A Response to Clive Thompson

After reading what Mr. Thompson has to say concerning how tweets and texts affect long-term meditation on ideas, I'm not so sure I agree with him fully. Thompson makes the claim that the more recent form of posting ideas through short messages, such as tweets or texts, fosters both a desire and action of more long-term mediation and recitation. 

While I’m not totally opposed to Twitter, I don’t think it usually has this effect that Thompson claims. I myself am a frequent user of Twitter, and I think it’s a great tool for our generation. It can get a short, simple message out to the public extremely quickly. Twitter can help lead a movement or rally millions of people in an easy and instantaneous way. 

What I like most about Twitter though, is not my actual intimate friends that I follow, but instead the news sources that utilize the social network. I enjoy logging on twitter either between classes or whenever I have a free moment and seeing what’s going on all around the world in a brief, 140-character text. When reading the headlines from either politicians or new sources, I always have the intention of returning later to the internet and searching the story more deeply; however, this does not always happen. What tends to happen more is I get busy with school, work, my friends, my mother, my sorority sisters, or one of the other many things I probably have to do that day. While I love reading the news and staying informed, I usually have higher priorities as a college student, such as studying, socializing, or working to pay that rent.  I am also fully aware that it is not just college students that lead a hectic and crazy lifestyle, as do many adults who work 40 or more hour weeks and juggle other responsibilities on top of that such as families, volunteer positions, or second jobs. 

 I think Thompson does have one thing right—with bloggers utilizing Twitter for “the little stuff,” it perhaps allows them to feel more compelled to write more frequently a detailed and well-thought out analysis on the subject at hand, in comparison to the short posts on Twitter. However, I do not think this is a mutual exchange. I don’t think it necessarily makes readers jump to those long, though out blog posts. Granted, for some readers it may. I have seen that other readers are content with the mere 140-character or less description of the story, which often leads to a false understanding or biased view of the story. 

I was in class the other day, and overheard a highly entertaining conversation. Two girls were talking about something a local news source had tweeted. Being familiar with the story they were discussing because it was written about a good family friend, I knew one of them had stated a blatantly wrong fact about the story. In the next few seconds, I heard the girl discuss the fact that she read the story on Twitter. She was obviously satisfied with the shortened version and didn’t care to think any more on the situation. My point exactly.  And that’s all I could think about as I read this article.

Knowledge vs. Wisdom; also Technology

I'd like to add on to what Mr. Cronk said in the last post.

As he said, we've become a generation that is expected to know the answer to "what's going on in the world?" With access to social media and the internet 24/7, we are constantly being updated on things that are happening, both in this country and outside of it. What are the effects of this?

For one, ignorance has become intolerable. Ignorance was never good, but I believe that people find it more intolerable now than they used to. Not only are you expected to know current events, you are also expected to know a lot more about everything in general. You can't have a conversation about a topic you know little about; people will just tell you to "Google it." I think this means that people don't theorize as much. There's a lot less brain exercising going on. For example, instead of trying to figure out how long it would take by car to get to your friend's house who lives in New York, you Google Map the route and it tells you almost exactly how long it will take. Perhaps you would have used some simple math to figure it out before such a tool was at your disposal. Or instead of trying hard to remember (exercising your memory) what other movies a certain actor was in, you Google it. These are very minor examples, but I think you get the point: they're everywhere. Yes, social media has give us access to a smorgasbord of knowledge, but what it isn't giving us is wisdom. Knowledge = information. Wisdom = having the experience to use that information. There's no wisdom in looking up a specific route on Google. It's like the saying, "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." When you do the math to figure out the time for the route, you are learning a skill that can be applied to another situation. When you try to remember the other movies the actor was in, you are actually creating more connections in your brain than if you just look it up.

This places a dependence on technology. How many of you use a calculator for very basic math? I know I do. It's hard not to pull out my phone to figure out every little math problem that floats my way, and I know other people do it, too. "What did people do before calculators?" someone in my calculus class said one day. That pretty much sums up our generation if you ask me.

