coyle & Vaughn, “A recent study found that college students use Facebook , a popular social networking site, to maintain their social capital. They use Facebook to stay linked with people with whom they used to be more closely involved, e.g., former classmates”. They are saying that college students are in fact using their Facebook accounts to stay in contact with friends and “friends”.  Coyle and Vaughn, also add in “A related study investigated whether college students use Facebook for “social searching” or “social browsing”. Social searching occurs when a Facebook user looks up particular individuals he or she already knows or has become aware of via an offline connection in order to learn more about them. Social browsing, on the other hand, occurs when users try to find strangers online whom they would like to meet offline. Overwhelmingly, college students are using Facebook for social searching. Also known as Facebook stalking, Social browsing adds a completely different element to people knowing a lot about you but they fail to acknowledge it when in the presence of them in real life due to the fact of not actually  knowing them and also not wanting to be deemed weird or creepy.

Hellphones

What did we ever do before we had cell phones. When I was growing up in the nineties it seemed like we got more in more impatient with the amount of time we had to wait to communicate with one another. When I was really little we didn't have any type of communication device that we could carry around and stay in contact with each other. Sure doctor's had pagers and the occasional wealthier person had a car phone that would only work in select areas. For the most part we could only communicate through our land line house phones. We didn't have to call people every hour of the day to let them know frivolous details of our everyday lives; We kept that stuff to ourselves. Now most of us all have smartphones. We can text, email, page, send pictures, play games, or even (god forbid) call people at any given time. Before cell phones we weren't checking in with one another constantly to see what was going on. I know my mom and dad told me about when they were dating they might talk to each other once a day for about an hour. That was when they were trying to get to know one another too! Now if I go more than five minutes without texting my fiance' to let her know I am still breathing oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide she would probably call the police to start a manhunt. We have gotten too out of control and too reliant on being able to talk to each other at any time we want. Constant communication is good in some cases but carrying a smartphone on our person 24/7 is alienating our very own privacy and disabling us to see the world around us clearly. We are too wrapped up in what each other is thinking to form any of our own original thoughts.

Cell Phones and The Changing World

Last week I began discussing how cell phones have changed every-day life. In this post, I was focused on the time-biased nature of the cell phone. This week I will be discussing the space-biased nature of the cell phone. Cell phones have not only changed how fast we can communicate, but it has also changed the range of people we are able to communicate with. Sure, before cell phones, there were land lines, but even with land lines, we were only able to communicate with one person at a time, and communcation got much more complicated as our contacts were further and further away from us. Now, using our cell phones, we can be talking to our mom on the phone who is down the street, texting our sister and friend who are attending different universities throughout the country, and emailing back and forth with another friend who is overseas, all with the same ease. Cell phones have made it so easy to communicate with anyone, anywhere, using just one small device.

Along with this, it has become much less important to communicate with people face-to-face. Instead of taking the time to leave our houses to meet someone somewhere to talk to them, we can simply stay right where we are and talk to them over the phone, through texting, through email, or even through Facebook and Twitter. Some people might even say that cell phones have let us become lazy, because it requires so little effort to communicate with others.

As this image represents, society is fully capable of putting forth the effort to engage in face-to-face interpersonal interactions. However, we hide behind excuses such as, "Oh, I am too busy," or "I just don't have time," in order for us to cover up the fact that we are simply too lazy. Like I said, cell phones have made it so easy to communicate with people from right where we are, that we don't feel it necessary to put forth the extra effort to engage in genuine interactions and communication.

Cell phones have changed much more than what it seems on the surface. They have not only changed how quickly we communicate, how many people we can communicate with at once, but they have even eliminated the issue of distance between us and the people we are communicating with.

Technology Through the Ages

            After my last posting in place I have decided to maintain more of a focus on the reactions of older generations to different forms of technology and why some of these reasons might be.  Given that older generations, say 60+ year-old age group, did not grow up with the technology we have today many have different opinions on it.  In this posting and my future postings I would like to examine the questions of reasons why some of these people are embracing technology while others seem to fear it.  Some see this technology as a great and useful advance, while others are seeing this as a problem to society and the reason for many of the problems of today.

            This is something that everyone is able to see in all its forms from their own families and those in our community.  These issues range from grandparents with Facebook and texting capabilities while some are still struggling with dialing a cell phone and cannot even turn a computer on.  Those who embrace this technology love how many different things you can do.  Grandparents are now able to video chat with family members no matter where they are in the world.  Being able to log in to Facebook and see pictures of recent adventures is a highlight of the day for other grandparents.

