5. Big Brother

One interesting topic tied to technology is surveillance. I first began to think of the topic seriously when I was in London this past fall while I was studying abroad. The driver who picked us up from the airport told us a surprising fact: a person could walk the length of one block and been seen by several hundred cameras. One can view this as either a necessity that protects society, or an invasion of privacy; this is not only local to London, but everywhere in the world. The Patriot Act comes to mind, where the privacy of American citizens has been intruded for the purpose of protection. This method of surveillance carries over into even social networking: corporate businesses are able to view potential clients' Facebooks, Twitter accounts, and so on. One can essentially see this as the end of privacy: even in one's own home they are being watched. Social networks such as Facebook are very public, as people put their real name and information online for others to see. This can lead to identity theft or replication, where one uses the information of a real person and create a duplicate account. These duplicate accounts can be used to slander that person. From government surveillance to online monitoring, the issue of privacy has become a very large one in modern society. Perhaps more security measures can be made for social networks to hide the information of their users, but if someone really wants to break in (and has the necessary skills to do so), they will break in. The government and corporate businesses have countless resources, and all one can do is be careful with how they act in public and what they post online. The internet has opened the world to individuals throughout all the nations, in ways both good and bad. Hopefully the invasion of privacy will never become too great, and people will be able to express themselves online without unwanted attention.

4. Online Gaming

In today's world, games such as World of Warcraft draw vast attention from society as a whole. These massive online games brings people from all over the world together to complete various tasks and quests within the rules and boundaries of the game. One aspect that draws much attention is the amount of real-life interaction that is taken away by playing these online games. In our sociology 149 class, we discussed this topic of online gaming, and found that there were actually more older people who played these the games; the average age is surprisingly forty-eight years old. Further studies show that the majority of these people are single with no children, and married with children at home. This was all very surprising to me; I have always viewed gamers as typically being younger, single people. While a large percentage of gamers were reported to be single with no children, many were still married with children with an older average age. Further statistics report that the large majority of these gamers work full time. I have always had the thought that playing online social games such as these would severely impair the lives of people; I have heard several stories in the media of people losing their lives just for these games. One story even involved the unsanitary death of a man who refused to leave his computer; however, statistics would show that these types of people are in the minority. It would appear that in actuality many gamers are sound, working adults who are able to maintain a family while playing online games. Instead of losing their reality to these games, many are able to use them as stress-relievers and a form of entertainment. This has made me feel much better about an online game that I have recently started playing called Ikariam. I am able to check this game every few hours, and it provides me entertainment and relief. At the same time, I am able to maintain school and work at a very efficient level. At this given rate, social online games are a benefactor to society. People need activities to occupy their attention and help relieve stress from our work-driven environment; online games appear to be an efficient provider.

1. Your Media Diet

This is my media diet for the past 7 days:

Wednesday, February 16:
1. Internet 2 hours: Facebook, ESPN, Sporcle, Stumbleupon, SCU, Yahoo, Google, Youtube
2. Television 2 hours: Two and a Half Men, Family Guy, South Park, American Dad, Tosh.0
3. Reading 2 hours: Homework
4. Video Games 2 Hours: NBA 2K11, Hearts of Iron Doomsday

Thursday, February 17:
1. Internet 3 Hours: Facebook, ESPN, SCU, Yahoo, Google, Youtube
2. Television 3 Hours: Two and a Half Men, Family Guy, South Park
3. Reading 1 Hour: Homework
4. Video Games 1 Hour: Hearts of Iron Doomsday

Friday, February 18:
1. Internet 1 hour: Facebook, ESPN, SCU, Yahoo, Google, Mapquest, Youtube
2. Television 1 hour: Maury
3. Reading: Nothing
4. Video Games: Nothing

Saturday, February 19:
1. Internet 30 minutes: Youtube, SCU, ESPN, Yahoo, ESPN
2. Television: Nothing
3. Reading: Nothing
 4. Video Games: Nothing

Sunday, February 20:
1. Internet: Nothing
2. Television 2 hours: South Park, Chapelle's Show
3. Reading: Nothing
 4. Video Games: Nothing

Monday,  February 21:
1. Internet: 3 hours: SCU, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, Youtube, Sporcle, ESPN
2. Television: 1 Hour: That 70's Show
3. Reading 4 Hours: Homework
 4. Video Games: Nothing

