Language And New Media

[jackynewmedia-blog]

I loved this yak when I saw it on yikyak! It shows in the program to awkward pre-teen kids who don't know how to talk to each other, so it's meant to be funny and ironic. However now it's used as a meme I think it's because the harsh reality is becoming increasingly true. Nowadays I think teenagers find it harder and harder to talk to each other because they're so used to chatting online and hiding behind a screen where they have chance/time to think about their response without seeming weird or awkward. This was highlighted in our video project about tinder when the interviewees said it was easy to hide behind a phone and can seem so much more fun. A 'hahahahah 😂😂😂😂' over text in real life is more often than not just more air being blown out your nose than normal, as a lazy laugh.

[jackynewmedia-blog]

Love this video! So funny because it's true that so much thought does go into a profile picture. I think it's sad though how people feel they need to get across all of their good personality traits and qualities in photos, rather than people getting to know them, especially on dating apps!

[jackynewmedia-blog]

I think this image is so cute. Last Christmas my Nan taught my other Nan how to text and she's literally so proud of herself and thinks it's very clever. But by the time she'd learnt this, we had well advanced into snapchat, Instagram and Twitter. Technology advances so quickly that if you're not on it right away it can easily become daunting and so much to catch up on. I think my Nan will be happy just texting, as her phone doesn't even have an Internet function and she still prefers to use the landline.

[jackynewmedia-blog]

😂😂😂 I love this! The most annoying thing! Music apps continue to play when you're doing other things, Spotify or Apple Music for example. Why can't YouTube?! A mobile phone is capable of so much. You can look at maps of anywhere in the world. You can connect to anyone in the world. You can empty your bank account with online shopping. You can do all of these at the same time (or your phone can in the background) so why can't you carry on listening to a song?! It's got to the stage where you can literally find the love of your life of dating apps, can make your phone text someone for you without pressing a button, so why is something so simple like a music playing app playing music... impossible?!

[jackynewmedia-blog]

I feel like this is very self explanatory! It sums up how Facebook is seen and says how it's actually used from a very honest point of view. I don't think it's what mark zuckerburg had in mind but I guess he's not complaining now he's a billionaire.

[jackynewmedia-blog]

The power of facebook

A few days ago a friend of mine came to me with a dilemma. 'Can you read this and see if you think my friends dead?'. I read a caption accompanying a photo of a boy and girl that said something about the boy being inspirational and loved and a joy to have known. It sounded very suspicious and like he had passed away, but the boy had no posts on his wall and tagged in no other photos. There wasn't even commend saying 'rip'. The next day I saw my friend and he told me that he had died. A friend dying is a massive thing and to find out through Facebook I think degrades it. On one hand it's easier for the parents and family to share posts like this rather than the ordeal of telling everyone separately and dragging out the pain. But then again, it's not what you want or expect to see when you open the Facebook up on your phone absentmindedly...

[emilylnm-blog]

SPREADING THE WORD.

Of course we are all aware about how fast things spread around the internet. Nowadays my news feed just seems to be a long stream of outrageous photo’s and videos shared by my ‘friends’.

Despite suggesting that females can be associated with twitter and that we are significant gossipers, I feel as though this quote actually speaks a lot of truth.

I have a friend of the family who recently lost their dog. Shee had managed to escape through the side gate and didn’t come back to her name. The owner made a facebook post with a picture of beautiful Nala and asked friends and family to share it on Facebook. Within several hours, she received an inbox from someone saying that a dog of a similar description was seen just 10 miles from her house… To her amaze she was reunited with her dog.

I was absolutely stunned the through the power of facebook, a complete stranger was able to make contact with another stranger to reunite her missing dog. This idea of HETEROGLOSSIA amazes me. That we share posts that someone else has written, and by several people clicking the same ‘share’ button, thousands of people can access this post.

And just as a side note, its definitely more powerful than a woman’s power to gossip!!

[hollymedia2-blog]

I love this post, it is amazing how the power of being able to communicate through so many different networks cancels people find lost family members or pets. However I hate to sound stupid what does heteroglossia mean?

[lisanewmedia]

I think this is one of the beneficial things about social media now, that our word of mouth can be spread so far round the world. About a week ago, all that was coming up on my timeline was a shared post from a mum who hadn’t been in contact with her 21 daughter travelling in Thailand. The post was constantly being shared onto my timeline all throughout the day and eventually the daughter was located and sent back to England to be reunited with her family. Imagine if her mum had never made a post…

[jackynewmedia-blog]

That point about there girl in Thailand is so nice. I always think it's so powerful that even a lost dog can be relocated via Facebook sharing, it literally brings families back together and can do a job that is conventionally done by the police...

