Language and New Media

[hexall3-blog]

Here's the Sick "Game" Kids Are Being Tricked Into Playing That Leaves Them in Hospital

This "game" is utterly horrifying...

This is horrifying! This article i just came across whilst scrolling through Facebook is about an online ‘game’ which involves young kids turning the gas on overnight with the promise that they will become a ‘fire fairy’. Social media can be so dangerous to the younger generation! They are so vulnerable and naive! This brings up the question, should 5 year olds even be on social media? what age is too young? Is modern technology damaging the next generation. Do they even know what snakes and ladders is?

[samtyrrell-blog1]

Is Netspeak making us stupid?

The internet is such a wonderful thing. Its, Quick, easy to use and gives us access to everything and anything whenever we need it. When it comes to social media and instant messaging, there’s been an evident progression in how we use language.

In the original days of social media, netspeak was unquestionably the most dominant language online. words like ‘You’, ‘see’ , ‘too’ and ‘are’ didn’t even exist. we’re experts at using and understanding this alien language whenever we were online. This had an extremely negative impact on how we used language in writing, but was a fundamental aspect of communication. 

Years on, and the embarrassment of how we used to speak being a distant memory, we are blessed with inventions such as auto correct and predictive spelling. Although our online language has improved and it’s more acceptable to write a sentence that consists of more than 5 characters, there’s still no change in the negativity of netspeak. People are learning to write in more standard ways yes,But we are becoming lazy when it comes to using and learning language. Recent tests have shown that 1 in 4 people struggle to spell, and use grammar and punctuation correctly. How much do you think is this a result of netspeak? I mean, why would i need to learn spell anything when my trusty iPhone will do the job for me?

[hexall3-blog]

I 100% agree with you here! I personally don’t think I am too bad with netspeak but some people use it to the extreme with so many abbreviations and made up words featuring in every text. LOL is an example where netspeak has even leaked into our spoken vocabulary! When you are in an interview speaking like an illiterate five year old it won’t present the best side of you and your employee probably won’t employ you! LOL? 

Also,Auto correct, whilst useful, is impacting our education. People don’t put effort into leaning how to spell because they think they don’t need it and that auto-correct will always have their back. So i agree with you in the fact that we are becoming lazy!

[englishlang]

Nothing irritates me more than one of ‘those’ posts. You know the type - “felt so amazing to help an old lady with her shopping today, pay it forward :)”, “omg guys just saved the sweetest little kid from crossing the road without looking!!!”. 

In today’s world, with the ability to share what you are thinking at the click of button, nothing is private. People share every little detail about their lives, whether we want to see it or not. However, an interesting complex has arisen from the ashes of our privacy, one which scientists have discovered may actually be hard-wired into young people’s brains. What is this complex you ask? Oversharing. Oversharing to the extreme.

Scientists have found that people who tend to post on Facebook several times a day, have significantly more activity in the regions of their brains responsible for disclosing information. It is an odd finding to say the least - is social media actually changing our brain structure? How terrifying is that as an idea? By being on your computer, your brain is changing the way it sends neurons and electrodes, rewiring it to make you as a person much more open to sharing your life. These changes in brain structure may explain the almost obsessive need for self-gratification. Something that comes with people liking others statuses for example.  

So while is it awesome that people are helping others in the world, not everyone needs to hear about it. And you don’t need it validated.

[hexall3-blog]

This is so interesting and really quite incredible to think that we are changing our biological features through social networking! I couldn’t agree more with the fact that its annoying how people overshare. Especially now with the Facebook live option. Those videos are never worth sharing! One time I watched my friend just sitting in his car driving home and was just talking to whoever was watching. bizarre?! There is a lot of psychology behind why we are so active online. We like to receive positive attention and feel self worth and by sharing lots we are reaching out for that justification. There’s an unspoken rule that there is this ‘golden hour’ or ‘prime time’ to upload a photo on to Instagram in order to get the most likes because its when everyone tends to check their social media. are we a bit over obsessed?

