Online Interaction

It is easy to see first hand how the developments in communication through Internet have developed over the years. The industry has flourished in recent years as people are constantly looking for new ways create social interaction via the Internet. Perhaps one of the largest social networking sites in the world is Second Life. This website allows people to create an avatar and essentially a new identity, which will allow them to explore the virtual world of Second Life. However, like anything in real life it has its ups and downs. Second Life was created with the intention of making people more social by interacting with people online; however, some may argue that it has done the opposite of that for many people.

Perhaps one of the most interesting portrayals of the daily routine of a Second Life user is seen in the documentary “Life 2.0.” This documentary focuses on the life of three different people with completely different lives. These people are using Second Life for different reasons, however, what is clear is that they soon become completely addicted to it. This tends to be the concern for so many people when it comes down to whether or not social networks are good or bad. There is a real concern that people will become more and more connected to the virtual world and slowly start to forget the real one.

 There seems to be a certain fascination with Second Life, which makes it different from other Social Networking sites.  For one, this may have to do with the heavily interactive element that is involved with Second Life, making it different from Facebook or Instagram.  Second Life is actually more like a game making it more comparable to World of Warcraft or Runescape. While WoW and Runescape are games which more heavily targeted at children or young adults, Second Life has a very similar concept, which is the creation of a virtual world in which thousands maybe millions of users can interact. Interestingly enough these games share the same addictive qualities as Second Life.

The documentary shows how Second Life really becomes the most important part of these people’s lives. One of the people being followed fell in love with a man in Second Life, which later became a real affair. Another example showed a woman who ran a business from the comfort of her basement through Second Life, posing as a fashion designer. The last example showed a man who was posing as an eleven-year-old girl. This man in particular becomes addicted to the point were he neglects the closest people around him.

This particular documentary shows a very negative perspective on Second Life as the three people being followed display characteristics of people who are emotionally unstable and somewhat depressed. These people turned to Second Life as an escape from the real world. However, they soon realized that Second Life was nothing more than an imaginary game. People will often delude themselves into thinking that it is real life, possibly because they are not satisfied with there real lives. However, it is unfair to say that the impact of Second Life is purely negative, as many people with disabilities are able to interact with many people because of the it. However, it is important for people to understand the difference between the real world and virtual world.

Technology and Social Interaction

As time goes by we are able to see how innovations in social media and communication have affected overall human interaction. We have seen drastic changes in the way people communicate on a daily basis, whether it is through online communication, via text message, or even face-to-face human interaction. Some people even argue that social networking and other technological innovations have completely changed many traditional social norms.

There have been many studies showing how as human beings we are becoming more and more absorbed and connected with technology particularly social media and the internet. In some parts of the world such as South Korea, there is an obsession with online gaming, which has taken the countries youth by storm. Children and young adults across the country are entranced with online gaming to the point where it is affecting the family and academic life of these children and teens. The preoccupation has become so serious that the government is treating it as a psychological addiction.

Similarly we see how it is becoming more and more common among people of my own generation to preoccupy themselves with the Internet. While for the most part, the fascination is nowhere near same degree as that of the youth generation in South Korea; it has still impacted many aspects of daily social interaction. Whether these affects are negative or not is another debate, however, fundamentally it is easy to see both the downside and the upside of this phenomenon.

There are many new forms of communication in Internet that have bee created through the years, and many of these means of communication have been able to help people which aren’t maybe as confident when it comes to face-to-face social interaction. One of the biggest innovations when it comes to social interactions in online dating sites, which have revolutionized the way people meet. These websites focus on compatibility and the pair people through complex databases that collect information and pair people based on each person and their personal preferences. From there, it is up to these people if they decide to meet in person or not. This form of communication is effective in helping people who may not have the time, or simply are not social enough to effectively date.

However, the many also argue that social media sites such as dating sites, or even Facebook are in fact making people less social beings because they are losing their ability to communicate in the real world. It is much easier for people to hide behind a screen and be confident than to do so in real social situations. This often proves to be the problem when people go on dates after meeting on a dating site, only to discover that their date is not same person he or she may be online.

Social networks have also affected many traditional norms of the society. For one dating used to be a much more personal and cordial affair. Now one can make it as simple and impersonal as asking some one out via text message. However, this may be somewhat of an over exaggeration when one considers the more serious impacts on social networking sites. One of the most negative consequences of the social networking is “cyber bullying.” This tends to affect children and teenagers of my generation the most. Then there is also the danger of “chatting” online. It is easy for people to conceal their true identities when they are hiding behind a computer screen. This can often leave children and teens vulnerable to pedophiles and other kinds of online dangers.

Over the years there have been many efforts to make the Internet safer for children, or friendlier in general, however, it is important to understand that there are always risks. Over all it is difficult to say that the social media has had a negative impact on society. It has in fact succeeded in doing what it had intended, which was to connect millions of people worldwide, in a way which could never even be fathomed before. However, it one cannot deny that it is changing the world as we know it, and it will continue to do so.