            Along with social aspects many older generations are excited to have all of their newspapers in one place.  They can read every bit of news in one place rather than digging through stacks of newspapers around the house.  On top of this, computer technology is providing the opportunity for much larger and clearer texts making these sources easier to read as well.  With the easy accessibility of some formats of technology these generations are able to access many more things from the comfort of their lounging chair.

            This being said, many form this generation seem to view technology as a sort of luxury.  They aren’t the ones sitting around all day on Facebook or playing video games.  They are the group taking it out maybe a couple times a day to enjoy it and continue on with their day.  This is something different from younger generations who are seeming to focus more of their days attention on technology based entertainment rather than perhaps going for a walk or out golfing.

Obsolescence of Thought

The technology of today makes it so easy to sit back and aimlessly surf the internet or watch television for hours without ever really having to put a thought into it.  I won’t deny having done this, and not many people can.  In today’s world, we are so surrounded with technology that it would be impossible to not engage in some type at some point.  Children of today’s school also have the option with the technology we have to let the internet and people’s posts on the internet completely think for them.  Why would they want to do that, though?  Are they lazy? Are the children of the upcoming generations losing the ability to think for themselves and really learn something in school?  What will happen in twenty to thirty years when they’re the ones running the nation?  Will it really be technology running the nation through them?

 

I found this picture on Pinterest.com.  A girl I graduated with had pinned this, and although I can see the humor in it because so many of us fell back on things like Google, Wikipedia, and copy and paste, hopefully everyone didn’t completely rely on these things to get their educations.  Technology has its advantages, but if people are really relying on it to get through school, then we have a serious issue.  People aren’t picking up books because they can just go to the movies.  People aren’t thinking for themselves because they can just go online and find what someone else thinks and use it for their own thoughts.  People aren’t using libraries to find important information because they can just use Google search to find it.  Technology obsoletes these types of things and many more, and it is causing the technological generations to stop thinking for themselves. 

I feel that in school people are learning more so how to reword someone else’s words as to not have plagiarized than to think for themselves and create their own personal, thought out response.  I hope that this isn’t true for everyone because otherwise thinking of what our world will come to is a scary thought.  The Hypodermic Needle Model might start to become a reality.  People need to be taught how important thinking for themselves really is and how amazing it can be.  Teachers need to be persistent in finding questions that can’t be looked up on Google and that make people learn how to think for themselves and create a well rounded answer otherwise, as I said, our future is a scary thought.

Children and Technology

        For my blog I want to look at the impact different types of technology have on children.  Children today are growing up in a very different world than previous generations with technology constantly available at their fingertips.  According to the Kaiser Family Foundation the average kid (ages 8-18), spends over 7.5 hours a day using technology which breaks down to: 2.5 hours of music, about 5 hours of television and movies, 3 hours of internet and video games, and about 38 minutes of reading for a total of 75 hours a week.  With the growing use of technology there are both advantages and disadvantages for children.  If technology is used properly and with appropriate guidelines and boundaries being set by parents, children have the opportunity to benefit greatly from the current and emerging technologies.  However, if guidelines and boundaries are not put into place by parents then the different forms of technology can serve as major disadvantages for children.  It is important to realize the impact technology has on children because it is becoming more and more prevalent in society today.  Therefore it is important to realize how it is helping or harming children so that we can take full advantage of everything technology has to offer.         

Exploring and Updating

It's not hard to find information or current news about other states and countries, when you don't have cable or a newspaper sitting around. As long as you have the internet at your fingertips, you are able to search ANYTHING and see what's going on. It sounds very nosy, but that's what people are. We are always trying to see what's happening and if what we're doing is anything special, compared to other states and countries. There's a lot out there in the world to explore and having the internet makes it so much easier to research.

 Digital media has come a long way too. Now, we're able to have "Smart Phones" where we can have the internet at our fingertips AT ALL TIMES. That's incredible. Anybody with a smart phone can search for anything they want. This can be annoying to some, because that takes away from reading books or real articles in newspapers. As Postman wrote about, it seems as though we are creating this dystopian life, where all humankind can't stop to smell the roses because they are continuously checking their facebook statuses or updating their twitter status. Does the world need to know that your car broke down on the way to school? Or that you broke up with your girlfriend? Or even that you scored a 93% on your nursing exam? Are you really going to think, "Wow! What a great job they did. Good for them! Maybe I should try as hard as they did, so I can get a 93% too!" No, you're going to maybe read it and then move onto the next new status and see if it's anymore exciting. That may be different about Twitter with celebrities though. Seeing that Lady Gaga is getting ready to perform on stage is more exciting than seeing that your friend is drinking Dr. Pepper... Do we really need to know that? Way to go choosing Dr. Pepper! I may sound cynical, but sometimes it's easier to just keep some things to yourself. But Facebook and Twitter is definitely not about that. They're all about expressing yourself and saying whatever you want. And it probably is good for people to vent to something that they feel comfortable with. That's one reason they're there for you. 

