Prompt: Write a brief post about your presence on the Internet, making a reference to Virtual Revolution.
It is without a doubt that I do identify with the majority of twenty-something year old multi-hyphen digital whatnots today.
Forget Dunkin Donuts; America practically runs on 30 to 60 (80 if you’re Obama or Tom Anderson) megabytes per second of truncated bits of information across the world wide web. Our generation, as put in the movie Virtual Revolution, is growing more and more reliant on the almost unarguably superficial connections we make through different mediums within the virtual realm.
Before I talk about the specifics of my Internet presence, though, I wanted to talk about something that happened to me this past weekend. It seems relevant. I believe we’re technically not supposed to talk about the LSAT (the really long test you sit through to hopefully try and get into law school because #defend,) but I’m not actually going to talk about the test. This is about the 45 minutes I spent at the lobby of Pace University before we took it.
Cell phones are strictly prohibited at testing sites. America’s youth did our Founding Fathers proud that day because I did not see a single cellular phone that day. We (there was a lot of us) all sat there in the lobby and stared. at. each. other. Real life/actual/for realsies/no joke human interactions were had, folks. It was both refreshing and really sad. Refreshing because… well, obviously. Sad because that (and the next time I take my LSAT again) will probably be the only times I’ll ever be amidst a bunch of strangers and actually see people’s faces instead of the top of their heads. Also sad because I had to use a payphone for maybe the second time my whole life and I couldn’t make it work until I realized that you dial before you put your coins in. I’ll save this rant for some other day, though. This was my segue to how guilty I am of abandoning aforementioned real life/serendipitous interactions with complete strangers. I’ve become really dependent on the little network that I’ve built for myself with my thumbs that I don’t even remember the last time I had a real conversation with a stranger.
I have 1,371 friends on Facebook. Most of whom I personally know or have interacted with in some shape or form in real life, a bit of whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with remotely, and an even smaller bit of whom are my family. Oops. I have 333 followers on Twitter. Again, a lot of whom I know in real life. 407 on Instagram. 470 if it weren’t for the #InstaPurge. And 120 on Vine. Not that I actually use Vine.
One could infer from the information above that my virtual presence is very apparent.
Films like Virtual Revolution or even generic Buzzfeed-esque videos (as ironic as they are) that talk about the adverse effects of our excessive exposure to the web are actually very, very scary. They’re scary because we are essentially entering an era that has never been tested out on this type of change. Our generation serves as the lab rats that get “a dose of admiration via the ‘Like’ button” in little syringes; and I’m afraid I’ve acquired quite the inclination towards that shot.
(Like many folks in the film, however, I think I would still totally trade ten of my Facebook friends for a free burger.)
February 12, 2015 at 2:05 PM
“Our generation, as put in the movie Virtual Revolution, is growing more and more reliant on the almost unarguably superficial connections we make through different mediums within the virtual realm.” – Do you think perhaps our generation is becoming more reliant on Social media and the internet, because we really don’t remember anything bore the internet? We have been able to use computer and have access to internet since grade school. Do you think that makes our view of the internet different from our parents generation?
February 12, 2015 at 2:09 PM
“America’s youth did our Founding Fathers proud that day because I did not see a single cellular phone that day.” – If the founding fathers had cell phones you don’t think they would of used them? I know that’s not the point you are trying to make. Do you feel that our use of cell phones has made our society as a whole less sociable? In the sense we only communicate with who and what we already know, unless forced outside of that?
February 12, 2015 at 2:11 PM
“I don’t even remember the last time I had a real conversation with a stranger.” – I am in the same boat as you, I use my phone constantly when I am not with my friends, and i think that closes me out from making new friends. I’m not trying to be rude. I’m just connected in my own little world.
