Blog Post 6/6/2014

This has been a wonderful semester! I have learn about social media and it's purposes; connect to family and friend, spread the word about a business or charity, as well as what it can do for an individual person.

Staying connected to family and friends has never been easier; I can instantly send messages and post photos to keep all my friends in the lope. Plus with pictures I can download once and it will hit all of my friends. On Pinterest I can have a conversation about something that interested in and getting to each other on a deeper level. I can get to know my friends and interests by looking at their Pinterest.

If I ever start my own business I will definitely have a Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube account to get my name out and try to get some photographers who want their names out there too! It is so important to use the internet for my advertisements because paper doesn’t circulate like it use to. Plus it is so much easier for charities to have everything electronic to save money on paper costs and to have a wider circulation with virtual sign-up sheets.

The web can benefit a person a great deal; through Pinterest a person can organize their thoughts, ideas, and plans on their boards. Google Calendar is easy to create and can be personalized and color-coordinated. Twitter can instantly keep a person up to date with the news and their favorite celebrities.

I enjoyed myself in this class because it taught me not to fear technology but to understand what the hype of social media and how it can be used successfully in life. I also was reminded and warned of the negative aspects of social media and how to get around and protect myself and future children.   

Reflection Blog

In class I have noticed we have spent a lot of time discussing how the internet is an easier and faster portal for people to hurt one another. Cyber bullying is happening much earlier because kids are accessing social media earlier in life. Scams, anyone can make a website and use a charitable façade and pocket the donations. Identity theft is also as easy as ever because of portals like TorProject.org out there. With that website a person can access personal information of another without a trace which does cause confusion and chaos.

Plus over sharing is a crime in its self; it can get graphic in content and context. But somehow Blair Koenig makes a living or at least a fan base by oversharing where mostly moms send her material of their children. By graphic I mean picture of poop or poop art smeared on the walls. People need to think twice before posting or sending anything through the internet because it will be there forever for the public to find at their convenience.

I think it is important for parents to establish positive relationships with their children off-line to teach them human interaction for the time in between birth and getting their smart phones. People shouldn’t rely on social media to get them in relationships for a potential spouse and career. It all starts in the exposure children are allowed with computers and movies. I believe children should get a weekly allowance of electronics because a person cannot keep them away forever but a parent can influence the purpose of and the reliance of the internet. But still television media influence the coolness in having multiple accounts in social media like having a Twitter, Pinterest, and Tumblr to stay truly connected with friends or have the ability to be “near” their favor celebrity.

So is social media helpful or harmful? Or both? And to what degree?  

Blog 5/23/2014

Paul Wilson a professor of Business was a special guest lecturer in class Thursday and spoke on “Fighting the Invisible Crime.” After a week of talking about how the internet can help a people or an organization he enlightened us ways the internet can be harmful not only to our computer hard drive and identity but also to our spirit. Professor Wilson reminded me that the internet is not evil; it’s the people who use it that are evil. Computers do not know how to bully someone or steal someone’s identity, people do; computers do what the user tells it to do. We also discussed the deep dark side of the internet and people can user programs to hack into someone else’s computer with no trace. All computers and people are susceptible to hackers with and without a computer. We also discussed Pornography and the Pence Amendment which is to stop the creators of websites to not have a misleading domain name so people have an unlikely chance of discovering an obscene website. Children would mistype a word and then be expose to inappropriate content and have curiosity get the better of them. Which is what I think happened to Utah and its reputation for being the number one subscriber to online pornographic material, curiosity. 

