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technology impacts on society
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Throughout history a debate has raged on whether sense of community, and more broadly community itself, is crumbling. [INSERT two quotes from early and late doomists] What I see in arguments both for and against the ability for sense of community to persevere is a tangled mess of media. Media play varying roles in arguments both for and against the survival of sense of community, but their presence should not be ignored. In some cases media are blamed for declines in sense of community. In others new media technologies are seen as saviors that can bring about a sense of community rebirth. More broadly, media are central to communities—their formation, purposes, and means of connecting. Newspapers inform small and large communities of what is going on—and simultaneously create an imagined community of news-readers who are spread out but engaged and linked through the stories they read. Towns send text messages notifying residents of weather or emergency situations. Online gamers meet up in cafes with their guild members, or teammates, to socialize. Yet these criss-crossing community interactions are often overlooked in discussions of community. Of all the research I have read, it is funny that the work that resonates with me the most is something I mostly disagree with. Turkle’s (1995) exploration of MUD (Multi-User Dungeons)—online social or gaming spaces connecting multiple users—communities for the most part concentrates on the ability of individuals to experiment with new identities, an assumption that is increasingly argued to be a false starting point (Leander, 2008). However, her concept of “synthetic” reality struck me as the perfect explanation for all of the discord in comparing online and offline communities. If all o... ... middle of paper ... ...e of community has most popularly been brought to the public’s attention through Robert Putnam’s (Putnam, 2000; Putnam & Feldstein, 2003) research on social capital. The best-selling book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community not only attracted the attention of the general population but also led to governmental involvement in the re-engagement of community based on Putnam’s finding that civic engagement was declining (Putnam, 2000). Although Putnam’s analysis showed that participation in civic life was declining, it also revealed a desire for greater emphasis on community (Putnam, 2000). Links between community and mental health, physical health, and economic prosperity point to some of the reasons why there is so much interest in understanding the bonds of community and concern about reviving community (Putnam, 2000; Shinn & Toohey, 2002)
Putnam, Robert D. 1993b. The Prosperous Community: Social Capital and Public Life. American Prospect 13: 35-42.
Finally, I discussed the effectiveness of these comparisons and contrasts in embellishing Mr. Barlow's discussion about communities. In all, I believe that even though nowadays people don't really care anymore, and communities are dwindling away we can still have heart and find people that still care for one another even if that has to be online.
‘There is much talk about community in everyday life’ (Popple, 2015, p. 11). Community often gets valued on its spirits as well measured by its population. It can be argued that community is a challenge of
Individuals conceived between the years of 1980 and 2000, as indicated by this article, experience serious difficulties finding their actual self due to the online networking outlets; they regularly depict another person life of a fantasy dream American life on the web. As today’s more youthful era makes the transition to adulthood, trying to accommodate between online and offline characters can be hard. “Van den Bergh asked 4,056 individuals, ages 15 to 25, when they felt they were or weren't being genuine online or logged off, with companions, folks, accomplices or employers.” Through this research he found,
Turkle (1995) argues that without coherence, the identity spins off in all directions and that multiplicity can exist only between personalities that can communicate among themselves. Steven G. (1998) states the fragmentation of the individual obstructs the development of the resilent online identity. Ultimately, one can create multiple versions of oneself; different versions of identity can be altered to particular audience. Nonetheless, for most young people these fragmentary social faces are merged into an emotional sense of a single identity. One is able to express more online than one says offline. Thus, hostile exchanges can be found erupting online, then one can abandon that difficult position by abandoning the identity through which it was projected.
The complexities in the discovery of past and present communities led analysts to realize that the term community, often demonstrated in a neighborhood, is not confined to neighborhoods. By 1970s, analysts had expanded the definition of community beyond the boundaries of neighborhood and kinship solidarity and argued that the ‘essence of community was its social structure and not its spatial structure. They then began to treat “community” as “personal community” and defined as a network of significant, informal community ties. The transmutation of community into social network has helped the persistence of communities even when the neighborhood traces are faint.
Community is like a Venn diagram. It is all about relations between a finite group of people or things. People have their own circles and, sometimes, these circles overlap one another. These interceptions are interests, common attitudes and goals that we share together. These interceptions bond us together as a community, as a Venn diagram. A good community needs good communication where people speak and listen to each other openly and honestly. It needs ti...
