Author: et164472

Congratulations, You’re Famous!

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You’re famous! Didn’t you know? Just as celebrities get followed around, get their picture taken, and have obsessive fans keeping tabs on them from their birthday, to their favorite color, and underwear preference, you’re no different. But you most likely don’t feel like a celebrity, do you? You don’t see hordes of people following you around, taking your pictures, or anyone lining up to interview you and ask what’s your favorite flavor of ice cream. But I will tell you that your “fans” know just as many details about you, more than you would think.

They have collections, volumes detailing everything about you, from everywhere you go, to everything that you do, they have your photo, they have videos of you, and even your private conversations; they know where you’ve lived, who your roommates are, everything. But where did they get all this information from? You gave it to them silly. Let me give you an example, don’t you remember that private snapchat photo that you sent to that person you like that you thought got deleted after its short life span of 3 seconds? Well right after you sent it to them it went straight to your “fans” who then sold it to the highest bidder, you’re famous alright.

Just like in the example I gave one of the biggest problems with today’s society is that nobody knows that they are “famous”. Nobody knows that they are constantly being watching. After reflecting on my own online activities at first I didn’t think that I could possibly leave much of a digital trace but after thinking some more I realized that I was wrong. I may not post anything on Facebook, and I don’t have an Instagram or twitter or a Pinterest or anything else of that sort but I do have a Snap Chat.

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With Snap Chat, we are directly outsourcing our personal information in the form of photos, videos, and messages. People have the wrong idea about the app completely. In an article titled Snapchat now owns your photos, even after they disappear, the author explains “The app that pioneered sending secret – and sometimes saucy – snaps that automatically self-destruct can now see, and store, everything you send – even when you no longer can.” It practically like we don’t own ourselves anymore. Right after you use the app the media that you created belongs to the app and they have the right to share, publish, edit or modify that piece of media in anyway that they want. With every update that we download we are giving away more and more of ourselves.

As Mark Andrejevic would explain, this relationship between us and the different media servers that we use create the concept of market surveillance. Andrejevic points out that the problem is that “companies are able to track our movements, transactions, and communications without our permission or, in many cases, knowledge” (iSpy: Surveillance and Power, page 4). The online world is constantly surveiled  and every detail of information that we shared is offered up on the market. For me I don’t think that this is acceptable to any extent. If you want my private information ask for my permission, I’ll still most likely say no but its at least better to be asked and for people to be aware.

Earlier I mentioned that I have a Facebook but I just don’t post on Facebook and there is a reason for it. If I do post it will most likely be photos relating to one of my most recent volunteer trips, or a comment to wish someone happy birthday. Why is that? Well, its because Facebook is a place where not only do I have my friends but I also have my family members; since it apparently considered rude to not accept a friend request from that aunt that you never see. Media is turning into a disciplinary society, “a social formation in which we become both jailor and the jailed” (Digital Media and Society, page 212). Not only are we watched by our “fans” we are also watched by each other. And because of this we change what we would post, and the media that we produce. The digital authorities are here to stay and the sad thing is that most people don’t even know that they’ve showed up.

Lets Think:

Do you think its wrong that we live in a disciplinary society? Do people need surveillance to keep them in check?

Do you think it is possible to change this media trend? What can we do to stop or prevent the way our information is being handled?

 

Who is the real me?

When thinking about identities in social media I have one friend who came into my head immediately. Her name is Louis. It’s not her birth given name but, what is often referred to in the Asian community as her “English name”. She is a big social media user with over 600 followers on Instagram social media is a big part of her life. In this interview, we take a sneak peek into her social media identity.

Q.What social media platforms and apps do you use now? What platforms have you used in the past?

A.“Currently I use Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. I used to use Myspace and Twitter but not anymore?

Q. What made you stop using Myspace and Twitter?

A.“Myspace got old, as the trend changes you have to change with it. And Twitter I just found extremely confusing I didn’t understand the point of it, I still don’t.”

Q. On the social media platforms that you use do you put your real name? Have you ever created a fake account?

A.“On some platforms I use my real name, Facebook has my Korean name, Instagram has my English, and Snap chat has a variation of my English name. Have I ever created a fake account? Of course, I have!

Q. What did you use the fake account for?

A.“I’ve made fake Facebook accounts before. One as a girl and one as a guy. I used them for the same purpose. Have you ever seen a girl on Facebook who thinks that she is all that? It’s so annoying. I made a fake account and named the guy Jeffrey he was really good looking and I would use my fake accounts to comment on these girl’s pictures and tell them that they weren’t all that but I did that when I was much younger.”

Q. Do you feel like you have different personas on each platform, a different version of yourself that relates to your experiences in life?

A.“Definitely! On each of these platforms I was able to find myself. Facebook shows the innocent me, I go to church, I volunteer, and I can be professional. On Instagram, I’ve learned to get creative. I make funny videos and make people laugh. Part of me is over there. Lastly snap chat is my real day to day craziness my big moments my small moments I feel I found my importance.

Q. Do these different platforms help you cope with any problems that you face? Does it give you any problems.

A.“I would say that cope is a very strong word. I guess I could that its helps me though. It helps me connect with other people, if I’m feeling sad a can watch a funny video, you can get compliments that will make you feel like your amazing, it gives me company. It allows me to be my real self. I would say that it does give me some problems in that it can sometimes be addictive. It also makes you lose your sense of contentment, when I see other people and their fabulous lives and you think why can’t I live like that.”

Q. Last question, so would you say that social media is important to you?

A.”It is important to me. It helps me keep connected with all my friends, know what’s going on, a means for sharing my thoughts. When you meet me you can’t see all parts of me at once. But through social media you can you can see all of me.”

