socialmedia355

[socialmedia355]

The Future of Social Media and Literacy

Caleb Basile

              The future of social media is going to be spectacular in my opinion. With Myspace, Facebook and Twitter being used frequently today or in the past, what do you think will come next? I like how in the reading it says that banning electronics such as tablets, laptops, or cellphones misses learning opportunities. If a school can provide a way of using electronics and social media as a learning tool I think they should jump on that train as soon as possible. I think if technology and social media keeps improving like it has over the past years the younger generation will be so familiar with electronics and social media that there really isn’t any reason they can’t be used as not only a tool for teaching, but a tool for improving social skills and literacy among students. I remember a time during my sophomore year of high school my cell phone fell out of my pocket during class and the teacher gave me a detention for it. Now a days in that same high school the students are using iPads and cell phones during class to solve problems and connect with other students in their class. Times are definitely changing, and social media is becoming more of a learning tool in my high school.

              I don’t think it is in this reading but I read an article a couple weeks ago about how social media and the use of technology has helped authors and journalists in writing papers together. Instead of emailing information back and forth they can just write their thoughts and facts that they have and the other writer(s) can just write on the same page as them and continue the article on further. The reading also mentions how some parents find some forms of social media as potentially harmful to young kids, which can be true if used incorrectly, but what if the future of social media has sites just for young kids who are in grade school where they can learn and be used in a school setting?

              The reading uses a school as an example where cell phones were banned entirely from the school. When I was in high school, we were not allowed to use electronics during a school day at all until my senior year. Do you think the use of electronics in a school setting in the future will help students learn more or lean their attention more towards social media? Or will social media be a way of learning?

Will social media literacy change throughout the new forms of social media? Will there be certain restrictions on what one can post or talk about online to prevent harsh criticism and ridicule?

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The Future of Social Media

There are many factors one thinks about when the future of social media is brought up. Is there a future? Who owns social media in the future? Will there be holographic social media on our holographic phones? The chapter that I read brought it down a few notches and made it more realistic when talking about the future. The chapter focused on one central idea, media literacy.

It is important that if you want to talk about the future, you must know the past and present, because how would we get there without learning from past decisions. An example in the reading of learning from past behavior was when a media professional tweeted something racist before getting on a plane, and lost her job and credentials upon exit from the aircraft. There are many examples of notable celebrities and professionals tweeting something controversial in the present or the past, along with examples of people tweeting absolutely terrible things. One example that comes to mind is the fairly recent news of James Gunn, director of The Guardians of the Galaxy. It was brought up in the news that Gunn had tweeted slurs and mean things over ten years ago. There was enough backlash over it that he was dropped from the third installment of the Guardians films. However, among all the backlash and firing, there were many people on his side, including the cast of the films. Some of the more outspoken cast, including Dave Bautista, declared that they would not be a part of the next film if Gunn wasn't going to be. The cast members defended Gunn's character and cited the amount of time it had been since then and that he was a good person. 

The next idea brought along is the ideas of convergence and how that works with different generations, specifically the baby boomers. Convergence has been one of the largest developments in media and in social media in particular. People used to watch the news or read it in a newspaper and would listen to the radio all on different devices. Lately, smartphones can do all of that, and sometimes, all in one app. iPads were brought up in relation to baby boomers and how they gravitated to social media quickly but still used newspapers, but started using the iPads to view news along with social media.

Media ownership alongside media literacy is a big deal, especially when the ownership is such a small pool of companies that can influence the conversation, topics, and framing of the media in their web. When viewing media, one has to be media literate and see that the things they are viewing may be coming from the same original source and have a frame on it. This is where the idea of skepticism comes into play, because one must have skepticism to all things before fact checking them and implementing their media literacy. 

In conclusion, we must look at how people are looking at media today through the frames that are provided to them. To begin looking at the future of social media, we must look at how people have viewed it in the past, and how they are using it today. We must also consider the previous generation and how they respond to developments in the media industry. 

Questions:

Do you think that types of "old media" will die because of convergence and the "new media?" What evidence to you see of old media dying? What evidence do you see of it thriving?

What are your thoughts on schools giving kids laptops to keep up with the media and internet driven society? Were you part of a school that gave laptops or tablets to the students? 

[socialmedia355]

The Future of social media

Social media has obviously become the face of the world and one of the most arcane aspects of today's world, Look at how connected everyone is and how accessible information and people have become; it's unlike any time before. This has led many scholars and social media experts to analyze and predict what the future of social media looks like.

