Discover Top Posts Tagged with #engl108d

Tweet, tweet

Gladwell’s article was an interesting read to me. Gladwell said, “events in the early sixties became a civil-rights war that engulfed the South for the rest of the decade – and it happened without e-mail, texting, Facebook, or Twitter,” (Gladwell). I can understand that a difference can be made without social media, however, I think that in a society like ours today where technology is increasingly advancing, technology and social media does impact us. Gladwell ignores the fact that social media can spread news and issues from different standpoints in a shorter amount of time, to a larger audience. In this sense, Gladwell has another good point that social media platforms are built around “weak ties” (Gladwell). Although many people see these issues and are unable to physically do anything about it, social media allows others to educate themselves and be aware of the issue that they probably wouldn’t have known about if they weren’t connected to social media.

I find that I learn a lot about social issues through social media especially since I read my Twitter feed like it’s the morning newspaper, so it is beneficial to me. We discussed several social movements, some of which I had not known of until it was mentioned in class. One that stood out to me was #metoo. When I first saw the hashtag on Twitter with nothing else being said, I was confused about it until I constantly saw posts with the hashtag, some of which had descriptions but my curiosity pushed me to Google this hashtag and read more about it. Another issue was the #fortmcmurray fire in Calgary summer of 2016. I saw this hashtag all over Twitter on news accounts on my feed. That same week I went to Wal-Mart and as I was checking out, I was asked if I wanted to donate for the Fort McMurray fire and I did. So, as I agree with Malcolm in the sense that social media tends toward low-risk activism, I think that social media is extremely important in raising awareness. Had I not known how bad the fire was prior to being asked for a donation, I may not have given one.

This can be related to internet competence. As social media is beneficial to awareness of social issues, it also depends on the technical means – if you have proper technology and connection, the autonomy of use – whether you access the internet at home, work, or public places (Lindgren 148). It also depends on the skills one has with platforms, if you know how to access the information, and who you follow (Lindgren 149).

Works Cited:

Gladwell, Malcolm. “Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted.” The New Yorker. October 4, 2010. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-change-malcolm-gladwell. Accessed 27 Nov. 2017

Lindgren, Simon. “Digital Media & Society.” SAGE Publications Ltd. 2017. Accessed 27 Nov. 2017.

#engl108d #twitter #activism #hashtag #social media #tweet

let’s go back to the future!

In honour of this being the last blog for this class assignment, i think it’s only appropriate to take a look back earlier readings I have not discussed. “#tbt” is one of the most popular hashtags used on Instagram to date. As a part of the millennial generation, it seems that we live for what is old and analogue. Nostalgia is the biggest fashion statement and throwbacks are the biggest trend. Instagram is littered with enough preschool pictures every Tuesday and Thursday for this to ring true to my ears at least. We live in the age where teens proclaim to be “born in the wrong generation” and blissfully purchase record players, polaroid cameras and keyboards that look like type-writers. It comes as no surprise to me that there has been an emergence of a so called “IRL Fetish.” When it comes to communication, what is the oldest and most analogue form of it? Face to face conversations.

To some, “the offline” holds some sort of power to thrust the current generation into a new mental space where self acceptance soars and boredom ceases to exist because we have been transported to some kind of higher mental state; one our online lives somehow prohibit. However, it’s important to take notice of the fact that we are constantly connected across networks causes the “few” moments we spend offline to be more precious. The constant badgering and pressuring to disconnect and unplug often do the opposite. As human beings we often have difficultly processing the term “no.” More often than not, telling someone “Don’t look” almost encourages them to look.

The notion of cyber pessimism is not often allocated to the Millennial generation because we are often described as having been born with an iPad in our hands as we were raised in the time when there was a transition from web 1.0 to web 2.0. Although we should feel almost at home in the wake of technological innovation, majority of millennials are drawn to the off-the-grid lifestyle being sold by cyber pessimists. This is not only as a result of us bearing witness to moral break-downs and Internet crime, it is also because it’s the “in thing” to do. Bashing the online and online interactions evolved almost as distinct as the “vintage aesthetic.”

We say that everything comes back in style. By this logic, the youth in the era of my own children might look to our days as being the best days simply because it’s the popular thing to do and “face to face communication” may be an afterthought.

Works Cited

Lindgren, Simon. Digital Media and Society. SAGE, 2017.

Jurgenson, Nathan. “The IRL Festish”. The New Inquiry. 28 June. 2012. https://thenewinquiry.com/the-irl-fetish/. Accessed 15 November 2017.

#engl108d

Am I who you think I am?

It can be so entertaining yet so stressful maintaining a social media profile, especially on many different platforms. Each platform is so unique that your identity is presented differently for each one. As mentioned in the Digital Media and Society textbook, “on the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog” (Lindgren, 72). Your online identity could be totally separate from your offline self or it could be very similar to your offline self depending on the platform you are using. Lindgren talks about how certain platforms allow you to be more anonymous than others and leads to the online disinhibition effect – “the effect that people tend to be less restrained and express themselves more openly online” (Lindgren, 76).

