Thursday, February 20, 2014
Sears: Redefining the Online Shopping Experience
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
The Internet: It Is What We Make Of It
What I believe to be three of the most important advantages of the Internet include the ability to access information from other locations that would be impossible without cyberspace, instant communication capabilities (including group chat and video) and multi-tasking capabilities.
I was born in Italy where I started my schooling and I continued my education in the catholic school system upon arriving in this country. Despite the advent of technology, the importance of knowing how to do research and learning traditional methods was stressed. So in addition to having to study Latin (ugh), I had to learn the Dewey Decimal System and the Library of Congress system. We learned the old-fashioned methods from an elderly nun who used to fall asleep at her desk, and learned how to navigate the new servers that were dedicated to cataloging that particular library's contents from a young priest who was part of a diocese working towards modernizing our schools. Of course, this was before the time where each library's database was connected and you could reserve a book online from a neighboring library.
I never though I would ever be grateful for Sister Marie Claire, the snoozing librarian nun. She instilled in me a foundation, a skill to fearlessly tackle research, whether it be through books or virtual encyclopedias. She instilled in me a respect for knowledge that will forever leave me in awe every time I type a phrase in the search box and get pages and pages of results. Now I can sit at my kitchen table in Amsterdam, NY and browse images and documents on the Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, Italy, and feel totally transported in time and space; I can research psychology journals, view peer reviewed articles written by students in California, or search the catalog of the New York Public Library, wearing nothing but my underwear, a top hat, and smoking a cigar (if I really, really, really wanted to. But rest assured- I am fully dressed as I type this blog).
My earliest memories of instant messaging come with mixed emotions. AOL appeared to have cornered the IM market at the time, and cell phones had yet to get with the program as far as data packages and "unlimited" services. I was quickly hooked to IM'ing my friends down in the city and promptly had my cell phone privileges taken away after my father received a bill for over $300. That was almost ten years ago, and I just go my cell phone back in January 2013!
Instant communication has evolved tremendously over the years. Since the incident I previously mentioned, I did not begin to appreciate it until Facebook messaging- not only can I now contact someone I have not talked to since high school or message family in Italy and Puerto Rico, but I can still communicate with others without giving out my phone number! This makes me feel in control- I am sure we all know someone who we are not sure of that may exhibit psycho or stalker tendencies. Now I can just delete or "block" them, and not have to worry about them harassing me on my cell phone!
All of the major players have "instant messenger" or "chat," from AOL and Yahoo!, Outlook/Hotmail, Facebook and MySpace, to Google (Hangouts), Samsung's ChatOn and a bevy of others that I am missing due to my very limited knowledge of things that are not popular. Even Verizon offers their customers the ability to "text" other Verizon customers from the Web through their homepage. I am one of those people who would download the app or enable the feature because it is what is new and popular, then eventually end up deleting it because I never used it. Except for Facebook messenger, of course. However, I had totally "google-ized" my phone (those with Android devices know what I mean- Google tool bar, Google books, Google wallet... the list goes on and on) and Hangouts was a part of the Google makeover. When my online class began this semester, my professor encouraged us to open a Gmail account if we did not have one already, to make future group projects easier. I took it a step further and started adding classmates to a Google+ circle, then we all started "hanging out." It has been incredibly beneficial. Ten of us can study and contribute to group conversations instantly. I believe that this technology has brought us closer together as a class.
In the April 18, 2013 edition of digitaltrends.com, Drew Pindle rated Google Talk (the former Hangouts) third on his list of five of the best instant messaging clients, citing that the only drawback is that it only works on Windows-based computers. I think that is pretty good considering the amount of IM clients that are available and the fact that he is a tech guy and knows about other platforms that most people do not even know exist! Plus, Hangouts has been updated so much since April 2013 and can be downloaded as an app, used from a cell phone and can take over the text function on a cell phone. It might earn a spot higher up on that list now!
I am going to briefly touch on video chat (i.e. Skype, Hangouts). When my three year old's father went to Florida last month to visit his mother, video chat through Hangouts on our cell phones was a lifesaver. Johnny (my son) also Skypes with his grandmother in Florida and his favorite cousin in Buffalo. He uses Facetime on his iPod to video chat with my mom through her iPhone. Especially with family and people we are close to, there is a deeper connection that is better felt through seeing the person instead of just hearing their voice. It is also more- it is seeing where the person is and imagining them in their environment. It is looking into their eyes and seeing that smile as you hear them laugh, and it is all thanks to the Internet.
