The Pros and Cons of Social Media

The Pros and Cons of Social Media

On average, a teen spends 4.5 hours on social media per day. Social media began in 1997, with a website called six degrees. In 1999, blogging started. The first blogging website is actually, Blogger, the website I am posting on right now. In 2000, Wikipedia was created and became one of the most popular and convenient websites, even today.  In 2004 came Facebook, which is one of the most used social media for the older generations. In 2005, YouTube is one of the most entertaining sources of streaming. In 2010, Instagram was created and became one of the most popular social media site for today's generation. In 2011, Snapchat became one of the most efficient and quickest way of communicating. Today, teens across the world post videos and pictures on social media. Is this a good thing though? A big reason someone may join social media is to make new friends. Social media is really helpful when wanting to bring people with common interests together. One of the biggest drawbacks of social media would have to be cyberbullying. A little over forty-one percent of students with technology report cyberbullying each year. Before I did intense research on cyberbullying I felt that cyber bullying isn’t quite as a problem as it used to be. Maybe I thought this because as we have grow up and the older you get the less bullying you see. But according to my data I collected, while we may have grown up and matured there are still generations below us that are still be affected by cyberbullying probably even more than we were as kids. Cyberbullying is staying the same or increasing, based on most national stats. 2,453 suicides from cyberbullying on social media were reported in 2015. This number is expected to keep rising. Our world is always changing.Just like social media and technology. The important thing is not to use bad judgement and have good boundaries. Nowadays it seems like social media is mainly used as a place of entertainment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SAYwQM7OaA

Social media , in my opinion, should be used more as a place to advertise charity events and donation/different fundings. I feel like something I can improve on as a social media user is share more of the go fund me accounts and less funny ignorant videos. These is a time and place for certain things to be posted and sometimes those funny videos interfere and distract us from reality; instead of watching this ignorant videos you could possibly help save a life with a gofundme and just in general giving support to things that really need it. Many times with club soccer I have traveled to other states sometimes meeting people from other countries. It is pretty neat to trade snapchats and instagrams with them so we are able to stay connected and learn about their daily activities. I think social media has the same impact in our country as most other heavily populated countries. I feel as if social media has been the most positive impact on truly bringing people together; possibly bringing people outside of your state to people who live halfway across the world. I worked for my local post office offer winter break and I met this lady, we will call her, Rachael. Rachael lived all the way in Australia in 2010. Back in 2010, she met her future wife through a facebook game. Through Facebook they were able to stay in contact and after a few years of social media connecting they decided to meet in person. Rachael soon met the love of her life and they were able to get married soon after meeting. Rachael is a big fan of social media and technology in general. I asked all my friends what their favorite social media is and why. My first friend said Instagram because she is able to stay connected with all her favorite bands, music, art and friends with the touch of a finger. My second friend said Twitter because it makes me giggle. She uses social media as more as a entertainment factor rather than an informative outlook. My third friend said her favorite social media is Snapchat because there’s no pressure if I post something and it is fun to use (she enjoys taking a bunch of funny videos of herself and sending them to a bunch of people). My fourth friend agreed with my second friend and said Twitter because of the entertainment factor.
In conclusion, social media is growing and spreading more and more everyday. There are so many mixed opinions about social media but overall I believe it is helpful to have social media. Uncontrollably, social media is changing people in our societies lives everyday more and more.

Screen Time

Dr. Vrooman

Social Media and Society

Emma Taylor

February 23, 2019

Screen Time

Today we’re going to be talking about the idea and reality of the iTreaner.  James Williams gave us the concept of the iTrainer in his book Bring Your Own Boundaries.  They are small bricks that you can fit in your pocket so you can carry them with you anywhere you go and always have them easily accessible.  It can do all these amazing things like search things on google, tell you what the weather's like so you don’t have to go outside and check for yourself, you can play games on it, it can even wake you up in the morning.  Sounds pretty great right? A dream come true? But what about the catch? It sends you little notifications every few minutes maybe even few seconds and vibrates and rings for your attention constantly. It is designed to be an, “impuls training device.”  It wants all your undivided attention, all the time, all day, and all night long. Would you still have one? Chances are that you already do. Technology in our day in age works in a way that is designed to be attention catching and distracting. We are supposed to want to be engaged with it constantly so that the companies that create the devices generate more and more money.  Is there a way to still interact with technology in a society that is obsessed with it without being engulfed by it ourselves? I say there is.

We miss so much through staring at our screens.  Walking down the sidewalk engulfed in your phone instead of smiling at people walking around you, maybe even using your screen as an excuse to avoid making eye contact.  Think about it, even as you are right now, right this second reading this blog, what are you missing around you? Details of things happening around you or missing an opportunity to talk with a friend or embrace your surroundings.  But then again what would we be missing if we didn’t have technology as it is today? The knowledge that it brings to our fingertips is endless, knowledge that can teach you how to better your chances of obtaining a job that makes you happy, knowledge that can better help you understand different cultures and societies, knowledge that could even potentially save someone's life… So what would we be missing without it?  Is the loss greater than the reward of leaving our screens behind or would deciding to be screen free make our lives oh so much better? The happy medium I think most of us can deal with (or at least learn to live with) is cutting back on screen time a little every day. Setting timers on social medias can really help with stripping away useless screen time. This would keep us from mindlessly getting caught in the numbness of  I think the benefits of this could be outstanding to our society and everyone in it. More face to face conversations could lead to more confident and emotionally intelligent people. It might sound cliche and sunshiny, but I truly believe that the more real life and meaningful connections we make the better off we will be because of it.