Blog post 5/16/14

In 2001 us four sisters we granted our first phones. My youngest sister and I shared while the two eldest got one a piece. It was a simple three by one inch silver cell phone that could do very little; it could call people and had limited primitive animation from wallpaper and screensaver. It have each my parents cell phone numbers as well as our two eldest’s number including other random family’s contacts that were never used. My younger she and I treasured it because it was a cell phone just like our friends but going so far in life we thought little about it. One morning we forgot the cell phone and that I was staying for choir after school. Walking home after choir practice we were stopped by a police officer looking for us; apparently not calling our mom after school with the cell phone worried my to the point that she called the police. My mom relied on technology as an indication that her children were safe; with that knowledge I have imprinted in my brain that cell phones were made to solely keep a person safe by checking in with your parents. Today phone have tracking features that allow a person to be found at a moment’s notice; this can save a life. This week focused on the usefulness of Technology. We also explored in class that older adults could use Facebook to find long lost parents with the help of hundreds of eyes looks at their message and other making connections. Technology today has also helped spread the word of service; through the news we can be updated on natural disasters and we can organize ourselves through social media devices to schedule a day to help others on need. The chapter, Kullena Khaled Said, which was assigned to us from the book Revolution 2.0 addressed an peaceful organized protest for the tribute of a police killing victim. Hundreds of people came together through Facebook, Twitter, and other means of typed communication to voice their concerns safely and to do something about it. Technology can keep a person safe and give voice to those who are afraid to speak aloud.  

Facebook and What It Has Done!!!

What I thought was interesting from the presents from the presentation on Thursday was the “Is Facebook making Us Forget?” piece by James Vincent in The Independent. The students who presented this piece asked the class to be ready to take a picture of a picture that they briefly showed over the projector. After they took the picture away they asked if anyone could describe the picture; very few could get very little accurate. Not that the students were smart or under observant, the students were just focused on getting a good shoot with their camera. Wait for the image to focus, wait for light to adjust, and quickly snapping a shot before the picture was gone. I knew my capabilities of my camera plus I naturally look at something before I take a picture of it so I knew my camera would not give whatever it was justice. I recognized the style from recently studying it, it was a Van Gogh. The point is that people are too concerned with posting an experience on Facebook that we forget to be a part of that experience. Even The instructor confessed to having some similar insistences of being there but not being there. Also if we have a group of pictures of a party on Facebook why need to remember an event or person when I can be put in an album categorized by date and a helpful title with people tagged with their names. If we have this information stored online of a hard drive then, according to this study, people will purposely forget names and events for the reason it is already remembered and can be accessed anywhere and at anytime. I only like that idea for those suffering for Alzheimer’s and over brain deformities when trying to remember a special event or people in general.  

Blog Post 2

This week we watched an interview of the renowned American journalist Katie Couric and how social media has influence her career. In the interview Couric said that she had to quickly adapt to the growing use of social media by her audience; she knew if she did not expand her methods of new publication she would out of the job. Plus Couric knew by using all these media tools to know exactly what her audience members wanted to hear. However Couric and the interviewer did question how reliable is the internet and media because people are gullible and will believe anything they read. That is why it is advised to wait and research events for confirmation of authenticity. As Katie Couric went on she considered her fans to be family when she mentioned that both her and her fans had three children together; she had that idea to hook her audience and to keep them interested in her and the news she would present. Plus Dr. Kinghorn responded to my question: does an institute’s admissions board research Facebook and other social media before accepting a candidate? Apparently yes. I was able find a picture on Pinterest showing a flow chart of social media and the years they came into existence. Once the year 2000 came along every year after that new social media portals were being created like people wanted to make sure they to talk to their friend without speaking as many ways as possible. Not all forms of social media survived but with the trend seen it looks like the world will always have a way of silent communication. I just wonder why do people want to know intimate information about the person on television, I myself have enough cousins to keep myself occupied. I do not need a stranger to interrupt my time.   

For the first week in Psychology in Social Media class I became overwhelmed by the many portals of social media are available and the number of them used by my classmates the same age as me. I have chosen to refrain for using a large variety of social media because I would rather enjoy the scenery instead of my computer screen. As a result I have become clueless to all kinds of current news facts and announcements; however I have developed strong face to face personal relationships. I willfully signed up for this class to aid me in my education major for I have recently seen computers and social media powerfully influence students and the methods of teachings for teachers. When I start teaching I not only want to be with the times but I also want to know how to utilize any resource to enhance my students learning and understanding. I had no idea there are so many media channels one person can be on. From the Newsweek article by Clifford Stoll states “visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems… Baloney” (Stoll). I would have shared his opinion when Stoll had this published in 1995 if I did not see this World Wide Web expand and be at its every peak. I am new to this overwhelming knowledge of the plethora windows of media of communication. I can’t wait to see how I can apply media as an advantage to my future classroom!