Week six

Social media can be a negative social amplifier. 
Being online makes people act differently than they would in real life. It would be very unlikely for a random person to just come up and shout at another person but online, trolls are everywhere. Because they are behind a screen and they cannot see the other person, they do not feel guilty about the behavior. 
Teens are also effected by this new technology. Teens have always wanted to follow their peers but because of the Internet and social media, trends happen faster and negative behavior spreads faster. "Now, because of the Internet we see that worldwide cultures are changing at warp speed." Susan Lipkins (Of Cigs and Selfies: Teens Imitate Risky Behavior Shared Online)
We have also seen the phenomena of oversharing. I had one former Facebook friend that shared something like this daily "did five loads of laundry, mopped the floors, made chicken for dinner". I did not understand why this person felt the need to post this on a regular basis but she is not the only one to do so. The Youtube video "The dangers of oversharing on social media" gave us one good example of why this tendency can be a bad idea. The article on CNN.com by Matthew Stucker is another very good reason to keep your private business off social media. When someone loses a judgement to the tune of $80,000, that is a very hard lesson. 
We all have to remember that when it comes to free apps, we are the product. Nothing is really private when it is on the Internet.

Week Five

The topic of fake news is a very timely one and a very interesting one to delve into. Most that use the term are more likely describing news items that they do not like or reports that show them in a negative way. This is not fake news. Something else that has become popular is propaganda. It also used to be called yellow journalism. It is usually more concerned with grabbing attention than having much content or with any kind of real research. It is bad journalism and it is considered unethical by most that call themselves journalists.

Another interesting topic is what shows up on our social media feeds and how it gets there. Facebook has been under a lot of scrutiny for the algorithms they use. Other sites are guilty of the kind of personalization that they think users want. As Eli Pariser points out in his TED talk Beware the filter bubbles, “this moves us very quickly toward a world in which the Internet is showing us what it thinks we want to see, but not necessarily what we need to see.” We may be uncomfortable seeing posts about gun control or the most recent mass shooting but we all need to have these kinds of discussions if anything is going to change. Change is never comfortable, it is never easy. The comparison Eli makes to eating is awesome “instead of a balanced information diet, you can end up surrounded by information junk food.” We don’t always want to make those healthy choices, but we need to. It is the same thing with the content we are seeing on our news feeds and in our Google searches.

Week four

We have learned how social media has changed everything from journalism, to politics to our own brains. Most humans used to think of the concept of “knowing” information as memorizing and retaining that information. Now we just rely on Google to give us the information. It is amazing to witness the power that social media has. It is really interesting what social media has done to journalism. Now, it is more of a two-way street and anyone can report on something. Something that Clay Shirky said has stuck with me “Because now that media is increasingly social, innovation can happen anywhere that people can take for granted the idea that we’re all in this together” I think the idea that we’re all in this together is highlighted by what happened in Tunisia. Mohammed Bouazizi just wanted everyone to know how unfairly he had been treated but I don’t think he realize that the power of social media meant that his message would spread and that the world would learn of the corruption. Most studies show that the Arab Spring movement was not arranged through social media but the coverage of it was spread much farther because of social media. That is very powerful. Now, we have a politician that tweets just about every day. Good or bad, there is no doubt that his use of social media has changed politics in the United States forever. Politicians have known for quite a while that if they want to run a successful campaign, they need to have a social media presence but none of them have used it to the extent that our current president has.

Week three

This week we learned about the information age. We were shown scientific proof that multi-tasking is not a productive way to get anything done. It makes you do all the tasks poorly. Everyone tries multi-tasking these days and they think they are doing so well and getting so much accomplished but that is not the case. Our brains can lie to us. Our egos are also to blame. Speaking of our brains, science has also discovered that the use of social media releases dopamine. No wonder so many people are so addicted to it. The TED talk by Abha Dawesar was very interesting. She spoke of time warping technology and I have to say that I agree with what she had to say. One thing she said was “The gap between what we can perceive and what we can measure is only going to widen.” I think that everyone needs to take breaks from social media. The more we can interact with the real people around us instead of through screens, the better. I’ve heard of people that go out to dinner and encourage everyone to put their phones face-down in the center of the table. If anyone looks at their phone during dinner, that person has to pay for everyone. I think that is a great idea because I see people all the time that are out with each other and never look up from their phones. The only way to fight back from the effect that social media is having on our brains is to avoid social media when possible. I am to blame with this as well. I am trying to make more of an effort to unplug from it after learning about the negative affects from the TED talks and other videos we watched this week. My husband and I also make our thirteen-year-old take time away from it daily. Every parent needs to police screen time with their kids.