Right now children are growing up on screens and already being trained to have a few seconds of attention span for any given thing.  Our societies attentions spans are steadily decreasing as it is and with further technological advancements I fear that our attentions spans will further decrees.  It is not that technology itself steals our attention and time, but the way we use it that greatly affects us. We often check our phones hundreds of times per day and spend countless hours scrolling, liking, posting and commenting.  Our phones make it so easy for us to stay connected and constantly have everything at our fingertips so that it is hard to peel ourselves away once you have started. Millions of people are addicted to technology and cell phones and don’t even know it.  Technology is so prevalent in our society that we don’t see the signs of addiction when they are present. It is so normal to keep checking your phone or freak out if you lose it or are parted from it for even a little while or forget it at you house that people don’t think about the fact that their bodies are becoming reliant on having the constant stimulation that it gives us.  Our society needs to learn how to control the impulses we have to gain all the virtual reality stimulant we can obtain. We’ve become so overwhelmed with all the noise of the internet and social media that we don’t pay attention to the real world quiet as much as we possibly should. I think if we learn more self control and learn to recognize the unuseful time we spend on our screens we could become a much more productive and successful culture.  

Cell phones- Use to your advantage!

We, in our social media class, have spoken much in our recent classes about the general utilization that individuals tend to have with their phones. Depending on the demographic, those usages tend to be very spotty, but when you look at it overall, it still is just not an ideal usage in order to better ourselves, at least in what most of our collective thoughts generate as a perception to our society. But can it be put to a better use in order to give ourselves standard images and perception needed in order to market and share ideologies? totally! Those are the collaborative paradigms that we should be navigating within while using our phones and overall software, that can be so potent in our given societies.

In order to bring this to some type of lining up to our tools given from class, I can elaborate on one train of thought in particular in order to switch off to my standpoint. The iTrainer, a specific philosophy in my opinion, given in context from our writer, Williams, beholds the framework that an everyday teleological mean for the phone is to in a sense, control our daily itineraries and schedules of what we do minute by freaking minute. That can hold true and is very valid in a lot of individual's situations that they tend to be in primarily everyday. The inverse of that philosophy is what I believe should be touched upon more often than not, because that could essentially be what moves us as individuals whether in business, our passions, fashion, style, anything that we as individuals reside towards as our niches in order to create you as "you" (just the generality of Mead's framework). I do agree with several outcomes that are explained thoroughly from Williams in regards to his statements of the "iTrainer", but I do believe that our phones do not need to be looked at as priorities that we need, rather we should hold the mindset that they are tools that HELP US, engage into our focal points that need prosperity in knowledge.

Use your phone at your access as YOUR TOOL to SUCCESS. Get out your ideas, ask your questions, be ready and excited to gain knowledge and information that you maybe already know, but not in a specific perception that you never have tried to take.

Of course, if you know me, I'm a distance runner, my niche follows the basis and interests of runners who are dominant in the sport, my ideologies and emphasis of training in general can always be sought from social media platforms. This account called Sweat Elite on Instagram, has many different ideas, quotes, and philosophies of training/racing for middle distance/distance runners such as myself. This particular quote given from Alan Webb, a very successful middle distance legend, sticks with me very much on so many occasions.

https://www.pictame.com/user/sweatelite/1587505831/1499783256043538634_1587505831

Point being, when you have the internet at your disposal, in the most basic of usages, use it as a guide and navigator for your interests. You do not have to feed into the perception that the phone is used for such B.S. when it comes down to the full spectrum of it, but do hold the awareness that it has the ability to pull you into that trap if you let it and it is okay from time to time. Overall, go and explore your passions and needs of interests with good intentions.

Cell Phones: Bad Habit or Greatest Advantage?

If you were to take a second and think about life prior towards obtaining a cell phone, how would that turn out? What would your day consist of? How would you function or would you function at all? To many, it's an easy answer, for others, not so much.

For my parents, both born in the 70's, they both have distinct memories of growing up without the gadgets and were shaped throughout their youths without having the technology until they were in their late twenties/early thirties (crazy, I know). They basically lived the majority of their lives without the influence of mobile phones and can recall times when they didn't have it as "good" as the modern day kids did; when they had to physically take a trip to the local library and dig for an article when now a days, all it takes is a simple clicks of a button and bam, you have it right in front of your face right in the comfort of your own house or park or wherever it is that you just happen to be.

But for me, I received mine right at the gloriously awkward stage of middle school just as I turned 12 and have been practically attached to the thing ever since. Life before a phone is almost like a blur, if I were to be honest, and looking back, I have no clue what I did to use my time instead of how I use it now. And why is that? Why is it that somehow during the time that I first received that shiny Motorola RAZR to my new and improved Samsung Galaxy, I have grown almost entirely dependent of the concept of a cell phone? The answer is easy: A cell phone has everything and anything that I need.

Some call it a bad addiction, others, including myself, call it the greatest advantage one can have in today's modern society. Just think of all the tools you have access to thanks to that device in your pocket. The number is quite endless if your ambitious enough. For communication-- the sole purpose of a cell phone when you derive back to it's origins-- you have Instant Messaging, Social Media Apps, Dating Apps, apps that teach you a foreign language, apps that convert your language into a foreign language. That's barely naming a few!

Don't even start trying to think of all the entertainment aspects because that new music video that you've been dying to watch? And that latest Trump debacle getting tossed around on every news source? Or what about that unbelievable buzzard beater on NBA last night? Yeah, all available through cell phones thanks to a nice little company called YouTube which is free to download and usually comes pre-programmed into cell phones nowadays.

Instead of having to carry around big, bulky video cameras, you now have it compressed into your pocket. Need to check your bank account? Oh, just pull out your cell phone. Waiting for that important email? Pull out your cell phone. Need to creep on someone's Instagram-- go ahead and reach for your pocket, I won't judge.

