Essay 3 Rough Draft #1 Advances in technology have evolved at a phenomenal rate, unpredictable to humans only a couple of decades ago. While we may not be flying to work in our jetpacks or being tended to by our robotic butlers, we have successfully created social networks capable of connecting societies at a single tap of a screen. In a matter of seconds human beings are capable of posting, tweeting, and liking ideas with millions of people connected throughout the globe. With the aid of social media, “memes” have become more and more successful in their attempt of replication. “Everything that is passed on from person to person is a meme”(Blackmore), and through social media people can share anything from what they just ate for breakfast, …show more content…
Sadly, ”One of the problems of being a human is that it is rather hard to look at humans with an unprejudiced eye”(Blackmore). From the moment a person is born, they are judged and expected to fulfill the standards set upon them by their community. The stress created by these standards cause people to develop human vulnerabilities, which results in people having insecurities about themselves. Until the creation of social networks, people had no choice but to fix their imperfections or simply learn to live with them. With the help of the technology, people can hide from their imperfections through the methods of avatars, filters, and false identities. Turkle discusses how social networks create the opportunity where,”better than nothing can become better than something-or better than anything”(Turkle). This new method of personal reconstruction has become so popular because it allows people to represent themselves through a morphed identity, socially accepted by a community of online strangers . The fact that, “the internet lets us exploit the powers of these kind of distant connections”(Gladwell), causes a dilemma in which people abandon their true identity accepting their false identities as their own. In attempt of achieving social acceptance, these people enter into a virtual world subliminally losing sense of reality thus, further isolating themselves from real society. …show more content…
Hashtags act as memes in the manner that they,” spread themselves indiscriminately without regard to whether they are useful, neutral or positively harmful to us”(Blackmore). For instance, there can be hashtags ranging from peace in the middle east, to Kanye for president. Through the invention of hashtags, a new mechanism commonly referred to as “social activism”(Gladwell) has arisen where people use the power of social media websites such as twitter to protest and spread activism from behind a screen. In 2009 social protesters took credit for the protests against Moldova’s Communist government labeling it as the “Twitter Revolution”(Gladwell). Mark Pfeifle, a former national security advisor went as far as saying, “without Twitter the people of Iran would not have felt empowered and confident to stand up for freedom and democracy”(Gladwell). Gladwell strongly disagrees with Mark Pfeifle’s reasoning and quotes Evgeny Morozov, a scholar at Stanford who points out, “Twitter had scant internal significance in Moldova, a country where very few Twitter accounts exist”(Gladwell). Gladwell believes that social networks are incapable of accomplishing acts of the significance of a revolution and states, “The platforms of social media are built around weak ties,” and “weak ties seldom lead to high risk activism”(Gladwell). People feel dependent upon this new method of social activism for
She recalls a disagreement that took place on Facebook between her and a close friend over a few comments placed on her timeline. Wortham describes how she felt embarrassed over the pointless argument. She discloses “I’m the first one to confess my undying love of the Web’s rich culture and community, which is deeply embedded in my life. But that feud with a friend forced me to consider that the lens of the Web might be warping my perspective and damaging some important relationships” (171). Introducing her personal feelings and perspective of how she feels Facebook is taking over her own emotional response online weakens her argument. Wortham reasons that others feel the same as she does. She says, “This has alarmed some people, convincing them that it’s time to pull the plug and forgo the service altogether” (171). Wortham does not bring in other testimonies of those who feel the same as she does, therefore the readers are only introduced to her personal
Malcolm Gladwell’s article "Small Change: Why the Revolution Will not be Tweeted" raises a significant question about the prospective contribution of web-based social networking to the advent of progressive social movement and change. Gladwell bold declaration that "the revolution will not be tweeted" is reflective of his view that social media has no useful application in serious activism. Contrasting various elements of the “high-stakes” lunch-counter protests in Greensboro, North Carolina in the 1960’s with the “low-stakes” activism achieved through social media, Gladwell concludes that effective social movements powerful enough to impose change on longstanding societal forces require both “strong ties” among participants and the presence of a hierarchical organizations. In contrast, Gladwell characterizes the social networks as an interwoven web of "weak ties" that is inherently devoid of a hierarchy. Gladwell’s prerequisites for social movement are firmly based in strong body of sociological evidence, but his views regarding the nature of online social networks are laughably lacking in foresight and obstructed by a misleadingly selective body of evidence.