I often wonder what a complete blackout (wireless included) would do to our society for an extended period of time. What would people do? No smart phones, no iPods, no computers, no TV. In no way do I think we are 100% lost without technology, but I believe this warrants some thought. For me personally, I've tried to pick up hobbies that don't require technology: acoustic guitar, reading, drawing. It's very gratifying to be able to do something physical like that. Feeling a guitar in my hands is a hundred times more satisfying than watching someone else play one on a screen. I once heard about a family who spent a week/month/extended amount of time in a log cabin with no electricity because they felt they were too dependent on it. After the time was over, everyone in the family said that it was a great to be "unplugged" from the constant chatter of technology. Indeed, we are "plugged in" to social media nearly 24/7, constantly being stimulated by news, updates, statuses, images, videos, and more. Constant stimulation leads to numbness. (a humorous aside: my friend has been poked on the shoulder by his little brother so many times to get his attention that poking my friend is now a completely ineffective way to get his attention - he's become numb from over-stimulation).

Much more can be said here. Perhaps it is debatable as to whether or not social media gives us only knowledge. Perhaps you think these examples are so minor that they don't have an effect on us. Perhaps you think being plugged in constantly is not a bad thing. You may be right. I'd definitely like to hear your thoughts on this, especially if you disagree. Apologies for any rambling that may have occurred,

Zack

Hungry Hungry Hippo

-Ben Cronk-

Always be in the know. That is one lesson I have learned through my time spent at Ball State University. In my communication and journalism courses, there has existed one most notable common thread among faculty, being that the instructor expects the class to answer, "What is going on in the world?" This question can always, and must always be asked and answered by generation Y.

Otherwise known as Millennials, our generation was the first generation exposed to an array of digital media. We were the originals. Guniea pigs of digitalization, if you will, and it has not taken long for us to develop a second nature to the usage of an assortment of forms of digital media. We use this vast array for both our personal pleasure and to always be in the know.

Examples of the digitized array of media in which our generation has grown up on; Email, blogs, online chat rooms, online shopping, social media, cellular phones, smart phones, texting, Netflix, Google, video games, YouTube, iPods, and the ability to say "There's and App for that." Oh yeah, we also digest internet radio and on-demand TV. The pace at which we access ourselves in the know is accelerating at rate close to the speed of light.

Whether we are aware of it or not, we are to constantly in the know.  The digitized envelope is continually being pushed. With that, I compare our generation's gross gluttony of news with an analogy of a famous board game. That's right, we as generation Y have become hungry hungry hippos of news.

Concept of the board game analogy
The white marbles = Sources of Media
The Hippos of different color = Diversity of our nation 

My Dad always told me that it is best to take things in moderation. Yet I feel it is inevitably undoable for me to live up to dear old dad's adage. It is ingrained in me not to. I'm in college, studying integrated communications and I am fortunate to have an extensive social circle as well as amazing digital resources. With more tools to my disposal than Inspector Gadget,  I feel out-of-control while having all the control of digital media. The convenience of the current media has forced me into not taking things into moderation, not in the least bit. I simply cannot. Work, schoolwork, entertainment, maintaining family and friend relationships, creating new relationships and feeding myself news is part of the daily routine. It has transformed me into a hungry, hungry hippo. But instead of gobbling up white marbles, I'm gobbling up a buffet of media. I use myself as a standard example for our generation and its intimacy with media.

Here in America, we can be satisfied with whatever food we want, when we want it. The system is pretty amazing, really. Same can be said with news. We are more physically and mentally obese than ever before. We, as consumers of the 21st century, are eating knowledge at a never-ending pace. The Internet acts as a boundless, intangible universe for any and all possible data. The cyberspace is simplistic in nature, making it easy for one of us hippos to navigate through and chow down information. Additionally, with "the cloud,"our mobile smart phones can access the digital universe just about anywhere. Thus, allowing our appetites for entertainment, information and socializing to continue at a never-ending pace.