The point, in all of this, is that surreee people can always curse the modern inventions of cell phones and say just how bad they are that the latest generations are constantly hunched over and typing away mindlessly into their cell phones, but the truth is, there's so much on cell phone that is it practically impossible not to use it. Some call it time wasted, other's call it time well spent depending on how they view it. Because for just as much useless content that is available with cell phones, the amount of educational sources are just as plentiful. You have online libraries, databases of news articles and scholary pieces. There's online tools that teach you how to read and write, how to type, and learn a foreign language. The pro's are just as plentiful as the con's.

It's an important aspect in everyone's lives whether they like to admit it or not. Heck, now there are even college classrooms that are based entirely around the concept of social media and the influences of the Internet. There's no denying that in today's society and the nearby future, people's lives are impacted greatly by their cell phones. It's up to the individual themselves that decide how they will manage their time and what their energy will be spent towards.

Distractions & Political Revolutions

How much time are we really spending on our phones? Or even the internet in general? When asked to the average Joe, they’re very likely to say “Oh, not that much!”, because if he admitted to the amount he was really spending, he’d be considered a loser, or someone with no life; even though everyone else has probably got roughly the same amount as him. The average person in the U.S. spends 11+ hours interacting with some form of media, and 4+ hours specifically on our phones alone!

While not always our phones, everyone of avery age group spends their 11 hours of screen time on different platforms. As you can see, people older than 65+ are typically watching TV, and 18-34 year olds are typically on their phones; and far less likely to be watching TV. Our technology can age with/faster us, so it makes sense that younger people would be bored with TV when they have so many other devices to play with, and that older people would be stuck watching TV because that’s what they know and love (but will still tell you to “get off the damn phone!”). No matter what platform, they all suck away our attention; because that’s what their meant to do. Williams believes in the concept of an “attention economy”, where “...the environment in which digital products and services relentlessly compete to capture and exploit our attention. In the attention economy, winning means getting as many people as possible to spend as much time and attention as possible with one’s product or service.” So through history, what were some of the very first attention suckers? Yellow Journalism/Papers (1890s) - Yellow journalism is journalism that is illegitimate and dramatized for the specific purpose of increasing sales. Meant specifically to gain and hold attention until the next issue.

Animal Farm (1945) - While not the oldest in history (the Chinese were the first to invent paper!) Animal Farm demanded the attention of its readers. Innocently enough, it appeared to be a story about a just that: animals on a farm. But really, it was a satirical novel about the state of the Soviet Union, and expressed anti-Stalin/totalitarian rhetoric. Grabbing and holding the attention of people reading this book was important (and controversial) to begin installing some different political rhetoric from the typical propaganda.

The Radio (1920’s) - Though the radio was invented much earlier, it took a while for it to actually gain popularity/be utilized in a productive way (read: used for some kind of gain). It had shared the news as well as some “shows” for entertainment purposes. Many families would gather around to listen, especially younger people. It became important to give up your attention for, and was a social activity. Once people got comfortable with it, the radio went from commercial free, to 1) having commercials or 2) having indirect advertisements (ex: mentioning Coca Cola in a show). A famous example of the importance of the radio is the classic “War of Worlds”, that had people convinced aliens had came to Earth! Television (late 1920’s-Early 1930’s) - While television is still around and lasted a incredibly long run (let's say all the way to the early 2000’s!), it was invented/made popular in the periods I listed. Advertising on television took a bit longer (early 40s) than the radio, but has stuck around ever since then. People (typically youth) were watching TV so much, that many anti-tv propaganda movements were created around it. The attention was unavoidable! Everyone’s eyes were glued to the screen as shows had started to get more organized, with regular weekly schedules.

Everything else (Y2K-Current) - Then of course flip phones, smart phones, tablets, etc came about and our attention has been completely shifted to these and our brains are rotting as you read these very words!


Now that we’ve came about some notorious attention suckers (not including gaming devices, and many other versions of print media, etc), let’s talk about distraction.
According to William’s, “functional distractions” can “...make it harder to return your attention to that same place in your environment later..”. A functional distraction is a distraction that causes our attention to be focused to another place.


Back to our example on Animal Farm, a functional distraction does not necessarily always have to be “bad” thing, and can indeed serve a purpose.


The people of the Soviet Union had their attention focused on simply living under the rule of such a totalitarian ruler, that Animal Farm had took their attention off and created a functional distraction; question authority and your place in society. It would be hard to come back from such a bold distraction to live your life the way it was before; with your attention focused on anything but living a day to day life. However, many functional distractions are “bad”. They still serve a purpose and distract with reason, but are not on the deep allegorical level that George Orwell was (though wouldn’t it be neat if a game notification could start a political revolution).


Examples of functional distractions in the things we focus our attention on commonly are notifications, advertisements, etc. Our phones/tablets are most known for this, grabbing our attention so we can stay longer on the website and then we become distracted. Newspapers (like the Yellow Pages) can do this as well, distracting people from war by mentioning another frivolous thing.


The Yellow Page-esque distractions did not end with the error, only we ignore most of them. With the internet, many news stories make it to the forefront; such as Jordyn Woods cheating with Trystin Thompson and destroying her friendship with a Kar-Jenner. That makes it to the front page, while our concentration camp-like stations for immigrants and the separation of immigrant children from their families are put on a back burner. Or how we all know about the Malia Obama “scandal” (drinking? At 20! Obviously she’ll be an alcoholic in no time!), and not that are planet is dying.


Functional distractions and attention as well as the devices that create them are not going to go away anytime soon. They’ll always be here, and we’re welcoming them with open arms; as we willingly spend nearly half our day observing media.

