Lately it seems that many people use social media without even thinking about it. From innocent postings of a newborn, just minutes old, to picture of one self revealing a little too much skin. But are you truly aware of your actions? Do you think you would act in this manner 5 or 10+ years ago? Are you aware of what it truly has done to you?
According to Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Stupid” one might gather you are not fully aware of the true effects of social media. How many of you do research for a project but find yourself doing about 10 other things at the same time? I know I am guilty of doing such as I am watching Will Ferrell, Kevin Hart, & Jimmy Fallon Lip Sync Battle and reading these articles at the same time. This is prime example of what Carr was referencing to “The more they [People] use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing.” Carr continues explaining of how it use to be a task to read long articles and now we have what they call “power browse” which means you grab certain content, titles, and abstracts just simply going for that quick result and “win” of completing the read.
Lets take a moment and think how phones have changed our lives. Can you remember the day when you had to actually pick up the phone and talk to someone?!? 
Crazy right? But the truth is not many people use their cellular device as a phone anymore, it’s all about texting. When texting came out it totally changed the way society communicated. No longer do we have to use expensive phone cards, we simply send that text to our loved ones and it was sufficient enough for that day.
Lets take it a step further, how about the way we communicate via text. Writings like “Whatever, don’t care” Does this change the way our brain function works? and how we respond? I like to think so and I’ll give a perfect example – watch the Key and Peele Clip of Text Message Confusion (warning there is cursing) I am sure all of us have had that text or even Facebook post that was taken the wrong way which led to something that it shouldn’t have.
So how about the way we interact with others social media platforms. Did you know that when Mark Zuckerberg changed the Facebook platform to have “News Feed” people were irate as it showed other people what they were posting. According to Clive Thompson’s article “Brand New World of Digital Intimacy” The news feed add-on was so revealing of people’s information a group was formed and in less than a two-day span 284,000 people joined the group posing against the news feed. Mark made some changes to the news feed, but never took it away. Thompson expressed how due to the news feed add-on, people are now considering what use to be acquaintances friends as you are able to learn so much about a person from what they post. What are you thoughts about that? Have you encountered doing such a thing? How often are you finding yourself learning information of others based off their statuses? Lets take it a step further – I am sure we all know that employers are beginning to do some research on potential future employees through social media. Have you ever stopped and thought, “Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t post this picture of me _____” How many have that friend who posted a picture and tagged you in it when its an embarrassing photo? Does it even cross your mind that maybe someone looking to employ you will see it?
Did you know Facebook did a study by manipulating what posts were shown? Are you aware of the results – When shown a positive news feed, people tended to be more happier, when people were shown a more unpleasant news feed, people were becoming upset and some even depressed over all the bad news. Have you notice this act within yourself? What about when you read Mike broke up with Molly, does it always upset you? or Do you get enjoyment as maybe Molly deserved it? I bring up these simple points because I want to know if we are aware of these actions and reactions? Does it change who you are? Do you think the Social Media has changed the way you respond in certain situations? How do you think society would be if Social Media was never around? Would there be more or less human interaction? Do you let social media define who YOU are?
Issues in Cyberspace 2015 
I think the way in which we put our information out to the public has constantly being changing and will continue to do so. As boundaries are pushed and privacy policies change we don’t realize that we are so accustom to them. Do we even realize that none of our information is private anymore? It was interested to read that after Mark Zuckerberg made the Facebook Timeline people were initially very upset. As social media platforms changed, people now consider it as something completely normal. In fact, people want their information to be out there and available to the public. I’ve seen too many engagement, baby and sorority photos fill my Facebook Newsfeed as of late. As far as jobs go, places that are looking to hire you will definitely look to see if you have any social media accounts. Websites like LinkedIn are specifically made for this reason to help obtain professional information.
