Theme 5

There is currently a battle between those behind Facebook and those behind Google, to try and own as much of our internet experience as possible and dominate all of our activity on the web. Facebook does this by tapping into our relationships and encouraging us to use our friends for resource information. One of the main ways they do this is using the "like" button. For the users, it allows them to see what their friends like and relate to their likes and dislikes. Facebook monitizes this because Facebook creates a registry of what all Facebook users like and sell the information to retail partners so that they can find better ways to advertise. Facebook also encourages us to use our friends for resources by creating the status updates. People post questions they want their friends to answer or information they want their friends to know. This creates an almost instant response for those on Facebook.

Google, on the other hand, uses other methods to keep us on their site. Google helps us find information and websites by basing the results on what we have previously viewed on Google. While you shop off of websites from Google, Google will show ad's with relevant products on it, so that you do not have to leave Google's page to search for things. They all monitize their information by grouping together all of the sites people have went on, anonymously, and selling it to other companies so that they can see what people are searching. They do this so that they could better their advertising.

Overall, I think that Google will emerge as dominant when discussing which would make better use of our personal data to "help us" find stuff. Google has every website on the internet available for you with the click of a button. You can find anything you want within a matter of seconds. By using the websites I previously visited as a guideline for the future websites that come up when I press search, helps make the search a little more personal.

However, I think differently when discussing which has the best strategies to hold our attention to the site. I think that Facebook has many more attractions and things to do that would keep us on the site longer than Google. Google is just a search engine and a way to navigate to other sites. Facebook has games, profiles, photos, videos, etc., much more than Google does.

And here's something interesting I found while looking up information...

Facebook makes up 7.07% of web visits, while Google makes up 7.03%. While that it not much of a difference, it still shows that Facebook is more popular than Google!

Are kids different because of digital media?

Theme 4

Herbert Marshall McLuhan is a well-known educator, philosopher, and scholar. One of his most important ideas is the fact that media creates new ways of thinking and new environments. McLuhan also said that media affects out way of thinking. Although this may seem at first like a good thing, it really is not. In fact, certain media has actually affected our thinking, attention span, and memory.

One of McLuhan’s major theories is known as technological determinism. This is the idea that technology determines social changes in our culture and in society. He once said, “We shape out tools, and they in turn, shape us.” Our society is definitely shaped by new technologies. They create new environments our society has never been exposed to before. For example, the introduction of computers and cell phones in the past have greatly affected and changed our culture, both positively and negatively. It changes how we work throughout the day and how we communicate with other people. However, although new technologies like computers and cell phones had their advantages, they have also created problems. One major issue is that it is changing the way we think. Statistics prove that people’s attention span’s and memory have lessened as well. This is because the new technology has allowed for any and all information to be at our fingertips, whenever we need them. The article, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, explains these facts. He says that Google is doing the work of the mind. People no longer have to search for information anymore. This, in turn, has made people become less patient and less interested.

Another issue about new technology is how it affects children. Children are now learning in an extremely different way than years ago. This is because kids have become so preoccupied with technologies like phones, computers and video games, that learning is of no importance to them. In the article, “The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies By Their 20’s”, Bratt Stone says that children are technologically advancing at such a younger age because of new technologies.

One of the most interesting issues about new technologies is the idea of reading books. In a CBS News article titled “Huge Decline in Book Reading” the author Raksha Shetty says that only 47% of American adults read literature. The reason for this is the rise in television, movies and Internet. She also states that the most drastic decline from a decade ago was young people age 18-24. Only 43% of this group has read any literature, compared to 53% in the last decade. This decline is solely due to electronic media. People have new and more exciting things to pre occupy themselves with now, so why would they want to read a book; something that actually requires effort.

According to Marshall McLuhan, media gages the way we think and communicate. It drives social change. Although these electronic medias are beneficial to our society in many ways, they are also very concerning and detrimental to our learning and ways of thinking.

Theme 3

Almost all of the different technologies there are, are not the same as they were when they first came out. All forms of media change and adapt to the new technologies and innovations that are introduced in society. These different media’s are also transformed by their users. Some examples of “old” media’s that have adapted into new digital forms are television, film, books and radio.

