Social Networking

  It is difficult to imagine life without the Internet. My life has been directly impacted by my frequent use of social networking sites. Facebook has allowed me to build new relationships and sustain old relationships by providing an easy way to meet and connect with people. I spend probably an average of one hour a day on facebook, which is an significant amount of time if you put it in perspective. I actually have to “deactivate” my facebook during exam week so I will not be tempted by its mesmerizing effects. I mentioned this to my parents and they asked me if I was troubled by the fact that I had to deactivate my entire account in order to avoid it and that I could not rely solely on my self-control. The truth is that about 90% of the time I open my Internet explorer I automatically type in facebook.com. I usually catch myself and then reroute to my originally desired destination, but it is sort of troubling that my subconscious constantly wants to go to facebook. There is an addictive quality to social networking because it is like a playground for adults. It is an escape or “recess” from present reality. You can physically be in the library, but your mind is on facebook focused on the pictures from last weekend party or your x-boyfriends new girlfriends profile.

I believe that using facebook and other social networking sites help humans discover more about themselves. You discover what kind of people you are attracted to and what interests are special to you. But at the same time…I also think facebook can steer you away from knowing yourself. A down side of facebook is that people become obsessed with the image they are projecting over the Internet. In an extreme sense, it is almost like people are now controlling two lives- their facebook image and their image in reality. I find myself when I am writing wall posts or photo comments thinking about what others will think about my particular comment or post. I feel I have to constantly check facebook to monitor my online image and make sure that no one posted anything obscure that would threaten my “facebook image”. Facebook, unlike MySpace, leaves little room for self-expression and personalization. Everyone’s profile is the same color, font, and layout so one must rely on their pictures, comments, and status’s to express their individuality.

In my opinion, facebook just adds another life stressor. I know my life would be a lot less stressful without facebook. Even though I only spend approximately an hour a day on the site, it is impossible for me to calculate the times I have thought about facebook and the image I am projecting online. It is possible to write stuff online that you would never think to say in reality. This brings both positive and negative consequences. It can be easier to talk to people online because it is easier to organize your thoughts when you have time to think about what you are typing. It is also easier to reach out or approach people using the Internet. I think that this phenomenon also brings negative effects though. People are now relying on the Internet to communicate about things they should be doing in person. It is also much easier to say hurtful things over the internet than to someone’s face.

Social networking has changed the way we communicate and perceive others. It is almost impossible for me to imagine a world without social networking, and its difficult to say that it is inherently evil. I do believe that the key to social networking is moderation and keeping a grasp on reality even when you are emerged in a virtual world. It is important to remember that Facebook is not a reflection of who you are. It is a tool you can use to express your interests and a place where you can communicate with the people in your life.    

       The video we watched in class, Rip: A remix manifesto, got me interested in copyright laws, particularly the creative commons movement, and its mission in creating a world where individuals can express themselves without the restraints of copyright laws. I attempted to do some research on it, but most of it was in Spanish so that sucked. 

I did learn about Gilberto Gill, a top Brazilian artist and Minister of Culture who is encouraging fans to film footage from his concert and post it around the web. This was amazing to me considering I got my brand new camera taken away at the Britney Spears concert in the fifth grade. Most American artists, particularly the more popular and wealthy ones, see people posting footage from their concerts as a threat to their future ticket and music sales. The logic is that people will post this footage online, and other people will see it, which eliminates the desire to see the concert. I think this view is extremely false. The real reason people should go to concerts is about the experience of hearing the artists live that cannot be conveyed on a tape or film. If people want to take pictures and shoot footage to help them relive the moment they should be allowed too and taking a 10 year olds camera is a pretty shitty thing to do. 

I also think it is ridiculous that artists feel threatened by people who mash up their music, because honestly I think they should be flattered. Mashup artists do not mash up music that they don’t think sounds good. Good mash up artists use their amazing taste in music and their skills with technology to make music that sounds good and that people will be able to relate too. Sometimes when I listen to a good mashup it reminds me how much I love a particular song and hearing that track blended with another song that I love is an amazing feeling that only heightens my love for the song. Everyone has a favorite song, but you have to admit that hearing this same song over and over again can be limiting and get pretty old. Mashups’ allow us to hear our favorite songs in different musical contexts, which personally revives my love for the song.  For example, Drakes’ mashup with Coldplay allows listeners to get the amazing sounds of both very different artists all in one song. Although I love Coldplay, I probably would only put it on if I was doing math homework or in a really relaxed mood, but I would put this mashup with drake on in other contexts like when I was hanging with friends because it adds a more upbeat, and relevant vibe with the incorporation of a rap artists. The mixture of these two genres and giving another artists a chance with old lyrics creates an amazing song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbos67IDaUE&feature=related

    Creating songs in different contexts also allows for a broader audience. Some artists I would have never listened to if I had not heard their music in a mash with a more popular song. For example, Mochi Beats came out with a song called “Say its Empathy” which is primarily a mashup with Rihanna and Eminem’s “Love the Way you Lie”, Crystal Castles “Empathy”, and Lupe Fiasco’s “ Slow Down”. I discovered my love for Crystal Castle’s music by listening to the mochi beats song and saw that they came to my hometown and bought tickets to their concert. I would have never attended their show or maybe even heard of them if I had not been exposed to their music in this mashup.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nDx_b3nNBQ

^ The above mashup was also nice because I know just about the whole world is sick of hearing the overplayed track, “Love the way you lie”. I never really liked or appreciated the song until I could hear it another context with an artist that appealed to my taste like crystal castles. So basically, Rihanna and Eminem should be thanking mochi beats for mixing their song with crystal castles and Lupe Fiasco and creating, in my opinion, a much better version.