I will always be in the know. I cannot consume in moderation. The first step is admission, I guess.

God bless us,

#TeamHungryHungryHippo

Social Loneliness and acceptance

Social Loneliness

                Ever since the rise of internet popularity in 1996, the American people have become more secluded.  Many people today have confined themselves to a comfortable, single home life, socializing only through the internet and text messages.  Lack of contact in the world is leading people to more psychological and health problems.  The number of users in social media sites like twitter, Facebook, and MySpace has more than doubled since 2005.  As social media is growing so are the ways that we can easily access these sites.  In the past 5 years we have seen technology grow to the extreme levels with smart phones, tablets, and any other portable computer device we can take on the go.  These components are now equipped with apps that allow us to link quickly to social media sites.  Why has social networking become so highly used?  Well for one we find that the technology to use the media and networking sites has now come at an affordable to cost to the average consumer.  Prior to the year 2000 computers and cell-phones were fairly costly and only the rich were known for carrying high-technological devices around with them daily.  Therefore social networking had very little effect on the average consumer.  Today nearly every business partakes in some form of social networking; it is a cheaper, more effective way to advertise their business and products.

                What people don’t realize is that we are easily drawn in to social media sites.  Not only does it create social loneliness, but it has been shown to create severe mental and other health related issues.  Not only is it creating health issues, but it also has been linked to several environmental issues.  First we will tackle the issue of loneliness itself.  Today technology allows that once out-casted kid to have a place in the world, to make friends and feel the pride and coolness they do not receive in a physical social environment.  It is best stated by Olds & Schwartz (2009), “when we find ourselves isolated, by standing tall in our own minds, side by side with self-reliant heroes, each of us is suddenly no longer alone but part of a group… The psychological magic becomes the spoonful of sugar that makes painful experience of finding ourselves left out easier to swallow.”  Although social media allows us to feel as if we finally fit in to a crowd that may not have been possible before, when we face the reality of it we find that we are more depressed and alone then once thought. Parents that become engrossed in the world of social media, show children, especially teens that social alienation is acceptable.  As part of human nature we need to feel nurtured by another individual.  The effects seem to be at the highest in teenage girls.  When a parent, especially the mother neglects contact with her teenage daughter it causes higher levels of depression and feelings of being socially unaccepted.  Abernathy states (n.d.), “In keeping with her alienation from the mother, the high risk individual is unlikely to have satisfying friendships with other women.  She feels that friendships with women are not worth much, apparently a reflection of her own low self-esteem.  A corollary is that her reportedly most important relationships have been with men.  However, she experiences tension in these interactions, being fearful of not meeting the man's expectations and often feeling disconcertingly dependent and infantilized.”  Because of natural feelings of wanting to be socially accepted teenage girls do often turn to a man for comfort and feelings of acceptance.  This is why teenage pregnancy is once again on the rise!  Women have a higher tendency to feel the need to be accepted than men.  When a man makes a gesture or makes a socially isolated women feel accepted she is more likely to fall into the “love trap”, and doing things that she knows may not be morally right. 

                Many people do not realize the effects that social loneliness has on their health.  Many people that suffer from stress due to loneliness show signs in decreasing health by: blood pressure, sleep problems, adrenocortical activity, diminished immunity, white blood cell count, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and cholesterol are examples of the physiological problems associated with loneliness (Leikas, Saariluoma, Rousi, Kuisma, & Vilpponen, 2012).  House (2001) confirms, “The magnitude of risk associated with social isolation is comparable with that of cigarette smoking and other major biomedical and psychosocial risk factors… Without yet knowing exactly how and why cigarette smoking is damaging to health, much has been done to reduce it and ameliorate its effects. We should be able to do the same with social isolation.”  Often times these health issues go undiagnosed because of social sites like Web M.D.  People today feel that they can diagnose themselves via the internet and attempt home remedies to cure the ailment, when there may very well be a bigger underlying problem.

