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HDBEENDOPE

Meet Darius Henry also known as HD. I have known Darius since the 9th grade and he has been one of my best friends since. I knew he would be one of the most interesting people to talk to about their life on social media. Here’s what he had to say:

Photo Source: Instagram

Me: What social media platforms and apps they have used now and in the past?
Him: “Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Instagram and Snapchat. I use Instagram more now than I did before and Facebook less.”

Me: Do they use their real name(s)? Have they ever used aliases or created fake accounts? Why?
Him: “I have an alias on Facebook and never created a fake account. I created an alias on Facebook because people I didn’t know were adding me and I wanted to separate them from my friends. Prior to creating a fan page I had already added people on my Facebook and didn’t want to sift through the ones I knew and didn’t know, plus Facebook has a cut off for the amount of friends you can add, like 5000 or so. Every other of my social media accounts are under my rap name.”

Me: What different personas do they construct in each of these platforms and how do they relate to aspects of their experiences in life?
Him: “I’m the same person in all platforms, all my posts tie into me. My Snapchat is more personal and my Instagram and Twitter are more for business. Snapchat is more in the moment, like if I’m out side and I see a really dope view and I take a picture versus Instagram where it’s more like a presentation to the world. I would never create separate pages because I probably wouldn’t be on social media if it wasn’t for what I do. HD needs social media, Darius is good without all that.”

Me: Do the digital personas they construct help them cope with the problems they face or do they create new problems? In what ways?
Him: “Neither. If it created problems for me I wouldn’t be on it. HD needs social media, Darius is good without all that.”

Me: Have you ever been bullied or criticized for what you do through social media?
Him: “Yeah I have in the past. Negative feedback makes you want to react but I’m now at a place where I understand people more. My first reaction isn’t to react but to understand why.”

Darius is a musician who uses social media to interact with his fan base. His use of a wide range of social media platforms has allowed him to promote his brand with his fans from the Americas, to Europe, to Australia. In the interview, he says that he uses social media for his business and less for his personal life, “HD needs social media, not Darius.”

Cyberspace is  place where we can be any version of ourselves, because it allows us to exchange ideas, have conversations and participate in communities we would not normally have access to. Turkle says, “We have the opportunity to build new kinds of communities, virtual communities, in which we participate with people all over the world, people with who we converse daily, people with whom we may have fairly intimate relationships but whom we may never physically meet (p. 9-10).” Not everyone is a successful musician who gets to tour around the world like HD, which is why cyberspace works in our favor. We can virtually meet people and form friendships through the Internet with people we do not know. We can create different personas from the ones we show our real-life friends.   We can be whoever we want online.

Creating friendships online can sometimes be easier than in person for some people. Conversations may flow easier and there are ways to  make up for the lack of emotion that face-to-face contact has. According to Athique, “participants in online forums were seen to compensate for the lack of social cues by expressing themselves in new ways… (p. 69).” Some of these ways included emoticons but now they can me anything from memes, gifs, bitmojis (personal emoji), etc. Cyberspace is a virtual world that has created opportunities for individuals to advance their personal and professional selves.

  1. Have you used social media to start or advance your career in any way?
  2. Social interactions through media can have negative impacts in our lives if we allow it to overpower our face-to-face communication. What are the consequences of “taking social media too far?”

What makes you you?

In this interview, Karandeep Kainth is asked a series of questions describing his individuality in the digital world.

Question 1: What social media platforms and apps have you used now and in the past?

“Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Myspace, Whatsapp, LinkedIn”

Social Media Mixed Icons - Banner

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Question 2: Do you use your real name(s)? Have you ever used aliases or created fake accounts? Why?

“I use my real name on social media apps like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Whatsapp for socializing and connecting purposes.  I am able to find others and others are able to find me much quicker and efficiently by using my real name.  I have never created a fake account because it is completely unnecessary since I have one existing already.  I did not create a social media profile to deceive or annoy someone else.”

