Theme 6

Since the first creation of the Internet there has been nonstop development of new types of various media forms. The formation of the Internet and the world wide web allowed people to access information and ideas in a way that had never even been dreamed of in earlier times. People could now go on their computers and type in a website to find out all sorts of information about a given topic. Before the Internet people would have to rely on friends and family who might know, or go somewhere to do some research. Now that the Internet is such a vital part of our everyday lives, it seems that, often times there is little more that we need. Today there are websites for anything and everything.

There are websites that serve as guides to help us when we are unsure of what to do. These websites aid us in constructing various things and answering any questions that we may have. Over time even these types of online resources have evolved. Now there are people who take it upon themselves to post different "how-to" websites and sites that illustrate different ideas. Although these are generally a positive thing, they can also be used in very negative ways. Since anyone can create a website, many people or groups have done so to bring awareness to their side of social views. One very extreme example of this is the American Nazi Party website, yes it's true the Nazi Party has their own website. If you don't believe me just go to http://www.americannaziparty.com/. On the other hand, there are many positive outcomes of increased information and access to the Internet.

The Internet serves as a place for people with common interests to come together and discuss such things. Various television shows have their own websites and fan clubs where people post discussions about recent episodes and events that happened on the show. New media such as Facebook and Twitter have only increased the level of ease for such groups. There are now Facebook groups for these shows and movies, and people can instantly "tweet" each other about things as they are happening.

Theme 5

One issue that has come about as people's use of media has increased is that different websites are racing to become "the one." By this I mean that there are several sites that people use for various tasks, and these sites have begun heavily competing with one another to be the one that people use most prominently. The race that has attracted the most attention is that between Facebook and Google to become the leader to dominate our web activity.

Google serves as only a search engine, whereas Facebook got its start as a social network and has slowly transitioned into a hybrid of the two. The two work in completely opposite ways. Google uses algorithms to find different websites which they feel would be useful based on our search. However, Google's search method is based around how many times a site uses the words we entered into the search bar, which does not always mean relevance. Another issue that I see with the way in which Google works is that it has the possibility of becoming extremely monetized and is really a "hit or miss" on whether or not we are able to find what we are looking for, even after Google has given us options. Often times the first five or so links that appear in a Google search are websites trying to sell you things. For instance, if you do a search for baseball the first links that appear are to sites such as Sports Authority or Dick's Sporting Goods, rather than information regarding the sport itself. There is also the possibility that different companies could be paying Google to get the link to their site higher on the list of results which would gain more traffic for their website.

Even though it was not initially intended to work this way, Facebook has resulted in an extremely easy to use and helpful search engine. This is a result of the ease of access to all types of information on such sites. Instead of typing in a keyword and having hundreds of thousands or links being thrown at you, Facebook encourages you to post a question and have peers and friends offer their opinions. I believe this method works better than that of Google because there is no commercial incentive when your friends are trying to help you with your question, at least we hope not anyway! This results in a more personal search experience.

Theme 4

Marshall MacLuhan had many idea about different forms of media, and technology in general, that have recently started being looked at more closely as different media such as IM's, Facebook, and Twitter have swept the nation, and the globe. One of MacLuhan's more prominent ideas, technological determinism, claims that technology determines the way a society works. This idea is basically summed up as , whenever a new technology is introduced or changes, the culture responds directly to that change. I believe this idea to be true based on the widespread use of different media, such as those previously mentioned, in our everyday lives.

This leads us into another one of MacLuhan's ideas, that of "ideology of technology." This idea claims that every technology brings with it improvement, and every new technology is better than the previous one. I feel this idea is clearly seen with the Facebook and Twitter phenomena. When Facebook came out, it was amazing how fast we were able to gain information about people without having to make any form of contact with said person. All we had to do was click our way to someone's profile page and see what their "status" was. Since then Twitter has come into play. Twitter has changed the way in which we are exposed to information about people, and how we went about obtaining it. Twitter is a constant, automatic, and endless news feed of what our friends, or just whomever we wish to "follow" is saying, thinking, or doing. This made even the ease associated with Facebook seem bothersome.

