Digital Communities Blog

My Blog discussing all things Digital Communities

[bulletinthebrian]

“No one takes photographs of things they want to forget”

(One Hour Photo, 2002)

  “When people’s houses are on fire, what’s the first thing they save after their pets and loved ones are safe? The family photos” (One Hour Photo, 2002)

Hope you enjoyed these two quotes from the movie One Hour Photo, I thought they were perfect as the heading of this post. Anyway.

Photography has been a growing business since its dawn, especially thanks to the improvement of its technology (Vivienne & Burgess, 2013). It is actually a quite fascinating practice. Don Draper (If you don’t know who he is I am sorry for you…) said it best, when he stated that “it’s a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards… it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It lets us travel the way a child travels - around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know are loved” (Mad Men, 2007).

Unfortunately, with photography going digital, and with the advent of social media and apps like, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, that perception has changed a little. If back in the day, taking a picture of something was kind of a big deal, nowadays, it’s probably one of the things that we do every day and without thinking too much about it (Vivienne & Burgess, 2013). There is no film, all is digital, autofocus, easy to store and view, and cameras are not as big as two-seater couch anymore. This practice has been completely transformed (Vivienne & Burgess, 2013). Anyone can take a photograph now, cameras on our smartphones are getting more and more advanced in quality (Vivienne & Burgess, 2013), and there is no need to “attend a two-day seminar to master the art” (One Hour Photo, 2002) (thanks for the input Sy Parrish a.k.a Robin Williams in One Hour Photo, excellent movie about photography) of taking pictures. Another aspect of photography, strictly connected to self-representation, is the importance that sharing photographs has acquired (Vivienne & Burgess, 2013). And all the aforementioned apps are responsible for this. The importance of getting likes on our pictures on Facebook and the eternal pursuit of insta-famousness, makes photo-sharing one of the most popular activities in the digital era (Vivienne & Burgess, 2013).

What do you think about this “evolution”? Personally, I have always been a Golden-Age Syndrome kind of person (If you have seen Midnight in Paris by Woody Allen, another great movie, you’d know what I am talking about), the past has always fascinated me a lot, how people used to live back in the day, all the changes we have gone through and so on. But when I think about it, I can’t help but think that it is just getting worse and worse, as life is getting more and more complicated, we are losing sight of real values, and I find myself missing the simple life we had, and that I have experienced for a little while when I was younger, before digital communities, selfies and omnipresent technology.

                                                    Reference

 Vivienne, S & Burgess, J 2013, ‘The Remediation of the Personal Photograph’, Journal of Material Culture, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 279-98

One Hour Photo 2002 [DVD], Catch 23 Entertainment, Killer Films, John Wells Productions, USA. Distributed in Australia by Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Midnight in Paris 2011 [DVD], Gravier Productions, Mediapro Televisió de Catalunya (TV3), Versátil Cinema, USA & Spain. Distributed in Australia by Sony Pictures Classic

Mad Men (2007), The Wheel, AMC.

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

Nice points here. Do you think that people now only take and share photos for ‘likes’? I think that is the case. I find that people now take and share photos to gain approval from the audience, there is no longer just the memory for ourselves, otherwise why would we share the picture at all? we share a picture to show other people what we want them to see and something that we want them to like. I’m not sure if I like the frequency some people post in an attempt to gain attention and likes on social media. I know personally my instagram account I rarely post as I do not feel the need to share every moment with others.

[michaelamarasingham-blog]

Activism

The affordance of social media for social justice issue may be surprising to the creators of the platform as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg protested during the Arab spring “It would be extremely arrogant for any specific technology company to claim credit” (Zuckerberg 2011, cited in Smith 2011). It is unquestionable that social medias affordance was leverage by the digital citizen to communicate to networked publics. The Arab spring may have had its roots in discontentment in the offline citizen however, it was the digital citizen that gave it voice and enable action. For there to be physical action there first must be thought and conversation, that leads to the formulation of ideas and methods. The fact that social media platforms and the internet as a whole is designed for the sharing of ideas and knowledge, makes it the perfect forum for activism. As in the offline world for the ideas to find traction they need to resonate with a core constituent that is outraged enough to peruse and persevere to a conclusion. Unlike the Arab spring which resulted in the overthrow of governments and revolution, the Kony campaign to bring to justice Joseph Kony a Ugandan warlord for war crimes pitted outed. An analysis of the campaign suggested that slacktivism was to blame for the failure of Kony 2012. This is not a fair comparison as the Arab spring was a revolution conducted by those directly affected by the injustice and the Kony 2012 campaign was not. However. With regards to the digital citizen both campaigns were a success as the documentary to highlight the atrocities in Uganda achieved a 100 million view in 6 days and was claimed as the most rapidly spreading video ever (Aguilar, 2012). The Arab spring utilized tweeter and Facebook to coordinate the first ever revolution organized by the digital citizen through networked publics. These case highlight that networked publics have the power to affect change but they must also have the will to pursuer and persevere with the activism to its final conclusion. This is only possible as Kony 2012 highlighted, if the conclusion has a direct impact on the daily lives of the digital citizen.

Bibliography  

Aguilar, M., 2012. KONY 2012 Is The ‘Most Viral’  Video Of All Time. [Online]  Available at: https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/03/kony-2012-is-the-most-viral-video-of-all-time/

 Khalil, J 2017, ‘Change and Continuity in Arab Media’, in M Zayani & S Mirgani (eds), Media and Politics in the Wake of the Arab Uprisings, Oxford University Press, Oxford Scholarship Online-Ebook,viewed 31 March 2018, <http://bit.ly/2JCg6fj>.

 Kony 2012, effective or just ‘slacktivism’?” Philadelphia Inquirer [Philadelphia, PA], 14 Mar. 2012. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A282920781/ITOF? u=swinburne1&sid=ITOF&xid=154345f2. Accessed 8 Apr. 2018.

McCafferty D (2011) Activism vs. slacktivism. Communications of

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

Do you think that online activism is as effective as the old way? I think that “Slacktivism” is prominent in todays society. More people will click ‘Like’ or post a link and create awareness but does that bring about real change if there is no action taken other than the click of a mouse? I think that online activism brings in a higher volume of support, but the support level is of a lower impact, simply clicking a mouse doesn’t have the same impact as going out and joining a group and changing things yourself.

[allthingsgeshblog]

Just JAM it!

I would like to take you through Culture Jamming.

Culture Jamming put simply is the act of altering existing advertising campaigns to subvert the originally intended mega corporate message within the marketplace as explained by stormileemcleavy in her video (stormileemcleavy, 2013).

