Language and New Media

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Ten Reasons Why You’re Not Getting Enough Likes On Instagram

Clever isn’t it.

This form of media goes beyond clickbait. For those that do not know what that is here is Google’s definition:

“(on the Internet) content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page.”

This is a listicle. Not only is it attention grabbing garbage but it also has all the solutions to all of your various social media related insecurities in the form of 10 neat, nicely packaged pockets of information. 

As with clickbait, it hones in on something generic, hopefully something that might be applicable to you and amplifies it to extraordinary proportions. The use of capital letters and exclamation marks makes each post all the more shocking or engaging.

Sometimes we just can’t help ourselves, you just have to click, even if it means closing the tab straight away. But by then, it’s too late, they’ve already won.

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“You have the attention span of a gnat. You and your generation.”

It is believed that the human attention span is roughly 8 seconds long... Sorry, I lost my train of thought. What was I talking about? Oh yes, 8 seconds according to a study conducted in Canada in 2013. That’s one second less than a goldfish apparently. 

It’s true, we are the the generation of the smart-phone. Any idle moment, whip out the device and scroll through the social media platform of choice. Whether you’re waiting for a bus or for the kettle to boil, your phone just seems to appear in your hand. 

The young are often shunned for their ‘over-consumption’ of technology, apparently it makes us stupid. With news outlets across the globe reporting on the digital age and how it is ‘rotting our brains’, take a moment to consider the contrary (if your brain hasn’t already turned to soup).

For instance, features such as ease of access and instantaneous feedback allow skills such as creativity and communication to develop in ways that would otherwise not be possible. And just because we are starting to think and challenge ideas differently; new technology is not inherently evil or dangerous. And if we are replacing or devaluing some of the skills utilised in times gone by to make way for the future; to that I say ‘why not?’

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In for the long haul

I created my Facebook on sly, aged 12 - rebel, I know. This was just shy of nine years ago and since, (maybe not so much recently) I have updated and posted various things have me over the years. This got me thinking, what will my Facebook look like in 50 years time? What would my friends’? Do Facebook really expect me to update my profile with the venomous ferocity of my fourteen year old self?

Facebook are smart people, they’ve planned this all out. Having lost out to the likes of twitter and Snapchat in the category of spontaneity (i.e. instant updates sent in small, frequent bites) Facebook have turned their social media site into a sort of journal log. You can look back many years from know and see your life in a beautifully displayed array of pictures and captions, feel nostalgic and reconnect with times gone by. 

As it stands, Facebook wants you to archive your life by posting photos, key moments, activities and events, not to mention the everyday schlock, en masse and have total integration between your own life and Facebook. What does this all mean? If you asked the big cheeses at Facebook HQ - “If you didn't post it on Facebook, it didn't really happen.”

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The art of storytelling.

Has this ever happened to you?...  Ever found yourself recounting an event or a moment to a friend or family member and realise that they already know what you're about to say? Usually, responses tend to be with something like ‘oh yeah I know, I saw it on Dave’s Snapchat’ or ‘yeah, I saw the event uploaded to Facebook’ or ‘Kylie texted me about it’.

I often feel a little saddened at responses as this. Not only do I feel like I've wasted my time but I needn't bother in the future because plucky Dave is addicted to updating his Snapchat story. Maybe the moral of this story is stop doing stuff with Dave.

The same rules apply on the flip side - ever asked someone what they got up yesterday or something of that ilk? Here's a mock scenario to demonstrate.

‘did you have a good night last night?’ I ask.

‘didn’t you see my story?’ They respond. 

‘why don’t you just tell me all about it?’ I retort.

‘I was good but it'll probably make more sense if you just watch my story’, they conclude.

Human interaction (2017).

Amidst a social media obsessed youth, is there a place for interpersonal communication or should life be conducted through a series of short video clips, instant messages and little yellow faces that are crying with laughter?

In the wise words of Porky Pig, “Th-th-th-that's all Folks”.

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Data Privacy Day

It’s data privacy day today according Google. 

Hand-pick ads that are just right for you. Google will learn even more about you just by getting you to think you are choosing these privacy settings to best suit your needs and not their needs. Who else is waiting for Google to become sentient?

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Bridging the gap between reader and writer.

In the not too distant past, in order to make yourself heard in the written sphere you would need to get published in order to gain a readership. In a time where it was more about who you knew rather than what you had to say, writers found themselves in an isolated bubble where there lay a mythical barrier between a writer and their audience. They could write as they pleased and you as the reader could choose to either accept or reject whatever they had to say.

I am a writer (apparently). After all, I am on this website writing my thoughts and posting them for the world to see. You can do the same. You can even write to me on this post and say to me “Adam, this is shite” and I can thank you for your constructive criticism.

This interactive style of writing allows professionals and amateurs alike to put their work online for the world to see and subject themselves to the reader at their mercy in a far more immediate and informal way than ever before. It allows the reader becomes writer and the writer becomes reader. It’s a bit like the student becoming the master but not really.

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Cookies. Not biscuits.

Who doesn’t like cookies? Innocent sounding, yet often mandatory in accessing websites. Ever wondered why on the right-hand side of your Facebook news feed there often seems to be eerily familiar ads that relate to that thing you looked up on Amazon or eBay the other day? That’s a cookie. Pretty useful really, you can spend even more of that money you don’t really have with fewer clicks of the mouse. 

Things start to get a little scary when you innocuously visit some random site and you get this personalised greeting, HELLO *INSERT NAME*! You start thinking “oh shit, is my laptop becoming sentient?”

Why do companies do this? For demographic data, checking who visits what and for how long etc. or to sell your details to third parties, hooray. If, like me, you have an account for everything under the sun you get bombarded with adverts for... name a noun. Clear your cookies cache - get rid of them every once in a while. They won't take offence. Trust.

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Things are not always what they seem.

Above is short video of a son coming out as gay to his father. This clip went viral over 5 years ago - A lifetime ago in the digital world.

I had never seen this video before and was first exposed to it via a written transcript. I imagined the setting of a quiet family residence, maybe his father is watching TV in the living room or sat at the table reading a newspaper or something equally low-key and private. 

I later learned that it was done via a phone call from abroad, thus taking away that image of a personal interaction. It’s an extended transcript where we also learn that there is a third party listening in on the dad’s side of the phone line. This immediately changes the deeply personal nature of the discussion, making it all the more difficult.

Lastly, the complete picture is given. We learn that he has filmed himself phoning his father (who was unaware of this at the time) in which the whole world was a invited to this very intimate moment. 

The point is that these three depictions of the same thing create three very different pictures of the setting in which this took place and more importantly the thought process of the young man that did this. It goes from an interaction between 2 to 3 to everyone. This extra information changes how we as the audience perceive his word choice.

Does the fact that it was done via phone call diminish the importance of the occasion, maybe a text message would have sufficed? However, does the entirely public nature of the video show deep bravery to be able to tell the world with no fear on a matter that had been plaguing him for years. Or is something more cynical at work? 

I wondered whether there was something quite calculating going on. It was a success on YouTube and he undoubtedly made a few quid off it. Why would a bunch of strangers care once you’ve already told friends and family? Surely, once your loved ones know, so what, this is the 21st century? The “bravery” of the video is somewhat diminished due to the time lapse and as a result of this and I am pessimistic enough to brandish this a publicity stunt. It just goes to show how easily we can create projections and opinions and based on any information, whether or not we have the whole picture.

Just to be absolutely clear, I am not shunning the actions of this coming out, merely questioning the rationale behind the video.

FYI: Stay away from the comments section of the video, it’s a deeply troubling place.