Wild Card

Before this class I had never read a blog or had any idea on how to go about starting one. I remember that my sister’s ex-boyfriend said one day that I should read his blog, and I just thought to myself, “um I don’t think so, that’s kind’ve weird.” My conception of blogs at that point was that they were for weird computer people that didn’t have anything better to do with their time, and that it was for internet stalkers who couldn’t find any real people to communicate with. I just thought for some reason that that stuff wasn’t for me. To be honest it freaks me out a little to think that I can post something and anyone can read it and respond back. It makes me feel very vulnerable. When I think of the limitless amount of internet users it scares me, much like the sensation of looking out into to the ocean. I get a chill when I do that and think to myself how can something like this even exist. It is an “awe” moment and it is something in life that I will never truly fathom.
Being part of this class and having to write this blog opened my eyes to how blogs actually work. In reality only the people that know, or the people that are in your circle of friends, are going to end up reading your blog. In this case, that included my classmates, and a few of my friends who I had told it about. Random people never commented on my blog and I never had any weird posts to wake up to. This was a surprise to me and a relief.
However, I am surprised at how long it took me to actually visit a blog post and also to start one. It seemed like it was the thing to do a few years back, except I never hopped on that train. If it weren’t for this class the opportunity probably wouldn’t have presented itself. I think the cool thing now is becoming part of a social networking site and communicating who you are through those sites, and not so much blogs.
I liked the experience but I don’t think I will continue with my post after the class is over. It just isn’t really my style of communication. I would rather have instant responses like I do in Facebook, instead of having to wait around for someone to take a gander at my post. In addition I write a lot less on my social networking sites then I do on my blog. I like this because it takes less time to get the point across. Only when I am in a deep and contemplative mood would I want to post something on my blog.
With the invention of the computer and with the continued advancement of technology communication will continue to thrive through these apparatuses. Because of these things our culture will continue to move from the pen and paper to the keyboard and the touch screen. Pressure is put on society to learn how to use this equipment because big business profits from it, and the way our government is currently set up it supports big business. In addition our culture supports the growing use of technopoly because it makes things simple. I think that Americans in general are trying to find the quick way, the easiest way, and the most economical way to get things done. Computers allow this to happen. I think our society and culture is lazy and we can see that through the fact that Americans are the most overweight people and through the increasing dependency on technology. We don’t want to do things ourselves because we don’t want to think. I was listening to the radio and heard that our brains have actually gotten smaller and that they don’t weigh as much as they used to. This does not surprise me in the least.
With technopoly growing we can sit back and watch the machines do the work. It really is a genius system that we have created. But in the end I believe we only end up hurting ourselves.

Wild Card Entry!!!

I recently bought a car and was so excited that I did it all by myself. There is a lengthy process of signing papers and filling stuff out after you’ve been approved for a loan as I was. I didn’t pay cash so I decided to go through my credit union in hopes of getting a lower interest rate. During the final process of filling out all the paperwork they asked me if I wanted to set up a direct withdrawal from my bank account for my car payment. This is what I had wanted to do from the beginning so I said yes, and gave them all my bank account information. They told me that it wouldn’t be taken out this month but it would be starting the following month. So we finish up with everything and I drive away from the dealership in my new car feeling very satisfied and proud of myself for having used some of the rhetoric I learned in a previous class to negotiate a more reasonable price on the car.

I am very aware that I just did a grown up thing by buying a car and will have monthly payments to make to my bank. Every 5th of the month for the following 36 months I am to have a certain amount of money in my “car fund,” a special account I created to make my car payments. This is scary for me, but something that I am prepared to do. I understand that if the money is not in that account that my financial future will be greatly affected.