The chapters talks mostly about how the advancements in social media will create a brand-based style of journalism and media rather than the traditional journalist who works for a publisher, I enjoyed what the chapter said here and it makes a lot of sense if we look ahead to what social media will turn into and what purpose it will serve. "In the next five years we should see more freelancers, who have significant followers on their blog or twitter account, and write for many publications." I think that is dead on accurate and will someday come to fruition. If you're paying attention, it is happening right now. There are several prominent people who have procured a significant following from some social media platform, and now they take those followers anywhere they go because their followers can always access them and their material. They have credibility with these people and all the things they say or report, their followers will assume to be true. So in terms of journalism and news reporting, the followings will become more so based on the individual rather than a media company as a whole because the future of social media will put more emphasis on the individual possesing the art because he can pick it up and drop it off any place he/she would like, and their followers will be right there to pick it up. So for example and again this has already started to happen; in the next several years, people start to follow Anderson Cooper rather than CNN. Why? Well because the followers understand Cooper better than any other writer at CNN, or because they trust him more, or they just really love him or whatever the reason! But the bottom line is that Andersoon Cooper's followers will turn him into more of a brand than he already is. So he wouldn't be known for CNN anymore, but rather the compilation of all of his individual work that his followers follow him more. I think that has already started and it will only continue.

Also, the future of social media for consumers of various products and services looks more collaborative and insightful. Here's what I mean. There are already several customer review type discussion boards and platforms, and according to our text that will only increase and become more helpful with more understanding. "Social media tipped the scale by creating  a powerful mechanism for consumers to hold brands accountable." And those brands could be anything from an auto shop to a barbershop. So where now we have platforms like yelp and reddit which are mildly relevant, in the next five plus years, we can expect consumer reviews to become a more engaging and understanding experience where people can come together and discuss their experiences and opinions on various brands wtith intentions of assisting other consumers on what they are seekig while also creating more understanding than ever before as we have more tools TO understand than ever before.

"In its highest use social media should be a conversation, not a one-way rant." And I believe it will become just that as it pertains to customer reviews and brand discussion boards where all consumers of that particular good come together to discuss it in more depth with the intentions of augmented understanding and spreading those understandings.

QUESTIONS

1. How will "freelance" or "brand" journalism change the landscape of social media followers and what they follow and don't follow? Will it be based mainly on credibility? Likability? Social capital? Style? Popularity? Conventional or unconventional? What do you guys think?

2. Will the expected improvements in customer review platforms in terms of depth, collaboration and understanding, be benefical or detrimental for the average brand? In other words, with more insight and collaboration from consumers about a particular brand or a specific product of that brand, will this help brands make more money or hurt brands to making less money?

[socialmedia355]

Entertainment Media and Social Media

- Caroline Kickham

Entertainment media such as television and film integrate with social media very well. TV shows and films can connect to audiences – current or potential – in ways they could never before the invention of social media, primarily Twitter. I know every Tuesday on Instagram, the Criminal Minds account has a little “Trivia Tuesday” (you know I always ace it) and it’s fun to engage with the community like that! It’s the idea of audience participation that makes people feel appreciated and like they are truly a part of the success of the show. There is, of course, a negative side to this which is that shows and individuals attached to the shows (actors, writer, studios) can receive negative criticism boarding on harassment.

Now that streaming is so popular, people are not viewing things at the same time as each other which disbands the community.  I used to liveblog here on Tumblr along to an episode of Criminal Minds (it’s my favorite show and the only thing I watch so it’s going be my only example) and it was fun because others were watching it at the same time but now I’m busy so I don’t watch it when it airs, I watch it later and then the public discourse has already taken place. I’ve missed my window to participate and now I’m left only to go through the other people’s liveblogs and recount the events completely detached from the original viewing experience.  

Questions:

The accessibility of actors and writers on social media (Twitter) exposes them to non-constructive, negative criticism and possibly harassment, yet a lot of these public figures are contractually obligated to be active on social media.  Is that bad

With streaming becoming the most popular form of viewing, is the end of audience participation and community on the horizon?  What could be done to keep the ball rolling even when people aren’t sharing viewing experiences at the same time?

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Entertainment Media & Social Media

Many entertainment media outlets are using social media to their advantage to help engage their audience and consumers and increase their profits. In this reading, it’s apparent through collected interviews that social media can truly help the success of existing and future entertainment media. In our daily lives we can see numerous instances where the entertainment industry cultivates behaviors and cultures where it is normal and acceptable for consumers to be using their social media platforms to blur the lines that restrict these shows. For example, my roommate watches the TV show “Survivor”. Throughout the show’s seasons, the television network, or show itself, implements hashtags based off of different challenges, dialogue, and actions that take happen on the show. Consumers of the show can then use the hashtags to communicate with other consumers and collaborate through a similar dialogue about a shared interest, which could leave to more revenue/profit for the show/network. Many shows use this tactic as a way to entice their publics into spreading the word about their interests, whether that be directly or indirectly. We also see popular talk shows, news stations, and even companies using average people’s tweets, Instagram posts, and Facebook comments to further discussion about differing topics. When companies or organizations do this, they are using relatable content to draw people into their products and hopefully form a connection that persuades the consumers to interact with them in more ways. It is also an avenue for people to rely on social media and entertainment media for immediate news or discussion content for classes, work, or social purposes.