                On the final note, social isolation leads to the over-use of planet resources.  Today we even find more single household units than ever before.  Single households place a strain on our ecological health.  When a person is extremely lonely and do not have enough people in their lives they often times turn to objects that define their identity through possessions rather than one’s place in society (Olds & Schwartz, 2009).  Because people are choosing to live in single family units we are depleting the Earth’s resources faster than technology allows us to replenish it.  Jowit (2008) states, “The Living Planet report calculates that humans are using 30% more resources than the Earth can replenish each year, which is leading to deforestation, degraded soils, polluted air and water, and dramatic declines in numbers of fish and other species.”   Social isolation also increases the amount of obesity we see in society.  People are consuming hirer amounts of food from being in a state of depression which leads to more cryogenically processed foods, which also creates unhealthiness and obesity in individuals.  The planets electricity resources are also declining from the greater use of technological devices being on for longer periods of time. 

                So to put it short and simple, social media sites do make us feel lonely, but they also make us feel socially accepted when we are not otherwise made to feel acceptance.  In the long run social media does more harm than good by running out Earth’s natural supplies and creating more undiagnosed health problems.  We find more people opting to work from home then to be out in the world. We find more parents taking to social sites and becoming addicted to the social acceptance or games and possibly even both.  We have become less intelligent in the world and creating more communication problems within marriages.  Social media creates deindividuation in people, meaning we lose our self-awareness of our surroundings and accountability for our own actions.  We are more likely to become angry and aggressive in an online setting, which can carry out into the outside world when we do have to actually make contact with others in society.  We simply just lose our sense of self (forget how to be normal)!!!

References

Abernathy, V. (n.d.). Illegitimate conception among teenagers. American Journal of Public Health, 662-664.

House, J. S. (2001, March 1). Social isolation kills, but how and why? Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 63, 273-274.

Jowit, J. (2008, October 28). World is facing a natural resources crisis worse than financial crunch. Retrieved from TheGuardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/29/climatechange-endangeredhabitats

Leikas, J., Saariluoma, P., Rousi, R. A., Kuisma, E., & Vilpponen, H. (2012). Life-based design to combat loneliness among older people. The Journal of Community Informatics .

Marchie, S. (2012, May). Is Facebook making us lonely? The Atlantic.

Olds, J., & Schwartz, R. S. (2009, March-April). The Lonely American. UTNE Reader.

Communication Within Social Networks

After reading the articles assigned regarding Facebook and other social media sites, it became rather disturbing to think that the idea of socializing holds a completely revitalized meaning than it did a century ago. This common notion that we find it easier to interact virtually opposed to in real life, says a lot about how dependent we've all become on social media to hold and maintain relationships with people in real time. Or rather we'd like to think they do...
   
Personally, I'd say at times social media can be helpful in allowing us to stay connected with those that may live far from us, and those outside of our daily social circles. But more often I feel these networks can do more damage than anything. Especially regarding relationships.
 
In relation to the South Park clip that was shown in class today, as silly and as over the top some of those situations may seem, it actually depicts dead on situations I've found my self in in real life. The jealousy that can arise when dating within social networks is unreal, especially on Facebook. There have been times in past relationships where I have found that making the wrong move on Facebook could lead to a swift unexpected argument in no time. Liking a different girls picture, posting on another girls wall, being tagged in photos with another girl, failing to reply to a message or wall post within a certain amount of time, or even simply being logged or making some kind of online movement at a time where I stated I'd being doing something else could lead to tension. I'm sure we've all fallen victim to this dilemma at some point in some shape or form, some probably more than others but I guess thats just a matter or how tuned in you are.

The same rules can apply to texting or communicating via text in some form. It's so easy for a meaning to get misconstrued if you don't use the correct wording or context. For example, in one of the articles it stated how many individuals write "haha" or "lol" within messages in which they are not realistically laughing at all. They do this in order to not come off as too sincere or "overly earnest". I found that interesting because ever since I started texting (I actually think I picked up a majority of this jargon from those ancient AIM days...) I have always done this, but I never realized why, or why everyone else did it, until today.

