Reflection 7

            This week we get a chance to hear from the other group presenting on their specific apps assigned, and I learn so much about these different apps and all of these apps are new to me except Facebook. I find it very interesting how these apps are useful but can be very damaging in most ways. I think the problem is not with the social media but with the users. After learning about all these apps and the features they provides, I found them to be very useful and satisfying to most of us. It helps a lot of business and individuals to reach a specific goal and help them connected with others. However, it has its downside where people are changing and they no longer become their true self. Some peoples become so addicted to these tools that it becomes part of their daily routine that they realize how much time they are wasting on these social media. I have also seen some people who had become very aggressive because of social media. And it’s crazy to see how people react and responds to some nonsense status, or to people whom they not even know on web. These is one of the reasons I was interested in talking about over sharing which leave us with the question: “how much information is too much information?” I don’t understand some people who post everything they up to, their every meal, where they going and every little things going on with their life. I don’t think these people know that they are not the only ones who can view their status. And I think we should start teaching our kids especially in school on how to use these social media wisely because children can very careless at times. I think these are ones of the reasons why some kids become bullies on line and ruin other children lives because they are not taught of these things. And I really like the video in class about trolling and cyber bullying and his suggest of learning to ignore trolls or mark them as SPAM. I think these is hard to most people because they want attentions, but like the video mentions: there is nothing that the trolls hates but ignoring. Thus, if we can only learn to ignore things we would the avoid pressure on social media. Social media brings out the worst in some people and everyone should consider this effects and start making a difference.

Reflection 6

            I learn so much this week about what social media is really doing to our society. And I believe that there are more pros than cons however it really depends on the individual and what they are using social media for. I read the article as preparation for our class and I find it amazing how online activism can bring actions in the street to get justice to some people. Thus, I think social media had served us well in a way that we could never imagine it will happen. For instance, like those people who take pictures of themselves holding written paper that they are looking for their birthparent and they were able to find. These are actions that the social media provides which we may never had if there wasn’t.  It is great how it’s given people a voice to speak, some people they are able to express their feelings and thoughts through social media. Moreover, people are connected to each other through social media. They are able to get supports, from people who wants to change the world and from people who have had the same experience as them and I think it’s a good thing for all of us to have social media.

            I also learn about unacceptable behavior online and I think we should taught people on how to take control of social media and not controlling us. It is unbelievable to see how can some people take pictures of their private body and show them off on the internet, including some people who fake themselves in order to get a date. I think this is why a lot of people get so depressed because they expected more. These people wanted to be different, which is a lame excuses to get so depressed, I believe. Which is why we should educate our children on how to use these tools wisely. As a matter of fact, we live in a world of social media and social media itself is not good but it is how we use them determines its good and its bad. Social media will be there forever, and it will keep growing as time goes by but we have our choice either to take control of it or let it take control of our life. I believe every parents wants the best for their children, and we need to take actions, we cannot want the best for our children but we act in a way that does not go together with our teachings.

Reflection 5

Reflection 5

            This week we learn about internet addiction and how it changes over time. I find it very interesting how these days pornography is coming to us and we have no clue about it. For instance when we watch a video on You Tube and suddenly an inappropriate picture just show up without our knowledge of it. Now a days we see a lot of unexpected pornography coming from different aspects of life and we need to be careful with what our children are watching. This is one thing I am proud of my culture because we don’t have access to a lot of information like most countries. For example, like wearing swimming suits, Tongans do not wear swimming suits. It was not until the tourist comes, the internet and all the different technology then some of the young ones are trying to imitate what they see but they would never go public.

            We also read the articles on slacktivism and I think this is a very good way of asking for help and support from people. Although some people are against it saying that it is not worth it because it looks like everybody is just sharing and likes all this link but never do something about it. But I think making things go viral helps people aware of the things going on in the world pass the word around for help and supports. I think we would not get much support if we don’t let the world know what we experience. For example like the fund raising, individual tell their stories on internet and they ask for help and we can see how much money they raised and how much money people donates. And we can also see, even some people are asking for funds in order for them to travel whereas in a way they can work for it but people are still donating. And I think it is crazy to see how some people are taking advantage of this fund raising websites. I don’t know about others opinion on this matter but for me I would prefer to be physically present whenever I donates money than having to donate them online. I just think it is not reliable because we don’t know which one is legitimate and which are not. However, I am happy to see how many people were able to survive, and get their dreams through this websites. But the questions is: how can we know that people are not taking advantage of everybody’s money?

Reflection 4

Reflection Blog 4

We were assign a certain article to read for this week and I was reading about Facebook and how so many people are so addicted to it. And I believe that Facebook is just a waste of time and if we are not careful we will waste a lot of time just scrolling looking for interesting links. After reading through the other articles I think it is important that should aware of this issue of how internet can ruin our lives. One article talks about how things can go viral in just a small amount of time. And I find this very interesting how quick information can go on the internet and how it influences most life. I think pictures and especially video goes viral because some people can relate themselves to it, or it is funny and emotional. And we can say that this is one of the positive connotation of social media. However, some things are not good as they go viral, like gossips and personal identities. I am on Facebook and it is interesting how some people updated their status every now and then. And I think it is crazy to see how some people are so confident to let the whole world who they really are and what they are experienced everyday of their life which is why I suggest that society should be taught in this manner.