The resulting images can elicit a humorous response from the receiver, or challenge the receivers pre-conceived values towards a corporation or product with the intent to raise awareness and or social and political commentary (stormieemcleavy, 2013).

Let’s take a look at a subverted McDonalds ad…

The subverted message created is quite clear isn’t it.

By consuming “Maccas” you’re waistline among other areas of your body too will expand immensely.

In a nutshell, activism through Culture Jamming is achieved creatively. One can subvert the message without holding placards or forming a sit-ins or marches like the old days. With the expansion of social media, Culture Jamming has a plethora of channels through which to get the message out. 

 Apple.

This subverted message is quite powerful I think. The conglomerate Apple has certainly a following. With any new release there are hundreds of people with deck chairs lined up out the front of Chadstone 24 hours beforehand just to be in the doors as fast as possible! It goes further to reflect “Connected, but alone?” that was discussed by Sherry Turkle <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv0g8TsnA6c&feature=youtu.be>

Pepsi.

On the face, this subverted message is quite comical, however the underlying message challenges obesity and society’s sugar level consumption, much like the McDonalds ad.

Esso…

A powerful subverted message I think, don’t you? By adding red vertical bars through the original logo, Esso is now portrayed as a money hungry conglomerate, and by association, all oil/petrol companies are perceived to be tarred in similar fashion.

Marlboro cigarettes.

Ouch! Just one word, changes the whole message doesn’t it. The logo is easily recognisable, coupled with the word “breathe”, forever links Marlboro, cigarettes and a lack of breathing together.

I’d even hazard a guess here, to say the stand looks very much like one you would expect to see at a funeral introducing the deceased or am I delving too deep here?

Starbucks.

I had a chuckle when I first saw this one. The clear link between Starbucks and overpriced coffee is quite prominent in this subverted message.

Dig a little deeper though, the fact remains that Starbucks’ success is driven by its ability to make $6 coffees cool!

Sad, but true, there is always the consumer that will be prepared to pay an exorbitant amount of money for something that is essentially hot water and flavouring…. a little harsh, I know.

I currently buy my coffee at the local cafe near work, refusing to “enjoy instant”, but I do draw the line at $4.50!

Calvin Klein.

This one plays isn’t so funny, yet it is very thought provoking and plays into the body image space. So many of the ads produced by Calvin Klein have the young strapping young man with a 6 pack - the ideal man! This subverted message shows reality, and challenges the conceived idea of the perfect man beautifully. I love this one!

Obsession.

Finally, Obsession. Very very powerful. The word Obsession would normally reflect the perfume, however, in this case, the word represents the battle of Bulimia / Anorexia and raises awareness of the overwhelming part that media and the larger corporate face chooses to reflect the “perfect woman”. Like the Calvin Klein one above, this subverted ad has “an sharp edge”. Through Social Media, this could be quite effective no?

As discussed by Chung and Kirby, the use of media technologies allows one to use Social Media as instruments of creative expression and social activism (Chung S & Kirby M, 2015). Furthermore Chung & Kirby discuss the importance of understanding the domination that corporate has over the media, how that domination influences consumer buying behaviour, one can reject this influence by raising awareness through creativity, distributing it through Social Media in order to gain as much traction as possible.

Furthermore, as discussed by Chung & Kirby, Culture Jamming provides an opportunity for open dialogue which is fantastic for building awareness, and the basis for change (Chung S & Kirby M, 2015).

It’s certainly a form of activism I could get involved in. Couldn’t you?

References:

Chung S & Kirby M, 2015, Media Literacy Art Education: Logos, Culture Jamming, and Activism, Art Education, 62:1, p. 34-39

stormileemcleavy 2013, Culture Jamming, 11 April, viewed 24 April 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZaK4q4UTJc>

‘548584_508789855815669_1417389212_n’ [image] viewed 24 April 2018 <https://sites.psu.edu/comm411spring2015/2015/02/17/culture-jamming-an-eye-opening-form-of-advertisment/>

‘culture-jamming-the-esso-logo12′ [image] viewed 24 April 2018 <https://blog.tickyes.com/a-brief-history-of-culture-jamming/>

‘iaddict’ [image] viewed 25 April 2018 <http://wpmu.mah.se/nmict151group2/2015/03/14/culture-jamming-cure-or-curse/>

‘fe89ce5451b24c01b8f9166b2d5b030c’ [image] viewed 24 April 2018 <https://www.pinterest.com/pin/518899188297580112/>

‘7efff583cf6b257511ffb0928976de05′ [image] viewed 25 April 2018 <https://www.pinterest.com/pin/165859198750496058/>

‘starbucks-coffee-culture-jamming-copy‘ [image] viewed 25 April 2018 <https://sites.psu.edu/comm411spring2015/2015/02/17/culture-jamming/>

‘bbc39f87b5b038c74bc100645741e60f’ [image] viewed 25 April 2018 <https://www.pinterest.com/pin/572168327634695219/>

‘adbusters_reality_for_men’ [image] viewed 24 April 2018 <https://www.adbusters.org/spoofads/fashion-slashin/attachment/adbusters_reality_for_men/>

[gem-vs-ba-mcmns-blog]

I find the concept of culture jamming fascinating and, for the most part, quite clever. 

Here is another Marlboro one I found: 

(Source: http://culture-jams.blogspot.com.au/2010/03/adbusting-culture-jamming.html)

Were you able to find any evidence that it actually changes people’s opinions or behaviour? I wonder how effective it is in creating action rather than just awareness. Or whether the majority just see it as “smart arsery” and dismisses it in favour of their own desires. 

I think either way it is a valuable method of encouraging people to think before consuming and also in allowing people to express their beliefs in a creative and confronting way. Thanks for sharing all of those examples, they were great!

[frangolive]

Thanks for your perceptions on culture jamming, I particularly enjoy satyre and parody for this approach if you can combine a serious ‘alert message with some intelligent humour’ I feel it is one of the most powerful ways to socially educate our digital citizens :)

I really liked this point …

“opportunity for open dialogue which is fantastic for building awareness, and the basis for change (Chung S & Kirby M, 2015).” 

And yes due to the humour and human creativity involved, I could definately get amongst culture jamming LOL!, Cheers F 

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

Nice Look at Culture Jamming here. These satirical ads are manipulated to send a message, and use the companies slogan, logo, brand to convey the truth about them. However do you think these are effective? Do we just look at these ads and think “Oh that’s clever!” or does this truly create change. It could raise a conversation around the issue for change, however I think more often than not people would look at this and like the picture, however doesn’t really affect the way we act or open our eyes to these corporations. 