Pocket Full of Distractions (by Montrell Wiley)

The digital world can be tiring. Some people treat social media like a part-time job by making sure that their posts and their profile content follows the status quo. There are roles that people play online that they have to fill in for everyday to satisfy their followers and themselves included. This can cause major distractions for us that veer us away from our daily lives at work, school, or during social interactions. Not only does social media distract our minds from our responsibilities, it also diverts our attention away from things that effect society as a whole, such as political debates, elections, or decisions. James Williams says that undermining the spotlight of attention frustrates our political lives in several ways. One is by distracting us away from political information and toward some nonpolitical type of information. (James Williams, p.51) How likely are you to spend long periods of time reading up on politics opposed to the eye-popping posts that we see everyday about absolute nonsense (well, usually nonsense)?

One may look at someone's online profile and conclude that none of that stuff matters because in reality that person is something completely different. Does that make their content anything less than real? Is it okay for someone to live a lie online? The validity of someone's profile can be a uncertain if you do not know them personally. The internet gives you for the most part anonymity to others online, which I believe to be a popular benefit among people. Something that goes along the same lines as anonymity would be the lack of accountability that comes with being online. There is no face to face interaction so one's sense of sympathy erodes, and sometimes you become this evil troll creature that attacks any and everyone online, thinking that there would be no consequences.

Look here! Look here!

 While taking time to read this blog post I challenge you to this, you can’t look at your phone once and yes checking the time is cheating. Ready, set, GO! Our phone have personalities of their own these days it seems, like tiny humans resting in our pockets always shaking our legs and yelling at us for attention similar to a toddler. We have become accustomed to this constant attention and even feed into it; the more we check our phone there is an increase of pressure to check it more. How is this effecting our brains and learning today?

                We are all victims of our phones daily,  they chime and we go to them like servants at every notification, even the ones from apps we don’t use anymore. You have often heard people feel "naked" without them. Our brains  have associated a bell or vibration with a positive feeling of want. Our apps need our attention or our friends are texting us requiring a reply. I will admit, even writing this paper I have already checked my phone five times. We are all well aware of the distraction it causes and the procrastination it creates, but will that stop us from still bending to our phones every will, absolutely not. Like the experiment of Pavlov’s dog and classical conditioning, Pavlov would feed the dogs then record the amount of salivation the dogs produced, but throughout his experiment he noticed that the dogs began to salivate whenever something happened that they associated with food for example, the footsteps of the assistant. So, Pavlov took a tuning fork, something the dogs didn’t associate with food and then began to use it during food placement. After a while, the dogs associated the tuning fork with a positive feeling, food, which then triggered the reaction of salivation. How does this apply to our phones though? Believe it or not we preformed this experiment on ourselves. Our endorphin levels rise whenever we check our phone because we assume that whatever we are checking will have a positive outcome, like our game lives refilled or the shirt we wanted went on sale. We then associated notifications with these positive feelings, so over time we trained our brains to associate notification sounds and vibrations with this rise of endorphins which leads to check our phones even more. See the connection? We are like dogs, impatiently waiting for our next meal even though we might as well be fat with our screen time. For example, Instagram has a great way of keeping us coming back for more with the "_______ started a live video" or "______ posted for the first time" which trick us into thinking that these posts are somehow more important than any others ones. They suck us back in to going on the app and then once we are there the scrolling race continues. Our apps have excellent ways into tricking us into  being their slaves for all eternity. 

                As our brains become more trained this affects our learning and our learning capacity. We have as a society become dependents of distraction. People thrive off of the reward system. As children, we are often bribed by our parents and teachers with more material items like toys and stickers, but this continues into our adult lives. We become rewarded less often, for example with our grades. In college, we are only given our grades every three weeks, but if we see we have a good grade on like a daily assignment we are motivated to continue to do well whereas, if we get a bad grade, we are trained to give up. Another example is paychecks, most of the time paychecks are given out bi-weekly to motivate employees to continue working and I know personally I would work harder knowing I would get a paycheck at the end of the week instead of the year.   We have become so used to immediate satisfaction, we are more prone to give up in frustration when we can't figure out a problem right away.  We go to our phones for everything, because we literally have a computer in our pocket. Math teachers would always tell us about how we would never have a calculator at all time which is why we had to learn the long way of doing calculations, jokes on them. With the internet available to us at all times, we don’t have to retain as much information as before. If you wanted to search the most recent world population count right now, you could with a few clicks. An example of this is phone numbers and recipes. Families used to keep recipe books and contact books lying around the house, but now they are near non-existent. With the invention of the smart phone, our phone numbers are saved at all times. Heck, for the longest time I probably couldn’t recite my own phone number without looking for it on my phone. For another example, birthdays can be hard to remember, but with platforms like Facebook to remind us there is no point in storing that information in our brains any more. Why would I bother trying to remember my obscure second cousin's twice removed birthday if Facebook can give me a reminder the day of?  This also goes for students, we feel less obligated to remember information because we have it at the touch of a finger which affects our school work and motivation. I’m sure by having this information readily available has driven more students to academic dishonesty. Our learning capacity has decreased and with advancing innovation our society only become less intelligent as our phones do all the work for us.

                I bet you forget the challenge from the beginning of this paper. So how did you do? Did you check your phone? I can bet most of you did because of the pressure to check it every 10 minutes or so, but for those of you who did, congratulations! You successfully fought against your instincts to learn a little bit about how your phone is your overlord. Hopefully, this post persuaded you that  to increase your learning capacity and give your brain a rest you may consider less screen time. 

How Cell Phones Influence Our Everyday Lives

Before cell phones came out in the 1970s, our parents and grandparents lived in an era of actually communicating with one another and simply bonding through a real connection with other human beings around them. If they were bored, they spent their time playing outside and using their imaginations because what use, or purpose, did they have with a cell phone? They made memories right and they are able to remember it all because they were never distracted, and they spent their time having fun and never missing out. How much has changed since then and why is it so different from before?

