It's time to expand our work in IB with developing the practice of extending our conversations beyond the classroom to the blogosphere - hideous word -- ( I suppose the hope here is that we continue to expand our sense of community and engagement rather than technilogically derived isolation. See the following: Sherry Turkle, Alone Together ). So here we go....
In the next four days you should beomce a member / follower of this blog and then be on the watch for our first prompt which we be on our work addressing the question, "who benefitted from the French Revolution?"
So sign up to follow, please provide a current reliable email address as part of that process - might be better to do this with links outside of LHS, as the best way to get responses personalized from me are through google plus apparently. We will be working on testing these links and processes this week.
See Sherry Turkle interview and post accordingly on the following...
Does social media allow you to create a clear and consistent identity or does it trap you? Another way to ask the question is whether or not social media is liberating or burdensom?
Consider this in light of the Sherry Turkle interview and post your brief response, hopefully with a workable direct link back to you for me to be able to respond.
I believe that social media creates a sort of curtain for people. For example, on facebook you can make your personality be anything you want. You can make your 'status' be anything you want and you can upload your selected pictures. I think people may use social media as a way to show themselves the way that they want society to view them. However, at the same time, social media can have the opposite effect on people. More and more colleges are looking at the 'profiles' of students before they are admitted and if you have any photographs of drinking, smoking, partying...etc can cause a college to dismiss your application. Also, I would say social media can be both liberating and burdensome because of going off what I said previously, we can use social media to portray ourselves however we want, but we have no control over what our piers may post about us. Social media and texting in my opinion are not good for society because as Terkle's interview states, people are becoming more distant and lacking in person to person conversation. Our society is becoming more and more reliable on social media and then crumbling when it is stripped from us; for example when someone forgets their phone, they act like its the end of the world. Our society is trapped by technology because it has consumed our world. But at the same time, where would we be without cell phones? How would we access the internet to know about foreign affairs, breaking world news, keep in contact with our long distance friends, even check our test grades on infinite campus? I think there is a happy medium with technology; don't get children cell phones to early, don't spend your entire day on your smart phone, and learn to wait. If we learn to use technology and social media responsibly, then there can be a way to make sure our society becomes less dependent on technology and social media, while at the same time still being 'connected'. This is why I would argue social media and technology can be both liberating and burdensome in society today.
ReplyDeleteSocial media traps you into one idetity of yourself because all another person sees of you on social media is what's posted and part of your idetity is how you are percieved by others. Overall while it is a cool tool if not used in the right way it can be burdensom.
ReplyDeleteKatie Wendover
Oftentimes for adolescents, the expectations that are attached to social media can make its use more burdensome than liberating. While users do have the power to exercise control over their online "identities," the pressure to present themselves in a certain light (having an abundance of friends, busy social schedules, popular interests, etc.) can highly influence the content they put online. Despite this, I still believe that social media can be a great outlet and form of expression if used in a positive manner.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few downsides to social media, one of which is the fact that there is no sense of accountability in virtual communication. Social media only captures the single facet of a person that they want to portray to the world, whereas real relationships require that a person be held accountable for their actions and behavior. Face-to-face interaction allows all sides of a person's character to be seen, rather than just the bits they want others to see. Another weakness of social media is how quickly a society becomes dependent on it. Social media is useful and generally a good thing to utilize, as long as it is used responsibly as a convenient communication tool and not a substitute for real-world interaction.
ReplyDeleteTechnology is something that makes our world so much more advanced than it has been in the past. We wouldn't be near where we are today without it. Yet, the social media and cell phones are taking away those personal connections we need to make with people and also never allows us to experience the feeling of truly being alone. Like it said in the article, technology allows us to never be alone even when we are by ourselves and we never learn how to be alone. It has made being alone seem like this awful thing when it really isn't.
ReplyDeleteThis article accurately translated how technology is ruining face-to-face interactions. The acticle stated that devices specifically change the way that we react with people because a message can be thought about and people are no longer making emotional connections. It is arguable that since people hold their phones so close to themselves all the time that they have more of an emotional attatchment to the phones themselves then the people they use the phone to talk with. It was also stated that facebook is looked at as identity and is changing the nature of adolescents (in Turkles opinion). It is ironic that technology was first created to make things simpler for humans and now is becoming more of a burden. This article brought to life just how bad the technology take over has gotten.
ReplyDeleteTechnology can be used in rational amounts for productive results, but it isn't common for people to over indulge and become trapped. People lose their real relationships to the internet or texting and become isolated when they are seeking the opposite affect. People generally find comfort in control, and with virtual identities and relationships, control is much easier to achieve. People can clearly define the person they wish they were, but falsely. For this reason, social media traps people very easily as the desire to be perfect is prominent in society. When used in small amounts, social media can provide legitimate expression it is mostly burdensome. This is especially true in adolescence when it skews your perception of your true identity and the relationships you develop.
ReplyDeleteTechnology and social media can be liberating, but only if people are utilizing all that it has to offer in a productive way. There will always be those people who simply use it for meaningless things- posting pictures of their new dog, complaining about there relationships, etc; but it has capabilities for such greater things. People don't realize that with social media, they have the capability to reach people in every corner of the world. For example, there are many social sites that are now angled toward the professional world. Now, people have the opportunity to have conversations with people all over the place that are in their same profession. This has the possibility to spark countless movements and improvements in business. However, if people aren't tuned into this side of the web, then it doesn't exist to them. The secret to technology being useful and "liberating" is getting the information out there so that people know that they have more power than sharing that cute cat video.