Entertainment media has heavily relied on the relationship with social media for several years. Social media is one of the fastest growing networks of shared interests and information, so it’s not surprising that entertainment companies and organizations are using these platforms to spread messages, encourage media specific collaboration, and persuade audiences to partake in the consumption of different products. In the reading, there were several anonymous executives that inferred that “social media and television would soon become synonymous”, which I would agree with because of the current success of online streaming platforms. Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify are all streaming platforms that could easily become a part of social media itself. The use of the platforms is soon going to become too easy for us to fathom. Many people suspect that social media will soon become the new way of consuming any and all products, which is easy to comprehend when we see companies suggesting those connections through most television shows, newscasts, and even movie releases. Most of the time people are creating content for entertainment media to make profit off of without them even knowing. For example, when a dedicated fan starts to use a social media site to talk and collaborate about a storyline or character, then the company is ultimately gaining traction, and potentially profits, from the consumer’s actions. Through the reading, it’s easy to see that the relationship between entertainment media and social media is ever growing and evolving to fit our current cultural climate, which can either hurt us or help us further down the road. 

Would an overabundance of social media interaction negatively affect interactions amongst consumers and companies? Would it negatively impact interactions between consumers?

Does the relationship between entertainment media and social media encourage stronger participation and interactions compared to other forms of online communication? Why or why not?

[socialmedia355]

Entertainment and Social Media

From the evolution of technology, social media marketing has become a large sector of society’s marketing and advertising efforts. With the click of a mouse or the touch of a finger, we can find information on any subject, any brand/company/organization, any social movement, etc. Social media ads come up as we search particular items on Google (aka search engine optimization or SEO) or on different social media platforms such as Instagram or Snapchat.

An initial question one may ask is whether or not an advertisement is to inform or persuade, a question that has been asked since the dawn of advertisement; in all reality, it is both to inform an individual of a product/ service then to persuade why this product/ service is necessary.

There are three separate forms of media: paid, owned, and earned. Paid media is when a company purchases time and space through an already existing channel, such as in a magazine or newspaper. Owned media is when a company advertises material on a platform it already owns. For example, once a month I receive a personal message on LinkedIn from a LinkedIn representative explaining the benefits of having a paid account; this is their way of trying to persuade me to pay for their site for extra benefits non-paid accounts do not receive. Lastly, there is earned media, which is media coverage created by someone else, such as a blog post about a particular product or a news station covering a story about a particular company or organization.

Before purchasing a particular product, we tend to do extensive research on the product, we develop an opinion on what we are buying, we take into consideration what our alternatives are, and then we either decide to purchase the product or not; this process is termed the purchase funnel. Some characteristics that come into play could be the price of the product, the quality, the necessity of it, etc. However, sometimes we decide to partake in the decision journey, which is a not-so-rational way of purchasing items. Examples of this include buying gum or candy when checking out at Walmart; you didn’t come here precisely for these things but they are here in front of you, they are at a low price, and they are delicious. Not a lot of thought goes into buying these products.

When we were younger, we tend to have little to no rational thinking when buying things; if we liked something, we would buy them or beg our parents to by them for us. Going back to Chapter 7, how do you feel your decision buying process has changed since you were younger? What has influenced your decision buying process to change?

A large portion of this chapter discusses word of mouth (WOM) communication, particularly word of mouth marketing which is defined as the transfer of information on a product or service from one individual to another. WOM marketing and be used directly such as one-on-one contact, or indirectly such as through various social media channels and review sites (example: Yelp, RateMyProfessor, Amazon reviews, etc.). Although WOM marketing is one of the most effective forms of marketing, it is not always applicable, and many obstacles can get in the way. For example, if you are discussing alternative music with an individual who only listens to 90’s hip hop, you can recommend all of your favorite alternative bands to them but it is more than likely they will not listen to them, because it is not in their field of interest.

What types of products have relevance to you personally in everyday life that may not be relevant to other people? How do you know if another individual is interested in the product or service you are discussing with them?

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Entertainment Media & Social Media

The ties between entertainment media and social media are interesting. In the reading for this chapter television and social media relationships were covered extensively. Social media can play a huge role in aiding in the success of television entertainment. For example, television shows can use social media as a way to enhance crowd interaction with said show. This can be by creating a trending discussion around a shows plot or by having a live Q & A with the audience at a certain time. From my experiences of watching TV I tend to see this with talk shows, sports shows, politics, and competition based shows. One good hilarious example of this is Jimmy Kimmel Live. There is literally a section where they have celebs read mean tweets about them. This creates a form of audience participation that aids in boosting the relationship between the company and the people tuning in by making people feel as if they are a part of a bigger picture. On the other hand, though this brings up a hard topic of trolling and useless feedback. Where having people participate with a show by interacting with social media could be a good thing it also can cause a snowball effect of negative/ useless content with the sole purpose of trolling or just down right hurting a shows reputation. 

  One big question that has to be asked about the success of Entertainment Media and Social Media is if this will be able to help some entertainment outlets such as Television stay alive in the future. Also, how will social media be able to create interactions with the community in the same ways as it did with television?  We currently live an age where Television is starting to fade out of being popular. With the rise of streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, HBO, YouTube, and others people are no longer to have cable or satellite to view their favorite shows. This makes it harder to come out with new ways to use social media as a way of interactions and communications. Let me explain. When you look back you could use social media as a way to have live interactions with a show being broadcasted on TV. It could either be interacting with that show live in some way, providing feedback to the company, or could be used as a way after for people to generate conversation based off the live feedback from viewers post show. With the digital era, you can’t necessarily receive the same live interaction with things. Most shows you watch or media you connect with have already been recorded and you are not watching it live. This limits producers to post content interactions and doesn’t carry the same weight as if it was live. Yes, it’s still possible to get close if not the same results but we are in an era where we have to think of new innovative ways to create the same feeling of interaction and connection with the audience.   