 Let’s fast forward to our current time in the era of 2019. Everything has completely changed. When was the last time our generation spent a day outside using our own imaginations? Not very likely to happen nowadays. This is all due to the what we call technology and that includes cell phones. Cell phones have changed from generation to generation from flip phones to slide up key boards, to touch screens, to clear glass screens and so much more. Technology is becoming more and more advanced every day because of how well they succeed from getting us to buy and use their products which ends up with us helping these companies develop bigger and more advanced products to distract us with. Technology not only distracts us from everyday life events, but it also eats up our attention and pretty much just has us focused on that one thing just like it plans for us to. Our generation’s attention span is very small where we don’t really focus or pay attention to the most important things, but instead it usually just goes through one ear and out the other. For example, on the texts we’ve been discussing in class, the iTrainer, talked about by our writer, Williams, discusses how the cellphone in a way controls our everyday lives and schedules of what we do. This can be true and is very valid in a lot of individual's situations that they are usually in every day. Though Williams makes a good point, I believe apart from distracting us it can in some way be a motivation to us and our lives by moving us up whether it be in business, our passions, or anything that we as individuals have such interest in that showcases what makes us. Though I do agree with several outcomes that Williams explains about the "iTrainer", I also believe that our phones do not need to be looked at as something we need, but rather as tools that help us gain knowledge on things we learn about every day. To be fair, technology is a great tool and resource when it comes to researching and using it for educational purposes, but when it revolves around our lives and something we can’t live without is when it starts to be something we should be concerned about because this can potentially lead to more problems and it taking over the world in general.

 Another example, you’re a college student and we all know college is not easy and consists of a lot of your time, money, and priorities. You’re in class and you realize your professor is going on and on about a topic you think you know quite well, but deep down you feel you should listen to the lecture just to reassure yourself you know what you’re actually doing. While deciding, you look at your phone and you see a “We haven’t seen you play in a while. Come back and try to win the million-dollar jackpot!” from the old Casino game you haven’t given any attention to. What is your first thought? Are you going to go and win the money or are you going to listen to the lecture you’re paying for? Well, if you decided to listen to the lecture then you made the right move, but if you decided to carry on with trying to win the money then you’re very much distracted by your phone. Though this does not just apply to college students, this applies to anyone and everyone who feels the need to be on their phone every second of the day because they feel more “entertained” and “not bored” instead of connecting with people around them who will more likely be there for you then a product of technology.

 A classmate within my Social Media and Society class asked us in the class to conduct an experiment where we to turn off our phones for an hour or two and to try to do it at a time where we normally would be checking our phones or perusing social media, then to explain how it made us feel afterwards. Though I thought this experiment was going to be super easy, I was very wrong in the end of it. Before I started the experiment, I waited until I had a class which lasts for an hour and 15 mins where I turned my phone completely off and took my Apple Watch off. I am going to say it was somewhat successful at first because during class when there wasn’t much going on I caught myself leaning into my backpack to get my phone only to remind myself it’s off and that it needed to stay off in order to further go with this. Another thing, I am so used to picking up my arm and looking at my wrist where my watch is at and I will be honest there were times where I looked pretty dumb because the watch wasn’t there. Needless to say, I did last through the time without my phone but just wanting to entertain myself with my phone because nothing important was going on in class showed me how much I actually go on my phone even when I don’t need to. As a result, I truly believe technology has a good amount of control over my life because my phone is the first thing I went for instead of talking to the person next to me or doing something productive to keep me occupied from wanting to grab my phone. It was difficult and after class I got my phone and watch and turned them on and the only thing I truly missed out on was what was going on in my family group chat, but instead I was thinking I was missing out on what’s trending or happening throughout the world when I should always be focusing on school work. So, for me it was a true realization and incredible to see that I would rather turn to my phone to communicate than to the people around me which is something I will now personally work on because I do not want to be remembered as someone who never enjoyed life and the memories I made, but instead chose to be on my phone distracted and paying no type of attention.

In conclusion, learning about technology and realizing how in apply it within my everyday life has significantly changed the way I want to live my life and how I want to use my phone less and only use it for when I actually do have the time and not during the time I need to focus. Life is happening all around us every day and I would rather go and enjoy it than to live my life on my cell phone. Now, what will you do to reduce your phone usage and how will it affect your life whether it is in a positive or negative way? Try it.

Some apps make life easier. But do people depend on them too much?

Hey blog! So all throughout my freshman year in college I have been questioned a lot about rather phones are a helpful asset to society or are they just a big distraction. The professor of my social media class, Dr. Vrooman, has really made me think about rather my phone is a bad habit that needs to stop or is it helping me learn and conquer daily activities. I feel that I am kind of 50/50 when it comes to this topic.

First- I will list reasons why my phone has helped me become a successful person so far in my eighteen years of living.

