Ant-Social

[soantisocial-blog]

The Future of Social Media

I was watching a TED Talks video the other day by Mitch Joel, and he was giving a speech about the future of the web not being as "social" as social media enthusiasts suggests. He calls action to the public to embrace social media but use it wisely by recognizing what these free platforms should really be used for; connecting and communicating with others. 

This got me thinking about what we are perceiving anti-social behavior as when talking about social media. Before the take-off of social media services, we used to log onto the web to look up information and read articles from scholars and writers, news sources and reviews. Now in the social media age, WE submit the information, and instead of living the great big world we exist in we create the smaller worlds on these few networks to funnel our entire lives through. This is what creates the anti-social behavior in the physical world. The ability to choose who is in your social circle by friending, unfriending and following, experiencing what all of your friends are doing isn't really social activity; trying to learn more about people and experiencing different types of people. 

In reality, companies like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and others like these, are FREE services with the intention of taking the data you put on their site and using it for target marketing. So it's funny when people try and blame all the social media problems on the companies that create it, but instead realizing that we are the ones who giving too much of our time and energy into digital publishing. I believe that using these services should be used to benefit us socially due to it's amazing innovation and ability to actually connect us to entire world. It is currently happening and growing and eventually we are going to have to learn how to  moderate our usage of these platforms so we are able to naturally use these as tools like intended for.

[soantisocial-blog]

What do you think?

When I envision the future, I always picture everything around us to be more technological, bigger and faster. Looking at the world today, it is interesting to find that mostly everyone is focused on the small picture rather than the big picture with this constant growth of social media and its effect on our mental and physical health. Billions of people constantly check their devices and in hindsight it's still pretty cool how we as a human race can physically make something out of thin air as sophisticated as smart phones and tablets, but now that this technology has been available for about 5 to 6 years now, longterm side effects can now be analyzed and i feel as though there are far more negative conversations about the subject than positive ones.

You already know i'm going to tie in anti-social behavior somehow, and I will, although I believe that a simple concept has yet to be addressed in any of these discussions I come across about social medias effect and it's the concept of "habitual moderation." Sometimes we forget how sensitive we ALL are to things around us, and as life and time goes on, innovation never dies and human curiosity never dies. People will always ask the question, "how can I make this better?" Well when it comes to life itself, we all have the same urge to make choices to "better," or benefit ourselves. So where am I going with this? I believe that the discovery of social media's new way of communication and connecting humans across the globe paired with the invention of the smartphone is so groundbreaking that the spark in human curiosity it creates is ultimately a forest fire. This is why we can't help ourselves from divulging into the technology. And this brings me back to "habitual moderation." I think that we as a human race are not taught moderation very well, and especially on how to make moderating a habit. Smartphones are able summon all kinds of information and entertainment right at your fingertips, and social media helps you share it with the world. It's addicting I know, but this new technology isn't bad at all, if we just knew how to moderate by muscle memory. This technology practically fell out of the sky and no one was there to tell us how much we could use it so we use it all up like we can't get enough of it. Smartphones are relatively cheap and social media is free, so the range of people that have access to this technology is incredibly vast and unlimited. I feel as though the ones who are responsible for the creation of these outlets should have known that "with great power comes great responsibility" and should have taken a different approach to the release of this technology so freely.

I want to know what you all think about this....

[soantisocial-blog]

Twitter Machine

Check out this Twitter Project:

http://re-twitteringmachine.com

Quote from article "Twitter Machine 2.0" by Ben Valentine.

"Angelo Plessas is a net artist whose works predominately deal with color, interactivity and sound. “Re-Twittering Machine” (2012) caught my attention because of the ever growing hype around social media’s role in social unrest like the Arab Spring and the Occupy Movement. The interactive drawing, reminiscent of the “Twittering Machine,” by Paul Klee (see image below) reposts tweets from Twitter which incorporate the word ‘Freedom."

When I came across this Twitter project, I immediately started seeing an anti-social message through its progression. My overall impression of the website is how slow and dry the content is. It is the full intent of the artist to show how people will constantly post their 140 character tweets to a "Machine" when in actuality it is just useless content over cyberspace. The movement of the circular character and simple text bubbles gives off the vibe of a desolate wasteland thus sending an anti-social message. This project beautifully displays this sense of anti-social behavior by only showing tweets containing the word 'Freedom' in the message and having this world inside the confines of the webpage, trapped and with no one actually talking to you or interacting with you in any way. 