Tuesday, February 22:
1. Internet 1 hours: SCU, Facebook, ESPN
2. Television 2 hours: Family Guy, Tosh.O
3. Reading 8 hours: Homework
4. Video Games 30 minutes: Ikariam

Wednesday, February 23:
1.Internet 2 hours: ESPN, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, SCU
2. Television 2 hours: That 70's Show, South Park, American Dad, Spartacus
3. Reading 1 hour: homework
4. Video Games 1 hour: Ikariam

 My media diet shows several different conclusion. First of all, I realize that I read very little; the only times I read are for class. The days were I had significantly more readings were days that I was studying for tests. I used to read much more when I was younger, and I would like to bring my amount of reading up. I also see that I do not spend  too much time watching television or on the internet. I mostly use the internet to check my emails and homework assignments; from time to time I use the Internet for entertainment. I prefer socializing with my friends over using the computer. I noticed that I also mostly watch comedy shows, especially cartoons. I think that this all says that I am a moderately social person who has a good sense of humor; I like to watch comedy because it is a stress reliever. As for the days I had little activity, I was in Davis, CA visiting friends. I feel like I am an average American when it comes to media consumption; having to deal with school and work, I still have a fair amount media use. However, I feel like I have less media consumption than other people my age; I notice that my friends use the television, Xbox, and computer more than I do. I do not know how my social location affects my media consumption. However, I assume that perhaps the group of friends that I grew up with affected how much media I use. My friends and I use have a fair amount of media consumption, however we never spend too much time with it. Most of the time when I go on the internet, it is simply briefly checking it through my cell phone.

3. Technology and Social Interaction

I think that the spread of technology has had a positive impact on my every day face to face interaction. Cell phones and the internet helps me get a hold of people more often. Once I am in contact with these people, I can coordinate a place to meet in person. While helping me see people around me, technology has also allowed me to communicate with those far away. This is not the case for all other people, however. While others are able to benefit from the spread of technology in respect to face to face interaction, some are hurt by it. For example, someone might use the internet in order to meet people either through social networks or dating sites. Sometimes this can be helpful, for the person might be shy or too busy for meeting others normally. However, others who turn to online gaming or virtual worlds rather than at least a healthy dosage of both have unhealthy lifestyles. If one creates a relationship that never has face to face interaction, then that relationship cannot be meaningful. One needs to actually be in the presence of the other person, otherwise they will never truly get to know them. It is like a long-distance relationship: it is very hard to maintain a real relationship without any real contact. They will feel doubt about the relationship, and possibly doubt themselves. Additionally, by paying too much attention to the fake world, one risks neglecting their real everyday relationships; one will soon find himself or herself alone. As a society, I feel that all we can do is educate our young about the risks of losing oneself in a fake world. Parents should encourage more real socializing to their children, telling them to go out and find others. Society has provided people with public "real' spaces; all that is left is for people to fill them up.

2. Social Networking and Privacy

There are many social networking sites, however the only one I use is Facebook. In high school I used Myspace, but ever since I entered college I have started using Facebook instead; other networks are not very appealing to me since none of my other friends use them. While I was studying abroad in Rome last quarter, I used Facebook a lot in order to stay connected to my friends and family. However, since I have been back in the United States I have used it much less since I am around my friends and I can just use my phone to contact those not physically present. I check my Facebook daily though as it has become a habit; I treat Facebook as my emails, that is I check it at least once a day. I do not find the cultural move toward social networking as a negative trend. It has benefits that I find to be very useful. Social networks allow people to communicate with others all around the world, as long as one has access to the internet. I know this first hand as for four months I traveled through twelve different countries in Europe, being able to talk to all my family and my friends nonetheless; I found this to be very useful and helpful. However, social networks have their drawbacks: sometimes one's personal life can become exposed. Sometimes one may expose too much about themselves or others on a social network; this can lead to hurt feelings, embarrassment, and injury amongst one or more parties. I personally have not ever put up a post that I regret, but I heard of examples. One example was with Twitter: somebody hacked the Twitter account of St. Louis Cardinal's coach Tony La Russa. In his career, La Russa has lost two players to drinking and driving; the hacker made a joke on his account about these two players. La Russa received much criticism for this, however soon after his innocence was discovered. Nevertheless, this example makes one worry about his or her privacy when it comes to social networks. Although social networks have their benefits, they still have serious drawbacks.