1. So just recently, I have discovered this easy job that pays pretty well. The program is called Favor. Now Favor is a delivery service that requires you to first attend a orientation to qualify. At the orientation encourage you to download the app and you have to apply and fill out all your information on the phone (digitly). The job requires you to order peoples food and then go pick it up and run it to the customer. Everything for the job is run through the app on your phone. In this situation I believe phones help us tremendously and could and possibly will change society for the better.

https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Favor/reviews?fjobtitle=Runner

2. Another good example that comes to mind is a certain app I have been using since I was in middle school. The app is called myHomework. MyHomework is very simple to use. I would say this app is definitely for people who need a lot of reminders to do their homework and study. This app allows you to quickly enter assignments (including: what class the assignment is for, the due date, rather the assignment is homework/reading/studying/etc.). Once you enter the due dates of the assignments the app sends you a lot of notifications everyday reminding you of what is due soon. This app on my iPhone has definitely encouraged me to stay focused on my school work and to have better time management skills.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/myhomework-student-planne/pembccdigcahnckbjcbehhcacplbbomj

3. If I am being completely honest I would probably not be able to get around/navigate if we did not have the navigational systems we have today. I have absolutely NO navigational sense whatsoever. The navigation apps we have on our phones is truly life-changing. From apps that can give us directions verbally (not even making us look at our phones while driving) to apps that can tell us if Law enforcement officers are nearby and can save us from  paying a ticket or sitting in traffic for a hour or two.

https://www.techlicious.com/tip/best-navigation-apps/

4. Another really helpful app that I have used for many years is the Randolph Brooks bank app. Through this app I am given easy access to view my savings or credit account. Through this app you are also able to deposit checks into your account, which saves very busy people to making a trip to the bank and having to wait in line for 10-20 minutes.

https://www.dnaappstore.com/dev_rbfcu

5. Uber, the app that allows you to contact a “personal taxi driver” at a very quick ability. This app has seriously probably saved lives. People that maybe have drank a little too much, instead of trying to drive home and causing an accident, harming themselves and other innocent people; these people are able to call a safe ride to take them home or to a safe location. These apps that give you access to calling a driver to pick you up do not even charge at a very high price.

http://fortune.com/2017/12/09/uber-suspended-sheffield-britain/

There are a lot of other apps that could possibly change lives and make people’s lives a hell of a lot easier. All those apps provide and have provided me throughout my life; these apps are some of the many reason why I believe phones are helpful and make society a stronger and better place to live. I believe that as the technology environment grows the society will grow as a whole and work as one, work as a heartbeat. Technology has also hurt the societies social abilities and also convinced people that hard work is not always necessary and their is always a easy way out. Phones especially have forced us to resort to texting and messaging through social media as our main communication. If you live far from a loved one or trying to get to know someone from across the world the ability to video message people is perfect but the ability to video message has been blown out of proportion nowadays. Many times with club soccer I have traveled to other states sometimes meeting people from other countries. It is pretty neat to trade snapchats and instagrams with them so we are able to stay connected and learn about their daily activities. I think social media has the same impact in our country as most other heavily populated countries. So I believe social media and phones have given us many great abilities and services but some people may use their phone as a way of living and never learn better social skills because of their phones.

Humor Is Key For Spreadable Ads

There is a reason everyone gets psyched for the Super Bowl and it's not because of men prancing around in tight spandex or head-diving into each other like neanderthals. Sure some go solely for the view and sport but others, including myself, fall into the fiendish obsession of a single football game just for the chance to experience the ads. Often times companies have to pay big bucks for advertisement during champion games (around $5 million for 30 sec, wow!) and if a company is going to go all out for a few measly seconds, they're gonna need their content to stick to their audience. And most of the time, the most successful way of doing this is making them as hilarious as possible.

According to Jenkins, "humor is not simply a matter of taste: it is a vehicle by which people articulate and validate their relationships with those with whom they share the joke (Jenkins, p.204)". With that mentality, when you get a good laugh out of an ad, it has value. It also becomes memorable and shareable.

Think of your own favorite ad. Did it make you laugh? Clutch at your stomach as you doubled over and barked out that embarrassing thing you call a chuckle? If your answer was yes to the first question, it is most likely the same for the second (maybe not the third, but who knows).

Humor is a powerful tool for marketing a brand, and as learned in Spreadable Media, it is largely part of making content spreadable among its audience. As someone who particularly loves humorous ads, if something makes me laugh and is hilarious enough, I'll surely be sharing it with my friends and family. If I were to answer my own questions asked previously, there is always one commercial that I think of as the epitome of hilarious ads, it would be "Our Blades Are F***ing Great."

The Dollar Shave Club ad uses blunt humor and hilarious visuals that really leave the audience captivated as they stare in disbelief at what they've just watched. The straightforwardness is something that really clicks with the audience and essentially gets the brand it's spreadability as it fluctuates with each new person it comes into contact with. This particular ad is a few years old now but humor is still very much present in the ads we are given today. Another great example of using humor to make an ad memorable is the "Longest Goal Celebration Ever". 

It's a mock of futbol practices as it's common for the players to slide across their knees when they make a GOOOAAALLLL!!! and GEICO somehow connects making a goal as being covered with insurance. It makes no sense but it's funny so it sticks to you as you watch the player glide across the entire field while sliding on his knees. 

No matter how many times I watch it, it makes me laugh and that, is what is key in making an ad that will connect with its audience. Yes, there are other producing strategies such as "shared fantasies, parody and references, unfinished content, mystery, controversy, and rumors", but I think that humor takes first priority as it is something more people can either connect to or shy away from. Really, when you think of the ads that have gone viral throughout time, it's usually those that have humorous aspects that essentially "increase forms of media circulation" as Jenkins describes. 

The Morality Behind Asking for Money on the Internet

It’s 2019. You’re scrolling down your Facebook timeline, not that you would usually do that, but Vrooman’s forced you to use the barren wasteland of a social site for a grade, so you scroll ‘cause you’re there anyways. Through the swamps of political posts, offensive memes from highschool friends you don’t really like, and baby pictures from family members you don’t know, you see it: the GoFundMe. The Kickstarter. The shameless self promo.