The community remains essentially the same, but the author now provides it with an opportunity to demonstrate its humanity, good will, and potential for genuine sociability, which serve to soften, if not erase, our awareness of its crudeness. [Austen, Henry. 230]
Sense of community has been operationalised as a state like entity, and as the outcome of certain social processes. As such, a conceptual framework has been developed that allows understanding of the way people are socialised into their communities and maintain, or fail to establish and maintain, social engagement. This has also been understood in terms of process analysis of social change. Its linkage to power is important, as it helps define the setting in which power is used and is less likely to be abused. From a process perspective, sense of community is a changing feature of people’s relationships to others, and as such can be a barometer of change in 18 18 community. It can be beneficial in helping people create a sense of identity and a resilience to untoward social change. As a central aspect of the development and maintenance of social connectedness, it is useful in conceptualising adaptive and protective factors for positive life in community. Sense of community can also be associated with negative aspects of social life. The nature of exclusion of ‘others’ can lead to harmful social consequences. Local social cohesiveness can be at the expense of minority groups and newly arrived immigrant groups. It can provide an analytic tool
In Howard Rheingold’s The Virtual Community an online community is stated as, “an online discussion group in which members develop long-term friendships through their interactions online. In such a community, members become intimate though they have never seen each other face to face.” Such a place is illustrated when Rheingold related the tick story in his book. It was late one night when he and his wife found a tick on their baby’s scalp. They were frightened and didn’t know what to do, so the Rheingold logged onto the WELL, an information site, to see if he could get an answer. Before his wife got a hold of the normal pediatrician, he had received an answer online. “Many people are alarmed by the very idea of a virtual community, fearing that it is another step in the wrong direction…” However, such a place for people to gather and help is needed, as demonstrated by the tick incident. An online community is a place where people can gather and share information they have learned throughout the years. It is a place of solace to many and a resource to others. “Who is to say that this preference for informal written text is somehow less authentically human than opting for audible speech” (Rheingold 94)?
Inside the majority of American households rest the unlimited territory of the internet. The unlimited and always advancing possibilities have unlocked powerful new tools in communication and socialization. Tools such as: long distance visual communication, international circulation of personal thoughts, and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) have all led to a closer but more distant community of people. The positive side can attribute to the fact that the younger generation seems more in tune with their international counterparts. Youth have the ability to anonymously communicate with others through various message boards, mostly governed by one policy, freedom of speech. The anonymity of the internet has created a community where social outcasts mingle freely with others; a society where jocks can converse with geeks without fear of reprisal. This community releases people from the bounds of their own flesh. Yet, technological advances have pushed society into the next dimension of communication and socialization that seemingly override traditional and more personal vessels of communication.
Individuals may feel isolated from society wether it be due to their sexuality, likes, or dislikes, and the virtual world is an area they do not feel like they have to conform to certain ...
In fact, most media content are no longer merely artistic and informational – they are meant to engage the masses thus to exert profound influence not only on individual development but also on social advancement. No one can deny that in the contemporary world, media, composed of dynamic and various platforms, is widely perceived to be the predominant means of communication. Noticeably, the term media is first used with the advent of newspaper and magazines; yet with the passage of time, the term is broadened by the inventions of radio, television, video and internet, which are all adapted as forms of media that bring the world closer to us. Indeed, media depends on its wild audience coverage, active public engagement and open, two-way communication to create a highly interactive platform through which “humanity, fully connected, collaboratively build and share a global world”(McLuhan 160).Without doubt, media presents a strong impact upon individual and society in the proc...
Social media is used by many people, young and old around the world as a way to communicate. Our lives have become so busy that it is difficult to maintain family and social relationships. “They use social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. On these sites users create profiles, communicate with friends and strangers, do research and share thoughts, photos, music, links and more” (Social Networking). With the use of social media you can be friends with all sorts of people without actually seeing or knowing them. “In many ways, social communities are the virtual equivalent of meeting at the general store or at church socials to exchange news and get updated on friends and families” (Cosmato).
The Role of Community in Society Communities are an essential part of our society, because we all depend and interact with each other. Communities are groups of people that help an individual to learn and develop new ideas. A society is where people’s relations with each other are direct and personal and where a complex web of ties link people in mutual bonds of emotion and obligation. The idea of community has provided a model to contrast to the emergence of more modern less personal societies where cultural, economic and technological transformations have uprooted tradition and where complexity has created a less personal and more rationalized and goal directed social life.