Internet ILU BB.

According to McKenna and Bargh, the main reason people use the internet is to communicate over distances with their loved ones and to maintain these relationships. I have to say that I always roll my eyes whenever I read about how the internet is to blame for the way it has negatively impacted people’s manners and sense of social decorum. It’s people that do this, they become lazy and they use the internet so feverishly that they lose all sense of common decency. So don’t go blaming my beautiful wonderful internet. It is not the cause, it is merely our latest scapegoat. You can obviously take anything and put in the hands of certain people, no matter what it is, the result will have the potential to be immensely negative. So please forgive me if I do not indulge any more authors in this tired old view. (I’m referring again to McKenna and Bargh’s mentions of deteriorating community ties etc. etc, even though they later go on to represent the findings of studies that contradict this view). In my opinion and in my life, the internet has done nothing but significantly improve my interpersonal relationships and family life. You don’t always have to sit around the table with your family while eating dinner to get quality conversations going…in fact, in my family, we’ve eaten in our den so many times, each of us on our laptops, surfing, eating, and talking to each other while doing so, and the quality of these conversations has always been much higher than sitting at the boring old dinner table, that’s for sure. Not to mention that meanwhile, we’ve learned something. I will always fight this side of the battle for my lovely friend, the internet, because I am an immigrant and my family lives overseas. If it was not for all the tools we have access to because of the internet, I don’t know if I could have survived. As far as democracy goes, I think the best thing the internet can do is keep people informed. According to the PEW research, it is doing that and I think if the internet is eroding apathy, then it’s a hugely positive thing. Of course we read about how governments are attempting to censor the internet and yes that is horrifying and depressing to think about, but on the whole, this level of access to the breadth of knowledge out there is a plus in my book. I was also very interested in the portion of the reading that discussed the internet as a support function for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals because this is something we are currently researching in an independent study with Dr. Kate Peirce(By we I mean Kerri and I). This also ties into Fazia’s thesis and I’d definitely be very interested in reading about your findings for your women’s newsgroup when you are finished Fazia. :)

Back to the readings. It seemed an almost obvious conclusion when McKenna and Bargh realized that ‘Oh my gosh! The internet is not effecting us, but we are actually shaping its effects ourselves!” The power of the sun in the palm of your hand. Do I seem bitter? Okay I think I do and I’m not sure why. I’ll stop now and talk a bit about Henry Jenkins.

In ‘Convergence Culture’, Jenkins’ quote ‘”In the world of media convergence, every important story gets told, every brand gets sold and every consumer gets courted across multiple media platforms’ is a statement that will forever hold true. Now with everything happening with social networking online and with companies like Pluck doing what they do for their clients, there’s nowhere for us to hide. Of course the advertising upside in this is that we’ll get messages we might actually need. I’ve clicked on a link or two here and there lately, whereas before I would completely ignore any sort of promotion. Reaching us in newer, trendier ways is becoming increasingly important to advertisers and its becoming harder for us to resist. In this way, yes I feel the internet has negatively impacted me in everyday life. But, if I was an ad exec, I’d feel differently. I don’t want to be bombarded with messages on my Facebook account anymore. Why do they always want me to tell you guys what I am renting on my Netflix or Blockbuster queue? Yes I understand that I can opt out, but that’s one more thing I have to concern myself with online and I’m becoming increasingly paranoid. I really liked how Convergence Culture looked at the development of ‘delivery technologies’ as separate from the evolution of media. This is an important distinction and one I don’t think we make in everyday conversation and goes back to how Jenkins talks about us taking technology and therefore media, into our own hands. We are not so mindless anymore, are we? Jenkins’ readings and emphasis on pop culture made me evaluate the way a certain number of my friends and I are about the Tv show LOST. Delivery technologies and media awareness has us twittering theories to each other, sending long emails, contributing to online wikis based around the show’s mysteries and purchasing video games that yes, mimic the events that took place after Oceanic flight 815 crashed into the south pacific. Call it crazy. I would do. But its not because of the ease with which we can be fanatics. And all this media usage has me as an advertising target for numerous things. And not only in an Amazon-recommendation type of way (Dee likes Lost? She’ll also like this…) but also because the world of Lost is intertwined with so many other worlds (ie. Stephen King) that I am a potential subscriber/buyer to a multitude of things. All this is convergence. In my mind. I didn’t think Jenkins’ point on it being mental connections instead of media connections applied to me until I looked at how LOSTified my life has become of late. That’s why I loved Henry Jenkins, he hammers you over the head with his views in a way that you actually ask for the hammering.

So in conclusion, the internet has a far-reaching impact on our lives, this much is obvious. And while there are some scary big brother issues and privacy concerns out there, in general, the internet has positively impacted our lives. We just have to be smart and stay informed and have got to figure out ways to build community involvement online to deal with issues such as breaches of our personal privacy. How can we do this? I have no idea. But at least we’re all online and talking.