Final Reflections

This class on Electronic Communications has really taught me about how big of a role technology plays in our world today and how even bigger of a role it is going to play in our future. I have learned so much about myself this semester and the terrible habits I have developed with regards to the technologies I use. I discovered that I did have a slight Facebook addiction through our “technology fast.” That was more of an addiction for me than texting; I couldn’t stand not being able to check my Facebook page for an entire week. But the experience taught me that there are more important things in life than worrying about checking my Facebook every time I was on the computer. It also showed me how much we as a society have relied on text messaging; in particular how much of an impact “texting” is having on our nation. It has both negative and positive advantages but I must say that I do think texting has caused our generation to miss out on face to face interaction. So after taking this class and seeing how texting has made me miss out on more personal communication I’ve tried using my phone more often to actually call people instead of just texting them short little messages, so that is a major change I have made with regards to how I use technology.

Before this class I had never heard of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC), but it really isn’t that hard of a concept to grasp. It taught me a lot about how we communicate in every medium and what it means to be apart of a community whether it be online or in person. It’s truly amazing that two people living in completely different areas of the world can communicate with one another as long as they both have computers; CMC has enabled that to happen. I think CMC will continue to grow and develop because technology is an ever changing field. There are always new ways to communicate with one another and new ways to make the things we do on a daily basis easier; technology does that for us. I am most certain that CMC will play a role in my life whether it is with the job I get after graduation or even in my personal life. I do not want to give up what these technologies provide for me; they make most of the things I do easier and faster. For instance if you’re working in a job in one part of the country but you need to send something out to your other branch in a completely different part of the country you can practically do it with the snap of a finger thanks to CMC.

As I’ve stated earlier, I have definitely learned a lot about technology this semester. I thought I knew a lot about it before but there was so much more to learn and there is still even more to learn. Technology is the future of our society so it is very important to take the time to learn about all technology has to offer us. I’ve learned about how many social networking sites there are on the web, sites like LinkedIn which can assist me in my career. Blogging every week and reading my classmates’ blogs made me pay attention to all that’s going on in the world with regards to technology. The 2008 election was greatly impacted by technology. Barack Obama had his campaign set up so that when he finally decided on a running mate his supporters were the first to find out via text messaging.

Overall I think this course was a very valuable learning experience. I learned about all the different forms of communication there are with regards to the internet. I didn’t know what to expect from this course when I signed up to take it but it was definitely a lot of fun. I have always been very interested in technology so it was great taking a class that went with my major and taught me even more about the computer and the Internet.

The Internet and Suicide

A little over a week ago a teenage college student, Abraham Biggs, living in Miami, Florida killed himself live in front of an audience via his webcam using a site called Justin Tv.  Abraham committed suicide by overdosing on drugs in front of a live audience in which some tried to talk him out of doing it while others encouraged him to go through with killing himself, possibly thinking that he was joking.  When I heard about this story I was in complete shock.  How sad is it to think that someone used the technologies we have today to broadcast his death in front of tons of people.  And what upsets me even more is that people laughed at him, mocked him, and egged him on to go through with his suicide.  Thankfully some users thought to contact the web masters and tell them to alert the police which the website did do but by the time they got to Biggs’ home it was too late. 

 

According to the article I read from The Huffington Post, Biggs isn’t the first person to commit suicide live over the Internet.  A few others have also done this.  It’s very frightening to think of how many people let this go on without contacting someone for help because Abraham’s life could have been saved if someone could have gotten to him in time.  This article made me think of the website I had to research for class and explain, UStream, which is a website where people can post live videos.  That site would be a prime outlet for people to express themselves like Biggs.  I would hope that sites like UStream have certain settings, which restrict its users from posting certain videos.  But then again how would they really have control over something that is live.

 

 An assistant professor of popular culture at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, Montana Miller, made an important observation about this situation, she said “Biggs' very public suicide was not shocking, given the way teenagers chronicle every facet of their lives on sites like Facebook and MySpace.  If it's not recorded or documented then it doesn't even seem worthwhile," she said. "For today's generation it might seem, `What's the point of doing it if everyone isn't going to see it?'"  That is something that I’ve never thought about when thinking about social networking sites.  These sites can and are used as a way for people to chronicle every single thing that happens to them in their lives.  They want to do something shocking, post about it, and see what other people think of what they did.  The Internet can be a very scary place.  It’s important to always act with caution when using this piece of technology.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/21/florida-teen-live-streams_n_145499.html