ReplyDeleteSocial media can't adequately 'create' an identity for anyone. One can reveal as much or as little of themselves as they want on the internet. I think that the only thing that can dictate who someone "is" is their actions. No pictures, posts, replies, comments can really show the true nature of someone. Personality on the internet is false. In face-to-face communication, a person's tone of voice and body language account for just as much as the words coming out of their mouth. On Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and in texting the only thing present is the content of the message, sans emotions. Also, you can spend as long as you want thinking of a clever thing to say, whereas in a legitimate conversation you have to say what's on your mind. This is cause for entirely different dynamic in "instant" communication. People can project the image of themselves that they want others to see. Granted, they may not act like themselves in person, but that requires much more effort. It is too easy to be the more ideal person through social media, so no person is truly his or herself. We are trapped in our "perfect" selves on social media, constantly trying to better our image without actually making changes to our self.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is not liberating. It is addictive and traps you until you cannot live without your phone or computer. The use of social media is through the computer or the phone; you can take as long as you want to think about the perfect thing to say to someone that you are communicating with. You lose your ability to interact with people face to face. This interaction is a part of our humanity if we do not have this skill we lose our humanity.
ReplyDeleteThe effect that social media has on one's identity is all dependent on how it is used and who is using it. People with self esteem issues and people who struggle with identity crisis tend to use social media to create a different identity for themselves, an identity which better meets or exceeds social norms. Because they are uncomfortable with who they are, they use social media as an escape, looking to create an identity for themselves which they hope other people will admire and desire. On the other hand, self assured people who are confident with their personalities use social media as a way to broadcast who they really are. They accept who they are, take pride in it, and use social media to show people their truthful identity. Social media can be both burdensome and liberating, but it depends on how it is used and what kind of person is using it.
ReplyDeleteSocial media can both free and burden teens. It can give them a sense of freedom of choice and expression they might not get to experience in real life. They can also be exposed to ideas that they might not have been before, and are able to see more people's opinions and be able to relate to people better. On the other hand, what they say on the Internet could follow them for a long time. They can create a reputation for themselves that they cannot erase when they move on to a new part of their live. Other people might also view them in real life in a different way because of what they said on the Internet, even though they might act like a different person on the Internet.
ReplyDeleteI think that social media is more of a burden than a liberation. The new nature of life, where anyone can get ahold of someone at anytime they want traps you in a constant cycle of communication. Someone can never fully get away or take a break from their friends or even family members when, as the article says, they are traveling down the Mississippi river with all of these people in tow. This especially applies to things such as bullying, also mentioned in the article. Nowadays, kids can bully other kids whenever and however they want, and it's near impossible to escape. I think that technology is starting to trap us because people can manipulate their persona and their communications, tailoring them to fit exactly what they want. People can misrepresent themselves so easily online, trying to come off as something they aren't. It is easier to be real and genuine in face-to-face conversations and I think that a lot of what technology is stripping from society is this sense that other people are being real and genuine in what they tell you and who they are.
ReplyDeleteI think that social media is burdensome for most people. A persons real friends don't need to look on facebook to tell what their personality is like or what they are interested in. Many people use social media to portray themselves as something they are not. They have a seperate life in their social media outlets. Many people feel like they have to do this because they are not satisfied with what they have accomplished in life or what their personality is like. Also, social media can hinder peoples ability to talk face to face with people well and to express their emotions and be able to understand other peoples emotion in ways other than text on a screen. These are social skills that are very important to everyday life and being employed. In my opinion how you interact with other people face to face is a much better measure of your skills, personality, and character. In this way social media is not nearly as genuine as talking face to face with other people.
ReplyDeleteSocial Media can be beneficial, or liberating, to an extent. I believe people today are taking the technology we have for granted. It can be used as a medium for communication with old friends or family members that may be far away, but we do not chose to use it this way. It is burdensome because it can be a way to express oneself freely, but once these things are on the internet, it spreads and anyone can see it. Everything is done on an impulse through the internet. With the amount of information we can recieve in such a small amount of time, we have become so focused on the present. We have to know what is happening at every moment, and we do not consider the long term effects of what we decide to put on the internet. We say what we are afraid to in person because we do not feel threatened by anyone. We separate ourselves from others and so we create a different person on the internet than who we are in real life. Therefore, what you send out will follow you and cannot give you a clear identity. The benefits of technology can be liberating, but the way we choose to use it can trap us easily.
ReplyDeleteI believe that technology use has become a burden in societiy. The constant communication between us has created a habit for us where we become dependent on texting,emailing instead of talking and meeting. You can even observe this in the working field. Many application are now online, instead of being interviewed in person and communicating. Also, people misuse technology by thinking that if we text someone that it is considered a direct converstaion. Technology is being abused because we are seeing more inappropriate uses like cyber bullying instead of using it for more important tasks like studying and school work. Although, technology is definately a liberation when used correctly because not only does is it faster and easier to access information, it allows us to now talk and stay communicated when we are absent or need help.
ReplyDeleteThough I do think social media is in many ways liberating, ultimately I think it's burdensome. Many people feel that they have to live up to or surpass other people's expectations. Teens, in particular, feel the pressure to post a picture or make a status update to prove to people that they were "cool" enough by going to a certain place with a certain person. Also, I think social media causes teens to feel as though they are always living in the spotlight. Practically everything they do and everywhere they go will somehow show up on a social media site. It's as if they constantly have to be prepared for anything they do to be visible to the world.