[kengalvin-blog]

The collective nature of the crowd

Crowdfunding has become a bit of a buzzword over recent years, so firstly let’s look at what is crowdfunding? It’s a fundraising practice that utilises connections much like networked publics to gather funding in support of a specific project (Doan & Toledana 2017, p. 38). To put this practice into a fun pop-culture perspective we can look at a successful crowdfunding campaign instigated by Kevin Roberts in 2013. Veronica Mars, a detective drama following the adventures of a high school/college student by day and teen detective by night was revitalised as a feature-length film through networked crowdfunding seven years after the series was cancelled from network television (Yahr 2014). Roberts employed the help of Kickstart.com, a website dedicated to helping raise funds for creative projects. Roberts initially requested $2 million dollars for the project but by the end of the crowdfunding campaign, he had raised a staggering $5,702,153 (Hills 2015, p. 2). If you consider that this project targeted a very specific niche demographic it highlights the impact and possibilities of using networked publics to generate connections by utilising the affordance of spreadability to link dispersed individuals who can come together to fund a common goal, it also tells me that teen detective dramas are wildly more popular and I may be missing out on quality television.

Veronica Mars (Shellstropaljamil 2016)

If it’s possible to not just generate involvement but to exceed expectations for the value of entertainment, can we take the same basic principle of using online networks collective nature and converge in collective democratic action? This is exactly what the developers of Ushahidi proceed to do in the aftermath of the 2007 Kenyan elections. Post-election protests turned into widespread violence, which leads Kenyan blogger Ory Okolloh to make a public appeal to her followers asking for ideas of how it may be possible to collect information regarding the names of Kenyan citizens who lost their lives in the violence throughout this turbulent period. Approximately twenty develops came to the aid and offered their time and labour to develop a tracking system via SMS and an online platform, and in a week Ushahidi was born (Ford 2012 p. 33-34). Ushahidi was developed through the collective nature of crowdsourcing, crowdsourcing goes beyond the collective funding, crowdsourcing commodity is people power, its a collective of individuals and their skills sets brought together to create and find solutions to a task or problem (Shepherd 2012, p. 11).

Crisis Mapping Japan (Ushahidi 2011)

Ushahidi’s success is its ability to utilize networked publics affordances of direct participation, as Henry Jenkins eloquently states, “crowdsourcing is about shifting the power relations between audience and producers” (2013 p. 248). The collective nature of Ushahidi promotes the co-creative involvement of collective groups establishing a bottom-up networks (Zorina 2016, p. 85). Since the turbulent Kenyan election of 2007, countless Ushahidi maps have been developed in over 159 countries (Hyman 2014, p. 28) to track an abundance of social, political and environmental issues. Ushahidi is a constantly evolving platform with users embracing the affordance of crowdsourcing collaborative nature helping to stimulate a worldwide social consciousness “to help improve the bottom-up flow of information” (Ushahidi 2018).

Ushahidi’s Crisis Mapping in 40 seconds (99 Faces TV 2011)

Reference List

Aljona, Z 2016, ‘From a competing to a collaborative crowd: Tactics for co-creation with innovative bottom-up communities: Tactics for co-creation with innovative bottom-up communities’, Organizational Dynamics, vol. 45, no. 2, pp.80-93.

Doan, M & Toledano, M 2018, ‘Beyond organization-centred public relations: Collective action through a civic crowdfunding campaign’, Public Relations Review, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 37-46.

Ford, H 2012, ‘Crowd Wisdom’, Index on Censorship, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 33-39.

Hills, M 2015, ‘Veronica Mars , fandom, and the ‘Affective Economics’ of crowdfunding poachers’, New Media & Society, vol. 17, no. 2, pp.183-197.

Hyman, P 2014, ‘Peace Technologies’ Enable Eyewitness Reporting When Disasters Strike’, Communications of the ACM, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 27-29.

Jenkins, H,  Ford, S & Green, J 2013, Spreadable Media - Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture, NYU Press, Ebook Central (ProQuest).

99 Faces TV 2011, Ushahidi’s Crisis Mapping in 40 seconds, 24 March, viewed 17 May 2018, <https://youtu.be/SakTPDHs6iI>.

Shellstropaljamil 2016, ‘Veronica Mars Amazing’, [image], Tumblr, viewed 17 May 2018, <https://78.media.tumblr.com/9da1690a02ecc1f6ca8281bddd9588ae/tumblr_nmjn88Iuo11rohg16o3_250.gif>.

Shepherd, H 2012, ‘Crowdsourcing’, Contexts, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 10-11.

Ushahidi 2011, ‘ Crisis Mapping Japan’, [image], Ushahidi, viewed 17 May 2018, <https://2ee8a9b674d3b6a52133-b7785f8c6e03b0b67de30b88e1b0fcb9.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/2011/04/sinsai-500x348.png>.

Ushahidi 2018, About Ushahidi, Ushahidi, viewed 15 May 2018,<https://www.ushahidi.com/about>.

Yahr, E 2014, ‘Veronica Mars’ creator Rob Thomas explains how his canceled show rose from the ashes for a groundbreaking movie, The Washington Post, viewed 15 May 2018, <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2014/03/13/veronica-mars-creator-rob-thomas-explains-how-his-canceled-show-rose-from-the-ashes-for-a-groundbreaking-movie/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d3b70ae07666>.

[frangolive]

This comment stands out to me in this great blog ..

“affordance of crowdsourcing collaborative nature helping to stimulate a worldwide social consciousness “to help improve the bottom-up flow of information” (Ushahidi 2018). “.

It made me wonder if the platform has processes in place to take a sociological approach to the meta data of so many differing uses for the platform and create diverse and original bottom up sifting and reporting (Ford 2012, p.34). Ta v much for a great read :)

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

Interesting look at crowdfunding and finding a niche market of like minded people to support a cause. However do you think crowdfunding has its flaws? Is there a process to verify the money is going towards its cause. I think about GoFundMe where people can start a fundraiser for a cause and whether a fraudulent cause could be created to steal funds. An interesting read is the case of family member of Philando Castile, the man shot and killed by police. his family created GoFundMe pages and raised over $300,000 but the legitimacy was called into question after people could not verify where these funds were going. 

http://www.startribune.com/300k-collected-on-gofundme-pages-in-castile-s-name-are-they-legit/386487071/

[bradarnoldt-deactivated20180705]

Week 7: Trolling and social media conflict

I went to school a good while before the internet, trolling and social media conflict were in our lives.  At school I was bullied and, I’m not proud to say, did my share of bullying.  I don’t now.  I’m a different person.  Back then I was trying to fit in.  Be part of the ‘cool gang’.  The same ‘cool gang’ that at various stages bullied me. I had “frenemies” - friends who are sometimes enemies when faced with competition, jealousy and mistrust (boyd 2014). It was a vicious circle of acceptance and rejection that I stayed in during my high school days.  Looking back I can see exactly what was going on but at the time I would turn up every day wondering which way things were going to go.

