Author Archives: sl124894

This article found in the New York times talks about the ways in which people use Facebook and how perception of ones self and others can be analyzed more critically when viewed online. The author talks about seeing a post for a missing person and before simply re-posting it, to help in any little way, he had to second guess what that post might mean to other people. He thought at first, of course I should post this, but then thought that this serious post might rain on everyone’s Facebook parade.

The message of the article is about the strategic planning that goes into creating a Facebook persona. On Facebook people are just trying to be themselves but when did being yourself ever require planning? People use Facebook to promote themselves in hopes to entertain others with their wit and charm, or to prove their intelligence to others, so when it comes to what people post more thought is usually behind them. The author talks about a conversation he had with a friend about why she didn’t re-post the missing person message; the reason behind it being that she didn’t want people to think that she “was ostentatiously doing a good deed”.

Facebook is an outlet for people to broadcast themselves for others to see, in hopes to create the best version of themselves as possible. In doing this people put more thought into what they post or say on Facebook because nobody wants to taint their Facebook reputation. Personal branding is what we see everyday on the internet, and even if people claim that are just being themselves they are putting a lot more thought into who they want to be when it comes to the ways in which they put themselves out there.

 In the New York Times, the article Devoting Attention to a Child and a Phone, All at Once caught my eye. This article talks about a new Iphone app that helps parents keep track of children’s play dates and also helps track their growth, health and emotional welfare.

Okay, this does seem like a useful app for new parents but whatever happened to doing things the old fashion way, or at least devoting more physical time to your children. Parents, put down the phones and interact with your children face to face. I have seen countless instances where parents have been with their children and have had a smart phone attached to their hand as well, or a family sitting at a table for dinner with their baby or young child being distracted by an Ipad. I understand that the internet has useful information about being a new parent but save that research for when the baby is asleep and don’t relay on a new app to help you keep track of your child’s growth.

This also connects to the way in which children will then use the internet. If new parents are being sucked into the world of Iphones and Ipads then what kind of impact will that have on their children? This all connects back to the discussion we were having about the ability to monitor the use of your child on the internet, and how it may be harder then we think. If a child grows up seeing their parents constantly connected to a blackberry or an Iphone then they will soon do the same. This involvement with the internet will soon lead to the issue that children do not know how to navigate the internet as responsibly as adults. Also, the constant contact that children have with the internet will then lead to children of younger and younger ages being able to navigate the internet. This will never lead to anything good, as children have a hard time seeing the division between public and private and also the fact that the internet has plenty of mature information not meant for children to see.

With the internet already surrounding children’s lives I think that it would be useful for parents to help in slowing down the process, not make it worse.

The internet is a very useful tool these days, but is it getting a little out of control? People already cannot stand to walk down the street with out having their ipod, iphone, or blackberry in hand, and new devices and technologies are being created every day to keep us even more connected to the virtual world. People are in constant connection to the internet which makes it easier for people to access information of any kind at any time with just the click of a button.

You may have noticed lately a black and white symbol showing up on billboards or in magazines. Once you see one, you notice that they seem to be springing up everywhere, but what are they? They are called QR codes or quick response codes, and they seem to be the next big thing in advertising. Personally I find them to be a scary realization of what the world is coming too, a world revolving around the internet.

These codes are used in advertisements and are links to promotional pages or pages with discounts and coupons. All you need to do is have a smart phone, download the scan app, and then you will be able to scan every symbol you see and it will automatically bring you to a page relating to the advertisement. The article found from CNN.com reported that 32% of smartphone users have scanned a code, with 53% using it for discounts or coupons, and 72% of users saying they would more likely remember an add that has a QR code.

Advertisements are becoming diluted by the use of the internet, now instead of people thinking of new slogans or eye catching pictures for ads, they are simply slapping a strange looking black and white square on the magazine page or billboard. Personally I believe that it is getting a little out of control, we cant even read a magazine now-a-days without being reminded of the unlimited information that can be found on the world wide web. I understand that the internet is great, but I don’t think that it needs to start being incorporated into daily life even more then it already is. These codes show the growing interest in the internet and the growing obsession that people have with being connected 24/7.