ReplyDeleteSocial media can be extremely liberating to human beings, starting with being able to send a simple text message to a friend asking when the homework is due or what time a certain show starts. These types of interactions are what make social media so infatuating to us human beings. On social media you can take a little thought and come up with something brilliant to say about something and make yourself look really good at something, even better than you actually are. On social media you can create a false identity if you will, to make yourself look better. In real life you have to go through things like interviews, meetings, you name it. Anything that requires in the flesh communication, would you be able to respond to something as good as you could if you were online? In real life you get a split second to think about your response and it better be good because you can't take it back, but when on Facebook you post something you didn't like the first time you can simply take it off your wall. Social media takes the emotion and personality out of real life communication and could create a false sense of identification for some people. While it is incredibly liberating, it can be a burden to some people as well.
ReplyDeleteTechnology has a good side and a bad side. It is not possible for me to pick a side on this topic. The reason for me feeling this way is because my Dad works in D.C. every week and the only way for me to talk to him 5 out of the 7 days a week is by call or text. That said, the social media part of technology is very burdensome. The problem is that people get to a point where they judge someone by their social media things and not by how they are to talk to in person. The issue of all this is that you could be a totally different person than the way you are represented on facebook or other sites. You can't get an idea of how a person is until you actually have a conversation with them.
ReplyDeleteSocial media can be seen as liberating, as well as burdensome depending on how you view it. Technology has changed the human life style in many ways such as being able to communicate with someone in a matter of seconds from great distances away. Now, you can post a simple video on YouTube and within a week be famous. These aspects of social media are liberating but there are other examples that would prove otherwise. People use technology to create curtains over there lifestyles to show the world what they want to look like, not truly how they are. With our new technology, people can sometimes never run away from there past and start over because social media can follow them everywhere they go. In this aspect social media is seen as a burden rather that liberating. In conclusion, depending on how you look at social media it can mean two completely different things, liberating or just burdensome.
ReplyDeleteI believe that social media and technology are liberating, but not necessarily in a positive manner. For example, on Facebook or even over the phone you have the ability to interact with another person without them seeing you, therefore making it easy for you to lie to even the person who knows you best. You can also recreate yourself on the Internet by only showing the good side of yourself, no one is going to post that they just did terribly on a math test but anyone would post about winning their soccer tournament. That being said social media can also be burdensome due to the pressure of presenting yourself in a way that is likable and can almost become worse than a face-to-face first impression. However, technology and social media are not the "demons" some people make them out to be, it really comes down to how you use it that makes the difference
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, technology is one of the many ways that the world today has become desensitized. Many of use wrote essays on this topic last year in response to what the realities of the world were. The simple fact that communication through phone, internet and other technology is simply tiny pixels on a screen only adds to this idea. The messages conveyed through Facebook and other social media don't have the same kind of human interaction. It's the same as the idea of saying a sentence different ways for different meanings, or punctuating a sentence differently for completely opposite ideas. Through computers and phones, these emotions that are carried through words and languages are lost. The attempt at adding emotion and feeling back into communication through emoticons, although adorable I’m sure, has yet to give life to pixels on a screen. However, in my opinion technology does more good than harm. The ability to communicate more efficiently, although devoid of emotion, has advanced the world in ways that weren't imaginable a century ago. Technology has given the human race new understanding and purpose and a new outlook on life itself. In the long, long, long run, technology has given us a chance to survive, to live, even though it may result in the most basic part of humanity, emotion.
ReplyDeleteSocial media doesn't allow you to create a clear and consistent identity as it inhibits many things about your identity. One part of the identity is the personality. Any identity of any person can't be determined by the posts they make on Facebook or the blurbs on twitter or the texts they send you as they lack a tone of voice (even with the additions of emoticons). The interactions on social media don't allow deeper understanding either as it is easy to lie on the internet or create a personality that only exists on the internet because it is another reality. Without the other person right next to you, you can't tell if anything they are saying about themselves is true because you can see the body language. The other part of an identity that is missing is any sort of ability to be with the person you are talking with. When being in a conversation with someone you are physically next to, you learn the body language of someone that can determine if they are genuinely exited about the conversation or depressed by it or indifferent. It is the reactions you can see in someone's face or voice that you identify the person for who they are as it has a greater affect then "That is awesome :)". The social media will become extremely burdensome if you try to create your actual identity on it as it would take the more effort than making a complete autobiography with every memory in your life that is descriptive to your thoughts and physical reactions like smiling. No one is able to do that and that would mean no one would know who you are through social media.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is a bit of a paradox, in that it is both burdensome and liberating. On one hand, social media puts you in complete control of how you present yourself on the internet. Every picture, every post, every comment is completely up to you and you can spend as much or little time carefully crafting this online identity as you wish. Social media can help introverts as a medium to gain valuable information without going through sometimes stressful and tiring conversational processes. Social media also spans the gap of time and space, giving the ability to communicate instantly with people around the globe and allowing us to find and contact old friends we might have lost.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, social media binds and constrains how we live our daily lives. It can be not a choice but a social obligation to check email, Facebook, text messages. To be unavailable seems to be a foreign concept in this day and age and information is expected to be seen and responded to almost instantaneously. And despite your control over your personal presentation, there is truth to the statement “the internet is forever”. Pictures, videos, and words can be traded back and forth at the speed of lightning and unwanted things posted by you or others can bounce around in cyberspace forever. And while there are those you might want to reconnect with, there are also those you probably wish could never find you.