Ever since the dawn of time, people have been communicating with others around them and with today’s technology people can interconnect with people across the globe. They have access to a wider range of peers and colleagues like no other time period and the possibilities continue to advance these communications. Yet as those in the world continue to make new friends and hear the opinions of more people they slowly develop a dual personality. Though people have always had parallel identities, one for family and friend, and another for acquaints and strangers, as Barbara Mellix points out in her essay. Mellix is a writer and educator who’s essay “From the Outside, In” tells how she grew up learning two identities so she could function in both her personal world with close family and friends, and her world that dealt with others. Now as the world of the others has expanded with the help of technology so has the use of the second identity and it has taken the form of the online identity. People’s second online identity is always on an aggressive defense, paranoid to the point of any wrong thing said or unsaid could lead to a fight, and they tend to only be happy when there is someone to attack. In the physical world where people are surrounded by true friends and people they trust with their emotions and they are more caring and sympathetic of others’ pain. However the online identity poses a threat to the personal identity as people begin to pull traits from one identity to the next. Although not having an online identity Mellix can relate to this with an experience that involved confusing her identities. Mellix describes how when her personalities become mixed, she was puzzled about who she was and who belonged in her personal iden...
The essay “What Defines a Meme” by James Gleik discusses what a meme is and how it relates biologically. The definition of a meme in its most basic form a complex form of idea that is passed from one person to another. Other examples of ideas could be presented as objects or photos. Back years ago a meme was just a written concept, but in today's world due to technology it is visual. Examples of technological advances include computer, tv, phones, tablets, so on and so forth. He compares meme, which represent the virtual world, to biology like viruses. Gleik thinks that memes are like viruses because they can duplicate and spread fast. Meme control us and hinder human experiences, where the right thing is that we should be able to control our own experiences in order to enrich and benefit ourselves.
In both works, the authors identify how the influence on technology is changing how humans identify themselves. Carr using his experience to explain this idea giving the reader the idea that he is feeling the effect technology is taking in his identity. “Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the neural circuitry, reprogramming the memory “(53). He gives the reader a firsthand insight of how the influence of technology has change his own identity changing his mind as a whole. He also gives the example of becoming machinelike. A metaphor he uses to explain that humans are becoming emotionless, and less caring for certain ideas. They are becoming cold and brainless are the new part of their identity altering the ability to think. While, Turkle uses everyday life examples to emphasize this point. She states that people create avatars online to be represent their self the way they want to be. However, being able to change a certain aspect of an individual life alters the way they perceive who they are. According to Turkle “people who gain fluency in expressing multiples aspect of self may find it harder develop authentic selves. Some people who write narratives for their screen avatars may grow up with too little experience to share their real feelings with other people” (289). The meaning behind Turkle words is that technology is influencing how individuals view themselves, and become remapping the idea that humans are social
Vulnerability derives from the Latin word vulnerare (to be wounded) and describes the potential to be harmed.