            Mashups also appeal to those kids (like me) who have short attention spans and cannot stand to listen to the same shit for 4 minutes straight. Milkman appeals to me because he mashes up so many different songs that just are not as interesting by themselves. He incorporates sometimes dozens of artists and songs together that takes the best aspects from the music and compiles it all to create an ultimately great song. Songs sometimes get inappropriately repetitive, and I believe artists like milkman help create a better energy that appeals to me and my generation.  Below is a great milk man song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AeTqiN_bIk

            Mashups can also be a way to resurface feelings by mixing songs with common themes. A great example of this is DJ Earworms “United States of Pop”. It mashups all of the top hits from 2009. I hope that this tradition will continue every year and I will be able to look back on these mashups and hear songs that will resurface memories and remind me of the great times I had in each year, like a musical scrap book. Im sure all of you all have heard this but here is a link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BymbrfUZiNA

  So.. In conclusion, I cannot really fathom why artists can be upset with their music being mixed. The only defense they have is that they are not getting the sufficient funds from those who are doing the mixing. In my opinion, this is a really really lame excuse. The purpose of artists producing music shouldn’t be about the large paychecks they receive in the mail, it should be about their music being heard by the general public and if mashups allow more people to be exposed to their music, then why the hell are they complaining. The revenue should come from how amazing they can throw down their music in live shows. If someone wants to get money from a song they made then they can go perform their version of the song and get paid for it. Artists need to realize that a song does get old and has limitations so if they want to mashup and make their song better, more relevant, and appeal to more people then they should mash up their own music, but in the meantime they should be thanking the mashup artists who are doing it for them. If artists do not want their music to be interrupted in different ways by the general public then they should keep it to themselves. Apart of this interpretation is people taking the message from the music and applying it to their individual contexts. This is a pleasurable aspect of music and mashups help facilitate this by exposing a new twist on music by using old musical material to create something great and more relevant. 

Freewrite

    Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours

-       Cesar Chavez

I believe this quote by Cesar Chavez embodies how the general public should interpret the technological and media changes that are happening daily. Although this quote was said long before the creation of the Internet, we as society must come together and apply its ideals to the sociological and technological changes happening today. This quote directly applies to our generation because at this moment we are the age group who are the most educated in the technological world and we must take advantage of this skill. We hear older generations mocking our media use and always talking about the “old days” when kids used to play outside and not spend their days mindlessly behind technological screens. It is the job of our generation to prove that what we do with technology is everything but mindless and attempt to come together to create social change with our skills. This course has demonstrated that positive things have come through technology and have discussed the potentials of what some believe to be a “necessary evil”.

I actually found this Chavez quote when I stumbled onto an unknown persons blog while I thought I was mindlessly surfing the Internet. We can sit and talk about how much it complicates things and reminisce of times when we didn’t have Facebook, but we must accept that this change has happened, embrace it, and utilize it to our best advantage. I am guilty of complaining about the problems that the Internet causes in my personal life. I forget to think about how I am lucky to have access to these media resources and how they actually may make my life better and most importantly how they can make the world better. We cannot take away the facebooks, YouTube’s, and Wikipedias so instead of complaining about them lets all use them for the right reasons and view them as an opportunity for our generation to take advantage of our knowledge and skills.  My dad is constantly asking me how to do stuff on the Internet and is amazed at the things my peers and I can do with the Internet. It is almost like our generation has learned and mastered a new language at a young age by growing up during a time where technology is progressing at a rapid rate. It will take my dad years to catch up and master the applications of the Internet that we as Santa Clara students use everyday and even if he attempted to learn he could never keep up because of the rapid rate of change that occurs in the media world. The way we can use the Internet to communicate is unprecedented in the past.  

Although we are young we must take action now. It is possible that soon a new generation will be equipped with skills that we cannot fathom obtaining and we will be stuck reminiscing on days when we were young and the experts. I see little kids who barley know how to tie their shoes texting away on their cell phones. Let us pave the wave for social change by using the technological skills we have been privileged with. This social change can come in a myriad different ways. We can do this by to teaching others our skills and attempt to make Internet accessible to all. Technology helps us look into the future and see the vast change it brings. If we focus on the positive changes and embrace them then we can use it to our advantage by helping others. 