Despite all the benefits social networks and digital media can provide us, when it comes to the communication aspect I feel it can be a bit more difficult at times than communicating in real life. There's almost like a science to it... I'm not saying I'm completely against it, I think these networks are excellent for gathering information quickly, organizing groups, and other things of the sort. I just think that simple face to face conversation or even conversing on the phone is still and most likely will always be the more efficient forms of communication.
 

Facebook and Loneliness

So I do not really know what I am doing with this whole blog thing, but I would like to discuss the two Facebook articles we were assigned to read.

            The first one argued that Facebook is making society, as a whole, lonelier and complacent with being lonely. Stephen Marche, the author, argues, “we live in an accelerating contradiction.” The more Facebook friends we have, the more disconnected we are. He then proceeds to make wide generalizations about facets of American history  and culture. He explains that cowboys who set out to explore the frontier favored their self-pride over their personal relationships. Similarly, he discussed the importance of astronauts in our society and how we view them, in general, as heroes. That’s obviously wrong because in reality, they are selfish loners that didn’t want to be around other humans so they left planet earth. In this portion of his article, he took typical American heroes, picked one aspect of their stereotypical lifestyles, and made them seem self-indulgent. He then linked their self-indulgence to loneliness to make his point that we, as a society, are becoming more lonely and Facebook is really speeding up the process.

            I think that Facebook does have the ability to make people complacent with only fostering relationships through the Internet. However, more often than not, I think that Facebook allows people that would not normally keep up with each other’s lives the opportunity to do so. This tie may make conversation easier when there is face to face contact.

            With this said, I did strongly agree with second article by Katie Roiphe. As much as we may feel connected with various people in our lives, we may never know how accurate the image of them that Facebook perceives really is. This is because people’s posts and pictures are often very choreographed and staged. Because Facebook allows such a narrow portal into lives, it is somewhat easily controlled and people want to make sure they are presenting the best of what they have to offer.

            Personally, I don’t know how conscience I am at staging my Facebook page to make me appear cool or whatever else. If anything, I am more awkward and random than I am in real life. I never post statuses or pictures anymore. So the majority of the things on my page are what others have tagged me in or posted directly on my wall. None of these things provide an actual interpretation to my real life. In fact, they mostly surround some of my pop culture obsessions or cute Pintrest ideas that people for some reason want me to see.

            I don’t think Facebook is necessarily making us more complacent with lonlieness. But I do think it gives us the wrong interpretation of people’s everyday lives. 

Media and Loneliness

I found these readings so interesting because I've noticed these trends in my life--and I've run from them.

When I was in high school, I was a texting maniac. Now, that doesn't mean I had a lot of people to text or that I texted them on a consistent basis; but I sure was obsessed with it.

I mean, if I wasn't texting so-and-so (I'll keep it anonymous), I felt strange, and lonely! I understand what the readings were saying because when my relationship became more about my media-related relationship with the person than my face-to-face relationship, then I felt ten times more lonely than ever.

I knew something had to change, so I stopped texting for conversation. Today, I only text when I need to. It's almost always to ask when to meet, where to go, or other random facts I need quickly. And I'm definitely not lonely in the same way I was in high school!

However, Facebook is kinda taking over! I'm seeing the same trend occasionally as I did in high school with my cell phone. If one of my close friends isn't liking my posts or commenting or chatting me, I suddenly feel excluded and lonely. "Why would they not like my status? Why wouldn't they talk to me?" It's sad, really, that I sometimes feel lonely because of Facebook.

Fortunately, I have a wonderful group of people I see somewhat consistently in person. I'm with my quite amazing girlfriend pretty often, which is a blessing. Additionally, I have an awesome friend group here at Ball State. I feel most lonely when I see none of them for a day or two, and focus on interaction via Facebook.

All this to say, yes, Facebook is making us lonely. I agree that social media, while it does have its benefits (I spent all summer Skyping my girlfriend--I don't know what I would have done without it), it has its disadvantages too.