I had watched the Key and Peele Clip of Text Message Confusion before but decided to watch it again. It’s so funny because it’s so true. It shows us how easily things can get misinterpreted over a simple text message. Social media has changed the way society communicates professionally. I’ve noticed recently that many companies will text their employees for information or to relay a simple message to them. I think we have lost some of our “internet etiquette” when it comes to being a professional. Social media has taught us that shorter is better and addressing someone can be a lot more casual.
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Miles last question “does social media define who you are?” is one of the most important questions to consider with respect to social media usage today. One of the hallmarks defining who we are is the notion of authenticity. “Keeping it real” has been and still is a mantra of the youth generation, particularly the hip-hop generation. As Miles pointed out in his blog posting, people want their information, including very personal information to be out there on display. How more personal can you get than posting pictures of your fiancee and young children on your FaceBook page. And don’t we all get a rush with the number of “likes” and “comments” we get on a posting. But is it real, is is authentic? Zukerburg raises some real issues on this point. Even though we think we can paint a rosy picture of ourselves on social media, Zukerburg’s discussion of “ambient awareness”, that is the pick up on mood through stray comments, speaks volumes about a person. Twitter is particularly useful for following these seemingly small but significant personal comments. The notion of “weak ties” which for many of our FaceBook contacts is the perfect description, feeds well in to this paradigm. The Newsfeed function in FaceBook is the perfect way to keep yourself on your friends radar screen (particularly those with weak ties). Zukerburg’s quote from Tufecki referring to a village like mentality, where everyone knows eachother’s business “it’s actually hard to lie because everybody knows the truth already” is right on the mark. So in the end social media is as authentic as it comes, even if you attempt to paint a facade, friends will see right through it. Interesting paradox.
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Adrian, You bring up some great points. I definitely agree with the point of photos of your family being online. Personally, I belive that people “think” they are in control, but really they have no clue of what they are putting out there in the web and what can be done with it. Zukerburg is a very smart man and has proven that time after time.
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I think social media has done a good job of connecting people, and allowing lightning fast communication. If I need to reach an old high school friend, I can post on their Facebook wall. If my friend’s phone is broken and I have important news for him, I can tweet them. I can communicate with members of my group for a different class with a group text app, which doesn’t use up any data. Ultimately, I try to make the most out of social media, and use it in ways that benefit me.
However, obviously there are downfalls as well. As I have found out from finishing Project 1, the amount of information available to the public about me can be alarming. Also, since I am looking for a job after graduation, every single time I tweet or post I think about what consequences could come about from what I have sent. As the graph in your original post shows, 37% of employers are monitoring social media, meaning that if I apply for 9 jobs, according to the statistics, about 3 of those employers will be checking my social media history. Additionally, since I currently play a college sport (basketball), I am aware of the consequences a stupid picture or post can have on my team, myself, and my scholarship. I have the ability to always be smart about what I share on social media, but unfortunately not every athlete has the same experience.
All in all, any time I use social media, I try to make sure I am controlling it, and not letting it control me.
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I remember my first day getting texting on my cellphone. All my friends had it. I was behind. I easily went over my limit and had to call to update to unlimited. It’s hard to stop. It’s so easy to communicate with somebody. Like you said, you jump on Facebook to get in touch with an old buddy. It’s that simple. Grab your phone, tell somebody where your at instead of picking up the phone and calling them. It’s like leaving a visual voicemail without all the trouble of listening to your voicemail’s prompts and typing in your password. No, social media doesn’t define me, but it sure does make life easier.
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@eakoonter I remember when in high school you had to ask people “do you text?” And some people didn’t, they could only be reached my phone call. I think texting has changed the “dating game” by leaps and bounds. No longer do you feel the saliva in your throat run dry because your dialing someone to have feelings for. You can just send a flirty message or even a emoticon to sum up your desires.