What are your thoughts?

-Michael Inglima

[soantisocial-blog]

Selfies Are Bad

It's no secret that the "Selfie" is a worldwide communicational trend mostly through social media. It's also not a big surprise that just about every art historian, psychologist, scientist, sociologist, etc. has been arguing over its impact on the individual and community, as well as sociological evolution. I have been researching a great number of studies, interviews, and speeches about this topic and I quickly realize how impactful the selfie is on anti-social behavior.

Stephen Marche says it best in his article called, "Sorry, Your Selfie Isn't Art" and I quote, "It is a disengagement from the self as much as it is a promotion of the self. It is seeing and being seen at once, in the same act." The average human being gaining access to a personal, mobile device that is able to do vast numbers of things including taking pictures, recording videos and then proceeding to upload to a social media outlet (all while killing time sitting on the toilet or something). This creates, and ultimately feeds this desire to be paid attention to, and/or to be praised in some way. When Marche is talking about the disengagement from the self, he is speaking on the intimacy the photos in social medias are replacing. You take a selfie and most of the time the camera is at arms distance and you are showing yourself at any moment of the 24 hour day, which photographically represents a face-to-face interaction with that person and whoever is looking at it after that person shares it over their social medias. This is why I believe taking selfies is so popular. After connecting with so many others in this way, it slowly replaces that intimate moment you share with someone you are interacting with in person making it easier to interact with and meet anyone. Today it seem to be more desirable then physically talking with and meeting new people because of how easy and efficient it is. I mean why wouldn't it? We are able to view the lives of so many people around the world at any time of day without spending the time or money to go out and physically meet these people. Great right? Not really.

I believe with the popularity of sharing photos the way we do today is a direct cause for increase of anti-social behavior and also insecurities of lacking confidence. No matter how creative, innovative, efficient, or convenient this new way of sharing is, it keeps us separated. We will get used to interacting with others in this way to where we go to speak or meet in person and there is automatically uncomfortable encounters. 

After saying all of this, I want to say that it isn't OUR faults necessarily. I believe that the creators and supporters of these social medias built the platforms knowing that it would be as popular as it is today and will continue to grow. We have been programmed this way from birth no matter how we were raised. To elaborate, I'll use a video I came across of a study by Dr. Edward Tronick revealing how quickly young infants lose control after being faced with neglect.

 http://sfglobe.com/?id=16299&src=fbfan_16299

You will learn from this video that we all are born with this need to have interaction with others as well as attention. Now with all the technological advances and birthing of social medias, it makes it so easy to avoid neglect and gain attention and interaction through posting tons of selfies and pictures of our lives. I think that the creators of all these devices and programs knew about the human nature of attention and interaction and created a platform to be able to share everything about your life for everyone else to discover. 

Something to ponder.....

-Michael Inglima

[soantisocial-blog]

Connection or Disconnection?

One of the main arguments being debated on the topic of social media is whether it's keeping us connected, or disconnected? This debate also ties into whether this causes us to be anti-social, and if so, what kind of effect is it having on our lives? TED Talks speech by Sherry Turkle discusses how social media is in fact making us anti-social and having negative effects on our lives. Turkle describes this anti-social behavior that we are currently experiencing as being "Alone Together," meaning we like to be connected through our devices but physically away from each other locationally at the same time. She claims we control the amount of intake we receive from others and ourselves with the ability to edit. Stefana Broadbent's TED Talks speech counters this theory by claiming that social media and the internet are connecting us even more and creating intimacy through miles of separation. She uses an example of a family separated overseas in the military and social media makes it that much easier to connect and keep the communication. Even in Zeynep Tufeki's article "Social Media's, Small, Positive role in Human Relationships," counters Turkle's claim by pointing out that studies are showing people actually having more conversations due to social media interactivity. People are communicating in ways that were never possible and that is sparking numerous amounts of creativity and innovation. These three sources have put interesting perspectives on what communication means in todays world of interconnectivity, and providing a new angle to anti-social behavior and whether it's effecting us negatively or not. The question whether we are connected or disconnected as a human society may still be argued for a while into the future, even though the social media outlets available now may be quickly outdated any year now. My answer to whether we are disconnected or connected is that we actually are simultaneously in multiple realities. When we are fully immersed in our cellular world, we are also disconnected from reality because we are unable to give full attention to what are physically doing in the physical world. However, when we put our devices away, we are disconnected from that world and are completely active in the real world. So then what's the problem? Why do we debate so much about how this is causing negative or positive reactions? If there are tons of stories about social media improving the lives of many, but also tons of stories about how social media is causing bad habits and showing negative anti-social behavior, then why should we make this a big deal? Answers to these questions and more will be answered in future post......

