To a Certain Point

            I believe that trolling can be done to a certain point. I have seen many people on Facebook troll each other. Most of the time is a healthy kind of troll, making fun of each other. Usually consists of them posting a meme or posting other things to try to make that person upset but then in return they will troll their friend also.  How is trolling healthy for a relationship? The definition says that troll” make a deliberately offensive or provocative online posting with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them.” Most of the time, friend trolls each other for the fun of it, to make good memories and to see how much they are capable of taking it. Unfortunately, sometimes people take to the extreme and a troll ends up creating a lot of contention and sometimes it can lead to death.

            Troll is also related to “TMI” or other types of problem. Not too long ago, a father made a video o her daughter cut all of her hair off because of something she had done and the father did not appreciate. He posted the video on Facebook to show the world how rebellious his young daughter was. Not too long later, the young girl took her life away because she though such embarrassment was not worth living. This shows how sometimes people take things too seriously instead of learning from their mistakes and ignore the bullies. From inappropriate action, to trolling to suicide; things should not revolve like this. People should think more before they decide to do something and post online, where billions of people have access to it. Do not feed trolling unless you can take it when someone trolls you back.

PRIVACYYYYY

            This week I taught a lot about the analogy of the camel and the tent, and how it is connected to our lost of privacy through social media. One times, I was looking the transactions on my credit card and I noticed that the balance was off. I looked to see what I had spent my money on. I saw a bill of $75.00, which I couldn’t remember what I had paid for. I decided to call the company and they told me what it was and they warned me that someone had use my card to go into an adult website. Fortunately, I was able to get my money back, but I had to get a new credit card etc. It was no fun having to deal with that. But I believe this happened because my privacy had being breached through the Internet. Someone was able to get my personal information. I remember when I started using Facebook and MySpace. I would only have friend requests from friends and family. Also they were the only ones that could see the things I shared. Now, anyone can send you a friend request, can see the things you post, and can see your pictures. Privacy has gone away with the increase of social network platforms. I fall into the problems of never reading the terms and agreements of something when I download or buy. Now, thinking of all the people that are missing or having been kidnapped, how many of those things happened because it had something to do with their privacy setting on Facebook?

            I believe if don’t stop being careless with our personal things; soon it will cost a lot because someone else could be using our identity. $75.00 to a college student is a lot of money when you are broke, but losing your identity could be even worse when you lose your “life” to someone else, so they can use your benefits and make your name dirty.

Slacktivism At Its Best

            I look on Facebook and find posts after posts about people doing petitions against something, about people missing, someone in need of money or people trying to make something aware. How many times do we actually spend the time reading about what’s going on? Or how many times do we decide to learn about the case before we give our opinion? In my case I tried to do that often because I don’t want to be part of that group of people that share things just for the fun of it or just trying to look cool because you have participated in a challenge in which you don’t even know what it is for. This was the case of the ALS Ice Challenge, I saw lots of people doing the challenge and it looked cool, getting wet with freezing water. However, I had no idea about what ALS really meant or why people were so eager to try to be part of such event.

            I believe slacktivism sometimes can be the easier but also the most idle form of trying to make something known or being involved in a particular event.  The social media has created this new category of laziness or a new category of people that “knows” everything because they read the title of an article posted by their friends. With the growth of social media and different platforms, it has become easier for us to learn about different things, but I believe that sometimes people take for granted the easiness of how information comes to us. Yes, known a lot of things is probably an amazing feeling, but lying to yourself mostly that you know a lot or that you are cool because you shared something a friend shared, that is not cool.

I believe slacktivism has become very superficial  because of how people react to the things that happen on the internet.

Come to the Dark Side, Luke

When discussing about the Internet or other types of technology, some people will always strongly argue about the benefits and other will always strongly argue about the negative side. Is there a higher percentage siding with the benefits or a higher percentage siding with dark side?  I think it’s impossible to answer this question because what is found on the Internet is too much to be able to separate between good and bad. This week I learned about the Tor Network and how bad it can be to our society. I started to think why haven’t the authorities done anything to stop it, since it is the black market of the Internet? Well then the answer came that authorities also use Tor to catch the bad guys. There we go against trying to make a something look bad but then it also has benefits for us. I really don’t think this question will ever be answered 100%.