This ‘face to face’ bullying has become anonymous, faceless online bullying in most cases now. Aggression, repetition, and imbalance in power (boyd 2014) are the 3 major components in bullying according to Swedish psychologist Dan Olweus.   The Australian Government goes on to pinpoint 7 main online bullying tactics which you can read here

 https://www.acorn.gov.au/learn-about-cybercrime/cyber-bullying 

 If caught and convicted, there’s a $30k fine (ACORN 2017).  

There, of course, is not only bullying in the school yard and online amongst school peers but throughout the adult world.  “Posting hurtful messages, images or videos online” is number 1 in the 7 points made by ACORN in regards to online bullying (just in case you didn’t click on the link above!).  Celebrities of course cop it all the time and a number of them have quit various forms of social media as a result.  Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber among many who’ve received bullying and turned off their Twitter and/or Instagram accounts. (Stark 2018) Some, after a while, have turned theirs back on after the heat had died down though!

People react to online threats and bullying in various ways.  Some laugh it off as you may have seen in The Late Shows “Mean Tweets.  

Check out some more mean tweets below

Sarah Silverman went one step further when one particular troller sent her a mean tweet.  She went out of her way to find out why he said what he said.  The result was moving and life changing for both parties. Check out the story here:  

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/news/sarah-silverman-troll-medical-treatment-san-antonio-insurance-slipped-discs-a8141491.html

References:

Boyd, D 2014, ‘Bullying: Is the Media Amplifying Meanness and Cruelty?’, in It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens, Yale University Press, New Haven, USA, pp. 128-52.

Jimmy Kimmel Live 2018, Mean Tweets - Avengers Edition, 30 April, viewed 2 May 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrnpSe4OChM>.

Loughrey C, 2018,  Sarah Silverman responds to troll by befriending him and paying for his medical treatment, Independent, viewed 3 May 2018, <https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/news/sarah-silverman-troll-medical-treatment-san-antonio-insurance-slipped-discs-a8141491.html>.

Stark J 2018,  Celebrities who’ve quit social media: Kanye West, Adele, Justin Bieber, more, Newsday, 15 February, viewed 2 May 2018, https://www.newsday.com/entertainment/celebrities/celebrities-who-quit-social-media-1.12706108

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

Interesting look at trolling here. Do you think that trolling could be seen as good natured at all? The Celebrity Read Mean Tweets examples are an example of someone taking online comments as a bit of fun and not taking it personally. With the popularity of ‘Roasting’ in the comedy world no one takes anything personally and its all in good fun. I know me and my friends tend to make fun of each other, but at the end of the day there are no hard feelings, with the transfer of personal interactions now taking place more and more online, perhaps these friends barbs are being exchanged online rather than in person as previously was the case

[thoughtsofchanelle-deactivated2]

W10: The culture of social gaming

Social gaming is a term many people may feel familiar with.

Me? Not so much. In fact, there is zero familiarity here - so I’m going to start with a light refresher on what this term actually encompasses:

Social gaming; game applications integrated into social networking platforms (Hou, 2011).

This term still isn’t overly familiar to me. The most ‘social’ we got with our gaming as children was discussing how healthy our Tamogotchi’s were in the school playground. If you’re also over 25 - you might recall how hard it was to keep yourself healthy as a child let alone remember to feel a fictional pet. The struggle was real.

While I appreciate the definition above is relatively broad, I want to explore the reality behind the social gamers that choose to play in their spare time over actual non-digital human interaction – because I have heard there are millions around our globe that live for this lifestyle.

One question that pops into my mind – and again, I reiterate: I have no personal interest in social gaming, probably due to my childhood spent without hundreds of social platforms available to me, so this is only my opinion – is what are the health or social benefits these gamers are missing out on?

Facebook opened its platform to developers over 10 years ago, allowing gaming developers to jump onboard the social revolution (Swinburne Online, 2018) and subsequently, the trend has reached new heights. However, what about the facts surrounding the antisocial aspect or inactivity of online gaming culture?

Obesity rates in children have tripled in the last 30 years, with research concluding a strong link to sedentary lifestyles such as those devoted to online gaming (Bond, Calvert, and Staiano, 2013). Studies have also recently found that children aged between 8-18 years typically expose themselves to online gaming for 90 minutes per day (Rideout, Foehr & Roberts, 2010), exposing them to a MUCH higher risk of adolescent obesity and a decreased quality of life. Furthermore, researches have confirmed that those heavily associated with online gaming communities experience negative impacts to social engagements and at times may ‘withdraw’ in social circumstances which do not allow the anonymity or circumstantial control that online gaming typically affords them (Hou, 2011).

For me, this begs the question: how will future innovations and technologies positively or negatively impact this gaming culture – will it be enhanced, or redirected to encourage physically activity? Will societies value wellbeing one day influence, or eventually change the notion of gaming?

I guess only time will tell.

Share your thoughts on social gaming, and how you see this evolving in our future.

References

Rideout V, Foehr U, Roberts D, 2010, Generation M2: Media in the lives of 8-18 year olds. Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation, viewed 28 May 2018, Link 

Bond, B, Calvert, S, and Staiano, A, 2013, Electronic Gaming and the Obesity Crisis, New Dir Child Adolesc Delv: 2013 Spring, vol. 139, pp. 51-57, Link 

Swinburne Online, 2018, ’10.2 Social Gaming: Playing the crowd’, Swinburne Online: MDA20009, viewed 28 May 2018, Link 

Hou, J, 2011, ‘Uses and gratifications of social games: Blending social networking and game play’, First Monday Journal, vol. 16, no. 7, viewed 28 May 2018, Link 

[kengalvin-blog]

Hi Chanelle,As someone over 25 actually even Tamagotchi was after my time (dear god I’m old!) I think this is a really good question, it is suggested that by 2022 there will be 661.6 million active gamer’s worldwide (Statistica 2018), that’s a lot of time spent in front of screens. It makes me wonder how the health and fitness industry can take advantage of the gaming sector? A few years ago ‘Wii fit’ was a massive craze that took advantage of physical activity and gaming networks, though it seems the ‘Wii fit’ craze is long gone. While searching I found the website fitness-gaming.com which is dedicated to the development of fitness gaming/technology I’ll be interested to see if any of these ideas take off. Reference listFitness gaming 2018, Fitness Gaming News, Fitness gaming, viewed 29 May 2018, <https://www.statista.com/outlook/212/100/online-games/worldwide#market-revenue>.