  With the rise of steaming services will social media be able create the same feeling of interaction between audience’s members and producers in the future as it did with Television?

  Will social media do more harm than good to entertainment media in the future with the rise of more trolls and negative people who are just negative with no justification on the internet?

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Youth Culture

Youth and Internet Addiction

Once someone is addicted to the Internet it is hard to quit. There are some teenagers who decide to quit certain social media sites because of limited time, challenging social dynamics, or a need to disengage. I know a few people who have had to do this before because they realized that social media was causing them to compare themselves to others too often. The reading stated that when teenagers do not use social media they had “more trouble finding out about social activities and had trouble engaging in interpersonal relationships”.

The use of social media can affect teenagers’ lives. For example, their performance in school can decrease and their emotional development is put at risk. A teens participation in social media is highly social. Teenagers are very social, but they do not have freedom to connect with others like adults do. Therefore, that is why they turn to the Internet/social media.

Parents find the amount of time teens spend online as an addiction. I have heard many adults say that “kids are addicted to their phones”. Is that true or is this just that the day in age that kids are being raised in now. Technology has become the forefront of the world and it is second nature to many people.

Teens are learning to understand networks by using social media. They can learn about the social world and develop social skills through online communication. In addition, teenagers are exposed to values and ideas online that are different from their parents. The reading states “many adults put pressure on teens to devote more time toward adult-prioritized practices and less time socializing”.

Youth and Bullying

The use of technology offers a form of bullying called cyberbullying. Cyberbullying allows for others to see what is happening and there is evidence to prove it is occurring. The networked publics let larger audiences witness the act of bullying.

Parents may monitor their children online and notice the cyberbullying happening. The problem is parents may not be able to tell the difference between a sarcastic comment posted as a joke and an intentional cruel statement. The reading states parents often only “see others victimizing their children while failing to see how their children may be engaging with or hurting others”.

Many teenagers will get on their friend’s social media account without their knowledge and post things that could be embarrassing. Usually those posts are meant to cause no harm, but the back lash from others seeing the posts could cause bullying. The way the post is intended, perceived, and experienced is very important. Technology can also amplify existing drama while creating new drama.

Social media plays a role in teenagers’ struggles for popularity and status. In addition, social media allows for the easy spread of information and teenagers can keep up with dynamics of their peers. For example, Facebook is used a source for people to keep up with birthdays, relationships, and adventures of others. Gossip can also be easily spread on these platforms. Social media can transmit the gossip to a large audience.

Social media has made teens aware of social status and conflicts may emerge over reputation and popularity. Teens may participate in drama or pranks that are hurtful to others because they want attention. Social media has made the drama and bullying more visible.

1. Why do you think teenagers are on their phones as often as they are? Would you call it an addiction?

2. Did you notice an increase in bullying after social media was introduced to our society? If so, how?

[socialmedia355]

Youth Culture

I remember being in elementary going into middle school and all my friends had an account call BEBO. This website was like any other social media site that allowed you to be whoever you wanted to be on social media. You were able to upload photos, connect with friends, create “skins” that decorated your background that pretty much helped identify who you were or what you liked. My skin was tinker bell at one point and then I switched it to Pretty Ricky because I didn’t want to seem lame to my friends who were way more advanced and exposed to more of the world than I was. This was a little more than a decade ago.

In the article “What makes teens obsessed with social media?” the topic of youth being addicted to social media and technology made me think of my first encounter with social media and that was my experience with BEBO. After school, or homework, and extracurricular activities I found myself always logging in to talk with my friends about the school gossip, who we liked, or didn’t like. I don’t think It was the obsession with social media but the obsession with being able to socialize with my friends.

Even now, years later I think it remains the same that teens are not addicted to social media but the means of socializing. A quote from the text says that “Teens turn to, and are obsessed with, whichever environment that allows them to connect to friends.” The same is with adults.

Everyone loves to socialize but in their own way. Social media helps to give you that control of how social you can be. In middle school I wasn’t that social due to being shy and when I did become more social I became too social which affected my school work. So, BEBO in the elementary school and Facebook in high school opened that door of communication with my friends and privacy from my parents.

In middle school and high school many of my friends experienced forms of bullying on social media and participated in bullying. Bullying is hard to define and is also used as an umbrella term. Dan Olweus says there are three components centralized around bullying those are: aggression, repetition and imbalance in power. We’ve normalized bullying by watering down gossiping, name calling, and pranks. In the article it was discussed that teens receive clear cultural signals that these behaviors are normal due to what they see in their households and on television. Unfortunately, these behaviors have resulted in incidents where self-harm and suicide is involved. Youth culture and social media is very hard to define and will always need further research and development. Moving forward we should get away from seeing social media as a problem in youth culture but embrace it as a means to help children socialize and who are not as social develop social skills through social media and practice safe social media practices.