            Another question I ask myself is should we protect our children from the bad things on the internet? I believe we should teach them what is right and wrong, warn them about what they can find on the internet if they go to a friends house or something, but inside of your own home I believe we should don’t give them any access to things that will lead them pornography or other things that could cost their souls. They will probably encounter something like that eventually, but we should try to not explain to them that they shouldn’t be looking for that kind of stuff but looking at wholesome things. Even though, they are the ones that choose, we as parents should try to protect our kids by preparing them from bad things and trying to cover them up from these bad things. The longer you have them the better will be for the both of you.

My Future Through Social Media

            As I start to think about the past and how they used to receive the new, it amazes me how long they used to have to wait to learn about what was happening around the world. At this moment, I just read how the Boston bomber received the death penalty.  If this had happened 20 years ago, how long would it have taken for us to learn about it? Technology combined with social media has allowed news to travel so much faster and to be accessible to such a larger audience. Sometimes, I’m not even looking for a specific thing but Facebook makes sure I’m being connected with as much news as I can.

            Another part of Social Media is how things can be shared with a large group of people. It’s impossible to know how many people have seen our pictures or videos on Facebook. Even with privacy, things can be shared or looked at because some of the people we know might not have the same set of privacies as we do. I like to read about the success stories of those being missing and they are found because of the help of Facebook or the love stories. With the help of Facebook, those that knew him recognized the Boston bomber through pictures and articles posted after the FBI had an idea of who had done those tragic things. I bet it was hard for them to believe that their friend had done such a thing but they recognize that he was a danger to the rest of the population. We have lost a lot of our privacy but at the same time we have gained other privileges with the presence of Social Media, but the question I always ask myself is “are the benefits of Facebook better than losing my privacy?” I still haven’t found an answer that makes me satisfied with the liberty I lost through Social Media. It’s not a simple task to just stop using it because I would 90% of my network and connection with my family but I will continue to wonder what I should do.

It's a Revolution

            We are in a revolution. A revolution that has changed how people communicate and relate with each other. A revolution in which technology is becoming more like humans and humans are becoming like machines. But then we ask ourselves, why is this happening? Is it because we try to find what it is easier for us or are we just becoming lazier? Sometimes I find myself texting people instead of calling them, when I know that if I called I could solve my problem faster. Is this because of the technological bubble I live in? It feels like with the increase of technology and its easier access to the greater population, we like the virtual life we live through social media better. We don’t have to fight with it and it doesn’t fight back. It’s accessible whenever we want and we can create our own world.

            I don’t think this is going to stop anytime soon since we continue to come up with new inventions. It appears that those in charge of social media and technology are just trying to find new ways to get that hook in us deeper. Then I ask myself, are they doing to benefit us? Or is it because they bank accounts are going to get fatter?. At first we may not like the changes they create but we get used to it. It’s like any type of addiction. Once we start getting more and more, it becomes harder and harder to stop it. In the position we are right now, the only way we would stop using social media was if they the internet. The Internet is what makes us accessible to everything and without it; all the programs, apps and social media wouldn’t work anymore. We could do just like the creator of Flappy Bird did it, erase from the face of the earth, but we would have to deal with the withdrawal from humanity.

The Awakening of the Internet and Social Media

            I remember the first encounter I had with the Wide World Web. I had asked my aunt to use her computer for games but then she asked if I wanted to play games of the Internet. Confused and excited, I accepted her offer. More than 15 years later, I would have never thought that the use of the Internet would allow us to accomplish so much in so little time. Most of the time, my dad would have to wait until the end of the night to know what was going on around the world or have to wait until the next morning to learn about what had happened the day before. How things have changed throughout the last few years. There should be a new connect in physics the speed of information.

            Search engines, Social Media and technology all working together to create a sea of information available inside of our pockets. But I always think and ask myself, “How can I know that all this information is true?” It’s impossible to find a legit primary source theses days. You look a Facebook; an individual is posting one thing. Then you look at Twitter, another individual is posting about the same story but there is a twist to the story. How does we know what to believe in? Social Media is a tremendous method to stay connected with the world around us. I can talk and see my family in Brazil for free and at anytime I want. There was never another time in the world that such privileged was giving to us.  It’s so easy to use and valuable to me. As I read the article published by Princeton, I didn’t buy it. I think the more technology is becoming available around the world and becoming more accessible, more people are learning about social media and how they be connected to the rest of the world. I understand that some social medias are more desirable than others but the little I know and have experienced from Facebook, I really don’t think it’s going to lose its users unless Mark decides to do the same thing as the creator of Flappy Bird. Social media and the Internet came to stay and it has become part of our lives. As much we try to stay away from it, we will always go back to it because it has become a necessity to us.