As the 5th of the following month comes around I am eager for my first payment to get withdrawn. I have put the money in the “car fund” account many days before the payment is to be taken out. When the day comes I check my online banking in the morning, evening, and before I go to bed, and nothing. They next day I check online again and still nothing has been taken out. I then wait another day and when nothing happens yet again I start to panic. I think to myself, “this is supposed to be easy, I put money into the account and they take it out, and I can transfer and manage everything through my computer.” Then I think maybe I should have done it the old fashioned way, by just writing a check and sending it via mail. I mean that way would have been way less stressful at this point. So I call the bank and tell them that I am looking at my online banking account and that money that is supposed to be taken out of my one of my account’s has not been taken out yet. They do some research and let me know that my online banking account has been frozen because someone tried to access it one too many times with an incorrect password and so that froze my entire account. I’m thinking “o geeze,” just my luck. Once I get my account unfrozen and things taken care of, the next day I check and the money has been taken out.

In regards to this assignment I am thinking that if I had done it the old fashioned way then I could have been spared this very stressful and confusing situation. If someone hadn’t of tried to hack into my online banking account through a computer then my account would have never of frozen and things would have been fine. But this is a risk that you take when you do things over the computer and next time I will be better prepared to manage a situation like this.

In our textbook it talks about how we can resist Technopoly, however I think this is a very difficult thing to do. When something is so prevalent it’s hard to stop it from progressing. In the above example I just gave, even though I had trouble with my first car payment, that doesn’t mean that I am going to stop managing my accounts online or using a direct withdrawal system. When I weigh the benefits of using a computer against the cons, the computer wins. This is how you know that you have a very powerful enemy, when it wins regardless of mistakes in the system, mistakes that can be very detrimental, such as mine that could have affected my credit. I would have to say that this is something Postman didn’t discuss, how powerful the computer, internet, and technology in general actually are. This makes being a resistance fighter all that more challenging and a difficult attribute to build within people.

Week Six: Ages of the Internet

For the first generation I decided to interview my boyfriend. He is twenty three years old and spends hours on the internet. He spends a lot of his time looking for new songs by his favorite artists. His favorite music is regeatton and that genre isn’t particularly popular in the United States so he looks for a lot of songs of that sort online. Secondly he spends a lot of his time in front of the computer looking for cloths. He is pretty picky in what he wears and usually likes higher end designers and brands. He has an obsession with shoes and likes for them to be unique in their design and color. It’s hard to find that kind of stuff around town and so he browses different sites to find what he likes. All of my boyfriend’s family lives in Chile and so he never gets to see them. I know that he writes his mom ocassinally and his brother who is in Argentina right now almost every day. This is really the only way he can stay in touch with them without spending a tone of money. He also spends time chatting with his buddies on Facebook or MSN about weekend plans, girls, sports, and really anything they have on their minds. In addition he stays in touch with what is going on in the news in Chile by reading their newspapers and watching the T.V. broadcasts over the internet. My boyfriend has no trouble finding his way around the internet. I don’t think he’s ever asked anyone for help, but that is the same I think for anyone his age. He says that when he spends a whole day without a computer he is so bored and feels like he has no idea what is going on in the world. He feels lonely, which I find funny that not having internet access can have that affect on people, but not uncommon. When a tool such as a computer has such power to do so many things for you, you become attached to it and dependent on it a way. I feel much the same about my cell phone. Probably because I have internet access on it and I make calls and text from it as well.
I interviewed my mom for the second generation. She says that during the past few years she has learned how to manage a lot of her finances over the computer. She pays most of her bills over the computer now and does online banking which she says is very convenient and helpful at times. When she needs to transfer money from one account to another she just logs in and it only takes her a few minutes. She likes it because it leaves her from making trips to the bank and more time to spend with my stepdad and six year old son. She has also recently created Facebook account which my sisters and I have gradually helped her learn how to use. She hardly ever posts anything and rarely gets on it but she says she wanted one to keep in touch with her daughters. My sisters and I all live apart and I am the only one that lives close. We are all over 21 and have different lives so she says it’s a way for her to stay connected to us and see what we are up to because she knows that we post regularly. She also likes that she can see our pictures. She uses email to connect with her brother who lives in Texas and with my sister who lives in Arizona. She can easily browse the web when she needs to find an answer to something, for example she told me she needed to find the recipe on how to make a roast. She likes the usefulness of the internet and she says it doesn’t bother her that society is pushing promotes thing the use of this kind of technology. What she told me was that you can make what you want of it. It is a choice to use the internet to accomplish tasks and if it’s something that you don’t like to use then you don’t have to. She still balances her checkbook every week and she still sends checks and letters in the mail for some things. She uses both, the old way and the new way of doing things. She says that the way she uses the internet has affected her life for the better. She has no addictions to it and said that she would be sad if she didn’t have a computer or internet connection at home and that’s it’s worth paying for because of how it simplifies and makes other areas of her life easier.

