Frontline’s Digital Nation: Chapter One, Distracted by Everything

            This first chapter is about M.I.T Students who believe they can multitask. Kids from this school are always looking at screens and not always just one. They speak to one girl who is always wired. She claims to start to feel weird when she isn’t an arms distance from her blackberry. Between students and teachers they say there is a mutual understanding between them about how while the teacher is talking they can look at something else. Although this brings up challenges for the teachers, it is just how things are these days. We young adults need to be stimulated, more so than ever. Test are based off of the lectures and readings and if people are paying attention, it should be easy to pass the test but scores are still average because they are multitasking. Students today aren’t stupid, they are just distracted by all the technology surrounding them. Even though kids think that multitasking isn’t hurting you or think that you are completely capable of doing many things at one, you are not benefiting yourself at all. You may think you can multitask but the chances of you doing it efficiently are very slim.

            I like to think that I can multitask. Even though I have tested myself with this idea by completely engaging myself in one topic, and one topic only It is much easier for me to remember what I just read or listened to. But like this podcast says, kids need to be stimulated. I have grown up around technology. It really is all that I know, and multitasking is something that I have and always will do despite the fact that I know I would do better if I didn’t. Goes to show you how often you truly pay attention while you are doing something.

The Politics of Social Media

Summary and Response

Ramsay, F. (2009, Aug 26). The politics of social media. Marketing, , 13-13. http://proxy.consortiumlibrary.org/docview/214935542?accountid=14473

            As simple as it sounds, Politicians love twitter. With no political intentions at the beginning, #welovetheNHS was viewed by the political activists as a spontaneous communication tool. Twitter is a social media site that spreads messages to the public, it because to share information during the Iranian general election and it transformed politics. People who do not use a social media easily have less power than the ones who do use it as an additional way to communicate and share information. Tom Watson was a minister who used twitter to announce his resignation and Sadiq Khan told the world about his promotion to prime minister. All this happened in June and it was something that made twitter more popular. Twitter easily gets out the word about things happening in the world but Facebook also does a very good job making things go viral. Best bet on getting the word out is to use both! You can use either of these social networks to grab the public’s attention and you can also use it to grab the media’s attention.  #welovetheNHS grabs both the public and media’s attention. Getting the attention of both is hard to do.

            When I am on Facebook or Twitter, I use it to get the attention of my friends. I don’t care if media has anything to do with it. If I were to ever want to start a group for something involving politics I’m sure using either Twitter, Facebook or both would help me create a group of people sharing opinions all over the world. I like how it explains that social network help make a person stronger. Even though a social net work can sometime it can be a bad thing, like it was for Joe Lipari, it just depends on how you state what you are feeling.That makes me feel stronger because social network currently are a part of my everyday life. 

How Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg Are Changing Politics

Summary and Response

Rettig, J. (2010, How facebook and mark zuckerberg are changing politics. U.S.News & World        Report, , 1. http://proxy.consortiumlibrary.org/docview/755418269?accountid=14473;    www.usnews.com/articles/opinion/2010/07/15/how-facebook-and-mark-zuckerberg-are-changing-politics.html

            Quickly, Facebook made its way to the top of the social and political lives of people. Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook, attended Harvard University and thought up the idea of Facebook in his dorm room. Facebook is now a global phenomenon. The company of Facebook is on a path to taking over the internet. It has been introduced all over the world! Zuckerbergs idea of Facebook is from idealism. If you want people to know about something, you get on Facebook and you post about it. Once you post it, there is an extremely good chance of what you had to say, will become viral. Facebook is a platform for protest in Indonesia, Egypt and Columbia. Facebook was a huge part of the election for Obama. If you want something to be known, you would be crazy to ignore Facebook. It is a tool for empowerment for people who aren’t exactly on the top of their game and this makes leaders very uncomfortable. Facebook can be your best friend or it can be your worst enemy. It will spread both good and bad information very quickly.