Social movements come and go; they represent all manner of political aspirations, and aim to achieve their political objectives by influencing a particular target group’s opinion. Some groups reach out directly to just a few key decision makers or constituencies, while others act more indirectly by broadcasting their message to as wide an audience as possible. Popular forms of social media have played a significant influence in social movements throughout the last few years. Two prominent examples are Ai Weiwei’s use of the social platform: Twitter, and the use of Yik Yak at the University of Missouri. Social movements rely on the media for the mobilization of political support, validation in the mainstreams discourse, and opportunity to broaden
This is one of the popular appeals of the internet because an individual is able to hide a disability, their body shape, or any features about themselves in order to create a new beginning. “When people have the opportunity to separate their actions online from their in-person lifestyle and identity, they
Before the internet, our characteristics such as style, identity, and values were primarily exposed by our materialistic properties which psychologists define as the extended self. But people’s inferences to the idea of online self vs. offline self insisted a translation to these signals into a personality profile. In today’s generation, many of our dear possessions have been demolished. Psychologist Russell W belk suggest that: “until we choose to call them forth, our information, communications, photos, videos, music, and more are now largely invisible and immaterial.” Yet in terms of psychology there is no difference between the meaning of our “online selves” and “offline selves. They both assist us in expressing important parts of our identity to others and provide the key elements of our online reputation. Numerous scientific research has emphasized the mobility of our analogue selves to the online world. The consistent themes to these studies is, even though the internet may have possibly created an escape from everyday life, it is in some ways impersonating
...: Exploring Issues and Ideas. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2014. Print. Sherry Turkle is a professor at MIT, the founder and director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, and a radio and television media commentator. She argues that social networking negatively affects our interpersonal relationships. She mentions that youth are increasingly sending text messages or Facebook comments to one another rather than talking face-to-face or talking over the phone. Turkle describes how we may be “connected” online, but are really growing further apart because of the barriers in communication that social media creates. She includes a few personal stories to support her argument of the detrimental effects technology can have on relationships. This essay helped me to present the “con” side of the social network debate.
This world as we know is heading towards a more virtual era, where everything we need to know is under the palm of our hands. We have many devices such as smart phones, tablets, computers, which gives us access to an infinite amount of information. This virtual life style we are becoming accustomed to introduced us to social media. An increase amount of interaction is being built between known and unknown users from all around the world. Social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, twitter, and even tumbler have become an everyday routine of our daily lives. In this modern society, all these social media websites have brought about a significant amount of impact in many of us. It has really influenced its users on how to conduct their lives.
However, having a life with technology is much different than having a life in technology. Once upon a time it was sitting in front of N64 playing Golden Eye with four friends. Now, it is socializing at a virtual party under the username, PatrickBateman, trying to see if you can have cybersex afterwards with, hopefully, a female avatar. The “game” has changed. The rules of the “game” are no longer confined to space or law or time. We have broken that mold. We once placed ourselves in imaginary worlds of stories and books playing the hero. Nowadays, we live the imaginary world with an avatar that may or may not look similar to an individual’s actual appearance. It is no longer a “game.” It has become real. So much so, that even the virtual world affects the actual world by social constructions, property trading, and information consumption.
First, Turkle states that cyberspace makes it possible to alter the textual representation according. Textual construction allows users to change their appearance or behavior with a couple strokes on the keyboard. People are given the chance to express themselves in a different light because of the relative anonymity in cyberspace. Role-playing and using different identities are exercised by either changing names or by changing places. People may change their identity each time they start "cycling through" their windows, and with each window comes a different persona. Therefore, a presence distributed over many windows causes a creation of many text-based identities.
These things have become so common that not having them almost makes it seem like there is something missing. Because of features such as these, it is incredibly easy to share every aspect of what we are reading, doing, eating and listening to with everyone in our social networks. While this has meant incredible advances in the way we interact with our world, it has also fundamentally changed the way our social relationships are created and sustained. Social medial led users to have false impression of others and changed our feelings. Because social media users tend to only show the most positive aspects of their lives, social media users have a false sense of reality when it comes to how they seem themselves, how others see them and how they see other people. “It is not difficult to say that social media effect our perception of others” (Goshgarian213).
The influence of rapidly growing social media, television, and the internet has taken the world by storm in recent years. Its fascinating development over the years is nothing short of remarkable when you take into account that 20 years ago, only 16 million people in the world were "online", compared to the 2 billion that roam on the internet now. Modern communications technology has now become so familiar and utterly banal, yet there is still this tingling sensation when one receives a text from a love interest on Facebook or WhatsApp. Human identity, the idea that defines each and every one of us, is on the verge of being radically defined by social media. This essay will provide a balanced outlook on the positive and negative effects that social media have had on the behaviour and thinking on humans. The topic is a very controversial one, but the purpose of this is to help readers formulate a view on whether the arguments in this essay benefit society in general, or whether they harm the well-being of the human brain and detach us from reality.