Building Community on the Net All sorts of reasons have been advanced in recent years to explain the decline of community in America, from the way we design our neighborhoods to the increased mobility of the average American to such demographic shifts as the movement of women into the labor force. But the onslaught of television and other electronic technologies is usually cited as the main culprit. As Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam observes, these technologies are increasingly "privatizing our leisure time" and "undermining our connections with one another and with our communities."[1] In his essay "The Strange Disappearance of Civic America," Putnam draws a direct parallel between the arrival of television and the decline of what he calls "social capital" -- the social networks, trust, and norms of reciprocity that are the essence of healthy communities. As he points out, a "massive change in the way Americans spend their days and nights occurred precisely during the years of generational civic disengagement."[2] It follows that computers, VCRs, virtual reality and other technologies that, like television, "cocoon" us from our neighbors and communities exacerbate the loss of social capital. With the advent of computer networks and "virtual communities," however, some feel that electronic technologies can actually be used to strengthen the bonds of community and reverse America's declining social capital. Advocates stress that electronic networks can help citizens build organizations, provide local information, and develop bonds of civic life and conviviality. While the claims are no doubt overstated in many cases, as they always are when new technologies are involved, there is growing evidence that this may be the case, particularly in local community networks. The social and political ramifications of electronic networking has become a favorite topic of speculation in recent years. Cover stories, conferences, books, Web sites, and radio and television programs devoted to the subject have grown exponentially. In looking over the burgeoning literature on the political uses of the Net, I find that most of it falls into three general categories: 1) questions of democratic culture and practice, such as the pros and cons of direct democracy, issues of privacy and social control, and the changing nature of public opinion; 2) how on-line petitioning, electronic voting, information campaigning and other forms of "netactivism" can promote politics more narrowly defined; and 3) the implications of networking technologies for communities. This paper leaves aside the first two categories[3] and focuses specifically on the third: whether computer networks can be used to strengthen and enhance the bonds of community.
America was a newly formed country at the dawn of the nineteenth century, and many social issues would be dealt with during this time period. Walt Whitman and Mark Twain were two authors during this era and both authors challenged the views and cultural upbringings that surrounded the nation at that time.
In “Connectivity and its Discontents,” Sherry Turkle discusses how often we are found on our technology. Turkle states in her thesis “Technology makes it easy to communicate when we wish and to disengage at will.” In the essay are interviews on several different people, of all ages to get their view on the 21st century. Teens are starting to rely on “robot friendships,” the most communication teens get are from their phones. Are we so busy trying to connect to the media that we are often forgetting what is happening around us?
Does one drink caffeine? Caffeine is everywhere, it's in everything, it's apart of our daily lives. That’s what people doesn’t realizes; every soda drink, every cup of coffee, and every energy drink he or she gulps down before a thrilling game, all of that is caffeine. Caffeine is only completed when he or she get addicted. Caffeine can be an exceptional threat to the human body; energy drinks for example, it has enough caffeine to kill someone if he or she drinks enough. Energy drinks has been the number one drink high school students drink to stay awake in school; they even bring the drink in classrooms, and more than one energy drink. Soda has enough caffeine to destroy ones inner body. Soda is a everyday drink for some individuals, they
Social capital is defined as the “features of social organization such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit” (Putnam, 9), which supposedly creates positive effects for the society. If the social networks in the society are strengthen, the bonds maximize their security since there are strong connections, including family bonds, neighborhood bonds, and friends that could help each other in term of employment search, housing, education. On the other hand, social isolation may also be caused by the development of telecommunication and transportations. This creates an obstacles to create a consistent face-to-face network. In their articles,
From the anatomy of a human, the social life of insects, and the way the world functions are all interconnected through complex system science. By taking fractal geometry and implementing it into larger unmanageable scales can help provide further more in depth information pertaining to not just that individual but also the system as a whole.
As case and point, “the impact of the Internet is far greater than any other communicative tool in the history of mass communications” (Elliot, 2008, para. 1). With an expansive, yet extremely convenient means to electronically join people through business, relationships, education and more, Sociology assumes the ...
Everyday, interactions occur on social media platforms around the world. Because of these interactions, less and less real face to face interactions are occurring among our generation. Smartphones and other convenient devices seem to have taken priority over real life relationships.Even in the 1950’s, as Ray Bradbury often expressed in his short stories, people were wary of how technology would impact the world. In Bradbury’s stories technology was often presented with a negative connotation. In “The Pedestrian” Bradbury introduces the readers to a futuristic world in which humans have become incapable of interacting with one another and instead stay in their homes watching a television device. In another one of Ray Bradbury’s pieces: “The
In the video “Video Killed the Radio Star”, it described that television has separated families form tight knitted circle groups to spread out individuals. Families use to eat at a table and talk about their day, but now they sit in front of the TV and do not communicate and only become stranger to one another. The presence of TV has limited family life by restricting interaction between family members, because nowadays a dad would rather watch TV than play catch with his son. Television is not the only form of media that influences family life, because now the internet is also a large contributor. The internet complicates our lives with countless emails and distractions form social media that it takes away from family focus. I know I am guilty of this because I would rather snapchat friends on my phone than talk to my dad, this is an example of the internet being a wedge in dividing family’s. Now Internet is how we connect with people instead of face to face interaction. An example of internets influence is when my parents are asking about my day and I am busy browsing social media networks instead of talking to them, examples such as this just shows the poor path society is heading via
As the vast majority of Americans are addicted to caffeine, studies show that the effects during post-consumption, can be positive or negative depending on the amount and frequency of caffeine intake. As the demand for caffeine has increased, the caffeine industry has increased its amount of marketing and establishments to help aid this demand. Caffeine addiction can lead to serious health detriments and physiological detriments. It is evident that the primary reason for consumption of caffeinated beverages is due to positive effects, such as alertness. The media has an abundance of marketing to continue to illustrate this main effect. The media fails to project the negative effects of excessive caffeine intake. This literature review will illustrate how excessive caffeine consumption can be detrimental to one’s life, and how problematic caffeine use derives from conditioning by the caffeine industries.