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You raise several great points here. It’s hard to imagine a world without social media now, and it’s quite sad. I remember growing up and actually having to dial people to chat. It seemed much more personable and intimate. I remember running my parent’s phone bill when the girl I started to talk to wasn’t local. It does seem like in today’s terms we keep people close, but at the same time we keep them distant. The last time I actually spoke with some people on my news feed on Facebook in person has been a decade or more ago. The weird thing is that for those I don’t talk to, but they post a lot of stuff, I still feel close to them. I feel as though were still old buddies and could reach out to them anytime, but that’s not the case.
As for feeling high or feeling low when I see things on Facebook, I’d have to say it won’t make or break my day. Before you think I’m heartless, if I see posts about parents or loved ones passing away, it saddens me, but I wouldn’t ever let it ruin my day. I think social media is something we need to respect and keep it at an arm’s length. Like the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid” eludes to, the more we’re dependant on social media and the internet, the more our brains are turning into mush. By the way, I like the poll idea, too.
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I think you bring up very good points in this post. Facebook’s results when manipulating feelings via posts make sense. Think about watching the news on TV, how do we feel when we see an upsetting story vs. when we see a happy story? It’s the same thing viewing upsetting feeds vs. happy feeds on Facebook. That is typical human nature to respond differently based on the news we are hearing. I think that is what makes social media so powerful to the very young. Some are using it to fit in and the “appropriate” responses are skewed based on how they feel they should be responding.
I believe we have seen more human interaction with social media. Without it I wouldn’t still be in touch with half of the people I am. Social media is the only way I am able to stay in touch with distant family members and friends. Even if we just occasionally post each other comments, it’s more than we would have years ago prior to social media. I believe it’s up to all of us to ensure we don’t allow it to define who we are, and if we do then we make sure we use it to define ourselves in a positive light.
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I agree with the human nature response. I wish I could recall what psychological aspect this truly is, but I do recall there being one. The way the mind works is a very confusing yet simple manner. Thats why I asked the question, “does social media control you?” I was keying in specially on this aspect of your response. Are people truly aware of this effect on them?
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Doesn’t it seem a bit creepy that they’re manipulating the emotions of so many users? To purposely try and illicit a response from people like being depressed or happy, seems almost like a little too large of a science experiment. I can see the psychologist’s point in using Facebook as a place to do it, plenty of unsuspecting guinea pigs.
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While it is inarguable that the internet and social media is changing the way in which we as humans think, which Carr argues in his article, I wouldn’t believe that Google is making us stupid, as Carr’s title suggests (though never quite addresses directly, which misleadingly colors the body of the article, but nonetheless). I would agree with Carr’s tangential statement, “Maybe I’m just a worrywart,” since even in pre-internet times, humans’ minds operate far from the way in which they functioned before the innovation of other intellectual technologies, such as oral and written language. The idea that somehow we were all smarter before the internet came along and affected the way we think, is tenuous at best.
If it is worrisome for someone that they tend to think in more staccato terms after years of using the internet than they did beforehand, then they should reconsider typical views of literate societies on oral societies. With the invention of writing, information and knowledge was more easily preserved and passed on through generations, rather than being passed along through word of mouth and stored within the fallible mind of others. Obviously this means that literate societies no longer need to store all of their information within their minds, but can do so externally, such as on a piece of paper (which is fairly similar to how internet searching operates, merely at a much more convenient and efficient level). Consider also that literate cultures tend to look down on oral cultures as being “backward” or “primitive,” despite the fact that they store far more information within their minds than literate peoples. If really someone thinks that storing their information in an external source such as the internet negatively impacts their thinking process, then they would be best advised to throw out all of their books and writing implements and return to a state of pre-literate humanity.
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That video about the text message confusion was hilarious. I have had that happen to me so many times. Confusion is easy when technology is involved. I think social media has changed the way we respond to certain situations. People have never been so simultaneously connected and disconnected that it is a paradox. For example, on my birthday I get happy birthday posts on my wall from people I have not interfaced with in years. And quite frankly I did not like them in person either. So why do we feel the need to “friend” acquaintances and post on their walls? It sort of seems like forced interaction. But what is the overarching force that makes us feel inclined to stay in touch with each other. I think if we did not have social media people would care less about how the world viewed them. We would spend more of the day embracing what we want or think is interesting and not worry about posting a photo of what we were about to eat. I think it would be simpler. But there would also be cons because people would not be able to find people they have lost touch with or be able to communicate via Skype if they are far away. We just have to take the good with the bad.