Questions:

Do you think youth are misusing social media or are they overusing social media?

How is the use of social media shaping communication skills?

[socialmedia355]

Social Media & Identity – Youth Culture                               

We are all children of the social media age. We can all relate to wanting to post cool things online so that our peers don’t judge us. Teens struggle with how others see them and they just want to “fit in” Today it is unfortunately all about social image and social media plays a huge role in this. In this post, I will be discussing a few major points that I believe sum up Social Media & Identity – Youth Culture.

Defining Bullying in a Digital Era:

In the age of social media, online bullying is a problem that occurs on all social media sites. There is a sense of ambiguity that teens get when engaging with others online because they can hide behind a username. To make matters worse, everything online can be shared and spread to other users like wildfire. “The persistence and visibility of bullying in networked publics adds a new dimension to how bullying is constructed and understood. On one hand, cruel interactions between teens leave traces that enable others to see what’s happening. When this results in enabling others to amplify the attacks, heightened visibility can significantly increase the emotional duress of a bullying incident.” (pg 133). It adds insult to injury, not only getting bullied but then those hateful messages can be spread to everyone with just one click. At the same time we are told that gossiping and spreading rumors is what makes you liked and popular at school. “As a currency, attention has tremendous social and cultural value. Teens learn the value of attention, the cost of gossip, and the power of drama by observing what takes place around them.” (pg 147). If you have juicy details about Jane and Jack’s breakup, people are going to give you that validation you seek. It’s a never ending cycle of spreading info to gain social status.

 Teens Obsession with Social Media:

I have to admit, sadly, that the first thing I do in the morning is check my phone. Before I know it 15 minutes has turned into 45 and all of a sudden I’m late for class. Thanks a lot Twitter. In all seriousness, teens and young adults really do struggle with the amount of time they spend on social media sites. But, is calling it an addiction going too far though? “The language of addiction sensationalizes teens’ engagement with technology and suggests that mere participation leads to pathology. This language also suggests that technologies alone will determine social outcomes. The overarching media narrative is that teens lack the capacity to maintain a healthy relationship with social media.” (pg 78). Maybe it is more of a struggle with time commitment. After all, social media sites can be a great way for teens to stay updated on world events and what going on near them. Is it our generation’s responsibility to change the narrative around social media use? Social media is a way to connect and share with family and friends. Just because a teenage boy is on the computer for a few hours after school does not mean that he is wasting the day or turning his brain to mush. He could be communicating with people all over the world and watching Ted Talks and taking away more information than in school that day.

Questions:

How much time is “too much time” on social media?

Does social media create a harmful environment because anything can be shared?

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Youth Addiction to Social Media

When we think about addiction, we often only associate it with drugs and alcohol. As we go down the scale, maybe we associate it with food, gambling, and sex. But I would say in the last 10 years, addiction has spread to something that’s right in front of us: social media. Not only social media but the devices we use to access it. It may come as a surprise, but teens aren’t the only ones addicted to social media. 

The Addiction Narrative

Like I mentioned before, addiction initially referred to drug and alcohol abuse. Since the term has grown in popularity, it’s applied to those behavioral compulsions. If we take addiction to the media, it’s often a problem with youth culture. We show those in their youth being vulnerable to drugs such as weed or peer pressured into drinking. Never have I heard of someone being pressured to make an Instagram account. I do believe that there’s such thing as misuse and overuse of social media. But when does it become addicting? Is it when checking SM is an impulse the moment you wake up? Is it the constant updating as you walk to class? Or is it the haunting feeling of your phone vibrating with a notification when nothing really happened?

 Growing Up with Limited Freedom

I was one of those kids who made SM accounts without my parents’ knowledge and looking back on it now, I felt guilty. To be fair, I had no friends on these accounts except for the ones that urged me to make an account. My parents never found out about the account but also never told me I couldn’t make one... It wasn’t until I asked if I could set up a Gmail account to stay in touch with a moving teacher that my mom got super protective of my online activity. Today, if the same thing were to happen, I don’t feel like parents would care as much or would care way too much. They know their kids have smartphones and who knows what kind of apps they already have on there. What is really monitored? At the same time, you could have the parent that wants to know the Terms and Conditions of each app their child is downloading. Seeing as these kids, assuming they’re around junior high age, are so involved with extracurricular activities that keep them busy 24/7, when do they have time to get addicted?

Reclaiming Sociality

It’s easy to sit on your phone for hours and have no reason to really be looking at your phone at all. For some, this is relaxing. For others, this is communicating. Not all who use SM are anti-social. If we go back to those super protective parents, they are usually the ones encouraging their kids to be in all those extracurricular activities so they don’t get into trouble. This also means no hanging out with friends on the weekends and doing planned family things. While this is fun for the parents, the kids are antsy and just want to hang out with friends. Their only outlet to socialize with those friends is through SM. So are these kids really addicted or are they trying to find a way out?