[florenciablogs-blog]

Hi Chanelle & Ken

Great points made here and got me thinking about a recent experience I had at a friends house who has a (pretty advanced) VR setup. He is an engineer and self labeled cyber-geek. I found QuiVR archery game very intense and was actually puffed out after the excessive movement. This year most of the headsets released will not only be the highest definition yet but also the cheapest to hit the consumer market. Additionally, most are now wireless so one is free to walk around unbound. My friend pointed out he is waiting until the end of the year where he will buy two so he “can hang out with friends and play all these games with them in virtual reality”. The pace of this makes me envision the use of parks in the future where kids are playing virtual soccer, potentially on the fields of brazil against children from all over the world, each with a headset, locking them in for an amazing game. The opportunities this kind of technology presents are so vast that I think we cannot even begin to imagine its capabilities, particularly for physical activity. 

Our desire to move and exercise is largely motivated by out surroundings so imagine one could run on Venice Beach or go with a friend who lives in Italy at Lake Como? 

*cancels Fitness First membership* 

[bulletinthebrian]

Interesting points there Chanelle, and thanks for reminding me of Tamagotchi’s, I had completely forgotten about them! If you look at the evolution of games and gaming throughout the years, I think that is very unlikely that we are gonna experience a decrease in popularity of online games, also because of the improvement of internet connection and its speed. Whether we like it or not, online multiplayer gaming is another way to connect people and unite them through the things that they have in common, in this case the passion for a particular video-game. This is the perk that I see when i think about online gaming, so basically a different way to be social. Health-wise, I completely agree with Frangolive and her thoughts about the application of VR to get people to exercise. It has been done already, and many gym, even if this is not VR, have treadmills with big screens that make you feel like you are running in the forest, or stationary bicycles with which you can simulate a motorbike race. I think that these make a pretty good use of this technology, and make training even more fun!

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

Nice Blog, my generation may have been the start of the consistent gaming generation, as technology got more advanced I certainly found that more people are gaming more often. Although I used to game fairly frequently I started noticing through my younger relatives that they were almost addicted to gaming and couldn’t put the things down, If they weren’t near a console or PC they had a gameboy, an iPad, a smartphone, they were almost constantly looking at screens. at family events I felt like I was the only one who wasn’t staring at a screen the whole time. I’m not sure I like where this is going as although there is the social aspect of gaming I feel like someone who is in front of you physically should take priority to interact with over someone you are playing with online.

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

Social Gaming

Social gaming. I remember getting together with my friends, linking up our laptops to a single network to have a LAN party and gaming, or going to an internet cafe to enjoy gaming with my friends. Now all I have to do is to add them on my console, have their contact details in my phone, and I can play with or against them at any time and more often than not in any place. 

The growth of the video game software market is expected to to headed towards online game software, and is predicted that the online space will replace the current available boxed product (Baek et al. 2014). Facebook introduced us to Farmville, where we can create our own farm, visit a friends farm and tend to your farm on a daily basis creating a need of regularity and frequency of gaming. Farmville also created a social aspect by creating benefits by interacting with our friends, the more friends farms you had the more you can visit and reap the rewards. This is one of the simpler social games, along with the likes of Words with Friends where you can interact with friends you already have a connection with in real life and keep in touch through a game.

One of the most popular games of the last 15 years has been World of Warcraft. This game is an MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) where there is a whole world created where players can choose their character, and play online alongside 5.5million other users (Statista 2018). The huge world allows for players to interact, form ‘Guilds’ where they can have a regular group of people who they play the game with. This is the social aspect to the game, players can make friends with people across the other side of the world over a shared enjoyment of computer game.

While gaming is usually seen as an isolated activity where an individual is usually alone and playing the game by themselves, technology has gotten to the point where people can join mass networks online and interact with one another, and not to harp on with the same points on this blog, but social gaming allows us to be alone yet still connected with others. 

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

Curating Your Life Through Social Media and Images: Social Media VS. Real Life

Images have now become a huge part of social media, with cameras and computers now moulded together into a portable and pocket sized device known as a smartphone, you can now take a photo, edit it, and post it out into the world. Advances in media technologies have changed the way we capture, remember, and communicate personal images of everyday life (Vivienne et al. 2013). Social Media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook allow for images to be posted and shared for everyone to see. But is what we are seeing really what someone is like? or just what they want you to believe they are like?

Social Media allows us to communicate aspects of our life that we want to communicate, as such we show people how we want to be perceived and not the way we actually are. Through curating our social media images we can portray ourselves in a certain way, to either seem more interesting, more adventurous, some people want to seem wealthier, or more attractive, and as such will use certain angles, camera tricks, or choose certain pictures that they want people to see. 

Every element of a digital story is represents a directorial choice marked in material form, they choose which story to tell, what images they use, and these choices by the social media user can manipulate the perception that the public have as they view this digital story (Vivienne et al. 2013). The digital story (image posts on Social Media) is an example of distributed self-representation that are networked and mediated by social and digital connections (Vivienne et al. 2013).

So next time you see someone on social media and wish you could have their life, chances are that’s what they wanted you to think. And chances are they’re scrolling through someone else’s feed wishing the same thing. 

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

Crowdsourcing: Crowdfunding

When many people get together for a common cause it can take a lot of organisation, space, and you can not even hear yourself over the chatter of other people. However now with the access and reach of technology and social media, we can now connect as a crowd without being in the same place, as discussed in my first blog post we can indeed be together while being alone, we are connected to others through our technology and can use this connection for a number of purposes. 

One example of crowdsourcing is crowdfunding. Sites like Indiegogo, Gofundme and Kickstarter allow people to crowdsource funds. Kickstarter and Indiegogo allow for creatives such as filmmakers, music makers, inventors, and others to get their projects off the ground by sourcing funds from people who see the artists vision, or are passionate themselves and want to see the art get made. Kickstarters mission statement is to “Bring creative projects to life” (Kickstarter.com), users can set up a page for their project ideas and set a goal to be reached for that project to happen. People donate to this project because they want to see it happen. Without sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo how would aspiring creatives achieve their goal? In an example in film making, for a film to get made before the age of the internet, aspiring filmmakers would need to help of a studio or producer to back the movie and help it get made, now these artists are able to reach out to the world and get funding from many sources, as little as $1 can be pledged towards the goal, but every bit counts. 