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An interesting concept concerning the creation of online profiles stems from the fact that the more profiles that one creates and maintains, the more personalities that they are more than likely to develop. When an individual posts to Facebook and Twitter as well as blogging (in the loosest definition of that term as possible) on Tumblr, they are creating three different definitions of who they are, none of which reflects everything that represents the individual but separates them into segments of unique personality. This can become a rather troublesome dilemma for the person in question, as this limits strangers and interested people to viewing the individual through a specific lens, one of which the person would more than likely not want to represent them wholly. The ability to tag someone to a specific post or photograph or even a video will immediately associate the person with the actions and comments linked to the post, involuntarily attributing their personality to one that is reflected by the content. This is another tool of compromising that some conscious users would object to, as this can easily show them in a negative light or even one counter to their own personal beliefs, an Internet version of the idiom “being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” To share biased information across different media sources can easily come back to haunt whoever is associated with the profile. While I am not saying that a complete disconnect from social media is necessary, maintaining a specific face across all profiles is a much easier way to show a specific personality that one wishes to attach to their image.
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For one thing, I really liked all of the tools you utilized in this post. You used a survey, relevant photos, and links to both articles and a video. The Key & Peele video was both hilarious and spot on in showing how a text can misunderstood. I personally don’t remember a time this has happened to me, but I have definitely been in a group text and watched friends fight because someone took it the wrong way. I have had to listen to both of their sides of the fight in person, only to find out that the one person doesn’t understand why the other is mad when they were calm the whole time.
In terms of learning about people based on their posts, I do that all the time. I have learned quite a few things about friends and family members thanks to Facebook. I have found out when people are pregnant, when people or family pets have passed away, and even when people’s houses have burnt down. All of these events were found out first and only from Facebook. If I wasn’t their friend on Facebook I might not have heard about the event at all.
I am definitely very aware that other people will see what I post on social media and that future/current employers can and will see it. Due to this I don’t let social media DEFINE who I am, but I definitely make it where my social media shows the best sides of me.
If there wasn’t social media society would definitely be different. I don’t think we would be as “close” as we are with so many people. People grow apart, because they get too busy to always hangout with friends, but at least you can like their posts on Facebook to let them know that you are aware of what’s going on in their lives. If social media wasn’t around we couldn’t do this, and we would completely lose touch with people. We would have to try ten times harder to stay close with the people we care about, which means we would also have to limit the people we keep in contact with, because there just aren’t that many hours in a day.
This was a great post that brought up a lot of great questions to answer and ask oneself.
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In the sense I’m not sitting across from the person I’m talking to, I think social media has changed the way everyone responds to others. One particular example is, responding to a troll online, and then trying to explain to my parents how I know when someone is trolling them or me online. It’s sometimes almost impossible to know when someone is being sarcastic online, unless they tell you they are. Same thing goes for people that are simply trying to get an emotional response and stir the pot, when they make certain comments. So in a long-winded answer, yes my responses have changed as a result of social media. Obviously depending on the person and topic my response will vary, but I don’t think I’ve change as a result of social media. If anything, because I know more people can see my thoughts and I can quickly get my thoughts out, I’m more myself. Though, different social media accounts my reflect who I want people to see, I tend to try and be the person I am at home, online. I remember a few years ago seeing a photo of people reading the newspaper on a bus on their way to work. I thought it was interesting that people are considered to have less interaction compared to the times before social media. I think factually it’s less, but to an extent. I’m personally not so sure, and I think if you’re going to interact with someone face to face, you’ll find a way to do that and not be limited by your devices. The whole “we interact less because of social media,” comment I don’t buy.