Social media can be the powerful tool for communication or the invisible eyes watching our every step, but I think the important thing to remember is that social media is varied and evolving. Calling gave way to texting as texting gives way to instant messaging or chat. Facebook and Twitter may be large, but so are Tumblr, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. Each medium has it’s own advantages and disadvantages, but also it’s own mode of communication. And like most technologies, they are tools, whose moral status and evaluation depends on who they are used by and how, and the irony is that we are in complete control of how we choose to use these tools.
Social media although it may have begun as a liberating idea of how to keep in contact with others and portray yourself to others has gone too far and become much more of a burden in everyday life. There are many expectations and faults which accompany social media, including that it is available to anyone who wants to see it and any one with access to the internet, which is becoming more and more available. The widespread accessibility also leaves no room for those who wish to leave the world of social media due to the social expectations of always being available, it makes it almost impossible to escape the busy world that resides on the internet. The many ranges of social media also limit a person by giving them a freedom to become whoever they want but, once they have decided who they want to be online it becomes difficult to be anyone else in day to day life. Social media although a liberating way of communicating it eliminates our ability to communicate with others in person and to live personal rather than public lives.
ReplyDeleteI believe that while social media was originally created as a way to network with old and new friends and to freely express our ideas and beleifs to the world, we often take these convenient methods of communnication for granted. To me it seems like humans are becoming detatched from each other as a result of replacing real contact and conversation with artificial contact through social networks and the internet. In our often busy lives, social networks allow us to stay in touch with our friends and family amongst all the other responsibilities and tasks we face each day. It is easy to view this contact through the internet as an adequate social life and allow it to distract us from the things that are truly important in life. But talking through messaging and even skype can not replace genuine face to face communication.
ReplyDeleteAll the information and propoganda being put before us through social media and publicity makes it difficult for one to estabilsh their own original ideas. We are influenced by the opinions of so many people that we can hardly call our beliefs our own anymore since so much of the social media out there, including websites, articles, and the news, is designed to sway the opinions of the general public. Individual opinions are fading away and more and more people seem to be conforming to the opinion of the general public.
Definitely not in all cases, but I believe the majority of the time social media tends to trap people in their identity. Facebook especially can trap people in their past and make it hard for someone to become something different. When pictures are posted or posts are made, they are permanent; even if someone deletes them they can still be accessed by many people. The more technology improves, the more Facebook or twitter does too. Now on Facebook there is timeline which easily records and displays anything you have ever put on Facebook. People can see the pictures and posts you post and often times they will judge you by what you put on the internet. Colleges or employers can view your Facebook and there have been many times where someone’s Facebook will cause them not to be accepted into college or given a certain job. Even if the person has changed, the one photo they took of themselves at a party or with a drink can dictate what happens in their future. It traps people into an identity they once created and makes it very difficult for them to become something better without the past haunting them.
ReplyDeleteI think with social media it is very easy to manipulate your appearance. On your Facebook profile page you can describe yourself in a way that isn’t entirely accurate, and you can use filters when posting pictures to instagram. The identity that is crated on social media is only clear to someone who doesn’t know you, but it is certainly not consistent. Social media traps you in a sense that you could become addicted and you easily spend hours procrastinating. Every time you get stuck while writing an essay you can just click onto twitter to check out the never ending stream of updates coming from celebrities. I don’t think that it is necessary burdensome, but it isn’t always used for the best.
ReplyDeleteUsing social media has provided many people a place to be themselves but also a place where you can choose however you want to portray yourself. Thus, the way you are displayed on social media may or may not be consistent depending on how you want to appear. Many people disguise themselves on their pages, using the computer screen in front of them as a shield. Whether a person is who they say they are or not, is not clear on social media because of the freedom that you have on it. Social media helps liberate many people because they can use it to say whatever they need to.
ReplyDeleteSocial media has created an escape for people. It's given them a way to make themselves the way the want to be, whether or not it's the way they actually are. You can edit a picture with photoshop, and you can change you bio on facebook, but that might not actually be you. People hide behind their computer screens or their phones because social media has desensitized the necessity for human interaction. People say nasty things about other people over the internet or over text, but when it comes to being in person, they're too afraid to back up what they said because of the lack of face-to-face interaction and the extent of internet interaction. Even though social media can be a good thing, because it can open a gateway for people to express their feelings without worrying about the judement that comes with conversing in person, I don't feel that social media is not a good thing in our lives because the flaws outweight the positive impacts.
ReplyDeleteI believe that social media and technology now days can trap people, however it still has some advantages. The advantages that social media provide are the simple communications that happen in day to day life that we encounter as humans. whether it is simply sending a quick text about homework or sending an email so that somebody doesn't lose information that may be important to them later. However in this simplicity lies the trap that humans face. It can be very easy to have a text conversation with someone that continues very easily, but then put that same person in front of them in real life and they're speechless. If people now days grow up having the majority of their conversations over social media such as texting and facebook then they can lose the comfort to have a conversation in person. Technology has it's benefits, but it also can become a trap for people if they use it as their only means of communication.
ReplyDeleteIn many ways I feel that social media is liberating, but at the same time it becomes a daily burden to keep up on the tens of thousands that we hold in the palms of our hands. It is such a powerful tool yet, we take these things for granted daily. That little devise that has our entire world inside of it eventually begins to become the master if all that we do, we are constantly connected to everything that we would ever need. But soon we are so emersed in this world that it becomes a prison. Through the widespread influence, and accessibility of social media it has become a burden for us all, and will continue this way for many years to come.