Question 3:  What different personas do you construct in each of these platforms and how do you relate to aspects of their experiences in life?

“I use facebook for socializing purposes so in this I am mostly talking to friends and seeing what everyone else is up to.  On Snapchat the more creative, everyday life is shown because you can take pictures and instantly send it to someone else for a short period of time.  On Whatsapp, most of my family is there on various group chats so it is more bonding with them.  Instagram it just scrolling through newsfeed.

Question 4:  Do the digital personas you construct help you cope with the problems you face or do they create new problems? In what ways?

“My online personalities definitely shape who i am.  Each social media platform shows a different side of me whether it is family oriented, friendship oriented or just a fun-loving person oriented.  This really creates a diversity when I am meeting a new person and trying to understand their perspective for doing specific things.  Also this helps in seeing different options when i am using problem solving techniques in real world applications”

Why is our persona on the internet so important?  Who actually cares what a college student in NYC does?  Georgia Daley explains this idea further in her vlog on December 13, 2014.

Georgia Daley brings up one important concept: “self-centered.”  In terms of our reading, this concept is similar to “self-presentation” in Chapter 7 of Adrian Athique, “Digital Media and Society.”  Athique states:

From a symbolic interactionist viewpoint, the public-private binary denotes a series of mutually understood social conventions which determine the most appropriate gestures for social interaction.  The distinction between public and private also has practical implications for maintaining an appropriate relationship between the ‘I’ and the ‘Me’.” (99)

In the interview above, there is a distinction between “I” and “Me.”  For example, Karandeep mentions he uses Facebook from an “I” perspective: “I am mostly talking to friends …” as oppose to WhatsApp where he projects the “Me” aspect: “…most of my family is there…”

Another concept Georgia briefly discusses is the use of social media as a platform where you can be “professional” and “serious.”  In Turkle’s Chapter 7 “Aspects of the Self”, he talks about Multi-User Dungeons (or MUD) and the different ways users use MUD as their form of a serious platform.  For many of the users Turkle interviewed, MUD became their platform to the serious world.  For example, Gordon “experimented with many different characters, … all [of which has] something in common.  Each has qualities that Gordon is trying to develop himself” (Turtle 190).  Through social interactions on MUD, Gordon met and got engaged to a women he had met on MUD.  For many users like Gordon, MUD was their “professional and serious” life no matter how digitalized it became.

Questions:

  1. Do you think that with the development of technology and digital individuals, it will eventually become a norm to have “fake” identities on the internet?
  2. Can you think of possible security issues from the perspective of media media owners that can arise from members creating multiple fake accounts?

Will the real U please stand up?

The different ways to express ourselves, often times have people wondering what the real us is like? or which of our personas is the real us?