Whenever I am with my friend she is always ready to upload everything on social media. From the interview I could see how social media is actually important for her. Before she used social media to make fun of others but she later moved passed that and began to develop herself.  I personally do not post of social media much but hearing her answers makes me wonder how I could also changed if I used media more of an expressive outlet.

Turkle Mentions this in “Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet. That it is now through the internet that people are finding who they are. People who are shy are finding way to talk to people be social, throw parties, even go after romantic relationships. When talking about the way that windows describe us she says “you identity on the computer is the sum of your distributed presence” (pg 13). Just like my friend her windows are the social media platforms that she uses. Each one is a collective sum of who she is. Through these platforms she has been able to develop herself, find who she real is to herself. The things she likes what she doesn’t her values.

Social Media is a powerful thing. It is a world within our world. In Turkle’s Aspects of the self there is a story about a man named Stewart. In his real life he was held back there were so many things that he wanted to do but had no means to. In the world of the internet he insists “that he does not role play, but that MUDs simply allow him to be a better version of himself” (page 193). For many people in this digital era it is amazing to see how the internet has either shown a person the better version of them or hold within it the better version of themselves.

Questions: Do you think that it is sad or wrong that a person lives their life loving the version of themselves that is on the internet more than the one in RL?

Do you think that if you used social media more you would find the real you, a part of you that you didn’t know was their or get addicted by the internet fame.

Would you let a Robot take care of you?

As technology advances and focuses on entertaining its consumer it is about time that we pushed it forward to use it for more than that. Technology not only to make life comfortable but as well as to aid its users. Technology to really take care of us is what Toshiharu Mukai seeks to accomplish with his invention of Robear.

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 In conclusion Byford finds that although Robear has a cute face, charming actions, and can gently lift his patients he cost too much and he is too complicated for a regular care worker to be able to perform maintenance on him. And for that reason it will take some more time before he is ready to reach the mass public. For me personally I find the idea of Robear to be very attractive but I agree with Byford’s findings because one of the most important things with a new invention is how easy it is to use and its cost.

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After taking a closer look at Robear he carries the characteristic of transcoding from Lee Manovich’s new media principles. In talking about transcoding Manovich explains how it is the blend of a computer layer and a cultural layer,

“the computer layer and the culture layer influence each other. To use another concept from new media, we can say that they are being composited together. The result of this composite is a new compputer culture – a blend a human and computer menings, of traditional ways in which human culture modeled the world and the computer’s own means of representing it. (page 46).”

This can only remind me of Robear because he is a blend of human and computer meanings as Manovich puts it. Robear imitates human culture in the form of care and assistance. But in the same way Robear is a set of automated actions put together by different strings of coding.

This also reminds me of Turing’s Computing Machinery and Intelligence passage where he questions computer intelligence in whether or not a machine can really think. With that analysis I cannot help but think of Robear. Turning includes a point “It is not normally possible to determine from observing a machine whether it has a random element (pg 5).” Robear is an invention that follows a set of predetermined actions as they are pressed on its control panel but if Robear were able to function without the control panel if he functioned from sight or by voice would that not be counted a random element? In a way it would be making its own choices, its own decisions. We have not been able to get there just yet but we are slowly becoming closer and closer.

With that I cannot help but wonder if society now would be able to warmly accept this type of caregiver in the household?

or

If one day it is possible for a machine or invention to be the sole caregiver in a household, not just for the elderly but as well as for personal assisting, looking after the young, cooking for us, driving for us, would you be able to accept it?

 

Would you have a Long Distance Relationship?

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As I spent my one hour online in observation of my activities I was shocked to imagine my life before the pre-digital era. In my time I played League of Legends, practiced my typing, watched YouTube videos, and most importantly I talked with my best friend and my boyfriend. When I thought about how I would do this in a pre-digital era I realized that I couldn’t and this woke me up to how big of a role media has had in my life. My best friends who I talk to and play online games with is name Josh but the problem is that my friend Josh lives all the way in LA. If I didn’t have digital media I would only be able to contact him through mail, who knows how long that would take; I doubt we would be close friends like we are today. And even worse I have a long distance relationship with someone who lives in Canada but frequently travels to Korea and Thailand. Without digital media I would have no other prospects other then the men in my regional New York area.

Although I will admit that it is not like it would be completely impossible to complete these activities but the matter is that it wouldn’t be the same. In the pre-digital era people still communicated, played games together, watched theater, typed, and found love. This did not change but the way in which these activities have been able to had an impact on us is really what has changed.

After seeing the personal effect that digital media has had on my life personally I would like to argue that it has brought positive effects to our society. Digital media has brought people together in more ways than one.

Would You have a Long Distance Relationship?

With the digital age expanding our range of communications through the internet people now have the chance of find love from practically anywhere in the world. Long distance relationships are hard but they are strong relationships, that teach people the value to be with a loved one. In a study done by Statistic Brain in May of 2016, 10% of marriages within the Unites States comes from long distance relationships. Without the digital media these marriages would have never happened. I wouldn’t have a boyfriend (gasp)! For this reason digitization has improved our human activity and made it possible for people to interact and communicate. Couldry quotes Marcel Proust’s book In Search of Lost Time saying “I felt more clearly the illusoriness in the appearance of the most tender proximity, and at what distance we may be from the persons we love at the moment it seems that we have only to stretch out our hands to seize and hold them. A real presence, perhaps, that voice that seemed so near – in actual separation!” (page 5). Here it talks about the effects that the telephone has played in our lives without it we could not feel close to the people that are actually far from us.