    It is undeniable that technology has changed the way we as humans communicate, especially face to face. For example, this morning I was checking my email while walking to class and suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw a bike zoom by me. I flinched even though I really had no idea how close the bike was to me because I was too focused on the emails in my inbox. Not only is it kinda dangerous walking with my eyes focused on a piece of plastic makes me neglect the possibilities of reality. I find when I am walking without my eyes on my phone I have a much more pleasant time, but it is still an impulse to ignore my beautiful surroundings and focus on a screen. I do not think we realize how beneficial it is to not turn to technology during the little breaks we have during the day like a quick walk to class. I feel much better if I give a few smiles, a couple of “heys”, or maybe a hug or two along the way because the truth is webding smiles, a “what’s up” text, and virtual pokes do not give me the same feeling. I feel that social interaction on the Internet threatens our development and the progression of social skills that we need for our physical and mental health and to feel satisfied with our lives. If one is only preoccupied with their online reality they begin to miss out the beautiful things on earth that do not require a battery, a cord, or a charger.

Children are beginning to get involved with social networking at younger and younger ages. My worry is that this will inhibit some children from developing the dynamic social skills they need to succeed in life. We need to teach our generation that social networking needs to be used as a tool to further our tangible social interactions, not replace them. This is similar to my belief that the Internet should be a tool for students, but not completely replace their curriculum like in the case of online classes.

I feel that online relationships are not necessarily bad, just different and cannot compare to face-to-face interaction. Online relationships do open doors and offer opportunities that social interaction cannot solely provide. It is a way for people to meet people who have similar interests who are not limited to their location. Most of those who turn to the internet to find social, romantic, and sexual relations know that eventually they will have to social interact with people to have the relationship progress. I believe looking for online relations with intentions of physical interaction is a way we use the Internet as a tool for social interaction. On the contrary, using the internet to just meet people solely in this virtual realm and to create an online persona of oneself and an alternative world with no intention of incorporating reality is not beneficial and further negating one’s social interactions and skills. 

How one uses the Internet is a personal decision that can offer both positive and negative consequences and effects on one self. I believe if the Internet is used in moderation and with intentions of increasing one’s social interactions with reality then it is not such a horrible thing. The Internet does contain myriad possibilities but we should not neglect the possibilities that exist in our physical surroundings that are instigated by our social interactions. When I look back at my finest memories in life I do not think about the awesome photo comment I got or the funny tweet I read about my favorite celebrity. I think about the times with friends where I shared laughter, smiles, and engaged in meaningful conversation. These times are when I learn the most and gain satisfaction from my life. 

Im on that 24 hour media diet

My 5-Day Media Diet

	Internet	Television	Reading	Music
Day 1	3 hours	0 minutes	4 hours	2 hour
Day 2	2 hours	15 minutes	2 hours	4 hours
Day 3	1 ½ hours	1 hour	1 hours	3 hour
Day 4	30 minutes	0 hours	5 hours	½ hour
Day 5	45 minutes	0 hours	3 hours	1 hour

             My media diet for the past five days does not reflect my usual media consumption. I have been spending less time with the media because I have been busy with other aspects of my life that do not involve the media. What I have realized though from recording my time with the media is  that it is subconsciously embedded in my life. I operationally defined media as the time I spent on the Internet, watching television, reading, and listening to music, but I am aware that media is incorporated in my life in ways which I cannot measure. For example, I walked into Benson to grab lunch and saw that what was being served today was on a television. My friends’ car I drove this morning has an electronically GPS that helped me get to my destination. The PowerPoint slide show I observed in class this morning was controlled by a form of media.  I found it nearly impossible to record every time I encountered forms of media especially in a place like Santa Clara University.  My point is that media is embedded in the society we live in.

             After reading the assignments for this week I realized that my media diet reflects that I am very privileged to be exposed to so many different forms of media and have them be so readily accessible. I feel that the “other” section of my media exposure reflects that I am in the higher percentile of media intake of my generation because I am in the Silicon Valley where media flourishes in comparison to other places in the nation and around the globe. If I were to compare my media diet with other students on campus I would be below average on TV watching. I have never been drawn to TV because I am preoccupied with my own reality. I envy people who have time to relax and watch their favorite TV show, but I would rather spend my free time around people or sleeping. I did notice over these five days that when I was in a room hanging out with people the TV would be on, but we were engaged in each other's company, not what was on the screen. My media diet reflects that in my free time I would rather be on the Internet than watching TV. I like using the Internet because it is another way of interacting with people. Santa Clara also requires students to use the Internet for classes and assignments so that time is reflected in my media consumption. I feel that many people in my cohort would choose Internet over TV, which reflects our generation’s fascination with the World Wide Web.

            One thing I would like to change is the reading section of my media consumption. Although I have spent a significant amount of my day reading, I cannot remember the last time I read a book that was not required for a class. I occasionally flip through a magazine or read an article from a friend or family online, but I lack the recreational time I used to spend reading. When I was younger I used to spend some of my free time discovering and reading books, but now that free time goes to interacting with my friends in reality or on the Internet. Music is a form of media I cannot live without and is something I can utilize while using other forms of media like searching the web, watching TV, and reading, which maximizes my media time.