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Although it’s hard to imagine life without social media. Trust me I know, I was raised in the 90s were internet was in its startup stage. I grew up with pagers and phone booths. My brother used to get paged, pull over to the nearest pay phone and make a call. Everything was one on one during that time period. I can remember girls telling me to wait by the phone between 7-8pm so we can talk before our parents kicked us off. In today’s society, although we don’t see many of our followers face to face, we interact more with them. Basically picking up where we left off as friends. Social media has its ups and downs; the only thing I hate about it is that, we post all of our private images. Be it images, language and home videos.
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Facebook’s post do have an effect on my mood, or social media in general. When I read articles that people post, it makes me sad or angry. Most news nowadays is not very happy. Which is why I try to stay away from news articles about killings, shootings, or another ISIS beheading. It’s just brutal, but it’s reality. I wonder what we would do if there was a day without technology. We would probably feel lost and suffer from withdrawal.
Personally, I don’t like texting too much. I’m actually a bad texter. I’m not obsessed with answering people right away, and I still like calling my friends. I think it’s important to maintain a relationship with the people you care about, not just by texting them, but putting an effort to call them and see them in person. Confusion is easy when technology is involved, because you can’t read body language or facial expressions behind a screen. We can edit, delete, and create a profile about us that does not necessarily reflect how we actually are. We only post the best pictures of us, but if someone went through our camera roll, it would be completely different than our Instagram. Instagram is just what we choose to show the world.
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I am totally one of those that was upset with the News Feed update. Before I signed up for Facebook, I was a shy, timid guy and I didn’t like to be involved in large debates. As time goes on, possibly through social media influence or just maturing, I started enjoying these debates. I liked to be daring and venture into the comments of pictures and argue with someone. There are a LOT of misinformed comments on a lot of issues. However, when I got into one argument, my friend told me that he could see everything I was doing. I was uncomfortable with that. There are friends on my list that would be offended with some of my beliefs and I didn’t want them to unfriend me. Now, whenever I read the comments, I just like the ones that argue with something I agree with. It’s my own little way of saying “Yeah, I’m on your side, but I don’t want anyone else to know!” So it doesn’t really define who I am so much as give me the opportunity to be me or hide me.
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I guess I am the odd man out when it comes to social media. While I do have a personal Facebook account it is deprived of any specific details of myself. In addition, I currently only have 12 friends on my account and, to be honest, I do not pay much mind to my news feed of their activities. Every once and a while a piece of content posted will catch my eye or someone might post an interesting article, but I do not pay attention to the personal lives of those around me. I do not want others personal lives to affect me inadvertently or vice versa. Call me detached I guess. I am the same reclusive hermit online as I am offline.
I do not know what society would be like if social media was never around. The best I can do is look at my mother who on her off time is glued to her phone constantly posting content on Facebook and communicating with her friends. Although such openness is a double-edged sword it makes her happy to finally share all of the photos she constantly takes with others as well as easily sending information. Based off of her I would assume that the amount of interaction would probably be similar, but the scope of interaction (speech, text, video, photo, meme, etc.) would be limited compared to today.
Actually, on that note I do not think various injustices would be reported on if it had not been for social media. So I think awareness, whether you think it is beneficial or not, would be vastly different.
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I think social media has totally changed the world and the way we think. I believe it is up to debate on rather that change has been for the betterment of society or will it eventually erase all physical social abilities. I am 39 years and when I was in school there were only about 30 computers in the whole school aka the computer lab. There where no smart phones but pagers that kept everyone in touch with each other. I recall when I bought my first laptop computer at the age of 22. At that time the Internet had just began to grow and social media sites were just taking off. I recall having to plug my phone line into my computer to hook up to the Internet, which was slow as molasses. Then the only time you can check your status or to see if someone responded to your post was when you got home and went the slow process of dial up Internet and checked your email. As technology advances so must its users. Since having access to the Internet has become so convenient with smart phone and Wi-Fi, we have become a slave to our social media status. I have found that due to multitasking and rapid responses for Facebook, Twitter, and your constant 50 text messages a day, people have began to write and type differently. Everyone now write and talks in text type. Like the point made in Carr’s article is “Google making us Stupid” most people’s attention span has been reduced. Professor Proctor even in her blogging guidelines hinted to make the blog post less than 5 paragraphs, any more than that most people can read.