[eemmac]

A simple yet extremely effective and recognisable sign on social media. Hashtags have allowed us to not only build up huge databases of images on apps like Instagram using popular tags such as #tbt #likeforlike #instagood #follow - hashtags have also become a great marketing tool, as advertising moves more into the online world. But why are they so powerful?

Hashtags can be adopted by business’s in order to encourage others to talk about their products on social media without the pressure of an ordinary advertisement.

It also puts us in the position as a marketer - we may not realise it but every time we use a companies hashtag we are marketing, and sharing their brand, as well as building up a database of information for the company (it’s a shame we don’t get paid for it though)

Hashtags also have the huge power of being secret advertisers - how do we actually know what is an advertisement and what isn’t? Truth is we really don’t.

Finally hashtags allow companies, their products, and their values to go viral - tags can trend on twitter, tags can be viewed by anyone and anyone who also uses the tag simply by clicking on it, these tags build connections beyond a poster in a shop window which could easily be ignored.

So I think we can 100% agree with the image - don’t underestimate the power of the hashtag.

(I’m actually going to add some hashtags to this post in a hope to increase my blogs viriality)

[hexall3-blog]

Whilst hashtags are a tool in advertising they have seemed to broaden out their uses. For example #jesuischarlie was a hashtag that went global to raise awareness and show support. The hashtag got everyone talking and involved. When i first saw it trend on twitter I googled it to see what was going on. Without the hashtag I reckon there wouldn’t have been as much involvement as there was!  its amazing to think that such a small symbol can have such a massive affect. it just demonstrates how powerful social media can be! 

[beckywhitex-blog1]

Are You Being Watched?

These days, it seems that you are not the only one who can see what’s on your computer screen. Ever notice how that coat you were just looking at on Topshop is now weirdly appearing on your Facebook newsfeed? Or how the hotel you were just about to book is now a little pop-up on your Google search? It seems that this is more than just a coincidence, and I for one no longer feel safe on the internet.

Your internet search engine has a clever way of ‘personalising’ your google search, and even tailoring the adverts that come up on your social media sites so you can never forget what you nearly just bought! This is partly due to google helping to advertise products by other companies, and this is one of the ways that Google makes their money. Besides the fact that it’s incredibly annoying, it shows that what we type in our search boxes are not seen by our eyes only. Therefore we should all be careful about what we are typing in.

[hexall3-blog]

It sort of scary to think that you leave a digital footprint when you use the internet! I was reading an article about digital marketing and how their online advertising works. In the article they were talking about something called Page tagging which is similar to cookies in that it tracks your movements online. The database looks at your internet history in order to gather information about how you came across pages online and they use this data in order to improve their presence. Its interesting to read about all these complex systems that companies use but it’s also quite unnerving to think that everything is being tracked. Nothing online is private. would you say it is a violation of privacy? As we are becoming ever more dependent on the internet the less private our lives seem to get, would you agree?

[hexall3-blog]

ICAROS - Active Virtual Reality (FULL HD)

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So, Gamification. Is technology turning aspects of our lives into games?

It seems that the days of sitting inside in a dark room for hours on end trying to reach the next level on your play-station are gone and in its place the gaming market has reached out to incorporating lifestyle choices into a game.

 I found this video the other day and absolutely loved the idea behind it! This new virtual reality platform lets you exercise while you play! It’s called an Icaros and makes you use your core strength to control the movements of the  machine. You have to use your body to guide the game through the hoops.  Its brilliant! I know I would be more motivated to going to the gym more often if it meant that I had something better to do that watch other sweaty people on the treadmills.

This virtual reality is all about achievement and reaching your goals. Some people say that we focus too much on small details in life such as how far we walk each day or how many calories we eat. But I disagree and think that having apps and games to spice up the more tiresome areas of our day is a good thing and gets people motivated. Everyone want to succeed so what’s wrong with seeing physical evidence that you’re winning with life...

