Social Networking and Privacy

Social networking sites have created an entirely new market, generating a lot of profit in the United States. Sites such as facebook and myspace have allowed people from all over the world to connect with one another with very little effort, but these sites have undoubtedly produced negative trends as well. The greatest concern I have with these websites is in regards to ones virtual footprint. The young adults of my generation have yet to fully acknowledge the damage that “over-sharing” could have on their public and private life. When you post something carelessly on a public website you have opened the door for criticism and ones you have posted something there is no way of taking it back. A clear example of the backlash networking and blog websites can be seen in the public reaction towards a blog update from a Chicago University law professor Todd Henderson who posted about the difficulties Obama’s tax raises would have on his family and their half a million dollar income. After realizing the public backlash he was getting he tried to delete the post, but once its out there you can’t completely get rid of it. Professors at Berkeley had reposted it making a complete mockery of the Chicago professor. He responded later by apologizing and commenting on how his blog post had created problems between him and his wife. Another great example of the negative trends of virtual interaction can be seen in the youtube viral video of the UCLA student who went off on a racist rant against Asian students. After her video spread across the nation she withdrew from school because of the hostility she was facing from professors, peers and others across the country. Once again this is a clear example of the impact our “Virtual footprint” can have.

When I discussed this topic with a few friends of mine I asked them how long they spent on these social networkign websites a day and most of them couldn’t give me an exact number of hours, but did acknowledge that it was becoming an increasingly larger number. I walk into a lecture and see 98% of the kids on facebook, updating their statuses and flipping through other peoples pictures. I find this to be a sad reality and negative trend of these websites. I often times find myself frustrated when I see this because aside from the fact that it is terribly disrespectful to the professor,I’ve also realized that many of these networking websites have resulted in decreased classroom interaction, which poses a threat to the basic educational standard of our universities.

As we’ve become increasingly more dependent on virtual interactions, we’ve lost some of our ability to function outside of the world wide web. It’s no longer appropriate to call someone. You facebook , gchat, bbm, text because calling has become too personal, thus as we’ve increased our social network we’ve simultaneously decreased many of the personal interactions we have with people.

How Facebook Sparked a Revolution

The other day, Washington Post published an article announcing that Google exec Wael Ghonim is receiving a seven-figure book deal to write a memoir about the Egypt Revolts.  “Revolution 2.0” is going to tell the story of how the revolution began with a facebook page memorializing Khaled Said, a young Alexandria businessman who had been beaten to death by Egypt’s notorious police on the street in broad daylight in June 2010.  What began as the “We are all Khaled Said” page eventually became the organizing tool for protestors in a series of revolts that eventually led to the toppling of the infamous Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Wael Ghonim’s story is just a small part of how things like facebook and twitter have basically allowed the entire Arab Spring movement to happen, beginning with Tunisia, then Egypt, and now Libya and Syria.  The entire movement is an incredible demonstration of how technology is changing the face of the world we live in and allowing for the large-scale spread of democracy, and also a demonstration of how people are taking media into their own hands to spread their word. No longer do we have to depend on organized media to tell us what’s happening or what to do.  We are now the media.  On the other hand, it is scary to think that this development has given an alternative to organizations like Al-Qaeda, who can now realize that they can take their organization into their own hands. 

The Big Shift

Driving past what used to be the Borders store at Santana Row, there are now signs for Lévare Living on an empty building with blacked out windows. Every time I pass the building on my way to Peet’s Coffee in the morning, I feel a twinge of sadness.  I have been a bookworm all my life and grew up huddled over a novel in the obscure isles of Borders and Barnes & Noble. In a matter of weeks, local Borders everywhere put up “everything must go” signs and then eventually closed their doors forever.  It has, of course, to do with the introduction of devices such the Amazon Kindle and the nook, the shift to downloading music instead of having to buy it in stores, and online services such as googlebooks, etc.  This shift can be seen all across the board.  In the academic setting, more and more textbooks are being offered online.  People now prefer to digest their daily news online rather than on paper.  Personally, I still prefer print over a screen and find myself printing out reading material that is on the computer rather than reading it on the screen.  There is something about the feel of paper, being able to flip a page, folding an edge to mark your spot, doodling and highlighting, that can never be replaced.  Still, the big shift has taken place. 

Always forward in the times, fashion has of course kept up with this new shift.  I have always been an avid consumer of fashion magazines.  Recently though, I started noticing that my issues of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar haven’t been what they used to be.  Not only are they thinner, the fashion spreads and editorials are mediocre at best.  It seems to be the end of the era of the glossies.  All the major magazines have moved online, but it seems that their era of dictatorship is all but over.  This began with the emergence of the fashion blog.  The fashion blog is shifting the way people shop and develop their style because they are eliminating the middle mad (i.e. Vogue, skinny models).  Fashion now goes straight from the street to you.  For example, streetpeeper.com is a blog dedicated to taking snapshots of stylish people on the streets of cool cities such as New York, Paris, Tokyo, Milan, and London.  In an incredible turn of events and a demonstration of how mass collaboration is erasing the boundaries between the companies and consumers, fashion houses are now seeing what is happening organically on the street and then adapting it-it’s all about being on the cutting edge.  The entire movement is based on being an “early adopter.”  This whole shift is really a demonstration of how technology is changing our world in terms of culture.

All that said, seeing the latest collections of beautiful clothes on the glossy pages of a fashion magazine can never be replaced.

