We close the chapter with a chilling excerpt from Neil Strauss’s article in The Wall Street Journal. Food for thought!
If you happen to be reading this article online, you’ll notice that right above it, there is a button labeled “like.” Please stop reading and click on “like” right now.
Thank you. I feel much better. It’s good to be liked.
There’s a growing cultural obsession with being blogged, digged, tweeted and liked. Now add Google’s +1 to the mix and it’s just like being in high school all over again.
Don’t forget to comment on, tweet, blog about and StumbleUpon this article. And be sure to “+1” it if you’re on the newly launched Google+ social network. In fact, if you don’t want to read the rest of this article, at least stay on the page for a few minutes before clicking elsewhere. That way, it will appear to the site analytics as if you’ve read the whole thing.
…show more content…
And, after much strife and conflict, it eventually became a commonly held idea in some parts of the world that people were entitled to their own points of view.
Unfortunately, this idea is becoming an anachronism. When the Internet first came into public use, it was hailed as a liberation from conformity, a floating world ruled by passion, creativity, innovation and freedom of information. When it was hijacked first by advertising and then by commerce, it seemed like it had been fully co-opted and brought into line with human greed and ambition.
But there was one other element of human nature that the Internet still needed to conquer: the need to belong. The “like” button began on the website FriendFeed in 2007, appeared on Facebook in 2009, began spreading everywhere from YouTube to Amazon to most major news sites last year, and has now been officially embraced by Google as the agreeable, supportive and more status-conscious “+1.” As a result, we can now search not just for information, merchandise and kitten videos on the Internet, but for
... E. (2011). The net delusion. The dark side of internet freedom. New York, NY, USA: PublicAffairs.
In the recent years of the 21st century, the human race has come upon a golden age of communication, where we have seen the rise of the internet’s power to inform and fuel massive movements. While this is true, on the other side of the monitor, Humanity struggles to overcome its base instincts. “The Backfire Effect”, written by David McRaney, is a reflection of people’s current state on their own thoughts in comparison to other opinions. This titular mechanism, as described by the author, negates this ease of access to vital information (possibly an idea or fact contradictory to our own views) due to our mind protecting core beliefs. As we can see, this is stifling to the goal of a world where technology and reason is king, a world we all
There are over 2,405,518,376 internet users on a global scale. More than 50% of the world have a form of Internet censorship, and of those countries China, North Korea, Iran, and Vietnam heavily restrict its citizens. This recent topic has reached new heights in the US with the growing number of access to internet. More and more people are debating whether the internet should be censored. Internet censorship is the control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the internet. This would affect everyone and me. I specifically use the internet to read about controversial view and other information that gets ignored by the media or isn’t circulated anymore. Most of these sites would fall in the black list of censoring. A small percentage of users post conspicuous posts, graphic material, and infringing copyright links. Although inappropriate it shouldn’t demand internet censorship, because it goes against the individual rights of the people. Freedom of speech and press will be restricted by the government. To a point where people would be scared to express themselves, or spread information for they might be punished. Even if their opinion is erroneous and maleficent, it’s still that person’s opinion and he’s entitled to it. Same can be said for the common good everyone should be able to voice their opinions without censorship anywhere. Everyone should also have the access to any information on the internet. If anyone is offended by what is said on the internet, then they can remember to not visit the webpage next time and hold themselves accountable. This paper will examine the issue of internet censorship constituting a violation to the American people individual rights, common good, and the constitution.
An opinion can bring about shockwaves throughout the entire world by providing a variety of intriguing and thought provoking concepts. Opinions can range from current events, entertainment, and politics just to name a few examples which all have a profound effect on society as a whole. Now more than ever, the spreading of opinions has increased to a higher degree largely thanks to the easier accessibility of the Internet. Often times people question whether or not the concept of sharing opinions serves as a worthwhile experience to people, believing that they simply can not provide any kind of insightful or thought-provoking discussion. However for these people to question the legitimacy of opinions serves to undermine the invaluable effects
Internet is a powerful tool that allows users to collaborate and interact with others all over the world conveniently and relatively safely. It has allowed education and trade to be accessed easily and quickly, but all these benefits do not come without very taxing costs. This is especially true when dealing with the likes of the Internet. Countries in the European Union and Asia have realized this and have taken action against the threat of net neutrality to protect their citizens, even at the cost of online privacy. Internet censorship is required to protect us from our opinions and vices. Every country should adopt Internet censorship and regulation since it improves society by reducing pornography, racism/prejudice, and online identity theft.