[lisanewmedia]

QUESTION:

How many of these social media logos/icons can you identify? 

[jackynewmedia-blog]

I can identify 15! That's quite a lot I think even though it's not all of them, and crazy to think that there are millions of other apps out there that we haven't heard of. It's scary how well known and popular such a simple logo can become.

[hollymedia2-blog]

Love how we portray a different lifestyle over social media in order to seem more interesting or gain more likes, since why would anyone want to see you doing boring everyday tasks?

[lisanewmedia]

This is such a good point! We only see the side of people’s lives that people want us to see, and I think it’s very easy to forget that we don’t see the other half of their life.

[jackynewmedia-blog]

I think that's so nice that someone's written they prefer the real version to the online version of a person. Instagram generally shows the positives and the fun parts of life, so for someone to prefer the real version it suggests that they really do like the person for the good times and the bad.

[eemmac]

Do the affordances of new media out weigh the constraints? This app, I think shows how we can use technology clear beyond just as a means of communication or interaction.

Does anyone know of any other apps that have a beneficial use such as a medical, or lifestyle one?

[lisanewmedia]

I think this is such an interesting concept to social media, I’ve heard there’s other apps which can be used to help other issues such as anxiety. I think it’s really beneficial that technology is advancing beyond just interaction and communication and trying to help other medical issues as well.

[jackynewmedia-blog]

This is so great! I had no idea this was a thing but it sounds brilliant. I don't know many of the details but even just the idea that normal apps can benefit mental health is brilliant and something that should definitely be advanced.

[connectchloe-blog]

I don’t understand people who post controversial statuses but don’t want to read differing opinions - Facebook is public - if you’re going to post prepare for the overhearer! 

[lisanewmedia]

I always think this! I always see people jumping down someone’s throat for counter arguing their opinion, but surely that’s the whole point of Facebook is to be able to vent your own opinions?

[jackynewmedia-blog]

Such a good point! It's their Facebook, let them post what they like! What's the point in arguing when they're clearly not going to agree? I don't understand private accounts either, if you don't want people to see what you've posted then don't post it on the Internet 😂

[jess-a-barnes]

This picture I think shows the stereotypical differences between girls and boys online.  Do girls have more of an online presence?  Are boys bad at posting good pictures?  And it also kind of shows the different reasons that people might use social media sites like Instagram.  For example, do girls use it for “stalking” boys that they might fancy to show their mums and friends?  That seems to be what’s being implied!  I’m not sure that that was the original intended use for Instagram, but I suppose that’s one of its affordances!

[samgenoveseblog]

i think there is a difference in pictures that boys and girls may post. do girls post more selfies than boys, for example?

[eemmac]

I think it depends on the individual. Stereotypically I would say girls post more selfies, but actually when I look through some of the guys I follow on Instagram some of them have quite a few selfies. However, I would argue that boys may post less because it may appear as less masculine, or perhaps gay if they’re constantly taking pictures of themselves and posting them online, because stereotypically it is a more female thing to do.

[jackynewmedia-blog]

I agree with your last point Emma, stereotypically girls do post more, and in my own experience they do. Taking selfies especially i think is very much a female dominated trend, and I feel like boys think if they post them as much as girls they're coming across as 'girly' online. Of course some boys do post a lot and this is nothing to be ashamed of, but it does make an imbalance in the genders if a girl was to document every part of her life and a boy posts once every few months. By looking through my own news feed on Instagram I noticed that if a boy instagrams something it is almost always of the same occurring theme, say a hobby or job, where a girls posts are a lot more varied and generally of people.

[inespinsch-blog]

Social media is often described being anything but social, we are said to be prisoners of social networking and being obsessed with 24/7 entertainment…

But, are we really? Is there a major difference between those two pictures or do they just represent the course of time? Of course, the older picture will generally  be associated with education, with gaining knowledge through newspapers/books etc but I believe that the lower half of the picture also shows the development of the times and gaining knowledge. New Media connects people all over the world_it is about how we take advantage and use modern technology…

But is it true what so many harsh critics say? Did we really forget to coexist without social media, without having the possibility staring into our screens?

[jess-a-barnes]

I really like these two pictures, they do show that nothing has really changed with time apart from the technologies.  People say that nowadays people are so antisocial as they are always on their phones and not looking at what is going on around them and ignoring everyone else; but is it so much different from the top picture?   People are the same, it is just the modality and media that has changed.  Who is to say that the people in the bottom picture aren’t reading the news?  Times have changed now, and while people might have read newspapers or books while waiting around and now that you can get all this on your phone; things haven’t really changed that much when you think about it. 