For the last age group I Interviewed my grandpa who is a native of Mexico and comes to visit family during the summer so he can spend time with his grandkids. He is sixty five and when I asked him what he thought about the internet and if he used it at all he said he doesn’t even know how to use a cell phone much less a computer. He wasn’t bitter about it he just laughed and said there was no way he could ever learn how to use a one. I can understand where he’s coming from. He grew up in a house that had no electricity and in a town who shared one phone. He has worked in the sugar cane fields all his life and technology is something that he is unfamiliar with much less computers and the internet. When I asked him how it had affected his life he said it hadn’t. Since he never started using it in the first place his life has stayed exactly the same. When he wants to pay his bills he drives directly to the place and either pays cash or with check. Most recently he has been using his debit card although at first he was cautious about it. He isn’t comfortable using the computer because there are so many steps and so many clicks of a button to get to where you need to go. Secondly he says he doesn’t know how to type so he rather just send something in the mail or deliver it himself. He is a sweet old man and I don’t blame him. His understanding and upbringing simply make the internet something far too complex for him. He sticks to the old ways and if that works for him.
I think it’s harder for our older generations to move towards computer technology because they grew up in a world where hard work and durable goods sustained the economy. The shift from that to an information seeking and technology advancing society is quite large and the gap is far too big for people such as my grandpa to close. I can understand why our older generation struggles with adapting and learning how to use the internet. It can be complicated and hard for someone who has no tech skills whatsoever. When I think of how my sisters, my boyfriend, and even my mom grew up, it was so different then my grandpa’s. Background and upbringing I think play such a big part in how you use the internet and computer as an adult. In our book it talks about how CMC contributes to innovation and communicating new ideas. For people like my grandpa, communicating new ideas would come from face to face interaction with friends, family, and people in general, not over a computerized social system. This is just one example I could think of from the book that is a clear distinction on a younger generations use and view of technology vs. the older generations use of technology. I am sure that there are older people who do get online, I just don’t know many, and they are few compared to the other age groups.

Internet Community. "Viva el Fut"