Being from Austin, the latter is what I (personally) come across most frequently. “Come check out my alternative industrial folk-metal band; Goat Thrashers! Just some kids trying to make it! It’s really cool!” (it’s never really cool). They also usually ask that if you don’t check them out, or go to their “performances” (used liberally), to at least share their link. This is an attempt at increasing engagement and popularity for the benefit of their band. Several of Jenkins, Ford, and Green’s concepts can be applicable to this phenomenon of internet charity. But first, I’d like to get into my opinion the morality of these crowdfunding and fundraising websites.

Article on the "abuse" of GoFundMe

GoFundMe success stories

The first article argues that too many people are abusing the generosity of others, and that they are asking for luxuries, like new cars or a vacation, rather than necessities, like cancer treatment or medical expenses. Here is an excerpt from the article I feel shows how impassioned some may feel about this misuse of the site:

“It may sound harsh, but I'm going to say it: if you don't have a job, you should be getting one before asking strangers or distant acquaintances for handouts. If you have a job and still don't have money for what you want, then be a grown up and accept that it's not in the cards for you right now. Or get a loan. Or another job. Please stop asking people to give you money so you can go to a concert or a trip abroad. It's the biggest example of abuse of privilege I can think of. If you don't HAVE to beg for money, you absolutely shouldn't be doing it.”

And then, on GoFundMes’ actual website, I’ve included their success stories. One is asking for help for educational expenses (getting a young man to Harvard by donating), and another asking for help to get a woman with Down Syndrome kickstart her bakery; allowing her to get a job.

According to the article that vehemently insisted that every non-medical, non-poverty, and non-tragedy victim related GoFundMe, these people do not deserve to have a success story. The young woman with Down Syndrome was being discriminated against for her disability, and therefore unable to get a job, but she shouldn’t accept handouts. She should actively be looking for a job, going into debt so she can pay her bills, or essentially struggle in numerous ways because it’s “not in the cards” for her.

Or, should the student not go to college because it’s “not in his cards”? Should he, someone who is already bound to be stressed from school, work as many jobs as possible just to scrape by educationally? Is education a luxury?

My problem with the article is that it is too narrow in it’s thinking. It sounded as though it was coming from a person who had just found out that they were “scammed”. But here’s where the moral and ethical lines blur: excluding scams, isn’t it your choice to donate or not to these people? So, at the end of the day, even if someone is middle class and does only use crowdfunding for a luxury item like a new car or vacation, as long as they are transparent, why is this considered an abuse of the site?

Another concept this encapsulates from Jenkins, (et al.) is the gift economy.

With crowdfunding, we understand how the receivers of money are being gifted. They get the money, then go out and buy whatever they need. It’s pretty cut and dry. But for the donators? What do they get? Besides a wallet that is less than full?

The science behind giving to charity

Actually, there are many “gifts” that those who donate receive that aren’t of monetary value. The main reason is mostly because it “feels nice being nice”. So, in a way, giving is selfish to the degree that a lot of people give not just because they “support the cause” (which could be done in more active ways, like volunteering at a soup kitchen), but because it makes them feel good.

However, with the internet, these acts of altruism sometimes are not only selfish for the rush of dopamine, but because they can be exploited for profit and/or marketing.

There’s been a rise of “heartfelt” videos where people record themselves doing kind or charitable things for others. It’s essentially marketing to make themselves “look good”, and can be faked. A example that went viral is when Instagram “Comedian” Lele Pons “donated” her hair to Locks of Love.

The picture that she showed of her “donation” had been obviously hair extensions, and thus she was called out on it and received a ton of backlash. This was simply bad marketing, because she could have just as easily actually donated her hair, or not donate her hair at all and contribute to another charity (legitimately), and market herself as a unselfish person who is kind and “unselfish” (willing to give money in exchange for views, for more money).

While not exactly a “gift” or act of “charity” this video had brought a lot of attention to the guy who asked her out because he (appeared) neurotypical, and was asking someone with down syndrome. (I won’t get into my opinion on the morality of asking atypical people for personal gain, because they are not a “charity” and shouldn’t be used as such-- if the intent is ever malicious).The internet received the gift of wanting that warm fuzzy feeling, and the kids really did go to prom together, so unlike Lele Pons, they didn’t “fake” their gift; it was just a nice act that was recorded and put on the internet.

Crowdfunding and gifting can both become malicious or disingenuous, and it is important to be skeptical. However, it's also not bad to give in; it feels to good to donate, people would really appreciate the donations, and you just might like Goat Thrasher, if you just give them a chance.

Got Gifts?

Dr. Vrooman

Social Media and Society

Emma Taylor

February 16, 2019

Got Gifts?

Everybody likes gifts right?  If you’re like most people you probably said “of course!” arms open ready to receive.  But what if I said you were expected to give something back in return? This exchange is called a “gift economy.”  A gift economy is based off the idea that you give a gift in expectancy of someething in return. Most often we expect things like social ties and obligations coming from this "gift giving."  It is more about creating a relationship with the person you're "gifting" something to rather than receiving some form of economic payment. Gift economies are geared toward accumulating social wealth opposed to economic wealth.  Gift economies are becoming more and more prevalent online with artists, musicians, free lancers, and small and large businesses. They are using social media to spread their work and products not for profit, but instead for social wealth, standing, and popularity.  It is a very resourceful and tactical technique to use and be aware of. One of the most important things you can achieve as a business or artist, of any form, is brand loyalty or a following. A gift economy can definitely heavily contribute to heightening social wealth and community standing.  

