Friday, May 16, 2008
Microblogging or Mindboggling
So as I read everyones (my classmates) experiences and reactions to microblogging I find myself with mixed feelings. Reading articles provided by our instructor really opend my eyes to how all this new technology could be used. At the same time though it can have a big down side. You lose the one on one and group social interaction. People crave that social interaction, its how we as humans were designed. I am reading a book by Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz and there is a chapter called "Alone". As I read that chapter then read all the www. services out there I started to picture all these students and young adults stairing at their computer screens all day long with no real social intereaction. I my self have fallen into the myspace trance at times and wasted away a good five hours. Its what I am doing right now as I write this blog. If we spend all our time social networking on the computer we will lose the ability to interact with people face to face. On the upside though there is a world of information out there that we can get our minds rapped around that ten years ago would have taken a week just to receive or even find. Reserch for papers can be done by typing a simple word or two. There are opportunities to meet new people from around the world with just a simple click of the mouse button. Or keep n touch with family members and friends miles away very easily. So there are up sides and down sides. Have I made a final judgment on where I stand? No, but I do have some stong feelings on how far I think we should allow this to go. We dont want to lose that social contact we all crave and need. Its what helps mold us as individuals. I just dont want to become a drone that stares at a computer screen all day.
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5 comments:
I unfortunately did not see that down side of all this micro--blogging and technological societies assignment. All the articles we read were primarily informational in nature and I found myself trying to conjure up ways of integrating a blog or micro-blog into my curriculum. I hadn't even considered the side effect that it could cause. Very good point. I haven't even written my assignment yet, but I will definately consider this perspective. Thanks Bryan!
I would agree with your concern. humans are made for contact and relationships. At the same time, the computer does not have to exist to make a person feel connected socially. It can also be a great tool for intellectual growth and for discussions that would not be possible under other circumstances. But... i have had a couple moments (not lately) where i burned like 5 hours on myspace as well. so i guess there has to be a mature balance.
Very good point about social interaction. We probably can lose to ability to interact face to face through the use of this new age technology. I never thought about it in that way. I guess we need to find a happy medium and set some limitations for ourselves.
I have always had the same concern about the loss of social interaction. Just the other day I was taking a run on one of the most beautiful beaches when I pass a group of teenagers who all talking on their cell phone or texting. Wow.
But, on the other side I look at my students who have no friends in school and I know for a fact they feel much more comfortable socializing on their computer. This is better than nothing right?Is that really so bad? Reading these articles does help us start seeing both sides.
I love to hear your thoughts on this. In a lot of ways I agree with you. I am finding that Gen Y is developing relationships in different ways they Gen X does. I follow several friends on Twitter and actually feel like I know more about them now then I did before I started following them. For example, one of my friends twittered that she was getting stuff ready for her camping trip this weekend. I now know to ask her how camping went, etc. This would have been unlikely to come up with this particular friend had I not read her Twitter. I like to view these things as a supplement, not a replacement. It still hang out with my friends but now I catch on to pieces of their daily lives I would not have otherwise known.
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