Coming of Age Without Agency and Grappling with Restrictions

In my personal experience, I don’t think my parents ever held me back from things but they did set rules that were easy to follow. Most of those rules were to make sure that I grew up as a decent human being. Pick up after yourself, say please and thank you, don’t burp in public. The simple things. I feel like today, there are so many things in the world that parents try to keep from their kids or keep them from doing, and that only results in them doing the opposite. The same goes with social media. There’s a learning process that comes with growing up and if we don’t let the youth learn, they’ll never understand their true value and they won’t appreciate it. This thought can be applied to education. So many people see it as a requirement, not so much as an opportunity. I could go into how social class would factor into this, but that’s for a different day.

Questions:

Do you think that the way teenagers use social media is at all affected by the way they were raised? (Take into account social class and any restrictions the parents put on the child)

Do you think teenagers are actually addicted to social media or are they trying to find a way socialize because their parents keep them at home when they want to hang out with friends?

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Class and Digital Divide

We often believe that old people don’t know how to operate a smart phone and that kids are understand it because they’re young and understand how technology works without ever being shown. That’s not always the case and also isn’t the whole story. The way that we use social media depends on cultural capital, literacy, and age. It also revolves around our subcultural capital.

Literacy and Capital

We don’t realize it, but digital literacy is extremely important and requires multiple skills. We have to be able to read the text, understand the text, and know that it’s a reliable text. For instance, I get heartburn more than your typical 22 year old. I could easily call my mom and ask her what’s up, but I turn to the Internet to diagnose me. It’s up to me to decide whether or not to trust this text because I’m not sure how reliable this source is. (No worries, I just eat too much spicy food.)

Now as far as capital goes, it connects us with people that we are able to learn and possibly benefit from. This is mainly social capital and it goes back to counting on reliable sources. Many people connections online through profiles to find a roommate, a job, or maybe a relationship. These types of connections automatically gives people an advantage in literacy because you and the person you’re connecting with understand each other on that basic level of communication.

Social Class

While the digital divide is applicable to literacy, it’s also associated with social class. Social class is based on the combination of education, income, and prestige of occupation that places one in a hierarchy relative to others (Humphreys, 155). This is where capital mostly comes in. According to the definition, people in a higher social class would be up to date with technology, know the latest trends, and have a “high culture” taste.  On the other hand, low class wouldn’t have much access to up to date technology, wouldn’t have access to good Internet connection to communicate with others, and would have “low culture” taste. This is definitely the dominant reason why there’s a digital divide.

Age

In my opinion, this is the next on the list of why there’s a digital divide. The way different age groups understand and use technology is so different. At least we think so. I think a lot of the time we assume that the younger generations know how to use social media and new technology because of the sole fact that they are young. I tell you what: my grandma knows how to use Facebook better than some millennials, and that’s in regard to literacy and content! Now, don’t get me wrong: many elderly people have a harder time grasping new technology because it’s not something that had in their hands at the age of 3. It’s just something that’s happening and we can’t do anything right now to fix it

  If someone were to evolve into a different social class overtime, do you think they would be stuck in the same digital class, or would their “social status” evolve with them?

As millennials get older, do you think we’ll still keep up with the latest technologies and digital world because it’s something we’ve always known, or do you think we’ll eventually fall behind while the future generations will learn quickly?

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The Digital Dark Ages- Class and the Digital Divide

 “In a society where we are increasingly defined by our access to information- and where what we earn is what we learn- if you do not have access to technology you’re going to be left in the digital dark ages.” -William Cunard

In the United States there are nearly 34 million people without access to the digital world simply because it is not offered to them (https://www.fcc.gov/reports-research/reports/broadband-progress-reports/2016-broadband-progress-report)

That’s 10% of Americans who don’t have access to search engines, social media, and convenience apps. These percentages get even higher when we look at Americans living on Tribal lands or in U.S. territories.

An increasing number of schools have high speed internet but 47% of our nations’ students lack the connectivity to meet the FCC’s goal of 100 megabytes per second for every 1,000 students and staff members. This means that students have slower loading times and can waste precious lecture and class time trying to get sites to load at their schools.

According to the Pew Research Center, almost one-in-five teens can’t finish their homework because of the digital divide.

So how do we bridge the digital divide?

Restoration of net neutrality would be a start.

This would give schools and families a fair and fighting chance at having consistent internet speeds despite what internet service providers’ wishes. This would also mean more money in the pockets of grassroots organizations, small companies, and non-profits.

Another way would be for the government to subsidize Internet access for low-income individuals and families (https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/cs181/projects/digital-divide/start.html ).

Support of local libraries and community centers (in monetary donations or time) where people can access computers and information for little to no cost.

There are many factors in the digital divide but some of the most consistent are education, income, and age.

Scarier factors include research about race being one of the main barriers in crossing the digital divide. In the 90s, schools with more minorities were less likely to have access to computers for students. Predominantly white schools were more likely to have computers.This is known as systemic racism.  

But surely this isn’t still happening?

According to a study from 2016, it probably is.