As discussed in class for example, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Reddit are social media where nobody really knows who you are truly. With platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, you tend to interact with people you are familiar with and have profiles that are similar to your offline identities. Sometimes, I feel restricted with posting things on Facebook and Instagram because I know that the people who are viewing it know me and would judge me. But, with social media like Tumblr, Pinterest, and Reddit, I feel more free about the things I say or post because others don’t know who I am and I don’t know who the readers or viewers are either so I generally care less. Also, since it is more public, I wouldn’t post anything too personal either so I guess in that sense, there is also a restriction.

On another note, people can also fake their identity on social media such as Tinder. Rather than being anonymous completely, they can hide their offline identity but create a fake identity for their profile when trying to meet someone through the app which can be dangerous. I think this is why many people are against online dating sites or are always told to be more cautious and not believe everything we see.

Works Cited:

Lindgren, Simon. “Digital Media & Society.” SAGE Publications Ltd. 2017. Accessed 16 Oct. 2017.

#engl108d #Social media #identity #anonymity

I NEED TO CHECK MY PHONE!

After reading and discussing Turkle’s “Stop Googling, Let’s Talk,” I thought about how social media and technology has changed the way many individuals are having conversations and how it has changed. I thought about how it has affected me personally and I do agree that technology and social media can come off as negative, where people are not actively engaging with one another in face-to-face conversations but rather checking their phone constantly and having separate conversations on their devices (Turkle).

For me, I was constantly glued to my phone if it was ever in my vision. When I used to go out with my friends, my phone would always be with me and if my screen lit up because I got a notification, I would immediately check it and I found that many of the people around me also did that. Recently, I’ve been trying to cut down my use of social media. I feel like it does really take out the meaning in having face-to-face conversations with people as there is less to talk about since you are pretty much caught up with each other’s lives from social media. You might as well have your conversation over the phone if you’re just going to be on your phone with the presence of others, not entirely engaging in face-to-face conversation.

I think what really lead to this was my trip to China this past summer. Most of the social media I use is pretty much blocked there and I honestly didn’t know how I was going to survive a whole month in another country without social media. Even though I did purchase a data SIM, I had to track how often I used it to make sure I would last the month – it was more of a method to contact family and relatives if we went out. It was definitely a learning experience for me. It made me realize how much time I wasted just scrolling on social media or constantly checking my phone even though not much has probably changed since the last time I checked. Being less on social media, I find, has made me feel better as a person – not having to really compare myself to others. I also had more to share about my travelling experiences when I returned from my trip knowing that my friends hadn’t always been updated on what was going on during my trip.

Works Cited:

Turkle, Sherry. “Stop Googling. Let's Talk.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Sept. 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/opinion/sunday/stop-googling-lets-talk.html?_r=0. Accessed 27 Sept. 2017.

#engl108d #digital lives #social media #stop googling lets talk

Kappa Kappa Kappa: It’s Three Emojis in a Row!

After we read Sternbergh’s “Smile, You’re Speaking Emoji: The Rapid Evolution of a Wordless Tongue,” I started to think about how and when I feel comfortable using emojis. He talked about the different ways that they are used among friends and how they operate within close relationship (Sternbergh). They’re obviously informal, and I have no problem using them with close friends and family. But sometimes they are used in professional contexts, and it can either be appropriate or completely unprofessional. I feel like whether or not you can just send someone emojis is a kind of intimacy measurement. Like, a really good friend, I can just send a string of emojis in response and that’s totally fine. A friendly professional relationship might mean I can end a sentence with a : ) (never a :P though, noooooope) and I would also not let them shift into emojis, I tend to leave them as emoticons in friendly professional contexts. But it’s not like I would send them the usual string of three emojis that I do with my friends.

I have no idea why I typically send emojis in groups of three when I’m conversing with those I feel close to. It’s a habit I think I picked up on Twitch chats, where you can spam lines and lines of emojis and it’s just part of the expected atmosphere. It makes sense that emojis are common there though—like we read in “Streaming on Twitch,” Twitch acts as a kind of Third Place (Hamilton, Garretson, and Kerne) so it’s both a public place and close-knit community. There are definitely “regulars” and there are accepted methods of interaction. I used to spend a lot of time on the TwitchPlaysPokemon stream, and we would all spam emojis like crazy. Maybe that’s because the chat moved so fast that you couldn’t read the messages, and a single emoji would be hard to notice at the rate the chat window went by. So including several of the same emoji made it easier to see and notice, plus it was participating in a cool moment when it happened. It’s a weird habit, but maybe it was a practical one after all. Well, at least for a Twitch chat going a million miles an hour.

Works Cited

Sternbergh, Adam. "Smile, You're Speaking Emoji: The Rapid Evolution of a Wordless Tongue." New York Magazine. November 16, 2014. http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/11/emojis-rapid-evolution.html. Accessed 8 Sept. 2017.

Hamilton, William A., Garretson, Oliver, and Andruid Kerne. “Streaming on Twitch: Fostering Participatory Communities of Play within Live Mixed Media.” Proceedings of the 32nd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI 14, 2014, doi:10.1145/2556288.2557048. Accessed 8 Sept. 2017.