    Most things in life aren't free and sometimes (sadly) this also includes gifts. Companies only ever give "gifts" or something free if it is going to benefit them in some way.  And, honestly, there is really nothing wrong with that. Companies are in business to make profit and they can do so within a gift economy even without trading money. Depending on the kind of gift economy they are participating in, they will receive different benefits.  Most of the time I believe gift economies are used to keep customers coming back, keep them hooked on a product. Sales, raffles, coupons, giveaways, and promotions are all examples of this. People will remember when a company or business has good sales and trails and they will keep coming back for more.  Companies and sites like Netflix and YouTube keep you watching when they instantly play the next episode or video in line after the one you are watching. On the other hand, as I said before, gift economies can also be used for social wealth. People can get to know the company or artist they are following or buying from through social media gifting.  A musician might upload a video of them performing privately in hopes that this gift could influence fans to come to one of their connects or buy their merchandise or even just introduce others to their music through post sharing, comments and likes.

The groundwork of a gift economy is a based on the idea that there are two entities that each want something and when they come together a connection is formed and hopefully everyone exits happy, it is built to benefit everyone involved in some form.  I think the gift economy is, when done right, rather equally beneficial. The whole idea is that both parties involved gain something they want out of the exchange, whether it be physical gifts or social or relationship driven benefits. When companies give free samples and free trials they are giving away assets.  In this sense, they are losing some amounts of profits, but in hopes of receiving more later. While the consumer gets something for free, which builds their wealth and then in turn they may decide to go back for more, which would then lower their wealth. So in short, I think most of the time it's a give and take where the profit is equally distributed between all parties of the exchange.

Social media itself is a kind of gift economy if you think about it.  Users edit their photos, and type there captions then post them into the world and expect something in return, likes, recognitions and comments.  Without an explicit, verbal or written agreement your friends and followers oblige. The next time they post something you do the same for them without any kind of communication of what was expected from each other.  Everyone benefits. Think about it for a moment, if one of your best friends was decided to stop liking any of your posts, or even a few of them, while you were liking all of theirs… how would that make you feel and how might you react?  Perhaps pulling back from the gift relationship that was shared between the two of you and perhaps worrying a little less about seeing all of their posts or commenting hype and encouragement on their feeds? If you give less or give less then what the other party gave you then they will be frustrated or unhappy and will start to be dissatisfied with the why the relationship is running.  For this type of relationship to work both people or companies or fans or consumers or creators must be satisfied. After all who doesn't love getting gifts?

Ads. Ads. and more ads.

So after reading Chapter 5, We learned a lot about 'the uncertainty principle'. It is hard for companies to predict how their products will do. The chapter also talks about how we are in the era for digital sharing. It talks about 'humor' and 'parody and references'. In my opinion, I think the commercial entertainment levels has decreased throughout the last few years. So I am kind of curious to see what kind of digital ads or such catches our eyes the most? I decided to ask some of my friends questions about advertisements. I asked each friend a total of three questions.

First Question:

What kind of advertisement is the best if you are wanting to get your money’s worth? (what kind of advertisement do you think is the most effective?)

Second Question:

What type of commercials do you think have the biggest impact on people?

Third Question:

What is your favorite commercial and why?

The first friend I asked is Bella. She is nineteen and attends school at Texas Lutheran University. I asked her- What kind of advertisement is the best if you are wanting to get your money’s worth? She believes that the advertisements on social media are most effective. She does not think commercials have the biggest impact on people anymore because most people have Netflix which does not have ads or people have Hulu which has little to no ads. “The only time people watch actual TV now days is when there is some kind of big event on. For example, the Super Bowl!”

The next question I asked her was- What type of commercials do you think makes the biggest impact on people? Bella thinks that commercials that have humor included in them probably get the most attention. The commercial that came to mind to her was a Baked Beans with astronauts from 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZgD89VYkVc

The last question I asked her was what her favorite commercial is. She said her favorite commercial is the “Puppy monkey baby” commercial for Mountain Dew. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n_K6wuC5cw

The next friend I asked is Katelyn. She is eighteen and also attends school at Texas Lutheran University. The first question I asked was what kind of advertisement do you think is most effective? She thinks the most effective type of advertisement would probably be a commercial but it would have to be a very short commercial like a “gimmick”. She thinks it is helpful to have shorter commercials over longer commercials because if it is a shorter commercial someone is more likely to watch the whole commercial and collect all the information rather than a longer commercial where someone might just fast forward through the commercial.

The next question I asked her was, what category of commercials do you think have the biggest impact on people? She said commercials that include parodies; commercials with a lot of famous people and includes popular music. A example she came up with was the Steve Carell and Cardi B pepsi commercial that happened this year in the super bowl. https://www.thisisinsider.com/steve-carell-cardi-b-pepsi-super-bowl-ad-video-2019-1

The last question I asked her was what her favorite commercial is. She said her favorite commercial is the Tide commercial with the dad and the daughter playing dress up and playing outside in the costumes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yECbdPvPpI4

The next friend I asked was Brittany. She is nineteen and also attends school at Texas Lutheran University. The first question I asked Brittany was what kind of advertisement do you think is most effective? She said that she thinks the ads on YouTube are pretty effective because you are not able to skip the ads so you are forced to watch them. The next question I asked her was what category of commercials do you think have the biggest impact on people? She said commercials that make contain “ETHOS” are probably ones that receive the most attention. I asked for examples and she said commercials that have dogs or ill children in hospitals. She said the SPAC commercials like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gspElv1yvc receive a lot of sympathy and attention towards the cause and the foundation. The last question I asked her was what her favorite commercial was. She said her favorite kind of commercials was the dorito commercial. She specifically mentioned the commercial with the little boy who slaps the man and say’s “don’t touch my mama and don’t touch my doritos.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxzhGPrHCKI

During this experiment/questionnaire I asked them what category of commercials do you think have the biggest impact on people and then I asked them what their favorite commercial was and Bella was the only one that said humor was the best category of commercials when wanting to gather attention. The other girls all said that their favorite commercials were all funny but didn’t state that funny commercials are the best category of commercials.