Blog Post # 6 - Comments on an article from Beyond Laptops Essential Readings list

 "I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You" by Clive Thompson is a fascinating article on the social ramifications of blogging and micro-blogging trends since Facebook to the present. Thompson begins his article by citing Facebook and Zuckerberg's decision to create a news-feed feature that went from being demonized to raved over in a matter of one month. All of a sudden, people started tuning in to peoples' lives by the hour, and a thirst for knowing what people were doing in real time became a trend that is now the norm. In fact, the transition from social network blogging to micro-blogging with the arrival of Twitter (“What are you doing?”) has refined this need to know what one's friends and contacts are doing even further. This phenomenon is known as "ambient awareness". 

While ambient awareness has its detractors, some social behaviorists say it actually serves a positive role for people to know themselves better, and to develop greater social intimacy in the lives of others. The bulk of the article comments on both positive and negative aspects of ambient awareness as a new social phenomenon, but overall Thompson takes a positive view.

Detractors of social media say the biggest issues are privacy control, and an inflated sense of self-importance and narcissism, especially among young people. Frankly speaking, I do agree with both of these points and I can’t relate to the need to constantly photograph and broadcast oneself on a daily basis.

I believe social media's good points outweigh the bad; however, my biggest issue is privacy control, particularly because I find Facebook seems to be constantly changing and updating its privacy features and policies. I don't use certain features that I think could compromise my privacy or security such as Google find or allowing myself to be tagged in photos I don't want to be seen in. I also think that social media's original purpose was for bringing people closer together and it's doing that in exciting and relevant ways. In the final analysis, I think social media tools are great!