He makes sure to appeal to the audience by using logos when making arguments, and using pathos to connect with the audience and persuade them, to get his message through. However, he only talks about the negative aspects of technological advancement and social media. For example, he mentions the social media platform Facebook as a negative thing, where ‘liking’ goes “from a feeling to an assertion of consumer” (p. 2 l. 82). But Facebook is not only a narcissistic platform where we stage our lives for the outside world, but also a place to keep in touch with people you do not see often.
As capitalism runs its course and develops new technologies, society is left to pick up the pieces and figure out where these new technologies will lead them. Ever since I learned to use the Internet as a child, I have become accustomed to seeing more and more fascinating technology developments that have changed the way I communicated as the years went by. Now that the Internet has infiltrated more aspects of human life, it has become necessary to reflect on how this critical juncture will continue to affect our society. In Digital Disconnect, Robert McChesney provides an analysis of the arguments that the celebrants and skeptics used to express their views of the Internet. McChesney then moves past these arguments to explain how the PEC plays a key role in determining the direction that the Internet is heading towards. By assessing McChesney’s views, I hope to develop my own interpretation of the Internet’s impact on society.
The public sphere has been falsely represented as a virtual place where one can share and debate opinions; ...
Most social networks make it possible for individuals to upload their entire life to a public profile. You’re not only sharing personal information with your friends but also the friends of your friends. Personal information spreads rapidly on a Social Networking Site than through a real-life network and sometimes provides more information than we would have thought. A social networking site is defined as a network of individuals related to each other based on a common interest or a real-life connection. The popularity of these sites introduces the use of a new and easy form of communication. People spend countless hours interacting with their ‘friends’ on these sites with the help of a ‘comment’ and a ‘like’ button.
KIM, Young M. (2002). "Hate Propaganda in Cyberspace: Censorship, Freedom of Speech, and Critical Surfing", Computers in the Social Studies Journal, vol. 10, nº4 (October/December 2002). Online at: http://www.cssjournal.com/y_m_kim.html, consulted on January 23rd, 2003.
Stewart, William. Key Internet Features - Freedom of Speech. Living Internet. Retrieved 20 April 2004.
Since the Internet burst free of academic cloisters into the public domain during 1990s, it has been thoroughly debated whether the individual’s remarks and comments on the Internet should be restricted. Also this has drawn increasing attention due to popularity of the emerging social net like Facebook and Twitter in recent years. While some advocate that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, others argue that an uncontrollable medium of anarchy may occur owing to the freedom of speech. This paper examines both the arguments for and against of the freedom speech in Internet and provides suggestions based on these arguments. The Internet freedom provides capable and appropriately universally accessible tools to create a new platform to gather voice from the citizens.
The Internet along with other technologies has opened channels of communication. Not only has the Internet played a great role in forming international public opinions regarding the United States throughout the Middle East, Asia, and Western Europe, but it has also helped to democratize the rest of the world by allowing them to voice their own opinions. However, sometimes the incited cyber public opinions would lead to some extremely negative behaviors and cause serious problems like cyber bullying, real life crimes, and even a long time social unrest.
Nowadays, we are living in the “ technology world”, digital’s century, science and technology are being devolopped like a rain-storm, people try their best effect to serve for human’s infiniti demand. Internet in general and social network in particular are exceedingly funtional tools. Indeed, with over 1.3 billion active users in June,2014 ( Wikipedia), there is no suprise that Facebook has been becoming a leading social network in the world, “Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission - to make the world more open and connected” – CEO of Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg (google). Facebook truthly brought many useful; however, it is still “ a double-edged sword”.
Social networking has now introduced an innovative way of attaining these norms through virtual communities on the Web. Socialization prepares us for our life experiences. It can be considered a reverential foundation for society. We may not agree to some rules in society, but without socialization a civil society would cease to exist. In addition, any influence on the socialization process has a profound effect on how we function as a community, with some of the more notable discovery’s being email and instant messaging.