The American Family and Technology

            The American family is a major part of life here in The United States and many families have values that have been instilled in them since their ancestors came to the country. However, with time comes change in everything. There are many values and ways of life that are changing so rapidly because of technology and we can all hardly keep up. This quarter on my blog I will evaluate how the American family as a whole has been effected by the advancements in technology that have led to a faster, and more connected society. Through thorough research and self conducted evaluation of my own family I will find out how technology has changed the American family. More questions will be raised throughout the quarter, but initially we can ask quite a few. Has technology changed our families for better or worse? Is this change only generationally, or does it affect everyone in the entire family. Who uses technology the most, and who uses technology most effectively? All of these questions and more will assist in the ongoing research process. The study of the family unit is very crucial to the success of our future generations. The more we understand the changes that the family goes through at each stage is a valuable study tool. I believe my family is perfect for observational purposes because I have a wide age range of immediate family members considering I have 6 little brothers all at different ages. Going past immediate family I will also question and observe my grandparents as well as aunts and uncles to see how their households function and change with the use of technology. Throughout the quarter I hope to help you all to better understand how technology as effected the American family. 

Technology in our lives

Technology has taken president in our lives. as an individual living in 2012 i am expected to be on my phone 24/7 no matter what. when people call me and they dont leave a voicemail which is more often than not, i am expected to return that call no matter what. if for some reason my phone does not receive that call and i dont call back i am ridiculed for not returning the call regardless. technology in our lives has taken a president from the cell phone to the computer to the television our connection to the world as we know it is getting more and more instant and we are expected to be on top of it no matter what because everyone around us is on their smart phones. they are attached and therefore by definition so are we. if we want to check out for a while it is frowned upon because others wonder why you would do such a thing. It almost makes me want to live in the days where smart phones and instant connectivity didn't exist. in a slower time where people used mail and couldn't coordinate from the other sied of the globe. we have evolved to the point where people expect quick and instant responses and it scares me. I want to simply check out sometimes and just get away from everyone and everything.

Nick Barngrover

Videos for 5-3

Johanna Blakley -- Social Media and the End of Gender http://www.ted.com/talks/johanna_blakley_social_media_and_the_end_of_gender.html Brenda Laurel on Games for Girls http://www.ted.com/talks/brenda_laurel_on_making_games_for_girls.html

Videos for 5-1

Amber Case -- We are all cyborgs now http://www.ted.com/talks/amber_case_we_are_all_cyborgs_now.html Christopher "Moot" Poole -- The Case for Anonymity Online http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_m00t_poole_the_case_for_anonymity_online.html

My Cell Phone, My Life Line

I have a cell phone.  You have a cell phone.  Most likely, everyone you know has a cell phone. 


Your cell phone goes EVERYWHERE with you.  School, work, car, and I bet you even sleep with your cell phone.  But who doesn't?  A cell phone is no longer being used for people to make call uninhibited by a cord (or are we???).  A cell phone is used as a GPS, calender, alarm clock, and even a way to keep in touch with our social networks, just to name a few.  


Here are some other most used features of our cell phones:

Did you know...

• 87 % of people only know a few phone numbers by heart - admitting they would not know how to contact loved ones if they lost their cell phones
• 53% of people often bring their cell phones to the bathroom
• 30% of people feel anxious if their cell phone is not within arm's reach
• 28% of people claim they spend more time texting or just looking at messages than they spend looking at loved ones
• Nearly one-in-five 25- to 34-year-olds (17%) would rather lose their car keys than their cell phones

(Cell Phones are Americans' New Best Friends)

I would like to use this blog to discuss the many ways  we use our cell phones daily and examine how we have become dependent on our hand held technology pieces.   

Too Much Media

This post is about the how we are entering a stage of over use of mobile entertainment and social medias. Just think for a second how much we all log-in to our favorite social sites. How many endless clicks and views on YouTube have we all clicked? I like everyone else, love the new technologies and how we are able to do anything from our phones, but when is it going to be too much?