These crowdfunding sites can also be used for non-creative purposes, In times of tragedy or misfortune these sites can be used for charitable purposes. An example is the crowdfunding website GoFundMe. This website allows people to create their own fundraiser for different purposes. In 2016 Philando Castile was shot and killed by a police officer, the story went worldwide after the video of the incident was streamed on Facebook (another example of technology being used to broadcast to the world). There was a GoFundMe page set up after the incident for the family of Castile the page raised over $300,000 for the family but the legitimacy of these fundraisers were called into question after it became unclear where the funds were actually going. 

http://www.startribune.com/300k-collected-on-gofundme-pages-in-castile-s-name-are-they-legit/386487071/

Heather Ford states “But as the sources of user-generated content grow and the volume of data increases, users of the technology face critical choices about what information to highlight, about the authenticity of reports and, consequently, which information should be declared as ‘verified’. (Ford 2012, pg. 33) Do we really know where the funds are going? And should these forms of Crowdfunding be policed more to ensure that legitimacy. Maybe the trade-off for having such an easy way to source funds for a legitimate cause or project without the cost of having to set up your own fundraiser event or organisation is to have to deal with a few of these bad eggs. Maybe this is the new world of the Internet Crowd. 

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

Internet Anonymity and The Troll

The Internet, Where people can hide behind a keyboard and screen, behind the anonymity of a chosen username, a chosen picture, or even an egg...

This is where the new kind of Troll lives, not under a bridge as previously thought.

 Trolling behind anonymity on Twitter became so bad that Twitter changed its default egg display picture in a bid to dissociate itself from the association with bullying, trolling, and abuse on the platform.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/03/twitter-drops-egg-avatar-in-attempt-to-break-association-with-internet-trolls

‘Trolling’ has become somewhat of a norm on the internet and social media. With more and more people using the internet each day, and more people interacting via social media bullying has gone from the school yard to the computer of smartphone where its easier to get away with it without being found out. 

Trolling started as simply the posting of provocative and often deliberately misleading and pointless comments with the intent of provoking and aggravating others into an argument (Kulyueva 2013). The Troll would pose as a regular participant of an online conversation but their real intentions would be to disturb the discussion and create conflict often their own amusement as means to get under peoples skin (Kulyueva 2013). 

However the Trolling and online bullying evolved from an annoyance or argument in a discussion online and became more vicious and people were using anonymous accounts on social media to sexually harass people, make physical threats and to harass someone or stalk them for an extended time. With most of the population having smartphones on them at all times and kids getting their first mobile phones early than ever, the ability to be harassed on social media is almost inescapable. People can be constantly harassed every time they check their phones which makes it harder than ever to escape a bully that previously would be left in the schoolyard. 

Although trolling can be a horrible and and a form of harassment with many victims, It is not always the case and as kids engage more with social media, it was become somewhat of an internet subculture. Friends often troll each other in jest and does not cause any harm or offence. Just as a group of friends may playfully tease each other during a conversation, it is now taking place in online forums rather than face to face. This may not be a bad thing as it now offers friends to connect as they would together while they are apart. The internet troll culture also spawned a ‘Troll Face’ image that became popular in internet forums.

So while Trolling started as a nasty way to cause conflict and tension, it can go both ways. It can be a cruel and horrible way for people to interact using technology and social media, Or it can be a way for people to interact in a playful manner and in many cases can be a form of comedy not just for the troll themselves but also the ‘victim’ and anyone else involved in the discussion. 

Is Trolling bad? majority of the time I would agree that it is and can be a toxic thing on the internet. However it can also be in good fun and a way of playfully interacting on the internet. 

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

Digital Activism: The Age of the Hashtag

Social Media allows for users all over the world to engage, communicate, and relate to others across the globe, and also helps us to find others we share the same views with and can relate to. The Twitter format allows for people to search a certain topic by its hashtag (used as a metadata tag) or if the hashtag is popular enough this project it starts to “Trend” which means that it will be promoted on the side tab of the users feed. By utilising these hashtags it allows for a topic to be promoted on each sidebar and be seen by a huge number of people across the world and for these people to find the topics and relate. 

During a visit to York University in Toronto, the comments of one police officer would spark a worldwide movement driven by social media, the comment that “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimised” drove the movement against victim blaming in sexual assault cases (Hill 2013). The movement sparked was the now annual Slutwalk which takes place across cities all over the globe. Within a year of the first Slutwalk arranged by the York University students, there were similar marches in over 250 cities across the globe (Hill 2013). The use of the hashtag made it easy for anyone to plan an event in their own city simply by using #slutwalk on Twitter (Hill 2013). 

Another of these Twitter Hashtag movements came after a series of reported and recorded deaths of black men, women, and children at the hands of law enforcement across the world, mainly in the United States, which sparked to the community-led protests and the #blacklivesmatter movement (Watson et al. 2016). In another world trending protest, thousands of people across the globe protested police brutality against abuse of power by law enforcement in general but especially in the black community.  The movement “Black Lives Matter is an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise” (Blacklivesmatter.com)

The use of the hashtag activism makes it easier than ever for different groups across the globe to come together and participate as part of a network without needing to be part of the originating organisation of the movement (Hill 2013). The global reach of these communities and the way the metadata works for users allows for people across different walks of life to find each other and to contribute to a cause by even as little as a hashtag. It creates a space for people to be comfortable sharing experiences of their own when once they were silent, as happened with assault cases in the Slutwalk movement. Social media brings people together for a common cause without needing to be together physically. 

References:

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

Twitter posts & Politics. A direct line to the public without filters

The use of social media can be heavily utilised by political parties or politicians themselves to reach out to the public in a quick and direct manner which is unfiltered by a media or news outlet. Though it is heavily filtered or curated by a panel of advisors and public relations assistants. 

However in the recent United States Presidential in 2016, presidential candidate Donald Trump ran what seemed to be a completely unfiltered and brash campaign, and has been keeping this same theme whilst elected to office. This approach to social media had previously been unseen by politicians who are extremely careful to not offend or be controversial in a bid to gain supporters. 

Trumps different approach than the normal politician could actually be a credit to his success. Where others played it safe and tried to win the popular vote, Trump used this method of a direct line from his “Twitter fingers” to the public as a tool to challenge to status-quo and which, as it turns out many people found refreshing a change from the usual line-up of previous candidates (Farnsworth 2018).  

This inflammatory approach was a vast change to previous President Barak Obama who was one of the most popular presidents in history and was helped by the boom of social media and internet reporting during his two term presidency. Obama used social media as a way to bring citizens in to participate in government, utilising the social media communication technology to reach out to the public and to bring people together (Katz et al. 2013). This is a vast contrast to his successor Trump who’s views, political stand point, and eventual presidency has divided America completely with a lot of the debate being held on these same social medias that Obama was trying to utilise to bring people together. Obama’s campaign in 2008 spawned a rise in social media use generated by the excitement among young people to engage in political discussions on these platforms (Katz et al. 2013). 