I got the opportunity to interview one of my close friends. Her name is Stephanie Goris. She’s currently in the Real Estate business and agrees that through social media, she has been able to advance her career and express herself in many ways. Here are her ansers:
1. As per social media platform and apps, I am currently using Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. In the past I have used Myspace and Twitter.
2. I use my real name for all my accounts and have never used a fake alias. However, I only use my first name for all my accounts (excluding Facebook because it’s required)
3. I definitely have constructed different personas through my social media platforms mainly due to the audience or “friends/followers” i have. For my Facebook, I constructed a more conservative persona since I have all of my family and co-workers as ‘friends’ on the site. I am most careful of what I share since I want to hold a professional persona. However, on Instagram I have more friends from high school so I will portray a glamorous persona; in that I only post happy and upbeat post to portray a happy lifestyle. While on Snapchat, I only have friends whom I see and interact with outside of social media so I tend to post more day to day personas and it is the most reflective of my daily life. Also, since Snapchat does not hold a digital trail which people can search for like on Facebook and Instagram, I am more keen to post things I wouldn’t post on other sites. 
      This relates to different aspects of life experiences because I will post different experiences depending on the social media platform. For example, if I recently accomplished something at work or had a family event, I will post it on Facebook. If I had a fun night out I will post it on Instagram. If it was something little that happen during the day or if I was bored, I will post it on Snapchat.
4. In my opinion, I feel like the digital personas I constructed does help me cope with problems of privacy. Due to my audience on different social media platforms, it gives me the liberty to to pick and choose who sees my post. On the contrary, it does create new problems because it’s creating different digital personas of the same person (me) and can limit potential interactions with different friends/followers I have. It also portrays a different persona depending on the site which can cause internal conflictions of categorizing or judging my own life experiences to fit the persona I created depending on the platform.
As my friend Stephanie has stated, it’s become easier for everyone to potray a different persona in each of these social media. The driven concept that we are able to express different ideas, thoughts and images in different sites, while not one of them portraying the same persona is fantastic. This is similar to Turkle’s reading and one of the MUDs’ user experience. As he states that “gives people the chance to express multiple and often unexplored aspects of the self, to play with their identity and to try out new ones”. Fortunately for us it hasnt stopped there. Now that we are able to express ourselves in many different ways, technology also gives us the opportunity to experience things in many different ways from on simple source.
In chapter 5, we discovered the world of virtual reality and role-playing games. Technology has “has led to the creation of large-scale virtual worlds where millions of players interact with each other through conventional mouse, keyboard and voice interfaces. Many of these games also allow for the wide-ranging personalization of the game environment in response to the commands of game players.” I myself have witenessed how powerful internet based games have become. I have younger cousins who are in love with the game of basketball, well not the real one the virtual one 2K and they spent most of their time playing and connecting with other players from home. So that, it has become a community of competition and fun, and although in this games he might seem like a really good player, in life he’s not.
1.From your own personal experience, do yout hink the way you potray your personas through social media has helped you build a virtual community?
2.Do you think we will ever just become virtual beings?

Contact Lenses That Take Videos

The preferences over camera sizes are interesting. In the 2000s, when I actually paid attention to my surroundings, compact cameras were small yet bulky, now having compact cameras at a small and slim size. Lets face it: we don’t want a lot of weight on our hands, literally. Now big companies like Sony want to make one of the smallest cameras to put on your eye, to record videos, with the possibilities of recording with enhanced accuracy since our eyes can see at a resolution as much as 576 megapixels.

Not only will the SONY contact lenses enhance accuracy for video recordings, but also have a wireless processing unit and a storage unit. Therefore it does include numerical representation, which Manovich says is one of the five principles of new media. According to the article, SONY believes that these lenses will be a solution for different complicated tasks like with critical surgeries, recording criminal activities and spying. The lenses will include tilt sensors for feature aperture control, autofocus, and image stabilization. Attached to the article, comes a diagram showing the lenses with parts such as a wireless communication processing unit, antenna, circuit units, and much more, therefore modularity, where independent parts are present. An average blink are between .2 and .4 seconds, so after .5 seconds the lenses can start or stop recording. The blinking function, despite having sophisticated parts attached to the lenses, is a “low-level” automation. Variability exists, if modulation exists as well (Manovich, p.46), because of how Google and Samsung have patent pending for video recording contact lenses as well. Even Snapchat wanted these lenses too. And lastly, transcoding, in which a culture layer and a computer layer, which is a human and computer mixture, can coexist which is already true to this product for being technological but also humanized because finally something can be seen from ones’ point of view.

Although an interesting invention in the works, the major problem of privacy is a deal-breaker for simple people like myself. The problem with innovation is the boundaries of inventing a bit too much. According to Athique for Digital Media and Society, he said “Certainly, there can be few technologies that have been so prevalent within popular culture as the computer (aside from the car). (Athique, Chapter 1, p.18)” He then goes into how computers used to represent ultra-modernity and dependence (on technology). So can these lenses become something as widespread as the computers that represent ultra-modernity and will be heavily depended on? I personally do not think so.