One issue, however, with the introduction of various types of new media, is that there has been increased opposition to them. Many people have expressed opinions saying that these new medias are detracting from our ability to be attentive. The claim is that media such as Facebook and Twitter have made accessing information so easy that people no longer have the patience or attention span to "work" for their information. By "work" for their information I mean that people have begun reading far less than they used to, and this can most likely be directly linked to the introduction of new media. The concern regarding this issue is that, with the ever-increasing amount of time people spend poking around on their computers, we will become less likely to be able to sit and read or pay attention to something for any lengthy period of time.

Theme 2

Joshua Meyrowitz's idea that different forms of media act as "secret exposing machines" and change the way in which we are able to access people and information plays a strong role in our everyday lives. This idea basically claims that with the increasing amounts of new media that we are using, it has become more difficult to keep information from people. Different forms of electronic media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) allow us to "be there" through the electronic media communication and discover new information almost instantaneously.

The idea of increased access to information through different forms of electronic media leads into that of the para-social relationship. This means that people feel they are having physical relationships with people who they truly only know through their different mediums, such as television characters or Facebook friends. A perfect example of a para-social relationship is Mary Dyck from Kansas in the late 1930's. Mary Dyck was a farm wife who became a frequent radio listener. As a result of spending so much time listening to soap operas, Dyck began to view the characters on her radio shows as personal friends. She would write about these people as if they knew each other personally, while in reality they were just characters on a radio soap opera. We see these para-social relationships even today. With the relatively new media such as Facebook and Twitter, it is very easy for people to form these types of relationships with their online "friends." Many people have hundreds of "friends" on these sites, yet they may only talk to 20-25% of these people. The rest are just people who we are able to see what they are doing, saying, or sometimes even feeling. Through this type of "ambient awareness" people are able to become aware to how people are feeling based on what they say online, and how they say it.

the finale

So today is the 4th and final day of this media deprivation experiment, and I must say I'm not nearly as excited as I originally thought I would be to turn the TV back on. When I first decided to give up TV for these 4 days I thought it was going to be excruciating, but I was far from right. I found myself discovering much more productive ways in which to pass the time, such as homework! Who would have thought that would be the solution to boredom? Certainly not I.

In case anyone out there was unaware, yesterday was Valentine's Day. This means that everyone, yes everyone, was going out to dinner and making plans. My plans included the standard dinner and a movie, but I have to say it was a good time and I enjoyed it. I took my girlfriend to see, what else, Valentine's Day. It was pretty cheesy but that was expected. I have to be honest and say that I did enjoy it though, it definitely had its funny parts.

Well this wraps up my blogging; it wasn't as painful as I had originally expected it to be. Will this be the end of my blogging days or will I continue to use my newly found media outlet? I really couldn't say...

talk about bad timing

I wish I would have thought this decision to give up television a little more. I have since realized that I am unable to watch the Olympics, oops! My family and I often watch the different events together whenever the Olympics are running, which I now cannot do. I know that watching a lot of TV would, in most cases, be said to draw you away from "quality time" with family; in this case not watching TV is actually not allowing me to spend this time with my family.
Although I am usually good about getting work done, I do have to admit that I often push it off until the last minute before doing it. Since giving up television I find myself getting my work done in a more reasonable time frame. A classmate had suggested I read a book with my newly found free time. I guess that, in a way, I am doing that. Even though it is not the same as actually picking up a novel and getting a good read on, I am using my time constructively and getting more work done in my free time.

what to do...

I find myself noticing the lack of television more as some more time has gone by. I'm not talking about sitting around for hours glued to the television screen, but just small amounts at a time. Normally when I would have a bit of free time I would just flip on the TV and watch for a few minutes, not really getting into a show or anything but just something to pass a little time. Since giving up TV for this media deprivation experiment I am beginning to find myself looking for new ways to pass even the smallest amounts of time.

Maybe I was relying on my TV more than I thought, not noticing how often I watch it even if it is only for a very short amount of time. As of now I haven't found a replacement for these times, as I don;t see it worth it to turn the computer on and start poking around to only kill ten or fifteen minutes at a time. Maybe I'll change my mind about possible replacement technologies, or maybe I'll discover some new way to pass the time. I guess I'll just have to wait and see right?

first day deprived

I was so busy with work yesterday that I didn't get a chance to sit down and blog about my first day deprived from television. Honestly, since I was so busy the lack of television went completely unnoticed. I'm finding myself using other media, like the internet and facebook, more often though. As of now its been so far so good, but I wouldn't be surprised if that changes as time goes on.

testing

I set up this new blog for my intro to media class, just testing it out.