Between these two presidents we have an example of two completely different approaches, while Obama played the popular “cool” president, appearing on late night talk shows and joking around with the hosts, appearing on Saturday Night Live and generally being liked by the public and empowering the young leftists, there is the other side of the coin. Trump has divided a nation, using social medias like Twitter to preach hate speech and encourage those who stayed silent during the Obama administration to come out of the woodwork and feel that their opinions are validated, contrary to the popular vote (losing the popular vote but winning Electoral College). Rather than appearing on shows such as Saturday Night Live, he is openly mocked and impersonated for his unfiltered approach and controversial views. 

References:

[joelblogshere-blog]

Blog 1A (2) Social media, User Generated Content, Affordances....and Privacy

What exactly is social media? The simple answer to this is a bunch of internet apps that allow for User Generated Content (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). So now you’re asking ‘what is User Generated Content’, right? It’s exactly how it’s described – using different forms of media content created by end users, aka you or me, rather than professional content creators.

Mayo (2014) suggests that social media can then be broken down into four main groups:

-      Social networking tools like Skype, Facebook and Tumblr

-      Social publishing and sharing tools – blogs; Twitter; YouTube; Flickr; Google Docs fit into this category

-      Social and content management tools – Survey Monkey, Moodle and other web based tools used for tasks like calendars, surveys, polls and the like; and

-      Gaming environments – Xbox Live, Playstation Network, Minecraft, World of Warcraft etc.

Above image: Survey Monkey website homepage - an example of social and content media management tools. (Zapier, 2015)

Because I haven’t dissected enough terminology and theories, let’s discuss affordances! Gibson (1979, p. 19) wrote that humans, along with animals, orient to subjects in their world – rocks, rivers, buildings etc. The term affordances refers to the different ways these orientations are interpreted (Hutchby, 2001). Whilst a business may see Facebook as an advertising means to get clients, an individual may see Facebook as a tool to communicate with friends and families.

Above video: How Cambridge Analytica psychologically profiled Facebook Users (BBC News, 2018)

I think most people today find social media challenging because of privacy risks, especially with all the recent news about breaches. Trepte (2015) suggests that today’s social media has two types of affordances, or more simply, potential forms of use. There are affordances related to social media functions -  these ask us to comment on statuses on platforms, upload pictures and videos, and tag friends or places we visit. Also termed ‘warm affordances’ they allow us to share content, keep in contact, and interact. The other kind are ‘cold affordances’ - the legal jargon, the stuff that implies an agreement about privacy. For example: the picture I shared of my cat on my Facebook yesterday now belongs to Facebook, as is set out in their terms of service. Yet, my ability to share which friends see that picture is an example of warm affordances.

Recent news: Facebook is rewriting it’s Terms of Service and Data Policy, focusing on easy to read language and making things clearer https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/04/terms-and-data-policy/

Deciding what to share, and what audiences to let access them, can be very challenging. There’s some pictures I’m happy to share with some friends, but not others, because unfortunately humans can be very judgemental….

Then there’s the external links where we go to fill out a “when will we die” survey. Whilst we believed these external permissions were secure, as we now know, there is potential for data breaches.

Related news: Australia’s Privacy Commissioner to Investigate if Facebook breached Australia’s Privacy Act: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/australia-s-privacy-commissioner-opens-facebook-probe-over-data-breach

This has actually led to me making some changes on how I access Facebook, and how I share User Generated Content. I revoked app permissions, and have started again, and am very careful with what I click on and give permissions for now. Are you bunkering down on your privacy settings, or are you just letting whatever happens, happen?

Update: I’ve embedded some non-referenced articles in this post, and there’s also an Easter Egg ;)

References

BBC News 2018, How Cambridge Analytica psychologically profiled Facebook Users, BBC News, 4 April, viewed 7th April 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84gTofMPz1k>. 

Gibson, JJ 2014, The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception: Classic Edition, Taylor and Francis Group, London.

Hutchby, I 2001, Technologies, texts and affordances, Sociology, 35 (2), p. 441-456.

Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M, ‘Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media’, Business Horizons, 53(1), 59–68.

Mao, J 2014, ‘Social media for learning: A mixed methods study on high school students’ technology affordances and perspectives’, Computers in Human Behavior, 34, p. 213-223.

Zapier 2015, ‘Survey Monkey [image], in Zapier - Survey Moneky – Features, Pricing, Alternatives and More, viewed April 2018, <https://zapier.com/apps/surveymonkey>.

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

I have found that the social media we use has tried to monetise itself. We find that their are sponsored posts on our instagram, we can choose to sponsor a post on facebook for more exposure or we now have the tab on snapchat that promotes popular news outlets and trashy tabloids. The affordances of social media has allowed people to make money off the peoples use of connectivity and to exploit the new use of social media that the younger generation are using today 

[ajoeblogs]

Assignment 1A: Are We Connected but Alone in a Pressurized World?

It has never been so easy to get in contact with others, and many of us are constantly on social media. We love being liked, after all. Some of us are even on a nonstop hunt for likes and friends on Facebook and hearts on Instagram. However, despite our ever-increasing connectedness online, more and more people feel lonely and pressured. Why is that? What causes loneliness in an interconnected virtual world? And why do some feel pressured on social media? So many questions, but perhaps not ones that have an easy answer.

Never before has so much been clicked, written and shared thanks to social media and technology such as smartphones and portable devices. And yet, increasingly more people feel alone. According to Colditz et al (2017, pp. 45-47), using Facebook reduces, rather than enhances, the wellbeing of young people in particular. Colditz and his colleagues (2017, pp. 46-48) asked young adults aged 19 to 32 years old about when and how often they are active on social network sites. The results showed that participants who spent more than two hours a day on social media were twice as likely to feel socially excluded than those who spent less than half an hour a day on Facebook and other social media sites (Colditz et al 2017, pp. 48-50). Furthermore, people seek the company of others, but modern life is more likely to lead to isolation. However, while social media platforms are presumably predestined to fill the ‘social emptiness’, they are not the best solution; instead, they highlight that mental problems and social isolation are spreading rapidly among young adults (Phillips 2016, pp. 108-111).

On the other hand, various social network platforms give users the opportunity to share insights from their lives with other users while constantly staying up-to-date on the lives of others. However, the constant updates can also lead us to compare our lives with those of other users. In a way, then, social media not only causes loneliness but also creates anxieties about failing. We are afraid of saying something wrong or of being judged by others for our looks or behaviours. We painstakingly try to capture or mould the best images of ourselves, both actual images and imagined ones. But constantly selecting and editing images can lead social network users to become extremely self-critical. 

