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.
It’s interesting that you bring up the group “Anonymous” in your blog. For me, news about the group’s tactics intersect at some of the hopes and fears about CMC and ITCs brought up in the readings. They are using the technology to expose criminals, at least in their view. However, they use hacking to gain access to information that is supposed to be secure online in order to do so. Do the ends justify the means?
In the Media Theory and Crticism class, we just read an article by Marshall McLuhan called “The Medium is the Message”. In the article, McLuhan refers to a speech by General David Sarnoff. Sarnoff comments that “We are too prone to make technological instruments the scapegoats for the sins of those who wield them. The products of modern science are not in themselves good or bad; it’s the way they are used that determines their value.” You mention one of the fears of CMC as cyber bullying. Is it surprising that bullying occurs over the internet? I don’t think so, especially since bullying happens face to face and in traditional formats. The internet just adds to the opportunity.
I do think personal privacy is an issue. A lot of times you will place privacy barriers on your information but websites change and can accidentally let your information get out. Facebook is extremely guilty of this. You can set your privacy setting and they’ll redo something and/or do an update and tell you that you have to reset your privacy information because they have done something and your information is available to people you didn’t want to have access to it. It can be frustrating, but no one ever really deletes their account because of it. I feel like the good from advances in technology outweigh the bad so we’ll keep clinging to it. Even with our fears of new developments, we don’t want to live without technology.
One point you bring up with cyber bullying. I am on the fence with this topic. Honestly, I don’t think that a child can be sensored from the predetaory situations the internet puts infront of them. However, I do think that if a “friend” on any social medium is saying bad things about a person it is first and foremost their choice to remain “friends” and read it.
Which leads to what about other sites that you are not on and things are being said? News flash, it happens everyday people are always going to have their opinions and say negative and hurtful things. Cyber bullying is horrible, but I do think it is easier to block out than in person situations where physical harm is being done.
Thank you for your post.
Now a days, you hear a lot about cyber bullying taking place, especially on social media sites such as Facebook. There is actually a Lifetime movie called Cyber Bully about this teenage girl that committs suicide because she was cyber bullied so much. You can always block a person on Facebook, but sometimes that just isn’t enough to erase the emotional damage that has already been done.