Technology and Social Interaction

My Psych professor once gave a lecture on the rise of text messaging and virtual interaction and how these two means of communication are starting to overshadow the traditional methods of keeping in touch with acquaintances or meeting new people. The other day I realized the connections I have with many of the people in my phone’s address book have been watered down into sporadic conversations through text messages. Instead of spending a longer time typing out a text message and then waiting for a reply, why can’t I just click on the name and call? Through the innovation of technology, humans are inevitably creating a division between one another. Parents are starting to text their children and friends just text one another as a means to keep in touch. Social interaction through the Internet gives people another reason to just stay indoors and sort of “cheat” in order to meet new people. Nowadays, if you hear about someone, the first instinct is to search them up on Facebook and hope their pictures aren’t on private.  In my opinion, online dating seems like the last resort for people who just aren’t able to go out and socialize. Rather, they have to portray themselves in a way where it seems as though they are applying for a job. They share their interests, hobbies, passions, etc. and throw themselves out there to seem appealing to anyone that might be looking. These aren’t real relationships. The perfect love story doesn’t start with a keyboard, mouse, and computer, rather through the perfect time, place, and coincidence. I believe that people have gotten too lazy and detached from the world that they would rather sit at home and hope for something good to happen, over going out and discovering the wonderful opportunities available.

            However, technology does have some pros. Lets say you have this childhood friend that you want to stay connected to but life just takes its course and sends both of you on different paths. You wouldn’t really know what to talk about through a phone conversation so you would rather shoot a text saying, “Hey, how’s it going?” or “Hey, how are you?” That way it won’t be awkward and you can still express your interest in staying connected with them. Facebook is another excellent way of knowing what’s going on with your buddies and classmates. Even though you aren’t really bonding with your friends, you can still be updated with what’s going with their lives.

            That still doesn’t justify the fact that people are becoming more and more detached from each other through the means of text messaging and online interaction. In fact, as a society, we do need to create more “real” spaces for people to actually connect and create new stronger relationships with one another. People are more inclined towards sending text messages rather than phone calls and face-to-face interactions are being replaced with Facetime. I mean, why not? If you can just pick up your phone and video call someone rather then meeting them up for lunch, why put in the extra effort? 

My Media Diet

My Media Diet

Your media diet can say a lot about you, for example, about your society and culture, where you come from, and your ideology.  It can be representative of your peer group, what you do in life, etc. It can also offer a glimpse into your personality.  Here is a look into my daily media consumption for five days:

Wednesday, 04 May

Internet-3 hrs (what’s new on my favorite shopping websites-net-a-porter, shopbop, singer22, gilt, Saks, barney’s; news-salon, nytimes; blogs-terrysdiary, perezhilton; Camino)  

Facebook-4 hrs

Phone-4 hrs (emails, texting friends/family, phone calls-usually my mother, facebook)

Movie-2 hrs (streaming Netflix-something from drama or psychological thriller genre)

Thursday, 05 May

Internet-4 hrs (online window shopping, news, blogs)

Facebook-3 hrs

Phone-3 hrs (texting, calls, games)

TV-2 hrs (Gossip Girl on cwtv.com)

Friday, 06 May

Internet-3-4 hrs

Facebook-3 hrs

Phone-2.5 hrs

Saturday, 07 May

Internet-2 hrs

Facebook-2 hrs

Phone-5 hrs 

Sunday, 08 May

Internet-4 hrs

Facebook-3 hrs

Phone-2.5 hrs

Movie-2 hrs

My daily media consumption is pretty regimented.  The first thing I do every morning, the way someone might sit down with the paper over morning coffee, is check my favorite online shopping sites to see what’s new.  Then throughout the day I am on my blackberry, regularly checking email and Facebook, responding to messages, updating my status, or commenting on friends’ walls and pictures.  Other than for email and Facebook, I use my blackberry to call or text.  I’m not the type of person who downloads and uses all sorts of apps on my smartphone.  The most sophisticated activities I’ll perform on my phone is use the browser to Google things, or check my bank statements, or from time to time read an article or two.  The only app I really use on my phone is ATT Navigator, which is actually a pretty crappy service.  Also throughout the day, I use the Internet for school related work, with plenty of facebook breaks.  In the evenings, I use the Internet to catch up with news, gossip, and art on my favorite sites.  Other than that, I pretty regularly stream movies on Netflix, and I am a bookworm when it comes to novels, although that is not conveyed too well this particular week.  I think my media consumption says a lot about me, and where I come from.  I would say that my media diet is comparable to others my age, but probably not so suggestive of American society.  I don’t have multiple social media outlets, which I believe is pretty common.  It’s quite common for people to have at least a facebook and twitter, and even at least one other social networking page.  So far, I have stuck with facebook, and I use it quite a bit.  I spend a lot of time shopping online, and I think this says something about my interest in clothes and fashion, and also something about where I come from.  Although the Bay Area has a lot of options when it comes to shopping, with Union Square in San Francisco being famous as a hub for fashion consumerism, it is no LA or New York City.  Therefore, many of us are left shopping online. Perhaps this also says something about the type of consumer I am.  My media diet in terms of the kind of news I like to read shows that I lean quite far to the left politically.  I also avidly digest entertainment news. I think unlike many young Americans my age, I live on my phone, constantly texting and facebooking throughout the day.  I noticed that my media consumption decreased over the weekend, perhaps because I am actually interacting with friends face to face on these days and am out and about, as opposed to holed up in the library or in my room with my computer.  The one thing I’d like to change about my media consumption is the amount of time I spend staring at screens, which should be a growing health concern in general.   I have found that our generation has postural problems from spending hours hunched over laptops and computers, and who knows what all that screen time is doing to our eyesight.