I don’t know if many of you are familiar with soccer or as it is called in every other country “futbol,” but the biggest sporting event in the world just took place this past month, The World Cup. It is the most highly anticipated event because one team from every country in the world has the ability to quality for this tournament. Unlike other tournament finals such as the NBA or NFL, the winner of this final is the Champion of the World and it means even more because they get to hold that title for four years. Thus, it takes the tournament to an entirely different level than any other sporting event and the title of champion is even more prestigious. Every four years it is held in a different country and it is so awesome because the tournament invites people from all over the world to attend. You will see presidents of different countries attend, artists of all nationalities, Kings, Queens, princesses, politicians, actors, and many more.
For my internet community I decided to join a world cup 2010 fan club. Anyone who wants too can join and it is a place where you can post about your predictions, talk about rosters, which teams are playing well, who you think will win what games, the players, scores, talk crap about the refs, argue plays, and get wrapped up in the spirit of the tournament. Everyone in the group has one thing in common, soccer. Whether they love it or are only members of the group to say how stupid it is, “futbol” is the topic at hand. I played futbol all the way up through college and played here at OSU. Playing in the Pac-10 had always been a goal of mine and so I have a strong passion for the sport. It wasn’t hard for me to find myself at home with the group. I knew all the teams in the tournament well so I was able to post a few things and respond to others with little hesitation. I felt comfortable talking to others in the group because I know what I am talking about and when you know a lot about a topic it makes it easier to talk to others about it as well. I felt like a member of the group when people started to respond to my comments and posts. I felt that when someone responded to my comments that my post was indeed valuable. Most of the times people would agree with me, for example on a play were the player was clearly off sides but the referees didn’t see it. On one occasion someone totally called me out and said I was wrong and must have been drunk when watching the game. I thought this was funny but I posted back with valuable evidence supporting my point of view and from there we had a brief but adult dialogue on a goal that was made, but should have been called back.
Agreements or disagreements, I felt a connection to this group and that I was accepted. In chapter 6 of Wood/Smith it talks about how communities in its original sense are being redefined. That instead of having to be in the same geographic area and talk face to face, it can also mean creating relationships and connections with people who share common topics. I would consider my online soccer group an online community despite the fact that I might be millions of miles away from anyone else in the group. Distance doesn’t matter. That is not what unites us; it’s what we have in common and that is something that computer technology has also redefined. Chapter 7 of Postman goes into detail on this aspect. Computers have replaced many aspects of our lives and redefined many others. The idea of community is just another one of the limitless examples that will continue to come with time.

letters

The person I chose to write a letter to via snail mail was my best friend’s mom, who has always been a supportive and caring person in my life. My best friend and I played on the same soccer team which was a competitive traveling team. It was expensive and many times my twin sister and I couldn’t afford to go to California, Texas, or Arizona for the prestigious tournaments. I don’t know how exactly but Sue, my friend’s mom, always managed to get enough money donated from businesses to go. On top of that she made sure that we always had enough money to eat and if we didn’t then she would give us some just in case. I see writing a formal letter and actually sending it through the mail as a big deal and so I chose someone who was important enough to meet the description. I feel that everything is done electronically now so its extra special when someone actually takes the time to write something by hand, put a stamp on it, address it, and put it in the mailbox. I wanted her to feel that emotion when she received my letter. I made sure that I proofread everything and that my writing was clear and legible. I even picked out nice paper from Kinkos.

Like I said earlier I see snail mail as being more formal so in my letter I wasn’t just writing to say hi or catch up, I was writing saying that I really appreciated all her support when I was younger and that if it weren’t for people like her then I wouldn’t be where I am today. In addition I wrote on some memories from the past, and of things yet to come. I put a lot of thought into the letter and didn’t mail it out until it was perfect. It took me three drafts until I was ready to send it out. I was a little nervous and anxious if I was going to get a reply.

The letter I wrote via email was to my sister who is currently is living in Arizona and attending UofA. She is an inspiration in my life because she pushes me to study hard and accomplish my goals. Education has always been a priority in her life and I admire that trait about her. I am currently trying harder in school to make her proud. I know it means a lot to her for me to graduate. My letter to her was much different than my letter to Sue. It was less structured and had humor. I didn’t worry about my spelling as much, just as long as it made sense. The language I used was more laid back and age specific instead of formal. I used acronyms at times and used an inappropriate word once or twice. Even though my content was serious my tone was much more laid back. I wasn’t as tense when I wrote the letter to her as I was when I wrote it to sue. Obviously my intended audience had a lot to do with that, but also the fact that email is so easily accessible and easy to use makes sending letters through it less formal. If it wasn’t so quick and easy then I would put more effort into it. I think a lot of people would.

My letter to my sister was sent instantly and she wrote back to me the next day. I have written her back twice since then and it usually only takes her a day or two to respond. On the other hand the letter I wrote to Sue I didn’t get a response to until a few days ago and I sent it about a week and a half ago. Hers was equally as formal as mine except her handwriting was a little nicer. She said that she really liked the gesture and that she valued the effort that I put into sending her a letter.