ReplyDeleteSocial Media, in my opinion is very burdensome and I believe will become the defining aspect of our generation and the future generations. I believe this because it seems to me that the constant connection with social medias has stunted the development of true social skills, it is a trap that will constantly grab adolescents. The interactions with others through the screen are not real interactions and I think that this leads us to not be able to have relationships with people that we meet in the real world. As said in the article, I believe that face to face interactions teach people how to deal with others. When a large part of our young population is glued to Facebook or other social medias interacting with people, they cannot see each other’s expressions, hear a tone of voice, or read emotions. The complexity of dealing with a person face to face is a skill that people should learn; this is how they can build the skills to develop relationships later on in their lives. As long as adolescents are still interacting with people face to face, there is no problem with social media. It is a great way to get in contact for business and stay in touch with old friends, but it still is no substitute for genuine interaction.
ReplyDeleteI think that in most cases, technology traps your identity as a teen because most children are afraid to change their "online personality." Because Facebook follows people throughout their life, they don't get as Turkle says, "a fresh start." I think that kids are afraid of changing their personality online because they want to keep their reputation are do not want to go out their comfort zone by changing their identity. In personal interaction though, people are not discouraged as much to experiment with their identity because they are only with a select group of people. The whole world/their whole online viewers cannot see them and cannot judge them. Therefore, in person, kids are more willing to experiment and toy with their identities. However, online, once their personality is set, they are much less likely to change their ways in fear that their reputation will be damaged. While I do believe that there are select cases where people are not influenced enough by reputation to inhibit their personalities, I think that the number of people like this is decreasing. So ultimately, technology confines people because they cannot receive the same fresh starts and opportunities to toy with their identities as they can through personal interaction.
ReplyDeleteSocial media allows anyone to create any profile they want, and therefore they can create an identidty that may not be there own. This could cause that person to lose the identity that they had before they created another on a social media site. Social media allows one to say whatever they want, when ever they want, as whoever they want, and not have to deal with the consequences. People skills then begin to diminish, and their own identity becomes clouded. In short soial media can initially seem to be liberating, but eventually it will restrict one to their computer, where they lose their most valuable life skills.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the nature of social media varies greatly depending on whether the particular website or service in question is anonymous or not. Facebook has very little anonymity associated with it, and it seems that as a result, many people refrain from posting ideas that might be controversial or cause others to look at them unfavorably. However, social media outlets that maintain a greater level of anonymity often are subject to a constant barrage of extreme opinions and obscene messages. Because of these facts, I believe that social media does not encourage individualism in the least. The anonymity of the web has only encouraged abuse towards those with unpopular opinions, and when anonymity is not there, people simply do not speak out.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is a mixed blessing in the sense that it is both liberating and burdensome.
ReplyDeleteSocial media sites facilitate the free expression of opinion, network expansion, and the creation of an [online] identity. This means that its users can censor what they say. For example, to sound fancy, I could use words like sagacity, nycthemeron, and celladora, words I would most likely never use in a real, face-to-face conversation. One can also expand personal, professional, and recreational networks through online communities. Social media sites like Facebook where one person can add another with ease are keys to proving the theory of the six degrees of separation. Users of these sites can also create an identity that they can completely control in an attempt to put their best face forward and attract someone, get accepted into a college/university, get hired, and so on and so forth. So not only can one freely exercise their First Amendment rights, and to an audience not necessarily known to the presenter, but can do so behind identities that they've doctored to their personal preferences.
As wonderful as this sounds, however, it can also become burdensome. A large portion of the population believe that politicians are in control of the lives of others when it is really the media who hold sway. In many cases, the media feeds the public with the mindset that is the final word on all things beauty, art, and on how we should be doing things. Some attach themselves to these beliefs and occasionally, even commit suicide, due to their inability to mold to doctored images of reality depicted by the television and online social medias. Cyberbullying is fueled through the anonymity aspect of many websites. Since it is hard to monitor, it becomes an example of how all this social media can dehumanize a member of society to the point where they feel the need to detrimentally affect a fellow human being. The fact that the tears and the anger cannot be seen on the other side of the screen only adds fuel to this process.
I view social media through Plato's Allegory of the Cave. It is a great tool that, if used correctly and to the benefit of others, can become integral to society's development. If, however, it is selfishly hoarded and misused or if the 'released prisoner' does not share his/her findings with the others in the 'cave', it becomes a hindrance and an unnecessary burden.
Technology creates responsibilities and chores, therefore it is burdensome. Teenagers feel pressure to post a facebook status, or check the facebook "feed." I know multiple people who feel they have to check their social networking accounts before they go to bed, including myself. Teenagers don't want to miss anything, so they feel obligated to check facebook, twitter, etc. even when they're with their friends or family. When teenagers are together, a lot of the time they are checking their social networking sites and have limited face-to-face conversation. Which brings up the "alone together' idea, when we are alone we feel together will all the texting and facebook chatting we do. In addition, through social networking sites you can have whatever identity you choose, because it blocks emotion and face-to-face interaction. This generation has weak conversational skills because most of the conversations they have are impersonal.