Questions to think about:

  1. How would you think any company be able to restrict and minimize any potential foulplay to occur when using these lenses, like invasion of privacy?
  2. Are we, society/companies/developed and developing countries, TOO focused on the next best thing and why?

The Virtual Reality Revolution

Pick an article (online or offline) on a recent invention related to computer technologies. They can be software, hardware, AI etc.

  1. What is the problem the writer tries to solve?
  2. What is the evidence used?
  3. How is the evidence analyzed?
  4. What is the argument/conclusion/finding? Is it convincing? Why or why not?
  5. What’s missing from the analysis? Do you find any contradictions?
  6. Using Lee Manovich’s new media principles, does the technology described in the article carry any of these characteristics: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding? Explain.

Virtual Reality Revolution

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While advancements in computing and media technologies have been faster than ever, virtual reality has completely changed industries. From entertainment to gaming to even real estate, VR has taken the user experience one step further. We do not have to look at a monitor and clicking through buttons anymore. Instead of watching a movie, users can now live through it.

In Forbes “3 Ways VR Is Changing How We Learn”, the problem that the writer tries to solve are the antiquated systems that do not engage with the user as much as VR does. The evidence he uses to back this up are his three points: learning a new language, practicing military drills, and higher learning can significantly improve if we virtual reality. The writer, Tomas Laurinavicius, states that when it comes to learning a new language, people are easily distracted and spend countless amount of hours trying to get to a new level. He points the finger at the program that does not provide enough stimulation in the learning process. In practicing military drills, soldiers are required to make quick decisions that may have painful consequences for themselves or other people. These stressful situations are challenging and can cause them to make the wrong decisions.  Lastly, he argues that students in the classroom may have a tough time doing work outside of the classroom – when they go home, they are easily distracted and are frustrated when they do homework. The simple solution for all of these realistic problems is virtual reality, where students, soldiers, and language learners alike can have interactive bots to guide them through the process.

Virtual Reality

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The evidence Laurinavicius uses provides no statistical analysis, but they are relevant enough for readers to understand where he is coming. I too feel frustrated when I do not understand a homework question, and having a virtual reality experience where a bot is intelligent enough to provide a solution is revolutionary. On the other hand, not having data to back up his claims makes it hard to truly understand the impact that virtual reality can bring. He says, “Most likely, the numbers of those choosing to embrace such technologies will rise”, but does not provide the numbers. This makes his news article an opinion piece more than anything else. Despite being an opinion piece, I think that the information he provides is convincing because it relates to my day to day activities and makes me excited for the future. His conclusion is that virtual reality will grow in magnitude and influence, which I agree with because how practical VR is for any ordinary person’s life.

The article also has some alarming contradictions too. Lauranavicius writes, “By being able to “see,” “touch,” and “interact” with that place, you increase the likelihood of acquiring new ideas and approaches not to mention adding added value layers of fun and engagement”, but it may also make things a lot more difficult. If people are dependent upon virtual reality to learn, living ordinary lives and developing human connections may be seen as secondary to them, and they can develop a desire in making virtual reality just a reality. Couldry best describes this problem when he writes, ” … within the apparently infinite expansion of global connectivity, newly hidden forms of disconnection are emerging.” (Couldry, 10) As noted in modern history, people are glued onto their monitors and phones. It begets the question: are people ready for the virtual reality revolution?

Based on Lea Manovich’s new media principles, what is beautiful about virtual reality is that it carries all five characteristics. The first three, numerical representation, modularity, and automation, can be found through the complex algorithms of bots and engaging mankind in a digital space. Especially in automation, layers of both AL and AI will be clear as day. With “techniques robust enough for image editing, 3-D graphics, word processing, graphics layout, and so forth.” (Manovich, 32). The fourth characteristic, variability, will be dependent on the system itself. Virtual reality will be fluid enough to have data in every form imaginable. Content can be analogged, shared, and transported in a matter of seconds. In fact, virtual reality might even transcend the ways we view data. In a world where AI is as humane as humans, data might be shaped into a new way for processing. I don’t know about you, but it seems like a new wave is coming.