When the first TV came out, not only was it just black and white, but it was very rare for a family to have one in their house. Now, many years later, the picture of TV is far better than black and white. Also, it is not uncommon for a family to have more than three TV’s in their house. TV has made drastic changes in its size and picture quality as the years have gone on, and it is still changing. Television sets have changed physical appearance for convenience of the consumer. Not only is the skinny flat screen easier to display in a room, it is also sleeker and more attractive. TV has also changed by becoming HD. High definition allows for better and more enjoyable viewing. TV has also become digital because of its on demand and online features. On demand is appealing to many people in our culture because we are always in a rush or busy, with no time to sit and watch a show at a certain time. Instead, you just record it for a later day. Or you could get it on the computer for free, whenever you want. Television has changed in a positive way as it became digital.

Another “old” media is film. Film has changed in a very similar way to television. Becoming digital, the picture quality has changed in both movie theatres and on DVD’s. Another major transformation is 3D. This feature is very popular because it is interactive. You feel as if you were in the film with the actors. Also, just like TV, as film became digital, the different ways you watch it have also changed. You can download them from your computer or watch them on your iPhone or iTouch. This allows for convenience, so you could be able to watch the movie anytime you want.

One of the most concerning “old” media’s is a book. As books become digital, they are becoming less and less popular. This is partly because more people have found more interesting things to occupy their time with then reading a book. Reading takes involvement and effort and that is not attractive to most people. Some ways that books have changed is by becoming “e-books” instead of “p-books.” Books have become available on new technologies like the Kindle and the Ipad. These two technologies have full books, like the exact hardcover or paperback book that would be in the library. People can now carry a whole library of books if that’s what they wanted to do.

Lastly, another technology that has changed is radio. Although radio has not made drastic changes, since it began, it still had made some. Listeners now have the opportunity to listen to the radio without listening to commercial, for a free, of course.

I think that no matter how they change, television and film will never die. Although I don’t disagree with the idea that TV and film will not be the same as in years to come, as it is now, I think that people will always be watching their movies and favorite TV shows. Watching a film or the TV is an escape for many people, from the chaos of everyday life and I don’t think that will change. However, I do not feel the same way about books. I think that eventually, in due time, no one will be writing books and nobody will be reading them. I feel that books will only be used in schools, for students to learn and get a better education, but they won’t be read for leisure.

Theme 2

Joshua Meyrowitz, a professor of communications, studied the effects of mass media on people. In his article, “The Separation of Social Space From Physical Place”, Meyrowitz explains that electronic media takes away from the physical location of things. However, it encourages the idea of para-social relationships. This is the idea that people form relationships with other people, usually celebrities, who do not even know they exist. A person who engages themselves in a parasocial relationship, become so involved in that persons life, they begin to think they are close friends, without even ever having a face to face conversation with them. One example of someone engaged in a parasocial relationship is Mary Dyck. Mary was a Kansas farm wife living in the 1930’s. She lived a very isolated life, in a quiet town and was always very lonely. She depended on the soap operas of the FM radio to entertain her daily. These soap operas became her form of escape from the real world. Mary became so attached to the soap operas that she started writing about the characters and what happened on the episodes in her diary, as if they were her real friends. Mary was able to create relationships with these characters, without ever physically being with them.

Another area about parasocial relationships that is more common and well known is Twitter. Twitter is an electronic medium where people update what they are doing at that current moment. These people can “follow” other Twitter users and look at what they are doing at that given moment. Twitter allows people to no longer need physical place setting for social communications. By updating what you are doing at any given moment, you are allowing for the chance of a parasocial relationship. This is because people can see all of what you are going, without you really even knowing who is looking. These people read little pieces of your life, or anyone else’s repeatedly. Eventually it will create your life story and people will become closer to you. It is like the thought of becoming intimate with millions of people. The communication medium Twitter also portrays the idea of ambient awareness. This is being physically near someone and picking up the mood they are in, through the little things they do. However, instead of being physically near the person, you are just viewing their page and are able to see how they are feeling. The thought of people who do not even know you, being able to know whatever you write about yourself, is quite scary. In fact, you can become so connected to people by the updates that you get to know them better than your own family. Because of Twitter and other electronic communication mediums, we have all lost privacy. They allow information to be readily available for anyone at any moment, so long as you write it.