Author: j.cocchiarelli

What will advance in our digital future?

 

After realizing how much our privacy is at stake, I would like to see our digital future trying to fix our privacy rights while still advancing. Online users mostly do not pay attention to how their privacy rights are manipulated and this may hurt them down the line. Whether it’s with job opportunities or simply just having pictures out in the open that were intended for private Instagram use. Though I feel that privacy rights are tainted, there still are positive aspects to digital media. I do believe that digital media helps online users communicate with one another. For example, families in other states or different parts of the world are able to keep up contact with each other. I am hoping that in our digital future that more parts of the world will also have online access to keep in touch with loved ones.

Digital media has also helped our economy and this plans to only advance in the upcoming years. Another positive aspect is bettering our own personal healthcare. Being able to openly communicate on social media such as Facebook allows us to share positive posts and is a good influence on bettering one another. This article here elaborates on this concept. Maybe we can have an online healthcare system or community in the upcoming digital world to keep positively helping people in need and sharing advice.

Do you think that digital media can/will impact the healthcare industry?

Do you think our privacy can be fixed? Or is it too far gone?

Read the privacy terms!

Through the internet, our main online corporations work with the government. In this documentary, it is shown that the economic systems work with our government to keep surveillance on people. The biggest companies are Google and Facebook.

Many online users nowadays do not worry as much about their privacy. They are so used to simply hitting this button, not realizing what this can potentially entail. This documentary shows us that the government inquires about many online users through these big corporations. Most privacy agreements are extremely lengthy causing us not want to read it. Is this a coincidence? These corporations most likely know that the average person will not spend their time reading this extremely length due to them being desperate to be online.

The power in our society is unfortunately not distributed equally. Our government persuades corporations to leak and/or sell our personal information. This is by no means fair.

3 stories/facts that shocked me from this documentary:
1. TOM TOM sharing information with the police through their system so that local authorities can issue tickets.
2. Instagram is able to use our pictures and/or videos for selling purposes. In return, Instagram users do not get notified or compensated for their property.
3. An online user is considered a potential murderer because of his online search history.
It is no secret that the government is able to track whomever they want or need, but where is the privacy for the average person?
  1. Is having the opportunity to be online more important to you than having your privacy?
  2. After watching this documentary, will you think twice before hitting the accept button?

Do we feed into ourselves being tracked online?

Digital surveillance has grown rapidly over the years. While looking online, whether we agree with this or not, our server keeps track of what we have viewed. Websites and specific items that are kept in our shopping carts, etc. The quote from our reading “When we surf the Internet, for example, Internet browsers can gather information about the paths we take – the site we’ve visit and the clickstreams that take us from one site to another” (Andrejevic 2) relates to my personal experiences of online tracking.  For example, I was looking online recently for airline flights to Florida. For the next week, my computer then kept advertising the specific dates/airports I was searching for. This is to capture my attention from a marketing point of view.
On my personal computer, I do not mind that my history is being saved. However, if I was on my work computer, or a computer that is shared with a third party, it does feel somewhat violating. At work, it is not appealing to have others know what you are searching for on the internet. This all depends on your personal preferences.
Adrejevic, page 4,states “companies are able to track our movements, transactions, and communications without our permission or, in many cases, knowledge.” This statement is very much true. Though online users may say they feel violated, just simply using social media is allowing this to take place. Posting pictures on Facebook, Instagram, and other online apps is feeding into ourselves being tracked online by these companies.
I personally have mixed feelings regarding digital surveillance. I think it has positive and negative aspects. It’s positive aspects are that you can potentially have better opportunities arise by saving money on whichever item/deal you were viewing previously. Also, it can potentially prevent crimes from occurinng. For example, if an online user is googling terrorism or threatening things, digital surveillance can catch on and prevent this. It’s negative aspect is having an average person’s privacy violated.
This article further explains the good and bad of digital surveillance.
1. Do you feel like your privacy is invaded when your computer keeps track of your history in this way?
2. Do you think this is a good marketing technique? Or too personal?

Does your social media account shape you?

For this blog post, I interviewed my roommate who is heavily active on social media due to her fitness career in personal training. My roommates name is Kendall, She is 23, living in Manhattan.

  1. Kendall uses Instagram, Facebook and snapchat. In the past she has always used Facebook.
  2. Kendall does use her real name to get recognition within her business. She has never created a fake account.
  3. Kendall has created herself as a fitness persona. This relates to her life due to fitness being her passion. Creating this fitness persona on Instagram shows her successes in the fitness world.
  4. Relating to any problems she faces in life, Kendall does occasionally put motivational and positive quotes for others to share and appreciate.
“The Internet is another element of the computer culture that has contributed to thinking about identity as multiplicity (Turtle 178).” The reason why I chose this quote is because for some people, such as Kendall, your identity on social media is important on how the world views you. As social media has grown rapidly as one of the biggest trends in the world, it can make or break your reputation/identity.
 
In Antique, the quote “In the distinctive out-of-body experience of online gaming, the body once again takes centre stage in a symbolic form” relates to this topic of the online persona as well.  An out-of-body experience relates to your online persona. How you represent yourself online, will give viewers a large taste of who you are as a person. For some people, pictures on Instagram shape their lives to the rest of the world.
 
  1. Do you feel that your social media accounts outline who you are as a person?
  2. Does what you post on social media always reflect on your mood and/or day that you’re having?

Do you consider social media after death?

Over the past 10 years, social media has become such a large part of life. People in our society shape themselves with social media platforms. Their Facebook and Instagram accounts have shaped who they are. It is really crazy to think that before our generation this did not even exist. Our parents did not have cell phones growing up and we now depend on ours for everything. Whether we depend on it for directions, google, different apps, ect. We now check our social media pages in place of reading the daily newspaper. Do we even get the newspaper delivered anymore? The majority of people probably don’t even realize if they get a newspaper delivered to their homes.
Normally when thinking about the preparation of death, the average human being will think of their family and finances. How will their family be taken care of? Do they have a will? The NY Times has brought to our attention that their are other important aspects to now consider. Now, social media is thought of as well. ”What will happen to my social media page?” We as human beings have so much data and informations on ourselves invested in our social media pages that this is now being considered along with wills and finances.
Facebook has a feature for users where they can choose to delete all of one’s data, once Facebook is officially notified of their death. Google lets their users choose up to 10 people to be executors of one’s account for after their death. Since social media and having personal information online has become a large part of life, this may be something to consider. Also, to hand it over to someone you trust.
1. Does your social media account come to mind when thinking of death?
2. Do you think social media is as important as a will or an executor of a will?