[hexall3-blog]

Is Instagram a distorted mirror?

What if I told you that only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful? (4%!! ) And what would you answer if I were to ask you what was to blame for such a low percentage? Do you reckon you would say social media? Dove would say yes.

Dove has started a new campaign telling people ‘you are more beautiful than you think’. The aim of their self esteem project is to change beauty into a source of confidence rather than anxiety. Their mission is to ensure the next generation grows up enjoying a positive relationship with the way they look without social media interfering. They spoke to a group of teenagers and asked them what they love and hate about social networking. They said that they wouldn’t upload Selfies to Instagram without adding a filter or photo-shopping themselves to appear skinnier or more tanned. so what are they even uploading? by the time the photo reaches Instagram it probably doesn’t look anything like them.

 Social media offers an edited version of reality. A persons’ online profile is a distorted view of what they look like in reality. No one posts their fat pictures or their bad hair days. Why would you if you can get away with presenting a more flawless you? Self esteem is crashing and Instagram is to blame. 

[hexall3-blog]

If technology is a drug- and it does feel like a drug- then what are the side effects?

You can ask any student ‘have you ever binge watched a series on Netflix?’ and I 100% guarantee that their answer will most definitely be a yes. If you were to ask me what I most recently got addicted to on Netflix it would be the Black Mirror series. The psychological drama series examines modern society, particularly with regard to the unanticipated consequences of new technologies. The episodes are all about the way we live now and how we might end up living in the future if we carry on being clumsy with technology.

One of the most thought provoking episodes I watched was set in the near future where everyone has a memory implant that records everything humans do, see and hear. And as I was watching it I thought to myself ‘this really isn’t much different to the way we live our lives now’. Think about it... have you ever left the house and on your daily errands not taken a photo or a video? I’m guessing the answer would be a no. We are all addicted to our phones. Everything we do involves our phones.  We don’t live in moments anymore. We watch them behind a video camera. Even Snapchats’ save function is called ‘memories’.  Are the side effects of technology that we are losing the ability to store our own memories without the assistance of our smartphones? 

[hexall3-blog]

I got tricked into liking a young girls addiction

As a keen user of Instagram i am always checking the site and enjoy scrolling through my feed before I go to sleep. I like the Explore tab on Instagram and one day came across a picture of a pretty  girl on the beach so clicked on the image. Gave it a like. Then explored the rest of her Instagram feed. As I was scrolling I thought to myself ‘yeah I want to follow this account’. Every day she would upload a new picture of her in a new tropical place on a new adventure and everyday I liked the image... On 22 September Louise Delage made her last post to Instagram with a video clip revealing her to be the creation of the advertising agency BETC, and the star of their “like my addiction” campaign. In every one of her 150 posts she was posing with alcohol! And none of her followers even realised. Not even me. The fake Instagram account aimed to show “a person people would meet every day but whom we’d never suspect of being an addict” and I was oblivious to it all. Every other day or so I was liking her images unaware that every single one contained a hint of her alcohol addiction. And I liked every image. I ‘liked her addiction’.

[hexall3-blog]

The other day I came across this story from 2015 where an algorithm created by Google for a photo recognition app tagged  two black people as "gorillas". It then led me to think is it possible for algorithms to be racist? Surely not, they're just computers?

 A Harvard professor found evidence to suggest possible racism in algorithms as they found that ads about arrest records were much more likely to appear alongside searches for names thought to belong to a black person versus a white person. 🤔

 So why did this happen? Is it down to user feedback or the brains behind the algorithm?

 In my opinion I think that algorithms aren't racist but are just following the code they have been programmed to. As computers get smarter they are expected to take on more tasks a human would normally do. They are changing in real time, writing their own rules on the basis of data and input. We need to remember that they don't have brains like you and I and can't think for themselves. It's going to take time to be able to perfect these algorithms and as of yet they it seems they haven't grasped sensitivity.

[bellygangstaboo]

or wear a go pro