YouTube, Vevo, HBO Go, Netflix, Hulo, and the thousand of other mobile entertainment sites that are out allow for us to constantly be entertained. I use most these sites as well. But like me, I ask, when is the last time you’ve been to the movies? When have you seen a play or other form of entertainment? We have a abundance of ways we may be entertained and it seems like we are missing out on other opportunities due to this burst of mobile entertainment. With the new technologies we don’t even have to leave our beds to watch our favorite movies. I miss the time when you had a movie date and you actually had to get up and go the local Blockbuster and pick out a movie, now I just log onto my xBox and I can rent a movie from there. So what I bring up is that maybe it is simpler to access all this media but when does it go to far? I feel like my days are wrapped around watching pointless goofy YouTube videos and exploring all the funny nonsense on the net. Just check out some of these stats from YouTube:

Netflix has subscribed 20 million users, which if I had to guess a majority use the instant movie aspect more than mail-in, but quote me on that. 

I also think the use of social media sites are outrageous. Whenever someone asks do you have a Facebook before they ask for a telephone number seems like we are afraid for the old method of communication and actually calling and talking. I can not believe the endless hours people spend on Faceook and Twitter and trying to feel connected instead of just going to connect with people face-to-face.  Just Check out this video and learn how much we are relient on social media. I recommend you watch the entire video, but the focus on media is at the 1:15 mark

So I end with this, we all adore our technologies and being “connected” to one another, but when is too much? Does your tweets have any substance other than telling what your are doing at every second? How much are we sacrificing to be constantly logged in and on our computers/ smart phones? I don’t about you but I feel like bars and places to socialize are going to turn into nothing but internet cafes and the only spoken words will be “Whats you name on Twitter[e.g. ,Facebook, Instagram and so on.]”

The Digital Divide Among Generations

                                           The Digital Divide Among Generations




Back in the eighties, cell phones were the size of of cordless house phones, and if your friend's parents had a phone in their car, they were considered fancy and well-to-do people.  Nowadays, that is an antiquated notion, no longer a novelty.  Flash forward to the present day, where just about everyone has cell phones, laptop, or some sort of device that can surf the internet through wireless data options.  I personally don't even have a single friend that actually has a landline, except for those that have children.

Beyond the digital divide that is affecting the more impoverished sector of our peers, there is also a generational divide.  As a Korean-American, this is even more true with people like myself who have parents that immigrated here many years ago.  To us, and other foreign born parents, there is a great sense of confusion swirling about all of this new digital technology.  My parents often times say that its hard enough trying to keep up with the things in english, and that they just don't understand how a smart phone or computer works, besides the basics of looking at photos and listening to music.  Also, many people of the earlier generations would rather read a physical newspaper or book, rather than "squinting their eyes at a tiny screen where the battery could die on you."

My mother sees my iphone as a pollutant and threat in my environment, always paranoid that i'll be playing a game on the phone and be hit by a car, hating that I will occasionally text at the dinner table.  She seems a but frightened, because technology is moving too fast, and she can't keep up.  Even though I've tried putting the language setting to korean on an ipod for her, she still insists that she doesn't know the steps on how to go about listening to a specific song or radio station, and that the pictures I loaded on there are small, so whats the point.  A cd, you just pop right in she says, why go out and buy new music when you already have some right there and all you need to do is press play.  Also, I know that countless people have been guilty of bringing their phones everywhere they go.  According to the Laws of media, it can end up reversing our social connections, because we have this superior sense of connection at all times, but the cost may be that we actually lose our sense of listening and comprehending things, by buying into what isn't actually truly important in our lives.

Attached is a video that I found amusing because it's so stereotypically amusing.  An asian girl has three iphones, knows her treble clef music, has a cute cat, and is americanized in her music choice....

Revolutionizing Higher Learning

The internet has continued to change our lives in almost everway possible. The way we communicate, how we meet people, shopping, dating, entertainment. The web offers us endless opportunities to share, learn, and experience in a new way. I often wonder the next big idea someone is going to share with the world via the internet. As a avid reader of WIRED, a communication and technology magazine, I came across an article claiming that the internet is begining to change higher learning forever. The article, "The Stanford Education Experiment" claims, fifty years from now, according to Stanford proffessor Sebastian Thrun, there will be only 10 institutions in the whole world that deliver higher education.

Fifty years is not a long time for higher education to nearly become entirely digital. Two proffessors of Stanford began offering 3 classes online via youtube. The class was free and caused quite a stir in the world of education. An enrollment of 160,000 students with lectures and assignmens posted and autograded, the world has been introduced to the future of higher education. I'm unsure if this will obselete all but 10 universities in the next 50 years but it has the power to offer global education to everyone with an internet connection, something that could change the world into a smarter, more educated global community.