 

Questions:

a) How do you think virtual reality would change your college experience?

b) What aspect of your life would improve the most if you could live it through virtual reality?

 

 

Digital Technology and Creativity

 

Photo Credit: Imran Ahmed

Ralph Lauren | Photo Credit: Imran Ahmed

The article I chose highlights a new application of digital technology and how it can be used in a creative manner to engage audiences and give them a unique experience. The authors announce an event hosted by the retailer, Ralph Lauren to demonstrate the cutting edge persona of the brand by merging the events, lighting and film industries. In order for this post to make sense, please see the video that covers the event here  and then the article posted by the authors from business of fashion (which includes the behind the scenes video production) here

The problem trying to be solved in this article is the barrier of the 4th dimension which has always restricted designers and engineers. The new technology described in the video , along with the scents, audio, visual elements definitely pushes that barrier into a new realm. The authors make the argument that the event was open to industry people and not the end consumer, causing them lost opportunity in sales. Ralph Lauren could argue that their mission of wowing their industry friends with the 4d experience was enough buzz  to carry on the brand image of RL, and thus indirectly reaching their audience.

The evidence used was the behind the scenes videos which depict the technical aspects of the production where lighting, media and live events were merged to create an immersive  experience, illustrating the modular nature of the technology as described by Lev Manovich as being the “fractal structure of new media. Media elements, be it images, sounds, shapes or behaviours, are represented as collections of discrete samples(pixels, polygons, voxels, characters, scripts) These elements are assembled into larger – scale objects but they continue to maintain their separate identity”  the technology also includes  transcoding where the analog nature of the photo  shoots and building models were transcoded into information that a software could synthesize and create a vibrant performance.

I think the authors did a detailed job at analyzing the technology and event and had their own opinions about how the technology used at the event had not enough of an impact on sales but from a creative directors point of view the story telling aspect of the event made a positive brand image impression on the minds of the influential attendees which was a good enough accomplishment for the Ralph Lauren team.

Questions

  1. Where else do you see this technology being used?
  2. Have you experienced a production similar to this and how did the performance/ installation affect you?

 

Risky telegram?

Over the past few years, users of social media applications have become increasingly wary of the security and safety of the social media applications they use. Messenger applications such as Whatsapp have been identified to be insecure. That is why the telegram application was introduced to offer security and enable people to create large groups for effective communication. The article by Heba Soffar,’ the advantages and disadvantages of telegram,’ highlight how this application has become important for users. This application is fast in messaging, offers high security, it has no ads, and most importantly, messages and information shared are shared in cloud, and people will never lose any information shared.

Image by Kevin Rothrock

However, William Turton, in his article ‘why you should stop using telegram right now seems to disagree security of the application. He reiterates that the application has had some security issues. For instance, chats are not encrypted by default, as advocated by the FBI. The author also argues that the application leaks data and information of its users. So, the major question remains whether this application offers the security of the information of its users. There are major contradictions relating to this aspect, as many people have debated about the security of the application. I agree with Heba Soffar on the security of the application, as the secret chats of the users offer end-to-end encryption, making them safe and secure. It has become one of the hottest chatting applications, as many users love the security and safety of their communication.
This new application has some of the characteristics described by Lee Manovich. For instance, you can create an automated bot on this application without coding, and automation is one of the principles of the new media. Secondly, this application has also followed the principle of transcoding. You can get notified through telegram when a user is transcoding. Numerical presentation is also another principle evident in this new technology. Telegram displays a pixel-like array image which has a set of alpha-numeric characters. These examples point to the fact that telegram has adopted these principles of new media in its development.
Questions
1. Does the end-to-end encryption on this application mean that that the chats and conversations of users are completely secure?
2. Should chat and conversations be private and confidential? What if criminal activities and deals are conducted in these messaging applications? What is the appropriate course of action?