In Chapter 5 of Wood and Smith it talks about how CMC plays a role in one’s well being. I think that being able to write letters via email and communicate with others in real time can have positive and negative effects on people. It could be used to bring people closer together but it also could be used as a tool to write letters to strangers, create viruses, have an online affair, and take away from other positive aspects of your life. You have to make sure that the reason in which you are choosing to communicate online are healthy and sound. Its so important to be aware that at any time you could be sucked into the online realm. People sometimes forget the old ways of doing things. Writing a letter via snail mail might actually be better because overall it takes away less of your life writing letters and gives you more time to do other things you like. For example instead of checking your emails daily and responding to others which could take hours you wait a few days until you get a response via snail mail and respond whenever you have the time.

The Truth About Facebook

I’ve had my facebook account for almost six years. I got it my freshman year of college and it wasn’t something that I even created for myself. My friend did it for me as a surprise because he had been badgering me for months to start one and he knew I would never do it myself. My excuses were simple “what’s the point? Is it hard to set up? Will it take me forever, and why would I want a facebook anyways?” The idea seemed completely foreign to me. I just wondered what the big deal was with facebook anyway. Mostly I was afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to find out how to maneuver the site. Things like that frustrate and annoy me. When it isn’t simple then I don’t like it. Back then I barely got by doing my online banking. Since that time I have drastically advanced in that area. I can’t be sure but I think it’s because my actual face time with my computer increased. I mean the amount of time I spend in front of my computer went from like 45 min six years ago to about 2-3 hours a day. There are many reasons to explain this. One, as I became independent and had to pay for my own bills and manage my own accounts doing everything paperless and online saved me time and money. Second, since I started college my laptop and internet access are crucial for every aspect of being a student (ex: this class). Lastly, people just don’t communicate like they used to. It’s all done through cell phones and computers.
From what I’ve been able to observe from facebook about how people tend to want to be perceived and the things they want to reveal is that pretty much they want to make it seem like life is good and everything ‘s ok. I hardly ever see someone write “I hate my marriage and want a divorce.” This is a reality that exists for many people but it is something that our society does not want to hear about. Thus it is something that you would never post on your facebook. Why? Because in general, people want to be perceived as being happy, gay, blissful, and enjoying life. People don’t want other people to know the bad things. I wouldn’t want everyone to know that my life is a wreck and I am a big failure. That stuff stays private and hidden and the good stuff gets exposed. There is good and bad in my life but I want to be perceived as a person who is making it in life. I want people to know that school is going good, that I have a great social life, that I have a good relationship with my family, that I bought a car, that I’m going swimming today etc.. When in reality I’m about to have a panic attack because I don’t have enough money for rent, that I don’t spend time with my family because I work to much in order to have enough money to pay rent, and that I lost my pool key so on these hot summer days I can’t even go to the pool. Life is hard and we all go through tough times. I don’t want to reveal my struggles to the world because I want to seem strong and confident, powerful and in control. In Our textbook wood and smith talk about messages fashioned through media are reflections of self. Well if this is the case then my explanation above makes perfect sense. People don’t just leave out the bad stuff because they want to; they do it for a reason. If I am telling myself that I’m going to be fine, I’m going to make it, things are going to be ok, then those are the messages that I am going to radiate out through the media. In order for those thoughts to be true I have to think them to be true. I don’t know if any of you have read the book The Secret but it has essentially that same principle; send out messages into the universe and they will come back as being true. I reveal things that I want to be my reality and I think that for the most part that is ok. As long as I am not hurting others and if I feel it helps me and my identity in a positive way. I want the reflection of myself to be positive and that’s why I radiate positive and happy things on my facebook. If I say so, then it will be so.
I think if our society was different and talking about all things was accepted then I think I would be more revealing on facebook and show more than one side of my life, not just the good stuff but also the struggles. I think a lot of people would, not just me.