Ben and Jerry's (yes, your favorite ice cream brand is more politically informed and active than some politicians in power) released this very visually pleasing little infographic and article in 2016: 

https://www.benjerry.com/home/whats-new/2016/systemic-racism-is-real 

This article discusses systemic racism but the most important piece, for this chapter and this post's purpose, is the section about wealth. 

1. What do you think is the main cause of the digital divide?

2. Do you think this is the same cause for the digital divide that we experienced in the 90s? 

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Chapter 8: Race & Gender

 Chapter 8 was a very important chapter in this book. This section is very unique because it looks out how social media shapes the world around us. This post will explain how social media constructs our identity and performance and this will teach you how race and gender is shaped through social media.

Identity & Performance

           Social media is a great tool that allows a person to control their image and how they represent themselves to others. People will perform one or more selves online. They perform an identity for themselves based off of their social interactions and content that they distribute through social media platforms. Social media allows a person to find their social identity. A social identity is best described as how we see ourselves and how others see us. Now we begin identifying ourselves, by recognizing similarities with people or even groups of people. We can also learn about ourselves by finding differences from others. This helps us fall into a social category. We find ourselves by who we interact with. People love social media because it allows you to connect with people who are just like you.

Race

           Gender categories are massive in social media. The main gender categories are: white, black, Latino, and male or female. We are immediately born into categories based off of are gender and race. The book mentioned a great example that ties in with this. They mentioned that when a girl is born into a family, the parents and family members will most likely go out and buy pink clothes for the baby girl. Now the baby girl that was just born, has just been socially categorized based on her gender. The same can go for race as well. Social media will categorize people into groups based on people’s ethnicity and backgrounds. People will expect different performances from certain races. This is because we interact with people who are like us. People from a certain race, may use social media to reaffirm their racial identity and to seek out communities that are a part of their race because there are similar viewpoints and interests. The book states, “As a form of representation, social media is in many ways a mirror of culture and society, a media that reflects the prejudice and social boundaries of the online world” (Humphreys, 134). This helped me relate to a real life example of mine. When I go on Instagram, I can type in, “#ItalianProblems”, this immediately allows me to communicate with people of my ethnicity. I enjoy going through the news content because it is similar to my ethnic background and I am able to relate to all of the jokes and experiences because I have similar values and viewpoints as other Italians.

Race & Social Media Use

           We affiliate with people like us. That is the main message that helped me connect to this chapter. People usually connect to their racially based communities because it allows them to share similar interests and experiences with others who have a similar background and way of life. People also tend to socially interact with their racially based communities because it allows them to stay in touch with their family, friends, interests, viewpoints, and etc. That is not all, education is a clear representation of how people use social media. Education is another way that people can socially categorize others based on the content that they share and post. 

As you can see, social media is a huge platform that helps shape and construct racial and gender categories. It is a very quick process for others to identify and socially categorize you based off of your gender, race, and social interactions with people who are just like you. 

How has social media allowed you to find your true identity? Would you say that your social media profile includes an accurate representation of yourself through your online performances?

In what ways has social media helped you categorize others? 

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Race and Gender

The internet is used as a place that allows physical bodies to be hidden, but race is still able to become apparent to users through language, the kind of identities they construct, and the way they depict themselves online. This can be true of gender as well, messages can reference gender cues through language, apologies, and emoticons for women, but men use assertions and ask fewer questions. This chapter discusses how race and gender can shape social media use.

Identity and Performance

Social identity is who we see ourselves to be and how others see us. I think that people tend to view themselves differently than how others view them. That can be true on social media, someone may post something that they think is acceptable for others to view, but the people viewing it may find it inappropriate. According to the book, people usually begin identification with a recognition of similarities with some and differences with others. I believe that this identification process is prevalent when we are making friends. We are able to identify similarities and that is what makes us want to become friends with someone, but we also notice some differences that can be seen as either good or bad.

Race

The Internet can even be seen as a place that has racial coding, to some it may go unnoticed, but to racial minorities it is prevalent. For example, “hand pointers” on the computer are white. When emojis first came out, they lacked racial diversity and were only represented in white. Identification of race can be seen on Twitter with the hashtag #blacktwitter, it is used as a way for African Americans to connect and tweet about their concerns in the United States. The Black Lives Matter movement was also a big social movement on Twitter because it allowed people to follow the hashtag and tweet about racial injustice in the world.

Equal representation is lacking online- the book states that white men are overrepresented in video games, while African Americans and Latinos are largely underrepresented. When those two racial groups are represented, they are portrayed as “thugs”. It is unfair to label these races this way because they are being profiled as if every single person of this race acts this way in real life.

Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook is where most hate speech occurs online. Part of that probably has to do with anonymity because people feel powerful behind a screen. In addition, social media can be used as a tool to coordinate racist action.

Gender

Men and women exhibit different factors when posting photos on social media. For example, in Facebook profile pictures, men post photos that emphasize an active, dominant, and independent lifestyle, while women post pictures that emphasize being attractive and dependent. Language is another way to determine genders online. The book states that “men use more assertive language, sarcasm, and challenges, whereas women use more personal pronouns, polite language, and hedging”.

The easiest place to see the difference in gender online is looking at responses of men versus women. Women face misogyny when posting information online. They can be demeaned by men due to the fact that they believe women lack competence.