Iphone Contacts Reinvented

You walk into the general interest meeting for Alpfa and you meet this great group of people.  You exchange numbers and find out you have the same circle of friends.  How?  With Humin.

Sarah Buhr, author for TechCrunch tries to bring awareness of this iPhone new app which combines all of your contacts from other social networks, personal or professional, into one application which “tracks” your relationship.  Now available for Android users, Humin was created as “an elegant solution to the age-old problem of remembering whom you have met” according to Steven Tweedie, Business Insider.

The creator of the App, Ankur Jain, introduces the idea of Automation and Variability to the standard iPhone app Contacts as he attempts to make our iPhone think the way we do.  Computers? Think like humans?  A.M. Turing proposes the question, ‘”Can machines think?”‘ (Turing 433) during the 1950 and today it’s still developing.

When I say Automation, I’m referring to how media is created, manipulated, and accessed.  More specifically when a “… user modifies or creates from scratch a media object using templates …” this is known as low-level automation (Manovich 32).  A simple example of low-level automation is when you open a Microsoft Word Template and modify the pre-idenified document content.  Simple right?  So with Humin, the same concept is generally the same.

Variability on the other hand describes “a new media object [which] is not something fixed once and for all, but something that can exist in different, potentially infinite versions” (Manovich 36).  The variability aspect is brought into the app “when you add a new phone number in Humin, the app will bring up the person’s name, where and when you met him or her, whom you both know, and where he or she works.  If your new contact is on social media, it will pull a picture so that you never forget his or her face,” according to Business Insider.

To push this idea of low-level automation and variability, Sarah Buhr, using comparative analysis of a similar app known as Connected and primary sources of information in the forms of quotations from the app creator himself.  This information is then analyzed to show the advancement of Humin compared to it’s competition as well as the ideology behind the creator and intent of the app.  For example, Jain shared with TechCrunch that he “…wanted to create a way to find your connections the way you actually think about them.”

At the end of the article, Sarah Buhr revealed her own experience viewing her boyfriend’s contact list.  It seemed like she wasn’t too impressed at what she discovered.  She had searched for someone who wasn’t in her circle of friends using a few keywords such as ‘”bar dude”‘ and ‘”OkCupid”‘ and didn’t get much feedback from the app and was left confused if she had actually met the person in the past.  She does however reveal that app does keep a better “track” of social relationship.  If you think about it, it makes sense why a computerized application will have accurate data with someone who you had frequent interactions with than with someone who you have only met once or twice; similar to the concept of emotional intelligence.

In my opinion, for an app to be solely based on reading location, time, and generally a humans mind, it’s not very effective.  What’s the purpose of installing an application to store information about the who, what, where, when, why and how if it doesn’t do so effectively.  Also, I would assume the concept of privacy is huge for an application like this the computer is programmed to access your location, photos, and social media accounts.  However, there is little information for consumers.

Questions:

  1. Would you ever see yourself downloading Humin?  Knowing the amount of privacy you’ll have to give up.
  2. How far along the success line do you see Humin going?  Do you think the idea that Ankur Jain is trying to introduce will evolve into a more practical application?

Virtual Reality– Is the Hype Real?

Virtual reality has become the talk of the Internet in 2016. Everyone is curious about this new technology and how it can impact social media, the entertainment industry, and life in general. In a BBC article written by Tim Maughan back in July, the author writes “… and how do they intend to profit from VR’s promise, navigate the hype, and avoid its current limitations?” In this article, he further explores this question and how we can learn to adjust to the ever-expanding world of technology.

Tim Maughan goes on to discuss how virtual reality “drops an audience into a situation and forces them to react emotionally, in ways that traditional filmmaking or journalism might struggle to do [BCC, Tim Maughan].” This is one of the leading ways in which the entertainment industry can profit from VR. This is analyzed through the consumers who attend Giant, a virtual reality experience inspired by real events. After attending Giant himself, he had asked the creator if they were worried VR wouldn’t catch on and if he thought the operation was risky. The creator of Giant responded simply: “I’m not worried because I know that it’s coming… It might not be at the rate that some people are hyping, but I don’t think as artists we’re hyping it ourselves. We’re just trying to create it.”

