Thursday, September 4, 2014
Social Media or Bust!
For the past 10
years, we have gone from MySpace to Facebook, from Flickr to Instagram, all social
media that has progressed due to technology. Technology has inspired and
changed society to conform to its ways of interconnectivity and constant
communication. In order to communicate with friends, family, and coworkers I
must participate in social media, which currently include Facebook, Instagram,
Snapchat, and now a new blog. These different forms of new media allow me to
stay connected and learn about different life, world, and local events in present
time. I no longer need to wait to hear about the news at 6p.m. all I need to do
is log onto Facebook and the latest news articles will appear right in front of
me! New media has allowed different media outlets such as the news, music, and
now your personal events to be posted, tweeted, shared, and blogged about in an
instant. Has social media influenced my perspective of events? Absolutely! How
can I even trust what the media says anymore?Like I discussed in my Comm. 500
class, media cannot be heavily trusted. We must take it upon ourselves to go
out and find our own resources to create our own opinions about what we see and
hear. The outlets use the new media to leverage their ability to increase cash
flow for their station. Instead, I use social media to make my own decisions
and reflections on ongoing situations. So much connectivity and instant
communication makes it difficult for me to decipher whether or not social media
has a positive or negative influence. On one hand I love how social media makes
connecting so convenient and easy and I can stay in touch with loved ones and
friends when I am away. However, how am I supposed to know if I am receiving current
and accurate information? Not only is accurate information a social media
downfall, but the fact is, and I said this the other day, what I would give to
go back for a day to have phones that were only created for texting and
talking. It’s simple. Yes, I know I said that it is convenient with all I can
do staying connected instantly, but some peace and quiet away from the social
media drama would be fantastic! Sometimes I catch myself leaving my phone in
another place so I can focus on those around me and live in the moment. Living
in the moment and not getting caught up in all of the negativity of social
media is important to me. Face-to-face relationships should happen more often
and cell phones should be put down to live more in the moment and enjoy what is
around you. If you were given a choice, what would you choose: Being constantly
connected all the time with no way out or face-to-face interactions and living
in the moment each day?Enjoy your day and remember to live life in the moment! :0)
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I enjoyed reading your blog. I have a question to ask you though. Do you think that internet and social media is making us lazy? Yes it is good that we can get information faster and see things as they are happening. If for some reason we were to lose the use of internet and social media, do people know how to do things for themselves. Read a map, do research for example.
ReplyDeleteHey Nadine! So glad you enjoyed my first post! I would love to answer your question. I absolutely think that social media and the internet have made us lazy. I feel that face-to-face conversations are becoming non-existent now that we have ways of communication such texting, FaceTime, and email. I remember the days when I would have to walk over to my friends houses to see if they were home, now I can text them and get an immediate answer instead of taking the time to walk over and ask. I hope my children grow up learning the same ideals I did which was enjoying playing outside with friends, being limited with computer and TV time, and not having access to a cell phone until I was older. I am glad I was brought up in a house that practice those ideals daily. I catch myself saying a lot, I would not mind going back to when cell phones were for texting and talking only. Now when I have a conversation my friends are looking down at their phones instead of at me. I think we could go on and on with example of how technology was made us lazy so I feel that it is important that we all take a moment and step back and have those face-to-face conversations and make sure we take a break from technology before it takes over even more than it has already!
ReplyDeletePatricia,
ReplyDeleteI love this post. I can completely understand the tear between the two. I love having access to everything at the push of a button, but there are times that I would give anything to be able to be face-to-face (although there are people I love being able to avoid, lol). I see this over use of technology every weekend when My family and I go out to dinner. My husband will take his phone out and start playing on it, my kids either have their tablets or they are watching a movie on my phone, and I am left sitting there wishing that I had real people to talk to instead of the robots that have taken over my family, lol. Heck, as I am sitting here writing this my 5 year old has come to the living room at least 3 times to ask if he could play on my phone because "I am bored with the XBOX, mommy." Seriously? I do miss the days when kids could feel free to go outside and play and we stayed out until dark, but now that is not a reality and technology is a lot to blame.
You mentioned the hoaxes and what can we believe and I seen this post a few weeks ago about what our smartphones can do. In this article it talks about what a taking a simple picture of your child can do. (I will post the link at the end so that everyone can read it if they want). Taking a picture can give a hacker details as to where to find your child and this to me is exactly why technology can be horrible and why my children cannot play out until dark as we did.
I love my technology and the opportunities that it gives me like taking my MA online with SNHU, or FaceTime with my family all over, or the ability to have my camera at all times because it is on my phone, and because I can be reached easily if ever there is an emergency. The problem is that all of this technology also makes us bigger targets for those who wish to hurt us.
Sorry here is the link for that article.
Deletehttp://www.decodedscience.com/privacy-risk-smartphone-pictures-can-give-away-your-location/35389
Hi Teresa,
DeleteI am so glad to hear you enjoyed my blog post! It is great to hear that others also have grown up on the same values I have. I think that it is so important I instill the same value to my children, when I have them some day. I love your example that you give of how a single pictue of a child can give information to people that you do not want to that information. It is scary to think that because of my actions and use of social media I would be putting someone in harms way. It certainly will make me think twice about doing so. Thanks for sharing the article with me! Have a great evening!
Thanks for the blog posts
ReplyDeleteYour welcome! Have a wonderful evening!
Delete