            I have watched the movie called Social Network that tells the story of Mark Zuckerberg. I never understood how and idea for a social network could be created so quickly and randomly. I know how fast Facebook can spread information, anything you say on it can and will become viral. If you want someone or something to be known, your best bet is to get onto Facebook and post about it. Friends of friends find out about it and from there is blows up. Mark Zuckerburg created something that can inform people of anything at any moment! I think this article explains what Facebook can do perfectly!

Article One on Social Networks and Politics

Dann, C., & Brownstein, R. (2008). Fast-Forwarding Networked Politics. (Cover story). National Journal, 40(16), 14.

                Amanda Vaughn had to make the Hillary Rodham campaign public in two day at University of North Carolina.  In order to get the word out she gave out filter, made phone calls and put a table out on campus. What she relied on most though, was Facebook. Vaughn created a Facebook event. She sent it to 50 people and within a day, those 50 people turned into about 800 people that got an invite to the event.  The older generation, gets their information from filtered conventional media, while the younger generation is getting their information from non-news internet sites and each other. The younger generation uses technology more than ever. The internet, social networks, cell phones and email are where we get our information.   These forms of technology are much more time efficient than waiting for the news to turn on then waiting an hour before you find out all the information. Youtube is easily accessed and can bring up and television clip whenever it is wanted. Social networks makes news spread fast. If there is something that needs to be known, 5 people can turn to 500 just as easily as 10,000 people can turn into 100,000 to 200,000 people, thanks to social networks.

                Amanda Vaughn says, “Facebook is shaping the political lives of young voters.” I found this very interesting and extremely true.  Most of the information I get about politics is either from a friend, over Facebook or better yet off Youtube. It is simple to go get on the computer and type in key words from something you heard about on Facebook into Youtube on your own time to gather information about something if you ask me. I would agree completely that I see politics in a different way than my parents do because of social networks.

Liking is For Cowards. Go for What Hurts.

"Liking is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts" Summary and Response

 By: Jonathan Franzen

Switching from his Blackberry Pearl to a Blackberry Bold after three years, Franzen is impressed with how technology has advanced. So impressed, he becomes infatuated with his new devise. He had a relationship with his Pearl, but over three years, the relationship had faded, issues were created and he had outgrown what he and his phone had. Franzen explains that things we can do on our phones now, would seem like magic to people 100 years ago. A phone is something that you can ask for nothing from it and yet, it will still give you everything you ask for in return. There has become desperation to be liked, thanks to Facebook. To like, is the commercial substitute for loving. We give up on being loved for who we really are and dedicate ourselves to being likable. The world of liking is a lie. No one can like everything about another person. People avoid love and stay in the world of liking to avoid rejection. Rejection is painful, but you have not lived if you have not felt pain. Franzen likes the environment. He tries to make it better, but realized he cannot do very much on his own. Instead, he becomes infatuated with birds, causing him again to be worried about the environment because that is where the birds live. Franzen loved these birds and that is where his trouble began. Franzen realizes that his love for birds became a portal to a part of him that he didn’t even know existed. He was forced to face a part of him that he was unaware of. This idea brought him to the conclusion that one day you will die. That’s where the anger and pain comes from. You must either hate it or embrace it. Once you open up to real people and the real world, you have to accept that you might love some of them and you just don’t know what will happen to you once you love someone.

Franzen “Liking is for Cowards. Go for What Hurts,” was a very interesting read for me. Franzen talks about having a relationship with his phone. I feel that I have a relationship with my phone as well. I even buy things for my phone. For example, I buy it a case for it to be more attractive and to protect it. Being a user of Facebook for a couple years now, anything I post I enjoy when people like it. I can see how the world has changed the word love. I do not think that it means what it used to. People abuse the word love these days and that is why many people prefer to be liked, there is no pain in being liked. But to love once then to be hated causes pain. No one really wants to feel pain. I agree with Franzen toward the end of his writing. No one knows what might happen to you if you love something, but you put your all into it. If you are rejected, you just have to accept that life goes on and that one day, you will die. So living life to your fullest is your best choice!

