Alex Kocjan
1.) One issue I have with new media today would be how easily it is to get distracted and lose concentration with what your doing. I know this because I am a victim of it, in class, at work or wherever it is easy to get consumed into your phone and lose touch with the task you have at hand. Everyday I see people just staring at their phones, not acknowledging anything or anyone around them. As stated by Stephen Abram, it is easier for people to stay socially in touch with people through media rather than talking and stating there opinion directly in person, people feel more at ease when doing this and feel more accepted that way (Abram, 2012).
2.) Many people today feel to need to conform and fit in to what everyone else is doing. So if constantly updating your twitter is what everyone is doing, you know your going to be doing the same thing. The pressure to fit in is all around us, we see it everyday when getting onto a social media site, no one wants to be out of the loop ( Abram, 2012). Fitting and being cool is what kids are thinking about rather than being themselves and doing good in school.
3.) The web and new media have opened many new doors for social interaction along with taking away from social interaction as well. Things such as Skype and other video chat sites made face to face communication at long distances possible, and accessible in minutes. People spend one quarter of their online time involved with communication activities of some sort, that amount of time is equal to the amount of time people spend on leisure or entertainment while online ( Riegner, 2007).
4.) One thing to be aware of when looking on the internet for information is UGC or user generated content. As more people spend time on the internet, misinformation gets shared, and spread through the use of social media sites and blogging sites. None of the information is credible unless its through a genuine source. People however don’t always understand that everything on the internet isn’t credible, and in that case they could run into some trouble using false information. Sometimes UGC can be beneficial to users who are trying to use the internet as a type of market for campaigning their products or a service (Filho & Tan 2009). The internet can reach millions of people really quickly and can improve business greatly.
5.) One of the quickly growing social media sites is Instagram, which I personally use and like a lot. On Instagram you can upload pictures so all your friends can see, and recently they added a fifteen second video option. Instagram is more basic and that leads to less drama which everyone loves. You can select who can view your photos, and you can select who you want to be friends with. The amount of users that sign up for Instagram each day is around 950,000, and they already have 150,000,000 current active users ( Bennet 2014.) With that being said, it is also a great place for business’s to conduct promotional deals, and interact with customers. One positive thing that comes from Instagram is getting to explore and expand your knowledge when you use the explore section on Instagram. You can type in a hashtag of something your interested and a bunch of pictures come up, if you like some photos in that section you can follow the users so there post show up on your feed. Its a great place to explore and interact with friends.
6.) There is a a growing problem with identity theft in the United States, for the fifth straight year identity theft is the number one complaint reported to the FTC. Many cases happen by opening spam emails, or putting your credit card information online. There all kinds of consequences to getting your identity stolen, an obvious one would be that they can run up your credit card bill. Another negative is that they could have committed crimes that you end getting the blame for ( Lanford 2014.) One case that I researched was when an elder couple that stole ids by using a card skimming device, they then hired “shoppers” to go out and buy all the things they wanted. The man was charged with up to 250 years in prison but was only sentenced to only five to six years. The FTC estimates that in the year of 2011, over 1.52 billion dollars was taken by identity thieves (Compton 2012.) So always beware of were you are you entering your personal information.
7.) One issue that has arisen from new media is plagiarism, as more information is available, the more people use that information and sometimes don’t give credit to the source. In school and colleges this is a major topic among teachers and students. In extreme cases of plagiarism, the offender can sometimes be charged, and sentenced to serve jail time. Another topic for debate with plagiarism online is copying images and designs in form of code, and whether or not that is stealing or not ( Mitchell 2002.) In a recent survey that was conducted in 2011, out of 30,000 students an astonishing 60.8 percent admitted to cheating or plagiarizing on a test or paper. Most of the people that cheat have been doing it for a long time and usually never get caught ( OEDB 2010.) This is a big negative when it comes to new media and how it effects education and students.
8.) The internet has opened up new doors for people to meet other people. In the middle of it all is online dating, and all the new online dating websites there are. We've all seen the Match commercials telling us how they will match someone up with us that will be the perfect one. Even though I don’t believe in online dating it defiantly has been proven to be successful. There are over 40 million online dating users in the United States, which accounts for 40 percent of the single people in America ( Broussard 2014.) I personally know someone who met their boyfriend online using the app called Tinder, which lets you choose to chat to someone that was selected within a 50 mile radius of your location. They have been together for almost two years now. I see this as one way in which new media can improve your life, and make you happier.
9.) New media has had a negative influence on peoples social skills, as everyone is now using social media sites to communicate and using web talk. When people are confronted face to face they are often left feeling awkward and not knowing what to do or say, because of all the new media. People are used to being able to sit behind a computer screen an say whatever they want, knowing that they don’t have to make eye contact. I have friends that I know are really awkward in face-to-face interactions, but when they get online they can comment back and forth forever with a stranger about anything. Its like they feel more comfortable when they aren't being pressured to deliver an answer on the spot. One statistic surrounding this topic is that around 40 percent of people spend more time socializing online rather than face-to-face ( Pring 2012.) That statistic is surprising considering almost everyone has to go out in public everyday, and talk and interact with others at their workplace or school. I think this is a rising problem and we will only see people get worse and worse with in person interactions.
10.) The use of social media and other internet functions have all been made accessible on our smartphones, whether its an Iphone or android. I see this as both a positive and a negative. The positives being that we can access all the same information you could on a computer, but only its right in your hand. The use of mobile internet usage worldwide is at around 10%, that number has doubled in the last year and a half. Worldwide there are about 1.2 million people accessing the web from their mobile device (Pring 2012). These mobile devices with internet lead to more distractions, but also make life much easier with all the tools you have at your disposal.
Works Cited
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Broussard, Meredith. "Dating Stats You Should Know." Numbers about Love That Make a Difference. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Compton, Allie. "Largest Identity Theft Case In U.S. History: Amar Singh And Wife, Neha Punjani-Singh, Plead Guilty To Massive Fraud." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Aug. 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
Lanford, Audri and Jim. "Surprising Identity Theft Facts:." Facts About Identity Theft Scams. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Mitchell, Bill. "“New Media” Bring a New Set of Problems | Poynter." Poynter. N.p., 12 Aug. 2002. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Nadaraja, Rubathee. "Social Media Marketing: Advantages and Disadvantages." (n.d.): n. pag. Research Gate. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Pring, Cara. "216 Social Media and Internet Statistics (September 2012)." Thesocialskinnycom RSS. N.p., 15 Sept. 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
"The Advantages and Disadvantages of Student Social Media Use." New – Stephen's Lighthouse New. Stephen Abram, 16 Nov. 2012. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
"8 Astonishing Stats on Academic Cheating." OEDB.org. Open Education Database, 19 Dec. 2010. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