Photo Credit: Getty Images

After talking to many people who have experienced VR, creators of VR, and experiencing it for himself, he believes that the expectations surrounding virtual reality are so high that there is a bit of a gap right now in delivering the promise of those expectations. He does believe that the technology is coming and this is just the beginning of the hype. The technology surrounding VR can change many industries, especially the film and gaming industries. It is evident that once people try something and they like it, they will want to buy it. Many people do in fact think that VR will become the next big thing and we must all patiently wait for its break through. I agree that it may not happen today but eventually, with the hype surrounding it in the media, VR will become a huge profitable hit and will in fact change the way we look at technology.

            According to Lee Manovich’s new media principles, virtual reality carries almost all of the characteristics: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding. I mostly see VR carry the modularity characteristic. “Just as a fractal has the same structure on different scales, a new media object has the same modular structure throughout. Media elements, be it images, sounds, shapes, or behaviors, are represented as collections of discrete samples (pixels, polygons, voxels, characters, scripts). These elements are assembled into larger scale objects but they continue to maintain their separate identity (Manovich, New Media, p. 51).” The final product depends on its much smaller counterparts to come together as a successful end piece. In the BBC article, the creators of Giant said they film many different shots from different angles and bring it together to give the audience the illusion of being able to look around at 360 degrees.

Do you believe VR will replace the way we play video games and watch traditional movies?

Will investing in VR technology bring profit or loss to those companies trying to make it happen?

When TV and Web Collide

I have to admit that I have a love for television that rivals my love for the internet. I like many others enjoy binge-watching; the act of watching an entire series or special in just one day while mourning the end of a great show simultaneously. However, I take it even further when I bring my obsession over to the internet. That is why even though this post required us to spend an hour surfing the internet I actually believe I dedicated much more time dedicated to this assignment based on my habits.

After watching a television program I usually take to IMDB to read the trivia, fun facts and opinions from others about what I have just watched. In this case I had just finished watching the three part mini-series on music group New Edition, and took to the internet to see how others felt about what I considered to be one of the greatest biopics I have ever watched. IMDB is a wonderful source of news but also a good way to kill time on the internet. Whenever you think you have run out of information you can simply click on a link and find more. When I wasn’t reading the message board comments I was clicking on links of the actors, finding out about past projects of theirs and what they would be doing next. Then if they were in a previous show that I was familiar with I would find myself on that IMDB page, repeating the process over again.

Image Source: BET.com

In a pre-digital age I probably would not have had the same experience. I remember watching shows when I was younger and going back to school the next day and discussing it amongst my peers. There was no Twitter to post my comments and I was not on message boards reading the opinions of strangers. If the people close to me did not watch the same thing I just kept my comments and opinions to myself. However, while I do still discuss TV shows amongst my peers it is much easier to go online and see what people are saying while things are actually happening.

Computerization and digitization improve human activity because it makes everything easily accessible. Knowledge is much easier to obtain, if you are unfamiliar with something a simple Google search will solve that. If you want to find someone you lost contact with you can search and find their Facebook page.The negativity of the digital revolution comes with Communication amongst others. Often we are so obsessed with what is going on in the media world that we neglect the people around us. We go out to eat with friends and instead of talking to each other we spend time texting others who are not there. People often forget to live in the moment, there is a need to take a picture or record a video instead of taking in wherever you may be and simply enjoying ourselves. The digital era is making us so lost in the web that we forget the world right around us.

 

 

Questions

  1. Do you see digital media taking a personal effect on your own relationships with others?
  2. What would you do believe is the future of digital media? Will it expand to something bigger than it already is or will a new form of media take place?