Although these images may inspire some people, they can, for others, create a general dissatisfaction with one’s life. Therefore, many users tend to just spread positives and stay silent about the negative things in their lives. Success stories like, “Hey, I was just promoted!” or “Tadaa! My new sports car!” then shape how we evaluate whether we ourselves, in comparison, measure up to such success, which is problematic. Constant comparisons to others is one of the main causes of dissatisfaction. DeLong (2011, pp. 120-129) extensively discusses the psychological comparison trap. He argues that, no matter how successful we are and how many goals we achieve, this trap will cause us to re-classify our achievements and re-adjust our parameters of ‘success’, comparing our lives to success stories. This is how we set unattainable standards and feel more miserable than ever. 

With all that going on in the background, then, is it really surprising that social media can cause loneliness? 

Instead of asking whether we’re connected but alone in a pressurized world, perhaps we should instead be asking how – and whether – we can change that dynamic.

…bye for now! Joe on the BLOG

Reference:

Colditz, JB, Whaite, EO, Shensa, A, Sidania, JE & Primack, BA 2017, ‘Social media use, personality characteristics, and social isolation among young adults in the United States’, University of Pittsburgh – Elsevier Journal, vol. 124, pp. 45-50.

DeLong, T 2011, Flying Without a Net: Turn Fear of Change into Fuel for Success, Harvard Business Review Press, ProQuest-Ebook, viewed 07 April 2018

Phillips, A 2016, ‘Chapter 6: “That’s so unfair!” – Navigating the teenage online experience, in P Nixon, R Rawal & A Funk (eds), Digital Media Usage Across the Life Course, Taylor & Francis, ProQuest-Ebook, viewed 08 April 2018

Image Reference:

The social media identity vs. the reality [image], New Media and Identity Construction n.d., commfuture.blogspot.de, viewed 07 April 2018, <http://bit.ly/2ql1vgn>.

[florenciablogs-blog]

Hi Joe

There was a time when we took pride in our organic will (Siapera 2018) through community interaction. Our parents or grandparents would ensure we spoke to or played with others regardless of our preferences and this created bonds with those who differed in age, political alignments, race or gender. Today, particularly in Australian society, it seems we run purely on rational will (Siapera 2018). We walk in a selfish bubble of podcasts or melodies only interacting with people for a reason that benefits us. This may be the need for advice or help with something but at the core most relationships have become a take or break, always questioning “What can this person offer me?”. My intention here is not to preach upon a selfish Gen Z but rather to ensure we are aware of what happens when we ‘filter’ society like this. We do it on our apps and in life and it has made us impatient and intolerant as a whole. It is the core reason we feel more alone than ever. We attempt to fill this void online (as a quick fix) but even these ties are created on the basis of algorithms that suggest friends or groups to be a part of. It will be interesting to see how, over time, relationships evolve given the high turnover and discardable attitude we have towards each other. All that is certain is that this irrational need for constant ego-stoking and satisfaction will not make us any happier or richer as a society.

Reference:

Siapera, E 2012, ‘Socialities and Social Media’, in Understanding New Media, Sage, London, pp. 191-208.

Image Reference:

Time Magazine (2013), Millennials, [image] Available at: http://time.com/247/millennials-the-me-me-me-generation/ [Accessed 11 Apr. 2018]

[ajoeblogs]

Flo, you are bang on!

Please allow me to have a rant on GenZ. 😊

Egoism is derived from the Latin word “ego” = “I”, which is the main feature of Generation Z. According to Bryant (2016, pp. 209-215), this generation of future leaders adopted narcissistic, egocentric and self-centered characteristics. 

Generation Z uses social media most efficiently to generate, ultimately, as much free time as possible in order to present themselves online in an attractive way. The cause of this generational development can be seen as the omnipresent pressures of digital age which push the younger generation to this selfish behaviour. 

I am not finished with GenZ, either. This generation is particularly aware of its own benefits and focused on its own goals (Bergh & Behrer 2016, pp. 226-229). According to Fromm and Read (2018, pp. 123-124), GenerationZers are called “digital natives” because they use the abundance of information to their own interests. Moreover, their ideology is the “lifestyle”. They define themselves over their consumption behaviour and strive above all for individualistic self-realization. 

Not to mention, through an unprecedented level of freedom, Generation Z can be called the globalized generation and pretty much rootless. However, the causes for the egoistic behaviour of this generation are multiple. In general, the selfish Generation Z can be understood as an adaptation to the environment in which this young generation is growing up in. From childhood onward, the “digital natives” are exposed to staging, presenting and having a permanent selection. 

To summarise, GenZ uses the tools we as Generation Y have created. But GenZ ultimately changed the core purpose of social media to connect, communicate and exchange information. It has, in the meantime, mutated to a social media circus of who looks better, skinner, richer, healthier, whiter, cooler and so on. 

As social networking becomes more and more a part of all generations lives, it will be interesting to see how this ever-changing landscape evolves and what it will eventually look like.

Reference:

Bryant, A 2016, How Cool Brands Stay Hot: Branding to Generation Y and Z, Spring, Ebook, viewed 11 April 2018, <http://bit.ly/2EH21t7>

Fromm, J &Read, A 2018, Marketing to Gen Z: The Rules for Reaching This Vast–And Very Different—Generation of Influencers, Amacom Press, Ebook, viewed 11 April 2018, <http://bit.ly/2qrHO6m>

[bulletinthebrian]

I couldn’t agree more on  the ‘tadaaa my new 🚗’  and ‘got promoted’ part. I also agree on saying that constant comparison  causes dissatisfaction. There is of course way to change this decline of the  real socialisation, but it needs to be a drastic change, according to me. I  often think about people that walk around like zombies staring at their  phones, how they walk into people without even realising it ecc. I think that  something really major has to happen for people to realise that it is also a  really physically dangerous activity to perform, despite all the ‘being  anti-social’ thing. Are we really so addicted to technology that we are ready  to risk physical injuries just because we can’t help but play on our phones  constantly? They have criminalised the use of the 📱 while driving, perhaps they  should do the same for people using their 📱  like that when walking? I have seen signs that remind people to look up, but  they seem to be ineffective to most. People should probably start get fined  for that kind of behaviour, otherwise many will get hurt before we do  something. Thoughts?

Great design for your blog, simple and easy to read. Enjoyed  reading it!

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

I agree that users are shaping or sculpting their timeline or feed to “excite” their own lives. I know of many people who lead the boring day to day life we all lead but their social media presence would suggest that they lead an exciting life of travel, success, and many other achievements, when really they are leading the same life that many of us lead and simply choosing to share the exciting stuff of “my new car” or “ I just got the promotion”. We use technology as a vessel to shape who we want to be rather than who we really are, we are boring 9-5 job which we work so that we can afford these shows of luxury and prestige which we choose to portray.

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

Affordances and How We Use Them

[digitalcommunitiesnl-blog]

Connected But Alone??? Online Communities