Caffeine has been used widely by our modern society to keep up with their hectic lifestyles. One of the many benefits of caffeine is that it increases alertness and prevents fatigue. The main source of caffeine is in the form of coffee, tea, coke and much more. However, due to its addictive characteristics, caffeine is now the most consumed drug all around the globe. Caffeine abuse results in many negative effects such as insomnia, increases blood pressure and heart rate (Pollick, 2010).
Almost everyone in our society today uses caffeine regularly, in one form or another. According to Jennifer Warner of WebMD Medical News, nearly 90% of adults and 76% of children drink some kind of caffeinated beverage every day. More than half of all American adults consume more than 3 cups of coffee. Also, a 1994 survey by the Agriculture Department found that on average, 64 gallons of soda are consumed by children and teenagers every year. Researchers have found that soft drinks have surpassed tea as the second leading source of caffeine for adults while being the top source of caffeine for children. People are not only getting their caffeine from coffee, soda and tea, but from other sources such as energy beverages, caffeinated water, herbal supplements and chocolate. You may not realize how much caffeine you are consuming on a daily basis because caffeine is not listed as an ingredient on the food or drink label, and the Nutrition Facts label does not show how much caffeine is in the product. In addition, beverages marketed as high-energy drinks may contain more than one type of caffeine extract, and in herbal sources, caffeine may not be listed as an active ingredient.
People very often debate whether technology is good or bad. Many people believe that technology can only cause harm to their lives and society, while many others strongly defend the technologies which have made their lives much more leisurely and enriching than it could have been several hundred years ago. In my opinion, both of these views are correct to an extent, but I also believe that what should be examined is not whether technology in its self is good or bad, but rather how we as humans use it.For decades now, television has been accused of contributing to the dissolution of the American family and the destruction of the minds of those who watch it. However, although the TV has been involved in this, the problem roots not with technology but rather the people who choose to let it run their lives. I believe this because it is parents, not TV sets, who choose to let their children sit in front of the television for hours upon hours, and it is the parents who do not intervene and replace TV time with quality family time.
Fractals are a geometric pattern that are repeat over and over again to produce irregular shapes and surfaces that cannot be classical geometry. It is also, an innovative division of geometry and art. Conceivably, this is the grounds for why most people are familiar with fractals only as attractive pictures functional as backdrop on the PC screen or unique postcard design. But what are they really? Most physical structures of nature and lots of human artifacts are not normal geometric shapes of the typical geometry resulting from Euclid. Fractal geometry proposes almost limitless ways of depicting, evaluating, and predicting these natural occurrences. But is it possible to characterize the entire world using mathematical equations? This article describes how the two most well-known fractals were fashioned and explains the most significant fractal properties, which make fractals helpful for different domains of science. Fractals are self-similarity and non-integer dimension, which are two of the most significant properties. What does self-similarity imply? If you look methodically at a fern leaf, you will become aware that every small leaf has the identical shape as the whole fern leaf. You can conclude that the fern leaf is self-similar. The same is with fractals: you can magnetize then as many times as you like and after each time you will still see the same shape. The non-integer dimension is more complicated to explain. Classical geometry involves objects of integer dimensions: points, lines and curves, plane figures, solids. However, many natural occurrences are better explained using a dimension amid two whole numbers. So while a non-curving straight line has a component of one, a fractal curve will obtain a dimension between...
Named after the Polish mathematician, Waclaw Sierpinski, the Sierpinski Triangle has been the topic of much study since Sierpinski first discovered it in the early twentieth century. Although it appears simple, the Sierpinski Triangle is actually a complex and intriguing fractal. Fractals have been studied since 1905, when the Mandelbrot Set was discovered, and since then have been used in many ways. One important aspect of fractals is their self-similarity, the idea that if you zoom in on any patch of the fractal, you will see an image that is similar to the original. Because of this, fractals are infinitely detailed and have many interesting properties. Fractals also have a practical use: they can be used to measure the length of coastlines. Because fractals are broken into infinitely small, similar pieces, they prove useful when measuring the length of irregularly shaped objects. Fractals also make beautiful art.
Internet has been acknowledged as one of the most efficient way to collect and reflect public opinions, for that people with different classes and races can express their opinions with no obstacles in virtual network spaces. People can speak out whatever they want just by typing on the keyboard within a second. Dr. Heather Savigny mentions in her article “Public Opinion, Political Communication and the Internet” that “The expansion of the internet as a new method of communication provides a potential challenge to the primacy of the traditional media and political parties as formers of public opinion” (1). People realized that the power of internet public opinion in the focus on social issues can be used as a weapon to affect government decision-makings. However, does public opinion only brings positive effects?