ReplyDeleteSocial media was originally created in order to socialize with friends new and old. However, as more and more people use social media, they lack the conversational ability to "negotiate, read each other's emotion, face the complexity of confrontation, deal with complex emotion,." It actually has the opposite of the desired effect and that is to socialize.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is both liberating and burdensome. It is liberating in the sense that technology is now so advanced and so helpful that we have the access to reach anyone we need at any moment in time, however isn't that kind of scary at the same time? It is burdensome because people get trapped in this media circle of constant talking and communicating to the point where you would rather text someone than have a real genuine face-to-face conversation. Current generations rely so heavily on technology that is has taken control of their lives, to truly become a comfort issue when they are away from their phones. So, as much as technology makes our lives convenient and easy, it has completely changed our society where it is acceptable to avoid human contact. Facebook and other social media traps you in this constant pressure of having to impress people or give an "identity" that is "approved" in today's society even though it may not be yours. People are honestly willing to change their lifestyle to be approved nowadays because everything is so public that everyone sees everything. People with self-esteem issues post false information to make their life seem better than it is while people who take pride in their life show it off online. Facebook, and other social media sites are nothing but altered information to make people feel better about themselves or tear others down. It is a trap because people will truly base their perspective on your profile and the things you post. Social media creates an "identity" for people but I don't think it is genuine, clear or consistent. It traps you because the second something goes online, it will be there forever for all to see.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of technology invented in just the past 50 years is incredible, and the amount of buyers and users is even more astounding. It is good to grow and develop through years, however, when new ideas and technology begin to take over, is when people begin to question its value in people's lives. I believe easy contact with your family and friends is good to an extent. Communication for safety is important as well as any means of help or guidance, but when people begin to abuse their time with their electronics so that it detracts from learning or speaking with a friend who wants to talk face to face is when the importance drops. Technology, from personal experience, is so distracting and unnecessary when used beyond work. It also puts people farther apart in relationships when their focus is anywhere but there with you when you are trying to talk or just be together.
ReplyDeleteSocial media, abundant in all of its irony, is crucially dependent on the individual. It is not by itself a 'burden' or 'liberating' but in the hands of the individual. Should the individual find it liberating to post comments anonymously, to express their ideas and feelings on a possibly wide stage, then social media is undoubtedly liberating. It gives people a soap box to stand on that millions of people can listen to. But for others, and in many public cases, that soap box becomes a prison. Those thoughts and emotions expressed on the soap box can become damaging, it can chain people to labels, to pictures. Anthony Wiener comes to mind. Try as he might to escape the... well the Wiener pictures and recreate himself as a politician, social media is binding. And thus, his online identity is compromised. It is a burden for him, but not for someone like Psy, a Korean pop singer once chained to Korea but now a liberated pop star all over the world. Social media is what you make of it. The individual must decide.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is like a doughnut, it attracts you to it. In other words, social media traps you because,like how Turkle says "What is so seductive about texting, about keeping that phone on, about that little red light on the BlackBerry, is you want to know who wants you," she is saying that everytime you look at your phone, you want to know who wants you, who wants to talk to you, etc. I think social media is a bad influence to have because as you can see there is many car crashes because of technology disturbance; it traps you in the zone where you can't really control it.
ReplyDeleteTechnology in some ways is a great thing for society. It allows access to an infinite amount of information and allows people to do things that they have never been able to do before. Although this is true, it is definitely burdensome too. People are slowly losing all their social skills because of lack of interaction. Texting, facebook, myspace, email, and other forms of technological interaction lack emotion and skill. Being able to talk and communicate to people face to face in live is a very valuable skill especially in careers and when people interact online there is no emotion. If people don’t practice their skills they will lose them. Online interaction is nothing like real interaction because you aren’t looking at their face, you can’t read or express emotion, and you have unlimited time to respond to comments. This is why social media is liberating is some aspects, but burdensome in most.
ReplyDeleteTechnology in some ways is a great thing for society. It allows access to an infinite amount of information and allows people to do things that they have never been able to do before. Although this is true, it is definitely burdensome too. People are slowly losing all their social skills because of lack of interaction. Texting, facebook, myspace, email, and other forms of technological interaction lack emotion and skill. Being able to talk and communicate to people face to face in live is a very valuable skill especially in careers and when people interact online there is no emotion. If people don’t practice their skills they will lose them. Online interaction is nothing like real interaction because you aren’t looking at their face, you can’t read or express emotion, and you have unlimited time to respond to comments. This is why social media is liberating is some aspects, but burdensome in most.
ReplyDeleteI believe that while social media was originally created as a way to network with old and new friends and to freely express our ideas and beleifs to the world, we often take these convenient methods of communnication for granted. To me it seems like humans are becoming detatched from each other as a result of replacing real contact and conversation with artificial contact through social networks and the internet. In our often busy lives, social networks allow us to stay in touch with our friends and family amongst all the other responsibilities and tasks we face each day. It is easy to view this contact through the internet as an adequate social life and allow it to distract us from the things that are truly important in life. But talking through messaging and even skype can not replace genuine face to face communication.
ReplyDeleteAll the information and propoganda being put before us through social media and publicity makes it difficult for one to estabilsh their own original ideas. We are influenced by the opinions of so many people that we can hardly call our beliefs our own anymore since so much of the social media out there, including websites, articles, and the news, is designed to sway the opinions of the general public. Individual opinions are fading away and more and more people seem to be conforming to the opinion of the general public
Technology is all around us today and its essentially inescapable. Wherever we go its being used because its convenient in so many different ways. But because of so much technology in our lives, many have forgotten how to communicate. Communication involves being able to connect and form relationships with those around us an unfortunately, due to the overwhelming amount of technology we have, we aren't capable of connecting with those in society. We have to learn to communicate again because communicating through digital devices isn't real and sadly, emailing and texting have become the status quo for communicating. Through texting and emailing, we aren't genuine. Its as if we have two identities: one real and one virtual. Our virtual identities are what are holding us back. Because communicating through technology doesn't require face to face communication, we are more comfortable communicating this way because it is effortless. But when we communicate this way we lose our character and who we truly are.