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Hey there!
Awesome use of the online poll, that was pretty creative. I’m definitely guilty of the said “power browse.” I like using sites like Tumblr, to seek out articles using a hash tag. I love these for reading up on social issues, news and other stuff but I often find myself thinking “Wow that’s a long read. *Skip!*” and it’s onto the next one, when in all reality there was probably a lot of good stuff in that article. I also think there’s truth in the idea that we learn a lot from people based on their status updates, even if it’s only what they want us to see. I often find myself scrolling Facebook and seeing people posting things like new jobs, college experiences, pregnancies or relationships I didn’t know they were involved in before. I guess in this sense, I learn about people via social media, especially when people go on a pretty personal rant, then I realize these aren’t the kind of people I want in my personal life. I think that to a degree this also makes us very superficial online. I’m sure we all have the “friends” online who are constantly posting about how great their lives are. On one hand, good for them, but on the other, you have to wonder if someone is truly that happy all the time. To answer one of your questions though, I’ve definitely had nights out where I dread social media the next day. I have had mornings where I go on Snapchat praying there’s nothing embarrassing on there or hopping on Facebook in search of pictures I have to make friends take down. While this doesn’t happen often it definitely has happened and once it’s out there, it’s permanent somewhere on the web. We all also have that friend who shamelessly posts group photos where they look awesome and others… not so much. There’s also a lot of things I keep offline for employment’s sake. Even though I’m of age, I don’t want many pictures of me out at the bar for employers to judge. I’d much rather them see pictures of me involved in extra curricular activities or other productive activities. Unfortunately our online presence is almost like an unofficial application. These things and more are just negatives of the internet we have to learn to master. It’s like learning a whole new set of rules and etiquette just for your life online.
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I personally avoid social media like a plague. People use it to make themselves the center of attention, or at least that is the goal, and I do not feel the need to have the approval or attention of anyone. Social media does control many people and it has revolutionized how people interact with one another. Someone can now get mad at you for not “friending” them on Facebook or following them on Twitter. These terms did not even exist up until recently. I personally feel that I see through social media for what it truly is and what its end goal is: making money. Many people see it is a great spread their name so they can feel better about themselves, but in the end they are just making money for these corporations. People spend more time on social media than they do actually being social (interacting with other people).
Another side of this is that social media has led to a revolution in advertising. Customers now seek out products and advertise them by “liking” them on Facebook or following them on Twitter. Companies used to have to track down potential interested customers and shove their advertisements at them in order to sell their product. Now, the customer has become the advertiser alongside a company’s advertising team.
As a last comment, I do use social media to keep in contact with old friends or when organizing large family parties. It is also a great way to stay in touch with many of my long distance relatives. I just do no support or participate in the way people use it to glorify themselves; that tends to be obnoxious.
–Ben Walker
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I frequently hear this statement that no one uses their phone as a phone anymore and I find that to be widely untrue. I tend to use text messaging to have long conversations, but if I need to tell someone something quickly, am making a business call, or if I’m multitasking, I will call rather than send a text. I see the same from the majority of my friends.
On a related subject, I think people are very quick to dismiss texting and social media in general. It’s seen as a loss for communication, we’re missing something in our lives that was present through phone calls, but I see texting, Facebook, and Twitter as an opportunity to talk to friends I might not otherwise have the time to talk to. I don’t have to set aside a half-hour to catch up with my friend through a call, I can multitask and catch up over several hours while going about my day. It also allows me time to consider what they’ve said and form a thoughtful response. Sure, there are misunderstandings, but really only in situations that are more emotionally charged, like talking to my boyfriend or my best friend, and those are situations where, frankly, I care more about the outcome.