Social Networking and Privacy

Throughout the most recent decade we have seen extremely fast technological advancements particularly in the form of communication. Perhaps one of the most revolutionary innovations with regards to communication technology is invention of Internet socializing. These website more commonly known as social networking sites have revolutionized the way in which we communicate. Many have been able to notice this drastic change on a social level, particularly adults who witnessed the birth of the Internet and subsequently the creation of the social networking websites.

Personally, social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even YouTube play an active role in my life. I spend a descent part of my day on and off of these social media sites and often use them to communicate with friends, family, and even co-workers. However, I probably spend less time than the average person does on social media sites.

Out of the social media site that I use, I spend the most time on YouTube and Facebook. I spend an average of and hour on each website. These websites mainly function as an excuse to procrastinate, however, I often use Facebook to stay in contact with friends from high school or my family back home. Also, given that Facebook is one the more popular social media sites among my classmates, it can also be utilized for academic purposes, such as group projects or group studying for exams. On the other hand certain sites such as Instagram or Twitter are purely for socializing purposes. These I use much less frequently, as I usually get bored with them pretty quickly. Lastly, I would like to discuss the matter of text messaging or imessaging and Snapchat. Snapchat is the fastest growing of all social media apps. I use text message as my primary form of communication, and even though I have a Snapchat I use it relatively infrequently.

My personal use of social media has often led to me thinking about the growing use and reliance on social media websites and apps, as a form of communication. This growing trend does bring up a lot of important questions. One of the most important questions that arises, is the question over the impact that social media has on our personal privacy. Ultimately, website such as Twitter and Facebook have made our lives very public. This has its positive elements and its drawbacks. If handled responsibly this how public we make our lives can be controlled, however, many people whether by choice or as a result of the their use of social networking sites, make their lives very public.

Personally, I have never had a problem with tweeting or messaging something I should not have. But one example does come to mind, in which my five roommates and I were in a group message with our realtor. We were discussing rent and move in dates, when one of my house mates, clearly not knowing that our realtor was included in the chat, made a fairly offensive remark targeted at the realtor. This was nothing more than an attempt at humor that went wrong. Fortunately, our realtor had a good sense of humor, and so that was that. However, even though that was a relatively harmless situation, it goes to show that if one is not careful there can be very negative ramifications for being irresponsible with their use of social networking websites and social media in general.

Social Media Diet

Over the past seven days I have created a detailed account of what my media intake is on an average day. This varies, because average weekend day is different from an average weekday. However, I was still able to learn something about how I prioritize and how I spend my day overall. I began with a Sunday.

My typical Sunday revolves around catching up on all the homework for the classes that I may have fallen behind on during the week. I started off my Sunday by sitting down to watch a football game. After I grabbed some breakfast and once again sat down to watch a football game. This only led to more distraction as I eventually picked up my computer and started browsing the Internet. I didn’t actually decide to go to the library until about three in the afternoon. My time at the library was for the most part productive, with the occasional distraction on Facebook or YouTube. After finishing as much work as I could I went home and made some dinner and spent the remainder of the evening watching TV.

Overall the weekdays tended to be more productive. I realized that when I kept myself busy, not necessarily with school work, with activities such as exercise or reading I tended to spend less time on the internet or engaged with technology. However, even while completing my daily tasks during the week, I could not help but find myself almost subconsciously checking my texts and going on Facebook at random times of the day. For the most part I repeated a very similar routine throughout the week. I did notice on Thursdays I spent very little time on the Internet or watching TV because as the week progressed I became more tired and tied to go to sleep earlier. Also most tests or quizzes fall on Fridays and therefore I spent more time studying on Thursday night.

On Friday I did not do any homework and as soon as I got out of class I spent more time just hanging out with friends or watching TV, before going out later at night. On Saturday, I woke up late and went to the gym. After I spent about an hour or two doing homework, and the rest of the day was spent either hanging out with my friends or on the Internet.

In the end I came to the conclusion that I spent a good amount of time on the Internet, but not to far off from the average time spent by most people my age. Also despite the fact that I do spend a good amount of time on social media, that isn’t the only thing I use the Internet for. Some times the Internet is given a negative connotation for being a distraction that wastes away your brain. However, that all depends on how you use it. Even though the Internet is distracting for me, a lot of times I will use it to read an interesting article or to keep myself up-to-date on current events. In this case I am browsing the Internet and distracting myself from what I could be doing, but at the same time I am still stimulating my brain.

This new media phenomenon says a lot about the United States, in terms of which direction we are going in the future. It is pretty clear that so much of our daily lives revolve around the use of electronic devices whether for business communication or for social interaction. However, it is difficult to say whether this will have a negative impact on American society in the near future.