The foundation of fear for our relationship with the internet arises from our dependency on such integrated technologies and uncertainty of what this means for our future.

We don’t want to constrict the autonomous nature of the internet, yet we are faced with the challenge of maintaining a healthy, “more liveable” online environment (Herring, 32). It’s a different world out there. Our traditional understandings of social structure and known risks are being challenged. There are not many rules in the Wild West of the Internet. We have yet to put many limitations and regulations on the majority of the internet, but “users today are less tolerant of abuse and more willing to accept systems of control to restrict it” (Herring, 32). Similarly, Baym hypothesizes potential attempts at regulating concrete offensive acts of abuse such as “harassment” and “spamming.”  As with any new technology, people become anxious and concerned, and “new media often stirs up fear of moral decline” (Baym, 41). Our fears creep in and we begin to fault the system for undermining our traditional societal values. Unknowing children become the exemplification of what happens to all of us. The innocent are “corrupted, damaged, and permanently transformed by technology” (Baym, 43). However the system also has the potential to expand & connect, to increase access to information, knowledge, and even community.

Both authors touch on different aspects of how the different structures and systems have the power to affect our communication behavior in various ways. However uncertain, these new technologies are a necessary part of daily life we have come to “nervously accept.” The anxiety we faced over the development of our technologies in the early 2000s still resonate within us today.  The constant advancement “leave[s] us forever scrambling to catch up” (Herring, 29).

Despite this constant evolution, “users want a stable, simpler, useable” platform to adopt (Herring, 33). We want the technology to benefit our means.  “The sheen of novelty” has worn off as we use communication technology and it becomes a necessary part of our productive lifestyle (Herring, 29). These once-fascinating technologies have been “made mundane” as they are increasingly embedded in our daily lives (Baym, 5). There is still plenty of hope for a better online environment for the future. Though the technology is adopted and immediately assimilated into our lifestyle, it is also constantly evolving and there will always be something new to enrich our screens & minds.

Hello everyone I know I am late introducing myself but I am recovering from an injury, I tore a muscle in my calf. I am a Senior Health Services Administration major and I am currently interning at a local hospital. I am a lover of all things leopard and I have a thing for fashion.

These readings state that people are being manipulated by new technologies. It also suggested that new technologies will interfere with a person’s memory as well as attention span. There was a fear present in Baym text, the fear of losing control and people not leaving home. These fears were founded after reading the statement “many fear that actual human connection has been irretrievably lost.” CMC, Computer-Mediated Communication, is slouching towards ordinary because of chatrooms, web boards, text messages and other social media outlets and ultimately the mobility of all the ways of communicating online.
I do feel that technology has a lot to do with the depletion of attention span. People hold their phones for dear life without looking up. I visited NYC this past Summer and people were crossing the streets looking at their phone, nearly being hit by cabs. I do not agree that people will not want to leave their house. Due to mobility of communication people are leaving their homes, they’re just not paying attention when they do.

Many of the hopes and fears brought about in these readings revolve around the idea that the internet will effect how human beings communicate with one another. The negative effects range from a loss of personal identity to the absence of real human relationships. The hopes are largely the opposite of this, that CMC will help bring people together. I understand the fear that text messages and emails are somehow creating less meaningful relationships, but I disagree with that point. In our world, more and more families are finding themselves living in different parts of the country. Without access to text messaging, email or even video chatting services such as Skype or FaceTime, it would be almost impossible to maintain a close bond with family members. I feel like Skype and FaceTime are helping to keep the internet from “slouching towards the ordinary.” Whereas email is very much like traditional letter writing, a FaceTime call is completely different than anything we as a society were able to do a decade ago. In fact, in 2003 most Americans did not even have text messaging. Now, we can call a family member in another country and actually see their face while we talk to them. Its a truly amazing thing! We are finding ways to make communication on the internet a less ordinary experience than it was a decade or even five years ago.
It is important to realize, though, that there is truth to the fear that the internet can rob a person of their privacy. In fact, the internet is becoming the first place new employers look for information on prospective hires. If any trace of that potential employee is found doing something crazy, illegal or morally objective, its likely they will not be hired. And it applies to current employers as well. You have to be extremely careful about what you put out there. Overall, though, the user can be completely in control of what exists about them on the web. It is always a good idea to be aware of what you are sending out into cyberspace. The internet never forgets!