-Michael Inglima

[soantisocial-blog]

Call To Action!

 In an article “The Flight From Conversation,” by Sherry Turkle, she points out that in lacking conversations, we also have fewer opportunities to self-reflect. Children develop in the context of a relationship. Emotions drive behavior and are central in all relationships.

These emotional connections give us feedback toward a heightened self and social awareness, promoting thinking, reflecting and an understanding of what is going on within and between us. These are essential skills all lacking in social media communication.

For our children truly to become successful personally, socially and academically, we all need to start connecting emotionally. We need to stop looking at our smartphones and smarten up by looking within ourselves and among one another!

[soantisocial-blog]

Hello,

When comparing anti-social behavior and social media, we must ask ourselves, does social networking sites create anti-social behavior?

This article by Blake Deppe is a great in-depth analysis of the answer to this question and concepts surrounding it. The article tries to understand the negative and positive aspects to social media's effect on our behavior.

Why should you spend the 3 minutes and 43 seconds to read this? 

It is extremely important to understand the certain effects social media is having on us because whether we accept it or not, social media has wedged its way into our lives, and it's here to stay. The better we understand this virtual machine, the better we can control it instead of it controlling us. This article is just a warm up of this better understanding and is intended to get you to start thinking of concepts surrounding antisocial behavior and social media.

Quotables from the article:

- "While nobody can deny that [sites like] Facebook have altered the landscape of social interaction, particularly among young people," he said, "We are just now starting to see solid psychological research demonstrating both the positives and the negatives."

- "there are also a number of positive aspects to the social media experience overall. One was his surprising observation that young people can gain "virtual empathy," which can then be carried over into real life. He added Facebook and similar networks could also be beneficial tools for those who are introverted or nervous, allowing them to connect with people and achieve a sense of community. Furthermore, if utilized properly, social networks can be used as teaching tools."

-Michael Inglima

[soantisocial-blog]

Anti-Social : Symptoms of Social Media Addiction

Hello Viewers,

So I'm starting this blog in light of a brand new class called Arts for Social Media, offered at my university, and wanted to organize a blog in which I analyze a "symptom" of Social Media addiction. This symptom is Anti-Social behavior.

Anti-Social behavior can be very self-destructive, but can also be nurtured into positive and successful outcomes. Throughout the lifespan of this blog, I will exploring and discussing these positive and negative sides to anti-social behavior as well as some other related things I will post. Don't want to spoil the surprises! ;) With this blogging adventure, I hope to gain a greater knowledge of how social media is effecting our cultures across the planet, but also use this blog to inform and persuade that recognizing a truth can ultimately change the course of how we think/act and maybe get people to realize that we don't have to let certain forces around us control our lives.

I'm the type of person that believes that in argumentation, all perspectives must be considered and understood before any truth can be agreed upon, so in this blog I will conduct my posts in this way. 

However, my current opinion on the subject of anti-social behavior and its relation to social media is that social media has undoubtedly contributed to a massive increase in anti-social media behavior. I think that in the ways I have observed the effects of social media on social behavior during each of my days, I can only see things that seem more negative than positive. Most people do not realize the importance of face to face communication and actually speaking with your mouth instead of mashing the keyboard nonstop. I feel that with this silence, it has made our society close-minded and even more obedient to our environment and inanimate objects that surround us constantly than before social media's existence. 

I hope that all who reads this blog enjoys it, but I also hope you can walk away feeling more informed and feeling like you can take more control in your life. I want to accomplish this using facts and carefully thought out opinions in this blog. Thank you.

- Michael Inglima