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.
7 thoughts on “Blog # 2”
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I do a lot of online shopping and before I submit my information, the thought of my information being stolen never fails to run through my mind. Even though sites have the verified stamp of approval, it’s hard to tell if they just made that up themselves or they are actually legit. I don’t know if our mistrust and uneasy feelings will ever go away. I think people will always be a little apprehensive of things they can’t actually see and verify. Even though we continue to put our faith in technology, we still fear it.
Trust is such a slippery concept online. Many people (I am not one of them) seem to “trust” Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, if you judge solely by how much information they post about themselves there. And yet we still are uneasy about online purchasing. And yet, I think 9 times out of 10 it will probably be much easier to get a credit card company to reverse a fraudulent charge than it is to get Facebook to take down malicious content.
Or think about this – how often do people go to restaurants where they hand a server (somebody they probably don’t know) their credit card or debit card, only to have the server disappear for an unknown amount of time before returning with the card and the bill. Why do we trust somebody who can physically steal or copy our credit cards more than an online system? Why does online seem scarier?
You trust your servers and other institutions with your credit card information because there is a system of accountability in place. The norms are set and we understand them. E-Commerce applies some of the same principles; we assume a “secure” site will uphold the rules. Also, there are safeguards in our chosen banking institutions to protect us against fraudulent activity. So, there is never permanent sense of loss For some reason, the anonymity leaves a shadow of a doubt; we can’t trust everyone. Even if we trust the legitimate sites, there are other avenues for our information to be abused. That doubt is just enough to leave us feeling uneasy.
Prof. Markman brings up SUCH a great point- the other day, a waitress disappeared with my credit card for literally 20 minutes, and the thought crossed my mind that she technically could be doing whatever she wanted with it. I have known lots of people to have lots of different opinions about shopping online (one mom wouldn’t even enter her credit card on Amazon or other legitimate large websites- she only used prepaid cards). At this point, I do most of my shopping online, because you can use coupon codes that make things cheaper than in person. It is a lot faster, as well. My thought process is always to use a legitimate website, not to pay on an open network (like Starbucks), and that even in a bad situation, I can notify my bank and get everything cancelled.
There are some good points brought up about online shopping sketchy websites. Another point i that i tend to use a lot is research. A lot of legit websites will provide a comment section for the products they sell weather they are negative or positive comments that are left. If you are not sure about a website you can research testimonials from other users through google. The internet has increased in the feedback of others’ experience about a website or product.
I completely agree with you. I do almost everything online now and from my phone. I use the internet to find up to date trends and even order clothes from the United Kingdom. It is ordinary and the norm. I appreciate whoever created PayPal because for me that is one of the safest way to purchase things online.
I agree too that there are good and bad sides to new technology, as there are to everyday things. Positives and negatives. In order to accept the positives and have faith and trust to make ourlives easier, we must accept also the negatives. I know I do!