I think the main hope for CMC is that it will continue to make people’s lives easier. In some ways it does save time and money. With email and the internet, companies can send you paperless billing statements which is better for the environment and also saves you money on a stamp. One of the main fears with CMC is the whole trust issue. How do you know which websites are legit and also who to trust? One of the main things I think that is important to remember about it is that you do not give your credit card numbers out to just anyone. The only way I will type in my credit card number is if I am purchasing something online. I have Page Plus Cellular which is a pre paid phone service. To renew my minutes each month, I have to purchase them off their web site because Page Plus is not one of the main carriers that you can buy the cards for at Wal Mart or other retailers. I think the hopes and fears with the internet are well founded. There are pros and cons to everything. When Herring says that CMC tends to “slouch towards the ordinary” I think she is meaning that CMC has become an ordinary part of our daily lives. Most people now a days have cell phones and computers. It is also ordinary for online students like ourselves that have to have the internet as a way to do our school work.

When it comes to crime in the Bluff City, my father has always said it best. “Memphis is just like any other city,” he used to tell me. “There are good parts, and bad parts. If you stay out of the bad parts, chances are that you’ll be okay.”

The “hopes and fears” of the connected masses as discussed by Baym harkens back to the all-too familiar technological commentary of Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death. In the opening pages of this thought provoking paper-back, Postman contrasts the forecasts of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley, two prominent 20^th century philosophers. Orwell believed that censorship by “the man” would suppress the masses, while Huxley feared that the masses would suppress themselves with diversions. In Postman’s words, “…Orwell feared that what we hate would ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love would ruin us” (Postman). Postman’s work asserts that we were already witnessing the fulfillment of Huxley’s prophesy when he finished Amusing in 1985, and many tend to echo his sentiments. Today, these feelings are most often re-directed toward the internet. Many have begun to feel concerned that perhaps we have accumulated troves of information and content so vast that we cease to see its value or relevance.

However, in reading Baym and Herring, we begin to see that many express more visceral fears of what the internet is, or may become. These authors remind us of the reality that the internet is reflective of the human condition. As such, while the web offers opportunities to learn and explore, it is not without a dark side. The sexual exploitation of children on the internet, even beyond child pornography, is far more common than many of us would care to admit. So, it should not be surprising that, upon witnessing such instances of degradation in the media, some begin to fear the internet. Indeed, it is not unwise for one to have a healthy awareness for how some choose to employ the web for such purposes.

Nonetheless, it is also important to remember that the internet, just like a big city, has good parts and bad parts. We ought to continue to use the internet to learn and explore. Because, as long as we are wise and avoid the bad parts, we’ll probably be okay.

Postman, Niel. Amusing Ourselves to Death. London: Peguin Books, 1985. Google Books. Web. 29 Jan. 2013.

The hopes and fears of people around technology have shifted during time. Technology has evolved and developed so many ways of communicating more efficiently and in a rapid way. For example e-commerce takes advantage of the convenience of being in one place and being able to do business virtually anywhere. We have got accustomed to all our gadgets that it is hard to imagine what we would do without them. Also, all the new forms of communicating have become a very ordinary part of life. Checking our social media page has become a daily routine, texting as having a conversation with an individual has become a normal part of the day. Checking emails is an ordinary task at work. The fear is that many people see the evil side to technology. Many people see the concern with security, censorship, gender demographics, and online pornography (Herring 2004). It is a concern of what is real and what is not? People start to question the quality of mediated interactions, believing technology takes away from social cues that provide rich meaning. Do we use technology simply because it is there? We have text conversations that are meaningless, but we respond back just for the sake of responding. This habits that we do without thinking have become ordinary with technology.