[eemmac]

Hmmm I think we did but to some extent. Like now if we can’t think of what to say, or we try to avoid speaking to someone it’s easy-go on your phone. However, involved in 24/7 communication surely means we are communicating and interacting with people, and perhaps with people we wouldn’t have been able to if it weren’t for new media, I definitely prefer focusing on the affordances new media gives us, rather than its constraints

[jackynewmedia-blog]

I love this photo! It annoys me how people always say our generation are stuck on our phones, always plugged in and forgetting to look at the real world. But this just shows that the only that's changed is technology advancing, people probably said the same thing when newspapers came out, there was definitely shock when they were classed as 'new media'. Maybe more to the point is that people like being alone in a crowded space; having something to read and think about, even if just to pass the time. Maybe we should be embracing the portable information and entertainment, rather than finding things to moan about.

[jess-a-barnes]

This meme shows that obviously people think that there is something wrong with our generation and is notorious I guess, for being constantly online.  I know that this generation’s online presence is a lot more prominent than it would have been thirty years ago- but is this necessarily wrong?

[inespinsch-blog]

I don’t agree that something went wrong. Of course, you don’t have to be online and on your computer 24/7 but a lot of people tend to forget the affordances the Internet and New Media provide. It is about the right moderation, however, I think that there are more affordances when it comes to the Internet’s and technique’s impact on our life.

[jackynewmedia-blog]

I like the point that this meme is trying to get across, but I'm not so sure about the way they've done it. The evolution of mobile technology does allow us to constantly be online, but I don't think it's going backward and nowadays it certainly isn't being hunched over a computer. Mobile technology allows us to be online anywhere and everywhere, from instagramming your view from the top of a mountain to a snapchat selfie in the SU toilets.

[eemmac]

Kim Kardashian, known too well for her selfie taking, she has even made a book of them all.

But what are the semiotics of a selfie like this? Well there definitely is more to this image than sharing with her followers that she has nothing to wear. I would argue that Kim’s ‘business’ is to get attention, so by using photo sharing apps like Instagram she is able to easily tap into the attention economy in order to get more likes, more attention and in the long run more money.

Can you guys think of any other reasons or intentions behind posting a selfie like this?

[inespinsch-blog]

In my opinion, she seems to be unsatisfied and again wants to break the record having more likes than ever. For Kim Kardashian, unashamed sexuality is a theme. I think it is all about the viewing and enactment.

[eemmac]

Unsatisfied with the level of attention she currently gets?

[inespinsch-blog]

No, I think in general you always want more if you already had a crazy amount of likes etc… You always gain for more: more likes, more attention, maybe for more people being shocked once more about posting another unconventional photo as well…

[jackynewmedia-blog]

I'm torn about this photo of Kim K. On one hand it's shameless, inappropriate and degrading. Also she's glorifying herself yet again and spreading her fame, fame achieved by doing nothing but take her clothes off and a reality show about her average life (for a rich person).

But on the other hand, if she can create such a media storm and money by one photo, then why not?! She lives in a world where this is possible so she might as well embrace it. If people are going to go crazy over her body it also shows how shocked people still are over the human form, which shouldn't be anything to be embarrassed out.

[emilylnm-blog]

Really…. does anybody actually beleive this?

I’m quite a fan of online news stories, and can often be found browsing through articles about clothing, crimes and much more. But our facebook news feed now seems to be a stream of shared links to ‘news stories’ about complete and utter crap.

I came accross another one the other day entitled ‘man swalled whole by giant snake’. The problem is, although I know that this is totally made up by some internet freak that has way too much time, I still feel the need to click on it. Because what if it is true?!

I sometimes feel as though the the use of the ‘share’ button in association with news and events has totally shifted in purpose and meaning. It seems now that stories are merely for the purpose of entertainment, rather than information.

However, i’m torn between my two opinions here, because the other side of me finds these links absolutely hilarious and really does serve to kill a few hours on a quiet evening.

[jackynewmedia-blog]

That's hilarious! I love online news stories too even if they are just to pass the time, and they're so easily accessible which I feel is the whole point of mobile devices. But I agree, on the other hand it's almost wasting people time and degrading journalism by the shift in news stories becoming jokes.

[hollymedia2-blog]

Finally we have more options than to just “like” a Facebook post!! What will this mean to the future of Facebook statuses? Will the original like button soon fade out? Will the options to say angry or sad cause arguments?

[jackynewmedia-blog]

Interesting point holly, although I can't see the like disappearing! I feel like it's giving people the chance to be too opinionated and could easily cause offence. However the sadness one I like because if someone posts something about a break up or someone passing away, it always seems wrong to like it, even though it's just showing support!