ReplyDeleteSocial media can be more of a burden rather than a helpful tool. I understand its purposes and I believe that it can be helpful in certain circumstances. But, I think it ends up doing more evil than good by the end of the day because it manages to draw out the differences between people rather than bringing out similarities. Sometimes it can be helpful, by letting people communicate with people that they have lost touch with throughout the years. But another con is that it manages to distract people from doing things such as homework or basic work.
ReplyDeleteI believe that social media is more of a burden than a liberation because, although it can be a fast and efficient way of having a conversation, it has become the preferred way to have a conversation. While social media can be convenient when used to contact someone or arrange a meeting, the problem that has arisen is the fact that people use it to have conversations more than they actually talk to people face-to-face. A conversation is fifty percent or more emotion, and this emotion cannot be detected through social media. Therefore people are missing almost half the meaning of every conversation they have using social media.
ReplyDeleteAnother problem with social media is the fact that it tends to degrade people's writing skills. People use abundant abbreviations and ignore grammar rules because, after all, they are only texting or posting for their friends. However, because social media is used so much, this type of writing subconsciously becomes the norm and is used outside of social media.
Finally, the use of social media, especially Facebook, can allow the personal details of someone's life to be viewed by almost anyone. Someone from halfway across the world who you barely know can find out what you did last weekend, and even if you are single. This has almost eliminated the basic human need of privacy, which contributes to safety and mental well-being.
Social media can be used sparingly with positive benefit, but it is no substitute for actual conversation and when it takes over our lives it can have negative consequences.
I believe that social media has allowed one to create a clear and consistent identity. It allows someone to express who they are, and allows one to show who they really are without being judged. Social media, such as Facebook and Twitter allow one to be with their friends, without really being there. Nowadays, social media is everywhere, and can be accessed at any time. Kids are on Facebook in class, and at home. Facebook is what defines some kids. It's their escape from the real world. Their escape from bullies. Social media is what allows us to reconnect with old friends, and communicate with new ones. Social media is the reason that humans will never truly be lonely. There is always someone to talk to when you're online. zit connects people, and brings them closer. Facebook, can help strengthen friendships and allows people to open up and let people into their life. That is why I think social media is liberating, and essential for society to survive today.
ReplyDeleteSocial Media is liberating as long as the person who is using it does not use it so much that they prefer long-distance interactions over face-to-face interactions. When used in moderation, social media such as texting, facebook, and twitter allow a person to instantaneously converse with anyone, which is obviously liberating in the sense that it expands a person's social interactions and available information. However, when used in extreme amounts, social media can detract from a person's desire for or ability with personal interactions. As stated in the Sherry Turkle interview, there is a current trend among adolescents toward the preference for long-distance interaction. This preference is the key aspect of social media that changes it from liberating to restricting; by developing a preference for this type of interaction, a person begins to lose their ability to interact in person, because they lose their natural predisposition toward it. By the same token, social media can help a person present a clear and consistent identity so long as the amount it is used only allows it to extend a persons social interaction, and not develop an alternate persona. In summary, when used in moderation, Social media can be a very liberating tool for projecting one's personality. If used to much, it can actually restrict that personality.
ReplyDeleteSocial media traps society emotionally. Although technology has been a major part in the progression of society, it has made today’s young generation withdrawal from learning and practicing, what should be, everyday interactions. As Turkle was saying, without face-to-face interaction, the skill of being able to read and register someone’s emotions and expressions is lost. Social media allows teens to become stuck behind a screen, unable to use the skill of choosing appropriate words in a conversation based on another person’s expression. A screen does not filter out the inappropriate words and replace them with appropriate words, showing that a reader’s feelings or a writer’s intent will never fully be understood. Being face-to-face and having the ability to observe one’s emotions will give both the speaker and the listener a better understanding of where the other is coming from. Social media is burdensome in the sense that is traps feelings and expressions inside of a person, with no way to escape.
ReplyDeleteI believe that social media has become a burden for society, especially for society's youth. Turkle was saying that people now prefer interactions on the internet instead of a face to face conversation. This rings true, I see it all the time. In school during lunches, passing periods, or even classes there will always be someone on their phone checking facebook, instagram, twitter, or texting. Society's youth has become so dependent on technology to communicate. Whenever someone has feelings to express, good or bad, instead of talking to someone about them, those feelings are put on the internet or sent in a text message. Text messages and facebook statuses are less personable. It's different getting a phone call from a friend saying "Congradulations!" than it is just recieving a text message or a tag in a status. Its great to express feelings on the internet, but if they are aimed at someone specific, those feelings should be communicated to that person first through at least a phone call. Understandably, there is always a chance that you can't make a phone call right away and a text message needs to be sent. On the topic of expressing feelings, bad feelings are usually expressed on the internet which I say is unecessary. If you really want to tell someone that you are mad at them you at least deserve to tell them face to face so you can talk it out just the both of you. But when those feelings are posted on the internet other people begin to put their input on the situation in when it really isn't any of their business. I firmly believe that social media is taking away a person's ability to be personable. The upside I see of social media is that you can communicate with friends and family that live elsewhere and are far away.