The critics of internet education have argued that the internet could never facilitate certain crucial aspects of traditional classroom education. As Thrun envisioned a youtube for education, he began listing the nine essential components of a university education:
1)Admissions
2)Lectures
3)Peer Interaction
4)Professor Interaction
5)Problem-solving
6)Assignments
7)Exams
8)Deadlines
9)Certification

We have seen online University classes, video-taping of lectures, and online interactive software which serve as stepping stones into a complete digital world of education. There are serious concerns that surround online education as THE way we teach and learn. What do we lose? What are we gaining? Only time will tell as the dive into a digital world of education.

Money Matters

   Our society functions through a plethora of technologies, maintained by regular, almost daily advances, and propelled by the desires to get ahead and have the newest and the best. The varieties developed through time have done the most to improve our lives and our work, helping us to move forward by saving time and money. Everywhere you turn and look, and almost everything you touch is or is derived from technology of some kind. Technology is what builds and creates our world, having a strong and unwavering force over our systems and institutions.

With technology having such a major influence in our world, it is hard to imagine that anything might matter more; the one thing having more power over our world than the technology within it is the money that provides it.

When evaluating the idea of money and its role with technology, it seems as if money and technology go hand in hand. The more money one has, the greater access exists to newer, better, and faster technology.  While technology may advance us, with the lack of money some may cripple under the absence of technology, getting stuck further behind as others move forward.

While I have been fortunate to have been provided a comfortable lifestyle where there has been enough money to make some purchases of newer technology, it is true that there are others left in the dust. Schools, for instance, are a great example, with some who provide a laptop to every student and have smart boards in each classroom, to others where there aren’t enough books for each child. Money does matter.

How much money is needed, though? Does anyone have enough? What technology is really needed? With each new invention people are inclined to indulge themselves and relinquish their wallets to be a part of this technological game.  We are all victims to the scheme.

Throughout my blog I will explore the concept of technology and the role money plays. In the future of this blog I plan to discuss the true cost of technology. I will explore my own experiences attempting to throw myself into the game making purchases of popular items like smart phones and iPods. I will attempt to discover technology exists that can provide the best services for the greatest value.

This is a blog about technology, and just how much money matters.

To come:

Reflection and thoughts of How Much Does Technology Really Cost??

From land-lines to cell-lines

As we were growing up , this is for people in my generation among the ages of 20-24ish. We can recall using this prehistoric technological communication device better know as the land-line phone. As funny as this may sound, we know this to be very true. They become more and more rare as time goes on due to the cell phone obviously. Along with the change of land-lines to cell phones the change has had an impact on others.

i have noticed that when the land lines were popular back in the day peoples' words and reputations, along with making plans, and doing what they say have tended to carry their weight in words. On the other hand cellular devices have given people the chance to not feel so strong about communication on the interpersonal level. For one to be so easily accessible, it makes it easier to be less inclined to keep your word and less likely to hold  plans with friends etc. It takes less effort to say just call me later on my cell than it was for everyone to set a time and rendezvous at a certain point.

i don't know if anyone else has noticed this but i have, when cell phones were really getting popular this was very prominent. sometimes still holds true to this day and happens occasionally. Ive learned to take it with a grain of salt and go on with it. it becomes a part of our everyday of life if we notice it or not. 

Another Era

Ah the days of yesteryear... For my blog, I am exploring the differences between a college student of today, versus one in the 60's. Rather than researching these differences, I am going straight to the source, my dad, who is a 1964 graduate of the University of Dayton. For starters he was beginning his college career when The Beatles were hitting the scene, Some Like It Hot was the big movie of the day, and the hot new technologies were electric typewriters and color TVs; while today we have musicians such as 50 Cent or The Jonas Bros, movies that don't turn into classics or go straight to dvd, and we are on the verge of glasses that can function as smart phones. Things are certainly many shades different than they were once upon a time. 


Social media in 1960 was just the telephone, and a landline at that. "It is certainly a lot easier to make a date today than it was back then," my dad, ever the ladies' man, remarked, "today you can call someone on the way home and make a date with them whereas before I had to go home and call them and hope that they were home, too." He maintained what we call 'facebook friendships' by meeting up with people on campus in between classes, that was how you hung out and coordinated plans for parties.


There was no instant way to obtain knowledge, now we can just 'Google it'. During our interview, my dad wanted to recall the actor's name in Some Like It Hot and it was available at his fingertips. I asked how he would have gone about getting information like that 50 years ago, he said he would have called into a radio show, and if they did not know, they could ask fellow listeners to call in with the answer. Besides that, there was always the library.


Everything was face to face, there was no such thing as fast food, people filled your gas tanks and milk and laundry was delivered,  and banking was done on a first name basis. When asked on what era he preferred, my dad said that although in the 60's it was a simpler time, with fewer divorces and less stresses, that the here and now is much better what with the instant access to people and information at the click of a button.