Watch what you say online...

Just recently I have become more familiar with different social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Digg etc. I have seen the advantages and disadvantages of both, and recently some of the downfalls have been standing out in the news. 

For example, a man was using twitter for his personal use recently and said a few things that could backfire.

He said, "Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.” Which was then replied with, "Who is the hiring manager? I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web."

This just shows that we have to be careful what we say on the Internet, because it might end up in the wrong hands at the end of the day. 

I think this example shows how we are now expressing ourselves on the Internet, in ways we might not have before, and how this is enabling our identity and personalities, but sometimes things do not need to be said online where anyone can see it, especially our co-workers and bosses. 

This shouldn't make you feel like you can’t be yourself on the Internet, or that you have to hold back your true feelings, you just have to be careful who is allowed to see your site, and if something could potentially be seen by someone inappropriate, then take the right measures to ensure your work or anything else important will not be affected by this. 

Popkin, an msnbc online writer, has a good rule to live by, “Never post anything you wouldn’t say to your mom, boss and significant other.”

Another example I found in current events was this new idea of “people search engines”. This means there are sites out there that are designed to let you dig up information on friends, foes and anyone in between. It releases information on what you have been searching, what kinds of music you listen to on Pandora, and even who you have in your address book. 

This idea seems scary that anyone can see your personal information at the click of a button. But, the author of this article, JR Raphael from PC World Magazine, gets into something deeper. Something we have been talking about in class. He says that even though this service provides information that may seem insignificant, the cumulative effect of seeing it all together, is very powerful. 

He says, "A lot of people know that they have a public MySpace page, a lot of people know that they have a public Twitter album. But, when combined together, it's not one plus one equals two -- you actually create a new identity."

This relates back to what Bugeja says about having dual consciousness due to this ever-evolving technology. Maybe he is onto something….?

I think these two examples show how new technologies are enabling us to share our true identities, but in the end, these advances might be harmful to our “real-lives”. What do you think? 

Read the whole article about people search engines here:

http://tech.msn.com/products/articlepcw.aspx?cp-documentid=18632762

Gold Farming and Identity

After our discussion in class about goldfarming, it became apparent that ones identity is sometimes easily spotted just by their ranking on a game, or the amount of "gold" they have. As Americans are increasingly using the benefits of goldfarming to advance in their gaming worlds, their identities are in turn being purchased instead of earned. 

Like we talked about in class, one can buy themselves to a higher level if desired, instead of putting in the long hours of earning their way up the gaming ladder. In my opinion this seems like cheating. Just like Dibbell says in her article “The Life of the Chinese Gold Farmer”. She says that “This development has not been universally welcomed. In the eyes of many gamers, in fact, real-money trading is essentially a scam — a form of cheating only slightly more refined.” 

So are these M.M.O’s ultimately enabling or suppressing identities? I would have to argue that they do both in a way. The are enabled because people who might be afraid to express their views (ex. political, gender, or financial) can now participate online in games such as Second Life. Here they can express themselves in a way they might not thought was possible before. But they now have the power to live in two three maybe even multiple lives at a time, and be a different person in each one that expresses different sides of their personality. 

But on the other hand, these M.M.O’s can also suppress ones identity because people might be afraid of how they they really feel and so they act in other ways that they think will be more accepted online. For example, even if you don’t have a lot of money in “real life” you can play long enough and be rich on the game. You can buy weapons etc.... and “pretend” to be wealthy and powerful.

In a virtual world it would be ideal if we all started equal but you can become powerful with money by buying gold and advancing to higher levels. Some individuals don’t have that advantage and have to work 10 times harder to achieve the same status. 

So what does this mean for the future Americans? Have we become too lazy of a nation that we have to purchase peoples precious time just to advance in a game? The gold farmers are only getting paid a fraction of what they deserve, so Americans can get their instant gratification. Do you think goldfarming is unethical?

"The Internet Has Taken Over My Life"

In a recent episode of the Tyra Show (I know... I like to watch Tyra, sometimes good topics like this one come on!) she had a show called "The Internet Has Taken Over My Life", and there were several young girls who claim the Internet is ruining their lives.

The first young girl says she is addicted to Facebook because she seems to miss appointments and sometimes she checks it up to 100 times a day. She has 1,336 friends on there, and I feel as if she is doing this because she wants to be popular and liked, and the online environment allows her to achieve that. But is she really making friends? Will these people make her life more enjoyable? I wonder what she gains from spending so much time on in Internet rather than “real-life”?

Another fad that is going around among young girls is reading celebrity blogs. Some girls say they are reading the blogs up to 25 times throughout the day. They say they don’t want to go to school or even on vacation because they might miss what’s going on in those celebrities’ lives, and they NEED to know. Has this fad made young girls want to change their identity to be like the celebrities? Are we going to see a difference in this age groups online activity in the coming years because of these blogs?

Along with the girls, young men are getting caught up in this as well. Boyfriends are checking Facebook pages out of jealousy. He checks her page up to 4 times in 1 hour! Is the Internet making him question his trust in his girlfriend? Or is he just using the Internet to show his true personality?

Finally, the most drastic case was a young girl who participates in an online anime community and in turn, it has totally isolated her from the rest of the world. She spends about 14 hours a day on this site. She said “The more time I spend on the web, the more I start feeling it’s the only world I’ve got. She now has no friends to physically hang out with, she failed high school and is re-taking it, and had gained 30 pounds because of lack of exercise. She also never even goes out of the house if she does not have to. She locks herself in her room isolated from her family and friends to live in this online community.

Are all of these people afraid of something? Are they ashamed of who they are? Do they turn to the internet because people are maybe more accepting there?

I am still trying to figure out why people spend this much time on the Internet and hopefully with further research I will be able to come to some assumptions that will clear up this grey area for me…..

I Live Another Life on the Web

After a few weeks of deliberation, I have decided to focus my postings on how new media enables or suppresses one's personal identity.

After today's class and leaning more about social networking sites, it made me think that these types of sites let people express themselves in new ways that they never thought possible before.

But I also believe blogs and social networking sites make it possible for people to create different personalities that they wish they could have, or ones they can hide behind because they are not happy with who they are.

There was a recent episode of True Life on MTV that is titled "I Live Another Life on the Web". In this episode, three young women show the world how having another life on the web affects their everyday life.

Take a look:


Embedding courtesy of Dintillion

If this does not work....here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THM16t5Cm_4

As you can see these women use the Internet to create alter-egos and live in a virtual world. They are doing things they wouldn't otherwise be doing if it wasn't for the Internet.

From the article, “Evaluating the Social and Cultural Implications of the Internet,” Albert Borgmann says that “Cyberspace presents an escape into an alternative reality that is illusionary because it presents us with trivialized and glamorized substitute realities that lack context.”

I think this explains what these women are going through in the video because they want to escape too.

For example, the woman who wanted to play in a band but had stage fright, the Internet now allows her to perform her music behind an avatar, resulting in her being able to perform without being nervous. But, as Borgmann says this alternative reality may not be as good as everyday reality, so it might not constitute as an adequate escape from reality.


In other words, she is escaping for those few moments when she is playing behind her avatar, but has it solved her problems in “real-life”? Will she be able to perform one day as herself in front of others?


Overall, I think having a different online identity enables people to show their personal identity in the sense that they can open up online since no one really knows who they are. But, on the other hand, I think it suppresses one's identity because you are not being who you really are. You almost have a fake personality. Why not just be that person who you are pretending to be online?

Hopefully the confidence the online identities give people, can translate into their “real lives”.