"Is Google Making Us Stupid" by Nicholas Carr

Summary and Response

HAL the computer from the movie Space Odyssey says “Dave, my mind is going.” Carr the author of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” feels as if his mind is going also. He considers that his mind is just changing.  He starts to realize that he can no longer read lengthy articles without losing interest shortly after beginning. The internet has taken over. We have gone from books to Google and we have begun to scan and surf instead of concentrate and be entertained. The internet has become our information source and our minds have learned how to take information quickly instead of slowly. Carr isn’t the only one who feels this way. His friends share the same experience with their reading troubles. There are some people who have stopped reading all together. The way that people think is changing. Even though we read more than we used to, we are reading in a different way. Over time our thoughts were able to be put onto paper with the type writer and later onto screens for when we are texting. The adult brain is like plastic, we are beginning to take on qualities of technology. Our attention is scattered and our concentration has been diffused. We are still trying to figure out how the internet is reprogramming us.  The media has to change so all of us will stay interested in it. Google is becoming the “perfect search engine” this is exactly what it was planned to be. It “solves problem that have never been solved before.” Our minds are expected to turn into machines.

As a college student I can honestly say, the internet is involved with just about everything I do. It has taken over my life. I hardly ever read long articles by choice. If I have to read one, I usually end up getting bored about three paragraphs into it or just fall asleep. I am one of those people who doesn’t read for person enjoyment. Even though I wish I could put all my interest into a book the internet always gets the best of me. I’d rather be on twitter of facebook, or better yet reading a text message from my friend.  I believe that I use the internet for exactly what it was made for. I let it think for me. I have been raised around always believing that the internet is right. It’s there for me at any moment of the day and answers any question that I have.

How Technology Effects Me

My iphone has become my security blanket. I have it with me all day, every day and I am probably on it over half the day. When I was younger having a phone was for emergencies and being able to get ahold of a family member. As I got older and got my iphone, I still have it for those two reasons but many more reason have been added to why my phone is so important to me. My iphone lets me communicate with friends instantly, gets me wi-fi wherever I am so I can access the internet at the touch of an app. My phone lets me know right away when I get an e-mail, text, call, facebook notification, a tweet, or a voice mail. It contains my life; phone numbers, things to remember, lists, pictures, videos and music. I have become dependent on my phone. I’m always reaching for it just to check the time of the day and the date. Before I had a phone, I really don’t know how I survived. Recently, I miss placed my old iphone while I was doing laundry. Once I noticed I hadn’t been on it for a while, I began frantically running around my house looking for my phone. I tore my bed apart, didn’t find it and began to walk down stairs to look in the couches.. As I walked past the laundry room, I heard a CLUNK… CLUNK... CLUNK… sound coming from the washing machine, instantly, I stopped at the door. “I would never!” was the first thought that came into my head. But I did, I put my iphone 4 into the washing machine while I was doing laundry. I went three days without my iphone and I felt almost as if I was going into a deep depression. Everywhere I went without my phone I felt naked. There was no way to fix my phone that had been submerged in soap and water while being spun around by the machine. I ended up putting down a lot of money to get what I consider “my life” back in a new and improved phone, the iphone 4s. I have treated it as if it were my child since day one. I am obsessed with my phone, and there is no other way to put it.

Technology Cartoon

This technology cartoon is showing an older man who is used to dated technology, like a VCR which played video cassettes. VCR’s were before we got DVD’s. The older man explains to the young children that he is amazed by how well they can run technology because he still can’t even figure out how to change the time on his VCR to stop blinking 12 o’clock. The young boys are confused by what a VCR is because all they probably know about is a DVD player. One asks the other if he knows what a VCR is and the boy responds with “google it” as they are sitting at a computer. I probably use the phrase “google it” more than once on a daily basis. Technology has become something we depend on to find things out that we don’t know. We let the technology, like the internet, think for us instead of trying to figure it out for our self.