I want to make todays blog post fairly simple. First,
because I am sick and don’t have a lot of brain power at the moment, and second,
because today’s topic of discussion isn’t too complex of a concept. Today we
talk about getting attention. I like to think about Tinkerbell, if she does not
get attention, SHE DIES! This is the same concept with trends circulating the
internet, such as the Ice Bucket Challenge example Vaidhyanathan gives, if
these trends and challenges don’t get the attention or circulation from the media,
they die off. These trends can be good in that they provide a way for awareness
to spread quickly, but they also have their downfalls. The trends only last for
so long.
Recently on Facebook people are
given the option for birthday fundraising. The first I saw of this was a lady I
used to nanny for started one for childhood cancer for her birthday. One of the
babies I looked after, Lennon Marguerite Walther, passed at 3 months old due to
cancer. Since then, I have seen SO MANY of these Facebook birthday fundraisers.
And after so long, the effect begins to wear off. I am sure we don’t see much
about childhood cancer, except maybe those pitiful St. Jude commercials, but as
Vaidhyanathan states, “Was the incidence of the disease rising? No, it was like
any other year.” (Vaidhyanathan 95). It’s not hard to donate to a cause that
resonates with you. The attention lies with what is being paid attention to, or
what is trending at the moment. Facebook has been made a place for trying to
gain attention on each organizations cause. “Publicity makes all the
difference.” (Vaidhyanathan 96). The cause that has the best fundraising tactic
online, gets the best funding. And I tend to agree with the author on this one,
it is a terrible way to determine which cause should get more funding. It has become
more about their presence on media and paying for ads, than about compassion
for those involved. And many just participate in trends because, well, they are
trends, and not for the compassion in raising the money for a good cause. The
organizations attention has become their form of currency.
This leads into the next attention
seeking tactic; advertising. We have all become victim to googles advertisements
at some point. For me, it usually has to do with camera equipment (Canon 5D Mark
IV *drools all over keyboard*). I will be surfing the web for a recipe or for a
class, something completely unrelated, and one of those stupid banner ads will
pop up with my dream camera… and what do I do? I lose my attention of the task
at hand and spend another 30 minutes dreaming about when my budget will allow my
next purchase. How does google and Facebook get into our minds though? Kind of
a creepy thought to most.
Google has changed the way they do
advertising. The company keeps careful records of searches and purchases we
have made and then creates targeted ads that are made to pull our attention
away from our tasks. It’s like they know what we like and what we just have to
have! They do this because of the attention economy. Early advertising was made
to see what you liked and they would spend so much money advertising to EVERYONE.
But with the way our society works, Google wanted free. Or less money spent
anyway. They now advertise to the individual. They know what will get you to buy
something. And they advertise what YOU might like, not to everyone. Facebook
does much the same thing. The use of “filter bubbles” helps Facebook fill your
feed with things you pay attention to. The more things in common you like, the
more Facebook will fill your feed that similar thing. A pretty simple concept,
but still pretty creepy. It’s all about money!
Being from a military family with a
father who can hack any government computer system at any given moment, I am
not concerned with the technology or systems we have in place. I am confident the
government will protect us and not use our personal information to harm us. Like
I said before, it’s all about companies getting their money. My mind always goes
back to Orwell’s 1984. So perhaps in the future it could harm us, but as of
right now, I don’t think we have anything to worry about.
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