One of my personal favorites as far as Internet advantages is the increased ability to multi task. Now that computers (and cell phones) have multi window functions, I am elated. I do not have to completely finish watching YouTube clips or video links for class before taking notes or [gasp] have to take notes by hand. I can open up another window side by side, type my notes as I watch the video, then save it all to this ominous "cloud" that everything is saved and backed up to nowadays. I can schedule appointments, keep track of my homework,receive reminders for said homework (only works if I do not ignore it), make my grocery list, message someone on Facebook, post a status, and participate in my online class, ALL AT THE SAME TIME! Okay, that is not realistic, but I could if I wanted to!
The advantages I listed could arguably be disadvantages as well, but so that my blog post is even longer, I will choose three entirely different disadvantages that I see. One is that it can destroy intimate relationships (explanation to follow). Another disadvantage is that it can give rise to trends that are unhealthy and even illegal; and finally, the Internet can promote information overload if one is not careful or tends to follow along with everything that is put out there.
I stated that the Internet can destroy intimate relationships, but to clarify my point, the Internet makes it easier for a cheater to cheat. I have firsthand experience with this, after months of a secretive and intense relationship between my son's father and his laptop gave rise to an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. To make a long story short, apparently you can use Craigslist to find people who are looking to hook up for a night, so convenient for ski trips to Vermont, etc.
Apparently, I am not the only one who has fallen prey to a partner's use of the Internet to cheat. There are plenty of websites dedicated to the subject, from infidelityassistance.com/internet to a wikihow.com page entitled "How to Catch Someone Who is Cheating Online." Womansavers.com has compiled a list of statistics citing various sources, including evidence that there is a "high correlation" with internet cheating and resulting sexual affairs, and that 31% of people have had an internet conversation that has led to a sexual hookup. According to Divorcemag, less than 50% of men believe that online affairs are adultery. An article posted on csun.edu about internet addiction and relationships also lists a person's repeated involvement in online relationships as a disadvantage of the internet.
When I think of certain videos that have gone viral and subsequent videos posted that mimic the degradation of the first one, I think that this tendency for a segment of the population to jump on the viral bandwagon is an unhealthy trend made possible by the Internet. YouTube is the primary vehicle used to get these videos out, and I think they are a sad commentary on today's society. For example, after the first video hit of teenage girls brutally beating up another young girl, recorded and cheered on by the mother, copy cat videos made by preteens and teens soon followed. Clips of a man guzzling hard liquor is another example of crude videos that are widely imitated; and lest we not forget the sex tape scandals, made popular by the famous and turned into sad, desperate pleas for attention by teenagers who are under 18.
The third disadvantage I see is information overload. This is such a broad topic that can apply to almost anything searched for on the internet, with the smattering of distracting advertisements to make the most focused person feel like they have ADD. I will use my mom for this example, since she is always researching and trying out everything she hears on the Dr. Oz show. There is so much information available online about diet, exercise, weight loss, nutrition programs, supplements, etc. If a person does not find one or two to focus on to see what works or does not work before trying something else, they end up like my mother- with cupboards full of every vitamin and supplement known to man, a fridge full of weird food (half of which ends up spoiling and being thrown out), and a pissed off daughter with an e-mail congested with links to a million different health pages and articles.
I think that the "Google Effect" can include that you no longer think for yourself, and Google makes your decisions for you. You begin to believe that Kim Kardashian really lost all of her baby weight by taking Garcinia Cambogia and Symbiotix, without any changes to her diet, and Beyonce is really upset that her diet secrets were leaked out! So you spend the money on silly supplements that you do not really need and are not "a miracle fat burner in a bottle."
As with most things in life, there will be pros and cons. Particularly with technology and the internet, evaluations of each will always be subjective, whether intentional or not- it is just the way it is, as far as opinions go. So whether the internet is a "vast wasteland," yanking the title Newton Minow bestowed upon television in 1961 is in the eye of the beholder (or the fingers of the Googler). What matters is how each of us uses it to OUR advantage in our daily lives, for better or for worse.