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I think everyone is controlled by social media to some degree. I also believe that at some point in the future those who posses an ability to manage social media, and also maintain real world physical interaction will benefit the most.
Many people are getting tired of patron business, and there is some high school kid, or college student that has the personality of a donkey, and the communication ability of a chimpanzee.
Many would say J you are over reacting, but I’m not.
When you look at our world now, and its ability to be inter connected. These ideas about social media, and physical human contact become relevant.
I wish more youngster would be able to juggle both hats effectively not just for the sake of my customer satisfaction, but also your marketability in the future.
I think the blogger really did a great job of touching on that point within their blog.
Are we really thinking about what we are posting?
Are we really thinking about what our actions are in public?
Of course not, many people live a passive life that only become active when they need be.
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I’d like to think that social media does not define who I am, but it does. I know that social media affects me because everyone relies on it to get to know you. We get so invested in social media, as you said, we engage mindlessly. Maybe it is partly due to the newsfeed feature of Facebook…the fact that when we see happier content we are happier people. Of course we may be unaware of the effects, but perhaps because of this we keep coming back.
Okay, switching gears now: “We are not only what we read, we are how we read. Efficiency and immediacy above all else, may be weakening our capacity for the kind of deep reading.” I completely agree with this. I’ve never realized it before, but I can relate. I have a class where we have to bring a newspaper in and are supposed to have read it. I hate the fact that I have to do that when I just use the CNN app or Twitter feed from various news stations.
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I think the trend of people who use social media more on a daily basis tends to be more towards the younger generations around high school and early college. When you look or talk to someone in high school, it is hard to have a conversation with them without them checking their phone or even being on it the entire time you are talking. I’ve personally gone to family events where a cousin of my was on their phone the entire time and just seemed to be so disconnected from everyone and everything that was surrounding them. But as the years have gone by, i can see people using their phone less and less for social media than what they used it before.
The trends of social media also changes as people realize that potential employers are looking at everything that you do. As people grow up and mature, they grow more aware of who and what are looking at what they post, and people grow a censor to what they put online. The fact of the matter is the news feed on social media can be a good thing, but bad at the same time. I have had people send a text or call me about a status i posted online because they thought something was wrong, but they interpreted it wrong. The fact is, emotion and meaning is hard to convey sometimes, and the wrong messages can be send to people. We just have to be more aware of what could possibly happen with everything that we post and put out there.
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I really liked the questions you presented in this article. I really enjoyed watching the Key and Peele video, it kind of reminded me of the other article about emotions. Funny. But back to this article, I think that social media allows for people to put on different images and act a different way than they would in real life. I have a few facebook friends and even family that posts things that I know for a fact isn’t real or true. So I don’t really think people are concious about what they’re posting for the simple fact that it’s not the “true” them. We should pay more attention to what we post but some of us are naiive about the social media world, we believe that it will never happen to us….. until it does and we’re damaged. But then again, some of the most popular videos and social media “famous” people make their hits off of being silly, posting something out of character to make someone else laugh, doing stuff without a concious. I think that we would definitely have more human contact if social media didn’t evolve as quickly as it did.
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I wouldn’t say social media controls me, but it can define who I am. We as a whole are on some kind of social media, we post things, we like things, we do it all. I could probably tell the kind of person you are if I go to your FaceBook page, or twitter page. We like to use these applications because we want to be involved, it’s the hip thing right now. Some people actually take advantage of this and use it for business, they use these social media apps to broaden their audience and expand on their reachability of their customers. Have you heard of the infamous Denny’s Twitter account? It’s actually hilarious. They know how to level with the majority of their demographic, and that’s what gets the kids into them these days. It’s all about interaction for social media. I wouldn’t say it’s controlling us, but people can get a little post crazy sometimes.
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