No phone = better life!

Did you ever think about what it would be like to not have a cell phone!?  Would you feel more at peace or disconnected; would you miss it; would it drive to nuts to not have something to look at frequently?  For me, I think it would depend on the moment.  If I was waiting on an important email for phone call then I would be a little concerned about it, but honestly not having a phone would be quite peaceful.  In fact, I find it liberating when I run to the grocery store or to the clubhouse of my apartment complex and leave my phone at home.  So how have cell phones changed the way we interact today?

A few weeks ago one of my professors brought up how different cell phones make classrooms.  In the past, a professor would walk into a room and have to quiet a class down because of all the talking students were doing.  Now, some professors encourage and beg students to talk.  Many of us spend our time looking at our phone, texting, browsing facebook or checking email.  What the heck happened?  Since when was the cell phone more important than the person in front of us?  I completely disagree with the phenomena of cell phone take over, it’s not right.  I will always believe that the person in front of me, no matter who it is, is more important.  Speaking of conversation and the person in front of us, do you ever stop and talk to a random person anymore or do you spend so much time looking at your phone while walking that you sometimes run into something?

To answer this question I did a little test.  Think about someone, the coffee lady or your neighbor, who you see every day.  How often do you stop and talk to them?  For me, it was hardly ever.  Everyone uses the excuse that they are “soooo busy.”  No, I don’t care who you are, you can find five minutes to stop and talk to that person you see day in and day out.  I did.  My neighbor, someone I see every day sometimes two to four times a day, but I have never talked to I decided to.  I was out walking my dog when I saw him standing outside and decided to strike up a conversation.  We have both lived here since August, but never stopped and talked.  He is a very nice guy who I got to know in those five minutes we spent talking.  It was nice to not have to worry about my cell phone for once; again, another liberating moment in my life.  Now, every time I see him we say hi to each other!  What one five minute conversation can do.

So in going back to my question of have cell phone changed our interaction, what do you think?  Do you think that we interact more with people or less with people?  Do you find yourself talking to someone face to face more or less than over CMC?  On facebook the other day someone had a status up that said, “Smile, it confuses people.”  Well isn’t that the truth?  Somehow it became the norm that when we see another human being walking down the street we look down!  Why not just smile and say hi?  It’s time to put down the cell phone and get back to reality!

Follow me ;)

Social media is booming, wouldn’t you say!?  On top of Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace and Blogger let’s add Twitter into the mix!  Did you know there are 175 million users on Twitter?  That is a lot of people.  I am proud to say that I am now one of them.  Twitter is a great tool for business and personal use.  In addition, I think it is a great tool for journalists.

In class on Tuesday, the topic of how to pay journalists came about.  What do you think?  Do you think traditional journalism is starting to fade out?  Do you think companies are going to be able to afford to pay journalists in the future?  What is happening to newspapers?  Is it slowly dying?  I think so.  It is a sad thing to think about, but I am scared for journalists.  From a PR standpoint, I think they are very important.  We need journalists.  I don’t know if the formal position of journalists will be around for much longer, but I do feel strongly when saying I do not think they will ever die or fade out. 

Websites like Facebook and Twitter, especially, help keep journalism alive.  For example, and to me this is sad but oh well, last night I was watching the CMAs.  It ended around 11pm and was followed by ABC news.  Normally, I do not watch ABC but since it was on I figured I might as well get my news fix in.  The first story, in fact the largest story, is about Joe Pa from Penn State.  Why?  Not only did I see it as not the MOST important news story, but I also found it ridiculous that ABC highlighted that their station was the first to post on Twitter about it.  Who honestly cares?  But again it is a great example of how Twitter is being used for journalism.  So, let’s talk about my experience with Twitter.

Last year, I thought it was pointless and I did not see the value of it.  In September, my professor told us that for our class we would all be using Twitter so I went home and created an account.  I did not use it until last week.  All I used my Twitter for was to follow different companies.  For a long time that was how I got my news was from following CNN and the Weather Channel.  Last week I decided to take a stab at the so called “tweet.”  I dabbled in it here and there but my first real news worthy tweet happened last night.  As I watched the CMA awards and witnessed Taylor Swift, I still can’t believe it; win Country Music Entertainer of the Year.  So that was my tweet.  I even tagged her in it.  I also got a great coupon email from Victoria Secret so I “tweet-ed” it too and tagged VS and posted the link to the website.  I am proud to say I am a Twitter fan.

Anyways, back to my point.  Traditional journalism is suffering a bit with the print newspaper industry fading away.  But don’t worry, with sites like Twitter journalism will never go away.  Because we have the ability to tweet on Twitter or post on facebook instantly, we are all journalists.  Now how do we get paid?

READ privacy policies

Recently I read an article on Huffingtonpost.com
about an interview TechCrunch did with Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg.  Zuckerberg claims privacy is no longer the social norm.  The topic of privacy has been quite a controversial one over the past few years.  Last December Facebook drastically changed its privacy settings so a majority of information was public.  In the interview Zuckerberg said if he had created the number one social media site today rather than five years ago, he would have made all of the settings public. How do you feel about this?  Is he right, is privacy no longer the social norm?  Rather than just scratching the surface, let's dig a little deeper.

How many of you honestly read the privacy policy of Facebook or Google or your email?  For me, up until recently, privacy was not even a thought on my mind.  Do you think it is right for the people to collect data on your as you search the internet?  What if you are searching for something personal; for example, a disease?  Is it fair that companies track when you use the internet, how you use the internet, how long you are on Facebook for, what size shoes you wear to what size deodorant you use?

For me, my answer is based on two words: Free Enterprise.  I know it is a bit of a stretch, but it kind of relates to this.  Mark Zuckerberg created a social media website where people choose to create an account and choose to put their information on it.  If you are agreeing to use the site, then you are agreeing to let the world know your information.  Not only do I want to talk about Facebook, but to hit on a bunch of the questions I asked in regard to privacy in general, all I have to say is life is not fair.  The internet kind of gives us a big brother is watching us feeling, but you are not forced to use the internet.  Just as anyone can go out there and create a business, which is essentially what the internet is too. 

Although I do feel we ultimately make our own decision, I think the statement "privacy is no longer the social norm" is a bit over the top.  I do not think this statement supports his discussion as well as it should and I think it automatically makes people deffensive.  No one wants to actually admit that they do not read the privacy policy and I think that makes them embarrassed.  Privacy and the internet is not going away, but I do think it is important for everyone to pay attention and READ privacy policies for everything they are using online, or anywhere for that matter.