Week 2: Wall-E and Cybercommunication

The plot of the movie is that seven hundred years from now humans will leave planet earth because it will be too contaminated to live on. Wall-E is a robot whose purpose is to clean the planet. He roams the earth making cubes of trash and piling them high in the forms of actual buildings. Wall-E is able to learn and communicate through electronic things. If he wishes to describe a feeling or emotion he plays music. If he wants to learn how to do something he will watch the television and copy what he sees. One example of this is when he learns how to dance. He watches a dance routine from an old movie and copies what he sees the characters doing. When out collecting trash during the day he keeps his eyes open to see what is useful to him and what is not.
It’s funny how Wall-E has been able to create a personality for himself despite the fact that he is alone and that he is a robot. He is able to do this through the interacting he has with technology. We can also see this in our own society today. Through the television, computer, cell phone and radio, we are able to create and change our own personalities based on what we see and hear through these mediums. I think that the cell phones play a bigger role in this than any other electronic device because of its easy access and universal use. Anybody can have a cell phone. It doesn’t matter if you have the best one or the cheapest one, a phone is a phone. The other day when I was working I was shocked to a 2 year old with an iphone in her hand. I watched her for a few minutes and it was amazing to me how she knew which application to press on the iphone to get to youtube and watch Sesame Street. Anyways, I feel that I would rather text someone then call them because for some reason I get nervous when I talk on the phone, even if it’s with my friends. I think my personality is a lot funnier when I text and that I am a lot more relaxed and calm. I will even see that someone is calling me and not answer and then text them back saying “sorry I missed your call, what’s up?” I know that this is weird, but I also know that I am not the only one who does this. I think that the computer allows people to change their personalities even more. Facebook, myspace, eharmany, and whatever else there is out there let’s you create an image for yourself that you wish you had. Not all people do this, but it happens often enough. I am guilty of doing this on a certain level. I have put pictures up of having a great time at a party, but in reality I was super tired at that party, I am grumpy from overworking and sad because I miss my sister who has moved to Arizona. However, people don’t see that in my pictures. All they see is me dancing and smiling and thus they think that I’m having a great time and life is good. Cybercommunication can be misleading and I think it’s important to not take things to heart right away. Being aware can really change the way you interpret things.
Just to briefly touch on the humans in the space ship. I thought that they were incredible funny and I hope that we are not actually like that in 700 years. Everyone was overweight, obviously because no one ever got out of their chair and spent their entire time in front of the screen. They communicated with each other through their screens, even when they were right next to each other. It is possible that in the future we will lose the potential for face to face interaction because of cybercommunication. New technologies will take away from that type of communication. We see it today but on a much lesser level. I will give an example of this further on. In addition to becoming an obese society we will also lose much of our abilities to cope with life. The ways in which we deal with stress, love, heartache, sadness, will change. I am reminded of a movie that I recently watched called Surrogates with Bruce Willis, were their real human bodies don’t actually do anything but their surrogates live their life for them. The humans stay in their rooms the entire time connected to their surrogates through a machine. A character in the movie would not leave her room because she had lost a son and could not handle the stress of having to deal with his loss and the separation it had caused between her husband. I imagine that cybercommunication has the potential of taking the role of avoidance. We can use technology to avoid certain things in our lives. Things that hurt us, things that we want to ignore, and things that we would like to see changed. I think that cybercommunication allows us to change our realities in any way we like and to appear different then we truly are. If used the wrong way it can hurt instead of help mankind.
I fear that like Postman says in our textbook there is not a decade that goes by when new inventions aren’t made. We are making great strides in the areas of technology and communication and it is always evolving and changing. I don’t know if any of you are familiar with the new iphone4 that just came out. It has the ability to video call someone, so much like Wall-E, how people can talk with each other and see each other on the screen at the same time. The new iphone4 has this same ability. I see this as a slight glimpse as what is to come in the future. Bacon said that science and invention are to improve the human condition. But after reading this blog you can see how this is not exactly so.