Social media platforms are spaces for people of all sexual orientations. It is a place where people can support one another from all aspects of society. YouTube is a great example of this because people are able to post videos about their personal lives and share challenges they may face. Then their viewers can make comments of support and also share how they have had similar experiences.

Race and social media usage are connected, but do you think that all races are portrayed fairly online? Why or why not?

It is said that men and women use different linguistic styles online. Men have a tendency to use assertive language and sarcasm, while women use more pronouns, polite, and apologetic language. Why are men and women conditioned to interact this way and what has made them feel like it is necessary to respond in these ways?

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The internet, for many people, is a place where they are free to express their opinions and develop their individual voice; however, social media and the internet do not represent everyone equally. Many social media users use their platforms to spread racist and misogynist ideas and propaganda. Race and gender representation online shapes the structure of society and culture. I plan on making observations on what this representation looks like and how it affects viewers online. The same can be said about political and moral issues. There are many varying points of view on these issues and oftentimes lead to persuasive articles and social media posts that spread bias information.

Race representation online:

Media is oftentimes a mirror of the cultural and societal ideals that users of these platforms share. This leads to stereotypes and bias on all channels of media. Quality representation is hard to find online. For example, studies find that white men are overrepresented in videogames compared to African American and Latino men. Then when men of different races are shown in videogames like the Grand Theft Auto series, they’re depicted as the villains. Social media crosses color lines and reinvents racial representations but, “it more often reflects existing imbalances and stereotypes observed in other media and in the offline world.” (pg 134).

Gender representation online:

The creators of the web had basically no diversity in their ranks and as a result of that there is a major lack of women in that work field. “Three percent of tech startups are founded by women and approximately 20% of women make up the workforce in technology.” (pg 141). Online shopping sites play up to stereotypes by curating and displaying images that show women as “shoppers and cultivators of personal appearance.”(pg 141). Trying to break these stereotypes and shatter the glass ceiling of the tech world will be a never-ending battle for women.

Discussion debate and hate groups:

In the today’s public sphere, social media is often used to disseminate information and legitimize certain points of view. It can look like a battle between two sides. “Online commenting on news stories, blog posts, and videos is one way public debate occurs.” (pg 136).  These debates can turn into hate with the click of a button. The sense of ambiguity that social media users tend to have on these sites gives them the ability to shares their hateful views while avoiding public accountability. This is referred to as “two-faced racism” (Picca & Feagin 2007).

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Class and Digital Divide

Computer literacy exists on a spectrum. This chapter explains all the aspects that affect how a person engages with technology and the Internet. We generally hear that elderly people are bad at using technology and that disadvantaged communities can’t use technology because they don’t have the means. Although these generalizations can be true in some aspect, there is much more that goes into the way technology and the Internet is used. Capital, social class and age all directly influence digital literacy.  

 Capital

Previously, we have learned about social capital, which is how many and how strong your connections are with other people. Using the people you connect with as resources is something that can set you apart from others. For example, I usually have no clue what I am doing when it comes to iMovie or GarageBand, but those are programs I have to use in one of my classes this year. My old roommate’s degree is in mass media production, so she has a lot of experience with both programs and programs even more complex. I use her constantly as a resource as I navigate programs that I do not have prior experience with. Someone that does not have a resource like this may be lost or not be able to complete the assignments. 

Cultural capital are the things that signal your social class to others. What we share and post can give others a glimpse into our interests and who you affiliate with. This ties into when we learned about high culture and low culture. If my Facebook friend shares a lot of analysis pieces and news stories, I can assume they are very up-to-date on the news and world events. This makes them “cultured” in a way compared to someone who shares TMZ articles or fake articles. That user may seem more interested in “low culture.”

Lastly, economic capital refers to people simply having the money to afford the newest technology or programming. Economic capital is what I think of most when thinking about class divide in terms of access to technology, but I was not aware that there were other dimensions. 

 Social Class 

Looking at social class in terms of the digital divide, we must know about capital. In the book, it gives the example of the Irish town that received $22 million to technological infrastructure (Humphreys, 115). The town had all the material resources, but because the residents did not have the education or social programs to effectively use it all. I think this makes a good point that even if someone has access to technology or has the means to buy technology, it does not necessarily mean they have the knowledge to use it correctly. This reminds me of learning about media literacy in previous courses and how important it is to be able to understand what you are consuming and deciphering, because others may not reflect those skills. 

Age

I think age definitely influences the ways in which we use social media, like stated in the book. Not only in the ways we understand how to use the technology, but in the ways we interact and use our presence online. The point that stood out to me was that young adults use Facebook as a “repository of social capital” in college. I think this is very true because I haven’t seen/spoken to many of my high school friends in a few years, but having them as “friends” online makes me consider them still a part of my social capital. We are able to stay updated with one another without direct communication, but I know if I needed to reach out, I could. I wonder how this will change as we move on in life as well. 

The book states that those who post photos and videos are 2x more likely to have gone to college. Why do you think that is true?

How does the class divide within technology affect society as a whole offline? How can the online aspect influence the offline world?