February 12, 2015 at 2:18 PM
I definitely agree with a lot of the issues you have addressed dealing with the internet. First and foremost, people rudely using phones during conversations or when their attention should be devoted elsewhere is frustrating to see. However I do wonder how many people would have conversations with strangers even without technology. In my experience I feel many people are taught to avoid strangers which begs the question, is it the cell phones, or the new found fear we have of all things unknown? We learn in public to stay to ourselves, not to draw too much attention or to avoid strangers or anyone who may pose a threat. Even without technology do you think we would be encouraged to reach out for unfamiliar social encounters. I also really like the breakdown of your followers/friends (they far surpass my personal numbers) and it seems the majority are people you know. Do you feel the internet truly expands the number of relationships we have or just encourages and builds on the few friends on facebook that we are actually close with in real person? For example I find myself creeping on random people’s pages but only have full on day to day interactions over social media sites with the same people I see each week. I love the imagery of our generation being lab rats, because that really seems to be what we have become. Older generations either close themselves off to the internet or ask 1,000,000,000 questions about it. However we are the only ones who have been involved with it pretty much from start to finish, whether in school or our own free time. Do you think as things continue to advance our generation will also be left behind, or since we saw the start of technology and support it using it in our workplaces and educational institutions we will be apt to continue learning with younger generations as they progress into the world wide web.
February 13, 2015 at 2:45 PM
“Our generation, as put in the movie Virtual Revolution, is growing more and more reliant on the almost unarguably superficial connections we make through different mediums within the virtual realm.”
Why do you think that connections made through the Web are superficial? How do you feel about friendships or relationships formed primarily through the Internet then? I personally feel that it is possible to make friends through the Web and perhaps even meet your significant other online. Our society today often look down upon these type of relationships, which can be seen by the horror movies and TV shows made depicting online dating and friendships in a negative way but in reality, rarely anyone gets murdered after their first date or meeting with a friend they met online (as far as I know).
February 13, 2015 at 2:46 PM
“This was my segue as to how guilty I am of abandoning aforementioned real life/serendipitous interactions with complete strangers.”
I have to admit that I am also guilty of this too. I would rather be on my phone, playing games from the App Store or scrolling through Facebook and Tumblr, than talk to the person sitting next to me. Even when I’m on campus and some of my friends decide to meet up for lunch, most of us end up on our phones while eating rather than having actual conversations with one another. It’s sad that a lot of us are so dependent on our phones that we end up having these almost awkward interactions with strangers or even our own friends when we can’t use our electronics. Nowadays, I try my best to leave my phone in my pocket when I’m talking to people so that I won’t end up forgetting how to speak face to face with someone.
February 13, 2015 at 2:47 PM
“Films like Virtual Revolution or even generic Buzzfeed-esque videos (as ironic as they are) that talk about the adverse effects of our excessive exposure to the web are actually very, very scary. They’re scary because we are essentially entering an era that has never been tested out on this type of change. Our generation serves as the lab rats that get “a dose of admiration via the ‘Like’ button” in little syringes; and I’m afraid I’ve acquired quite the inclination towards that shot.”
Indeed, it is quite terrifying to think about how the Internet will affect our generation and we have experienced some of the consequences of it already (just look at the people in South Korea—I never knew you could go to the hospital for overexposure to the Web). Although the Internet can have a negative influence on us, it also has a positive impact on us as well. We can now pay our bills online or even on our phones while saving trees at the same time. You’ve listed a lot of the negative aspects of being too exposed to the Web but what do you think are some of the benefits of our generation having access to the Web?
February 18, 2015 at 1:06 PM
I really like what you’ve done with the place (your blog).
Why are you not allowed to talk about the LSAT?
I don’t think I have ten Facebook friends I would trade for a burger, but for a really nice meal in a good restaurant, probably! This is because although I don’t have as many friends as you do (around half as many), when I scroll through the list, I sadly do not remember who some of them are, and have never had a direct interaction with some. The loss would PROBABLY not hurt either of us. The problem is, I don’t know that for certain. Many of my friends are professional contacts/colleagues from other states, some I know, some I know only through association or from their work. I also have followers (that’s a weird scene), around 60, who are mostly from other countries, who occasionally will drop a friend request. Often I look at their pages and am rather alarmed.
I think that it’s good to do your own research on the “lab rat” status of your peers, which is one of the reasons that I hope this course has some value to you–not that Buzzfeed is not entertaining, but I use it mainly for the quizzes. We are poisoned, yet strengthened, by the tools of our media (and that includes books, although of course books won’t reply to you in the middle of the night like a text or tweet, unless you dream about them).
February 18, 2015 at 1:10 PM
To clarify above: why I am sometimes alarmed when I look at followers’ pages:
for example, they may seem to be looking for a boyfriend/girlfriend in the United States (and I am old enough to be their mothers, at least), or (this happened recently) looking for a long-distance English tutor to teach them English–or both at once; or I see that they have absolutely nothing in common with me and I wonder if they are robots. Stuff like that:)