Works Cited
Pindle, Drew. "Best Instant Messaging Clients." digitaltrends.com. Digital Trends, 18 04 2013. Web. 11 Feb 2014.
womensavers.com. "How to Catch Someone Who Is Cheating Online." Web. Retrieved 11 Feb 2014.
I was born in Italy where I started my schooling and I continued my education in the catholic school system upon arriving in this country. Despite the advent of technology, the importance of knowing how to do research and learning traditional methods was stressed. So in addition to having to study Latin (ugh), I had to learn the Dewey Decimal System and the Library of Congress system. We learned the old-fashioned methods from an elderly nun who used to fall asleep at her desk, and learned how to navigate the new servers that were dedicated to cataloging that particular library's contents from a young priest who was part of a diocese working towards modernizing our schools. Of course, this was before the time where each library's database was connected and you could reserve a book online from a neighboring library.
I never though I would ever be grateful for Sister Marie Claire, the snoozing librarian nun. She instilled in me a foundation, a skill to fearlessly tackle research, whether it be through books or virtual encyclopedias. She instilled in me a respect for knowledge that will forever leave me in awe every time I type a phrase in the search box and get pages and pages of results. Now I can sit at my kitchen table in Amsterdam, NY and browse images and documents on the Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, Italy, and feel totally transported in time and space; I can research psychology journals, view peer reviewed articles written by students in California, or search the catalog of the New York Public Library, wearing nothing but my underwear, a top hat, and smoking a cigar (if I really, really, really wanted to. But rest assured- I am fully dressed as I type this blog).
My earliest memories of instant messaging come with mixed emotions. AOL appeared to have cornered the IM market at the time, and cell phones had yet to get with the program as far as data packages and "unlimited" services. I was quickly hooked to IM'ing my friends down in the city and promptly had my cell phone privileges taken away after my father received a bill for over $300. That was almost ten years ago, and I just go my cell phone back in January 2013!
Instant communication has evolved tremendously over the years. Since the incident I previously mentioned, I did not begin to appreciate it until Facebook messaging- not only can I now contact someone I have not talked to since high school or message family in Italy and Puerto Rico, but I can still communicate with others without giving out my phone number! This makes me feel in control- I am sure we all know someone who we are not sure of that may exhibit psycho or stalker tendencies. Now I can just delete or "block" them, and not have to worry about them harassing me on my cell phone!
All of the major players have "instant messenger" or "chat," from AOL and Yahoo!, Outlook/Hotmail, Facebook and MySpace, to Google (Hangouts), Samsung's ChatOn and a bevy of others that I am missing due to my very limited knowledge of things that are not popular. Even Verizon offers their customers the ability to "text" other Verizon customers from the Web through their homepage. I am one of those people who would download the app or enable the feature because it is what is new and popular, then eventually end up deleting it because I never used it. Except for Facebook messenger, of course. However, I had totally "google-ized" my phone (those with Android devices know what I mean- Google tool bar, Google books, Google wallet... the list goes on and on) and Hangouts was a part of the Google makeover. When my online class began this semester, my professor encouraged us to open a Gmail account if we did not have one already, to make future group projects easier. I took it a step further and started adding classmates to a Google+ circle, then we all started "hanging out." It has been incredibly beneficial. Ten of us can study and contribute to group conversations instantly. I believe that this technology has brought us closer together as a class.
In the April 18, 2013 edition of digitaltrends.com, Drew Pindle rated Google Talk (the former Hangouts) third on his list of five of the best instant messaging clients, citing that the only drawback is that it only works on Windows-based computers. I think that is pretty good considering the amount of IM clients that are available and the fact that he is a tech guy and knows about other platforms that most people do not even know exist! Plus, Hangouts has been updated so much since April 2013 and can be downloaded as an app, used from a cell phone and can take over the text function on a cell phone. It might earn a spot higher up on that list now!
I am going to briefly touch on video chat (i.e. Skype, Hangouts). When my three year old's father went to Florida last month to visit his mother, video chat through Hangouts on our cell phones was a lifesaver. Johnny (my son) also Skypes with his grandmother in Florida and his favorite cousin in Buffalo. He uses Facetime on his iPod to video chat with my mom through her iPhone. Especially with family and people we are close to, there is a deeper connection that is better felt through seeing the person instead of just hearing their voice. It is also more- it is seeing where the person is and imagining them in their environment. It is looking into their eyes and seeing that smile as you hear them laugh, and it is all thanks to the Internet.