In this weeks readings both authors discuss the emerging social ideas surrounding the new technologies, primarily CMC’s or computer mediated communication. Baym dicusses that the technology agents like the internet and CMC’s have certain “technological determinism”, meaning technologies have characteristics that can be transferred to a user and impatcs the social life. (Baym 26) Therefore Baym fears the potential of negative influence or moral decline of CMC users, as well as giving the users to much technological influence. He hopes to understand the features of the new technologies to better better link social consequences.

In Herring’s Article he somewhat tracks the growing trend of people becoming ordinary CMC users. Herring discusses that in the later years the demographic of CMC users has changed to” younger and less tech savvy” Herring (2004). This due to the rise of email, IM, ans SMS technologies which provides a way for young people to communicate online. Herring also points out the social fears that are being noticed. Some social fears are the loss of personal privacy, cyber bulling, and spaming. Herrings observations, even thought a few years old, seem to fit some of the social fears we have seen in the past 5 years. For example terrorist groups like recently formed  “anonymous” or the devastating stories of kids taking there lives or others after begin a victim of cyber bulling.

New technology generates in society the realization that new heights of accomplishments are achievable. However, with every new technological achievement there is a downside. The birth and development of computer mediated communication (CMC) systems is not the exception. CMC has undoubtedly captivated our society while at the same time creating new reasons for fear. Will it lose its appeal and fascination with time?

It is undeniable that the astounding growth in CMC use has resulted in great benefits to our society. It is difficult to imagine a successful research project without the expeditious speed and exhaustive resource that the Internet offers. Internet technology has become so important that its influence on the outcome of our last presidential election is undeniable. Today, it affects almost every aspect of society. Some dare to conclude that without the Internet, life as we currently know it would disappear to the disappointment of humanity.

It is undeniable, however, that with all the advantages the Internet offers us, it has brought along disadvantages that some find very concerning, and in some cases frustrating. Children are victims, identities are stolen, privacy is at risk, and targeted databases threaten to cripple large corporations and even governments. Yet, this is not CMC systems’ biggest threat.

I agree with Susan Herring that CMC’s biggest threat is the extensive familiarity of its users with the system. On page 33 of her article she writes: “CMC has become more of a practical necessity than an object of fascination and fetish”. This familiarity threatens to push this system into the land of great to remember antiques without a functional purpose. However, the continuous efforts of visionaries and technological designers continually simplifying the system and increasing its fascination with new technologies will guarantee many years of positive contribution to our society.

As someone who has grown up with the internet and views it as a foundational aspect of modern life, it can be hard for me to step back and consider other people’s views concerning it. However, both Baym and Herring had many points about people’s hopes and fears regarding new technologies and CMC.

Perhaps the most basic and underlying fear I read is people’s assumption that CMC shapes communication and social behavior (Herring 26). Baym writes about this as well, saying that technology actually changes the quality of interactions (30). However, this point does allow people to hope that this new change in social behavior will broaden our “pool of potential relational partners” (Baym 30), and also bring people closer together (Baym 36). While people are having a greater sense of openness and opportunity, they are also fearful about the amount of their information that is available to the public. Herring writes that an underlying concern is “loss of personal privacy,” and says that there is a “growing awareness that our online communication leaves traces” (32). On the other hand, another concern is that there is too MUCH privacy available online- and that people have no real idea of who they are talking to (resulting in child molestation and other horrendous acts) (Baym 35, 41-42).

Herring writes that the internet has become a “practical necessity” rather than an exciting tool, and that concepts like blogging have gone from exciting to as ordinary as passing notes in class (33). She says that CMC is “slouching toward the ordinary,” and that the internet is becoming a simpler, safer, and far less fascinating communication environment.

Based upon her thoughts, I have to admit that most hopes and fears about technology seem a bit dated. I understand the concerns about putting credit card numbers online, or being careful about what information we publish, but I think that most people have been warned so many times that they have gotten the point. I have seen a large array of articles bringing awareness about internet issues (including ones about how our Facebook profiles can be harmful for college admissions and job pools), and I think that people are becoming very good at dealing with these issues. While we obviously need to watch over those who don’t fully realize the risks (like when our 14-year-old cousins put up provocative Facebook profile pictures set to public access), most of society seems to have caught on quite nicely.