The internet has evolved so much that we use it every chance we get, cell phones, tablets, ipads. Smith (2011) mentioned a lot of stats regarding internet usage, especially in regard to our mobile devices. It said that 51% of users use their phone at least once a day to retrieve information fast. I am guilty of that, any time I do not know something I want to know something fast I google on my phone. At first it was simple things, but know I use it for EVERYTHING! My fiance pokes fun at me because he says that I am a google addict. I am also guilty of using the phone as a distraction because of boredom. It is not surprising to me that I can relate to most of the statistics provided. I fall in the category of young adults between the ages of 18-29. In the Boyd interview she says that it is not that kids act differently now because they do everything on the internet rather than the mall or the movies, the only thing different is the space they act in. Kids still do everything they would do in an offline setting such as joke, flirt, get to know people. I guess, it is a different world and it comes with the evolution of technology. There is nothing wrong with it in my opinion, as long as there is a balance with our offline life. You can be a completely normal person who maintains online relationships as well as offline if you find a good balance for your internet usage.
4 thoughts on “Blog 13- Our life and the Internet”
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I like that you tied the concept of space back in from the Baym reading. That is what smartphones do for us, they bring information, entertainment, and communication to us. We no longer have to leave the house for socialization (I’m not saying we shouldn’t, just that we don’t). We’re also using our time differently since the adoption of this technology. When we used to wait in the doctor’s office or ride in the passenger’s seat of a car (or sometimes in the driver’s seat, but again, i’m not advocating that!) we might fill out time with a magazine or just twidle our thumbs, but with our smartphones those spaces have become our home office and our living room. They allow us to return important emails or watch a movie, no matter what physical space we occupy. Its not really the behavior/our actions that’s changing fundamentally, its just the location of where they can happen.
I agree that what’s different today is the space we act in more so than our actual behavior. However, as we’ve read throughout this semester, our networks are becoming much more individualized. In some ways, this makes it tougher on us to manage all of the connections we have. In other ways, it gives us more social capitol. So there are differences, but there are also similarities. As they say, some things never change. Others do.
I am taking a very boring class this semester where you look around you and found that half of the classmates are actually in deep sleep and the other half are texting. The subject is really boring and the professor making it worse, However, I never tried to use my iphone during the lecture, and in fact, I get so mad whenever I look at my classmates and see them texting or shopping using their smartphones or iphone. To me, this is so wrong and so distracting. If you are not interested in hearing the lecture you should leave the class room since anyway your are not learning anything while texting and doing other things. However, being addicted to google is not a bad thing. I google almost for everything because It is the best searching engin and the fastest,but, not during lectures -:)
Yes! It seems a lot of people dont realize thay everyone know they are on their phone. It actually draws peoples attention to you when you are looking at your crouch laughing or smiling.