"Just Google It"

Earlier today I was sitting around watching a movie, The Ugly Truth, with my roommates when one of them asked how many movies Gerard Butler was in.  None of us knew.  So what do you think my first response was, “I’ll Google it?”  Of course, after all isn’t that what we always do?  It reminded me of a story I heard about Google called, Confessions of a Google Employee posted on the On the Media website.  The beginning of the video talks about what Google was like before it was a very, exactly how I used it and before it had 28,000 employees.  How could something that started out in a friend’s garage turn into a billion dollar company?  I think it is because Google is easy and convenient for its users.  If I spell something wrong, Google gives me a “did you mean…” link that helps me redirect my thought or question.  In fact, not only is Google a search engine, but you can find maps of places and even set up an email account.  Does it ever concern you that Google knows too much about you?

I truly believe I am one of only a few internet users who actually like the idea of cookies.  Cookies let me search or find information that I would not have found had my computer not remembered me looking at something similar.  In the video, author Douglas Edwards, emphasizes how Google does not read users’ emails and that if information is tracked it is only for the benefit of the user.  Although the company does not read your email, it does however state in its privacy policy that a person’s information may be used by the company.  Either way, it does not change my opinion on the internet. 

I think Google has done a great job and I support the video that Edwards created.  I think it puts a lot of users’ mind at ease knowing their email is somewhat safe.  

Everyone has a story....

It took me a long time to figure out what image best represents me.  And by a long time, I mean days.  Should I use a quote to represent me because I love quotes?  I feel like that would just be too simple and would ad to the online persona rather than my actual “real life” persona.  Where should I even begin I asked myself.  Well, I started with facebook.  I went to facebook and looked through my profile pictures trying to figure out what my online persona is.  The pictures are all of me smiling with people that I love, friends and family.  In fact, I hardly have any profile pictures of me by myself.  I almost feel like my online persona is not really who I am. 

Online, if someone were to look through my profile pictures they would think I am a very happy woman with a lot of friends who is also in a sorority and appears to love it.  All things that are pretty true, but barely scratch the surface to who I really am.  After looking through that I started to think about my daily life, things that I am involved in, meetings I attend each week, experiences that have happened in life and everything that makes me.  This is the picture I came up with:

I chose this picture because it really represents me.  I am someone who is overly busy, never has any free time, stresses about everything and is always on the go.  I like to think of myself just like this duck, on the surface I am calm, cool and collected but always paddling like hell underneath.  I also chose the white duck as oppose to a colored duck because until you get to know me I am kind of just plain and cold.  Additionally, I chose the duck that could see its reflection because I am constantly worried about how I look to others, not just physically but with my actions.  As wild as it is to reflect on my life and how busy I am, I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I think keeping busy is a good distraction from thinking about some of the things in life that I wish I had.  I would love to be in a relationship and have someone to share the good, bad and ugly with in life but that is just not the plan that God has for me right now. 

From experiencing a devastating loss to accepting the great honor of being Homecoming Queen I am someone who has been through a lot in life.  No matter what happens though I know that everything does happen for a reason.  I am very hard to figure out, which is why I think this picture is a great representation of me.  Many people don’t know how I hold myself together so well when things could be crumbling but I know it is because I have to.  I pride myself on being a great leader and someone who people look up to so I want to make sure I am always there for others.

After thinking about everything I have written, it is crazy to think that anyone could possibly understand me just from looking at my pictures online.  My online persona is just as I stated in the beginning, a women who is happy and seems to have it all, but in reality I am just like everyone else.  I am super busy, always on the go, falling apart while keeping it together, a woman of strength, a daughter, a sister to many, a friend and much more.  I guess it just goes to show you that it is impossible to know someone when you first meet them because everyone has a story.

The Media Equation

Isn’t it crazy to think about where the world was ten years ago, even five years ago?  I think back to when I was in middle school (sixth-eighth grade) and how we did not even have a computer at home.  The first time I used a personal computer was when I was in ninth grade, and even then it was just to write a paper or occasionally talk to my friends on AIM.  Speaking of AIM, what happened to it?  Isn’t it strange how things like AIM, xanga and myspace have all sort of faded away while sites like facebook, twitter and Linkein have begun to take over?  I should not even get into texting.  Why has texting replaced making a phone call and facebook messaging replaced sending an email?  What happened to immediate communication?

In the book The Media Equation, authors Reeves and Nass talk about computer mediated communication (CMC) and how it has altered our lives.  The focus of the book is how we give life to the World Wide Web.  For example, have you ever watched an episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionare and found yourself yelling the answers out in your own living room, as if the host could hear your answer?  Or maybe you were watching a scary movie and you know if that girl goes into that dark room where the killer is that she is going to die and you yell out how foolish she is because she is going to die.  These examples are the focus of this book.  It is crazy to think that we have allowed objects that are not human to become human.  In fact, now a day we name everything!  If our Betsy, our 1996 Honda Civic, makes it up that hill you praise her as if she is human.

Personally, I do not believe I can relate to a computer better than a human.  Call me old fashioned, but to me it is much more beneficial, although it make take more time, to communicate with someone face to face.   While I love computers and new media, I do find it stressful to have to keep up with so and so’s facebook status, remember to check my email constantly and check twitter all day just to make sure I am in tune with the world.  I feel like many people I know have multiphrenia.  They are so wrapped up in giving their computers and technology life that they forget who they are and often do not know what to do with themselves.  I think people would benefit from taking a step back from social media or giving non-human things human traits and realize that the more time we spend focusing on our CMC the less time we will spend engaging in mediated communication, which could potentially help a relationship.

This article made me stop and think about what is going on in the world.  I definitely believe that we, humans, invest much more into media and something that is not real.  I cannot help but think it is not very healthy for us, very interesting to think about.