One of my personal favorites as far as Internet advantages is the increased ability to multi task. Now that computers (and cell phones) have multi window functions, I am elated. I do not have to completely finish watching YouTube clips or video links for class before taking notes or [gasp] have to take notes by hand. I can open up another window side by side, type my notes as I watch the video, then save it all to this ominous "cloud" that everything is saved and backed up to nowadays. I can schedule appointments, keep track of my homework,receive reminders for said homework (only works if I do not ignore it), make my grocery list, message someone on Facebook, post a status, and participate in my online class, ALL AT THE SAME TIME! Okay, that is not realistic, but I could if I wanted to!
The advantages I listed could arguably be disadvantages as well, but so that my blog post is even longer, I will choose three entirely different disadvantages that I see. One is that it can destroy intimate relationships (explanation to follow). Another disadvantage is that it can give rise to trends that are unhealthy and even illegal; and finally, the Internet can promote information overload if one is not careful or tends to follow along with everything that is put out there.
I stated that the Internet can destroy intimate relationships, but to clarify my point, the Internet makes it easier for a cheater to cheat. I have firsthand experience with this, after months of a secretive and intense relationship between my son's father and his laptop gave rise to an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. To make a long story short, apparently you can use Craigslist to find people who are looking to hook up for a night, so convenient for ski trips to Vermont, etc.
Apparently, I am not the only one who has fallen prey to a partner's use of the Internet to cheat. There are plenty of websites dedicated to the subject, from infidelityassistance.com/internet to a wikihow.com page entitled "How to Catch Someone Who is Cheating Online." Womansavers.com has compiled a list of statistics citing various sources, including evidence that there is a "high correlation" with internet cheating and resulting sexual affairs, and that 31% of people have had an internet conversation that has led to a sexual hookup. According to Divorcemag, less than 50% of men believe that online affairs are adultery. An article posted on csun.edu about internet addiction and relationships also lists a person's repeated involvement in online relationships as a disadvantage of the internet.
When I think of certain videos that have gone viral and subsequent videos posted that mimic the degradation of the first one, I think that this tendency for a segment of the population to jump on the viral bandwagon is an unhealthy trend made possible by the Internet. YouTube is the primary vehicle used to get these videos out, and I think they are a sad commentary on today's society. For example, after the first video hit of teenage girls brutally beating up another young girl, recorded and cheered on by the mother, copy cat videos made by preteens and teens soon followed. Clips of a man guzzling hard liquor is another example of crude videos that are widely imitated; and lest we not forget the sex tape scandals, made popular by the famous and turned into sad, desperate pleas for attention by teenagers who are under 18.
The third disadvantage I see is information overload. This is such a broad topic that can apply to almost anything searched for on the internet, with the smattering of distracting advertisements to make the most focused person feel like they have ADD. I will use my mom for this example, since she is always researching and trying out everything she hears on the Dr. Oz show. There is so much information available online about diet, exercise, weight loss, nutrition programs, supplements, etc. If a person does not find one or two to focus on to see what works or does not work before trying something else, they end up like my mother- with cupboards full of every vitamin and supplement known to man, a fridge full of weird food (half of which ends up spoiling and being thrown out), and a pissed off daughter with an e-mail congested with links to a million different health pages and articles.
I think that the "Google Effect" can include that you no longer think for yourself, and Google makes your decisions for you. You begin to believe that Kim Kardashian really lost all of her baby weight by taking Garcinia Cambogia and Symbiotix, without any changes to her diet, and Beyonce is really upset that her diet secrets were leaked out! So you spend the money on silly supplements that you do not really need and are not "a miracle fat burner in a bottle."
As with most things in life, there will be pros and cons. Particularly with technology and the internet, evaluations of each will always be subjective, whether intentional or not- it is just the way it is, as far as opinions go. So whether the internet is a "vast wasteland," yanking the title Newton Minow bestowed upon television in 1961 is in the eye of the beholder (or the fingers of the Googler). What matters is how each of us uses it to OUR advantage in our daily lives, for better or for worse.
Works Cited
Pindle, Drew. "Best Instant Messaging Clients." digitaltrends.com. Digital Trends, 18 04 2013. Web. 11 Feb 2014.
womensavers.com. "How to Catch Someone Who Is Cheating Online." Web. Retrieved 11 Feb 2014.
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