ReplyDeleteSocial media can be both freeing and burdening. It can be freeing in that it allows someone to create a persona that is different from the persona everyone else sees in person. It can allow someone to escape a bad reputation if even for a little while. However this can also be a bad thing because it allows other people to deceive others on social media by portraying themselves as someone who they aren't. It can be burdening because we are paranoid about what others think of us and how they will react to seeing something that we post. We also are constantly longing for attention and when we post something on twitter or facebook and we don't get as many "likes" as we think we should we become discouraged and self conscious. In conclusion I think that social media can be a good tool to help us keep in contact with old friends and relatives who live far away but if used improperly and carelessly it can be deceptive and dangerous
ReplyDeleteSocial media is portrayed by Sherry Turkle as a power which overtakes peoples' personality by the tendency of editing oneself with a false one, allowing others to change prospective on who they really are; perhaps even hiding the faults and exhibiting the positives only for the fear of letting the media world know the real person. It traps you in the sense of allowing you to escape reality and not face the real world, especially with social bonding; allowing you to make an image of yourself without recognizing who you really are, because of the constant technological dependence. The burden or freedom depends on the persons use or abuse of technology. Now days it seems more of a burden, because of the obligation many need to be updated on social medias, especially Facebook, to know about friends and post with their somewhat made up ID. This shows a pull of affection many have that search for it online, which causes isolation from facing others .
ReplyDeleteYou can also have a freedom in using technologies, not depending on them,using them as efficient methods to know about news around the world or help you research with your studies. As long as technologies do not interact with the social life and are used with a limit they can be a powerful source to help everyone connect to the world, and develop society
Social media is portrayed by Sherry Turkle as a power which overtakes peoples' personality by the tendency of editing oneself with a false one, allowing others to change prospective on who they really are; perhaps even hiding the faults and exhibiting the positives only for the fear of letting the media world know the real person. It traps you in the sense of allowing you to escape reality and not face the real world, especially with social bonding; allowing you to make an image of yourself without recognizing who you really are, because of the constant technological dependence. The burden or freedom depends on the persons use or abuse of technology. Now days it seems more of a burden, because of the obligation many need to be updated on social medias, especially Facebook, to know about friends and post with their somewhat made up ID. This shows a pull of affection many have that search for it online, which causes isolation from facing others .
ReplyDeleteYou can also have a freedom in using technologies, not depending on them,using them as efficient methods to know about news around the world or help you research with your studies. As long as technologies do not interact with the social life and are used with a limit they can be a powerful source to help everyone connect to the world, and develop society
Social media is portrayed by Sherry Turkle as a power which overtakes peoples' personality by the tendency of editing oneself with a false one,allowing others to change prospective on who they really are; perhaps even hiding the faults and exhibiting the positives only for the fear of letting the media world know the real person. It traps you in the sense of allowing you to escape reality and not face the real world, especially with social bonding; allowing you to make an image of yourself without recognizing who you really are, because of the constant technological dependence. The burden or freedom depends on the persons use or abuse of technology. Now days it seems more of a burden, because of the obligation many need to be updated on social medias, especially Facebook, to know about friends and post with their somewhat made up ID. This shows a pull of affection many have that search for it online, which causes isolation from facing others. You can also have a freedom in using technologies, not depending on them, using them as efficient methods to know about news around the world or help you research with your studies. As long as technologies do not interact with the social life and are used with a limit they can be a powerful source to help everyone connect to the world, and develop society
ReplyDeleteJenn Russ
ReplyDeleteBLOG POST 1: Sherry Turkle- Alone Together
Social media has the potential to make us more worldly, well rounded people, when properly used. Social media allows us to share who we are and want to be; and sometimes the lack of face-to-face contact is exactly what we need to be able to muster the courage necessary to put ourselves out there. It is a way to manage our feelings and connect with others that can relate to us. Unfortunately, social media is grossly misused. It has become a crutch to rely on in our daily lives. Instead of being a means of expression and liberation, it is a mask which we use to hide our own insecurities from not only others, but also ourselves. We use it to display our own made-up identity; it’s a self-advertising tabloid page. These problems occurring in social media all relay back to the actual media. Telling us who we should be, who to want to be, and how to get there; it leads us into a trap masked by promises of self-appreciation and expression. The key to maximizing the potential held within social media is to use it in moderation and with your intentions and goals in mind so as not to become misguided or sidetracked.
This article shows how technology has affected the lives of many people, not just teens. Most teens said that they preferred texting over face-to-face communication. This is a problem because face-to-face communication teaches people how to interact with people on a more personal level, and how to think more on their feet, without pondering what to say next. It is important that face-to-face communication is present in today's society, because it allows people to be themselves; up close and personal. Facebook allows adolescents to fiddle with their identity and change things about them that they don't like or want to be.
ReplyDeleteI believe that social media is both freeing and a burden for today’s society. Turkle was saying that people now prefer interactions on the internet instead of a face to face conversation. This is preferred, since this allows people to free themselves from their true life, allowing them to create a different persona from their true identity. Some of this can be seen, specifically, in social groups such as Facebook, twitter, and even texting; people put fake attractive pictures of themselves or even create a better them. Although, recreating yourself may seem exciting, it is bad since it give people a fake truth about an individual. Also much of our lives are spent on this social network, making today’s society more independent on technology to communicate, instead of face to face. Whenever someone has feelings to express, good or bad, instead of talking to someone about them, those feelings are put on the internet or sent in a text message. Text messages and Facebook statuses are less personable, they are more robotic. We all know receiving an actual phone call or letter is rare, but when it does occur, it is not only rare but exciting. Social media has made people slightly lazy, one of the reasons to the rising obesity count. It also allows people to add negative comments that are unnecessary; if the individual wants to say those things they should keep it in their own personal diary, not where the world sees everything. Social media has a lot of cons but on the upside is people can now communicate with friends and family that are far away much faster.
ReplyDelete