We also study about the dark web and I was surprised by how little, we as a user of internet know and what is really out there for us. And I think the dark web has more negativity than its positives. Because it allows people to work secretly and do things which are against the law although it is through this web that they can also find out criminals and government secrets. And by looking at the picture of iceberg and the difference between the dark web and the surface web it surprised me how so much is hidden from users. I had never heard of these things and it was good to know of these things since I am coming from an island where we are not exposed to these kind of information.  We also talk about YouTube and how it becomes one of the powerful engines. And I still cannot believe how many movies are uploaded in a min and how many people are actually viewing them. And I think it is amazing how we want to look for something and we don’t need to ask a friend for it, we can just search it up on the internet and it all has our answers.

Reflection 3

Reflection Blog 3

            We learn more this week about how information is organized digitally and psychically. I think this is very important because it helps users to retrieve information easier. I found it very interesting how order varies across culture. And I think it doesn’t matter how you organize things but what is important is your target audience. For instance, all the different social media have their own way of organizing their apps. Facebook had their own unique way of arranging the different tools on their page, twitter has their own way of organizing theirs. However, this order had help each company to maintain their customer’s interest.  And I believe it is very important that we aware of what our audience interest are, because this will leads to the success of our company. We were watching a movie as preparation for our class this week and it is interesting to see how information can go viral in just a second. And everyone can change any information according to how they want it over the internet. Thus, I believe that we should not rely everything that is over the internet because they are not as reliable as information on books.

            I also learn about how social media and technology changes the way we think and how we handle things around us. Social media had so much influence in our lives, and it reaches the point that we cannot live without these media. We are also rely on the internet for information we spend less time in the library reading books. Therefore, we can see that everything had changes since social media is introduces. The teacher gave us an idea of how phone is an extension of our mind. We take notes on our phones now, we store everything on our phones, but the question is: what happen if we lost our phones or our electronic devices? And I think that we should be wiser when it comes to social media. One of the ideas that was discuss in one of the movie that we watch was about privacy. And I think with internet we are moving to an era where privacy is no longer important. Because if we need to know about someone we can look it up on internet and everything that we need to know about that person is available to us. Also, now a days we can shop online and everything we need is coming to us we don’t need to go look for them. And I think we all need to be careful and trust these things so much.

Reflection 2

Reflection 2

            This week we learn deeply into the history of social media and how it grows across the world. And I find it very interesting to learn how social media can reach such a high peak in a very short amount of time and to see how it evolves it’s amazing. We talk how phone changes over time and I remember back at home where we use to have home phone line that has tails. And it was not a long time from then that the mobile phone was available. And I also remember how thick they were back then but these days we have touch screen phones, iPad, iPod, laptop and everything touch screens which I think it is amazing. I came from a developed country and these are new experiences for most of us. I remember growing up there was hardly anyone who have a phone and if you own you have money and you can afford to buy one. And it was not a big deal back then if you have a phone or not but now a days we see so much conformity. People want all these technologies and social media in order to become visible in a group or the communities. And I think social media is a good thing overall although it has its negativity but this tools had allow us to have access to information and stay connected with everyone from our own home and country. We also learn about websites and how it started and it is amazing how smart all these people who had help to build up these social networking. And life is much easier with all these technologies and these inventions of networking. I also find it very interesting our discussion of Facebook and how it will become in the future. And we all know that we cannot determines what the future holds for us all we can do is just live the present. Everything had happen for reason as well as these technologies and social media had create for a reason. I really like the video of the lady about how social media changes over time. She talk about how these days information is available to anyone over the internet whereas back in the ways it was not as easy as today. And she talk about “privacy” and I think it is very true we are moving on to a time where privacy is no longer important, everyone is so updated with everybody’s live over social media and I think it is something that we should be aware of.

Reflection 1

Reflection 1

This week we learn deeply about what is social media. I never really thought about it until now that I come to learn that social media are websites, tools or apps that allow users to share and participate in social network. I was surprised to learn that phone is social media, I thought that social media are only websites such as Facebook, YouTube and other apps that most people used . It may sound crazy but I come from an island where technology is not yet become a big deal. The most and available social media in my island is Facebook. We do not use twitter, Pinterest or most of the most popular apps that the Americans use these days. I had never know there is such thing as Facebook messenger until I came here to Hawaii. However, after the class discussion this week I came to discover how little I know about social media. If we could go back at the time with technology it was barely used by people whereas compared to this time, people can hardly live without technology. I find it very interesting the article that was written but Clifford and how they think of the future with technology. They thought it could never work for these new generations, but if we look around technology had become a part of each and everyone's life. And we can also see how much social media had influence our life. I remember the first time I was introduced to using internet it was when I was in high school and everyone was using this websites call Bebo. All the students was talk about it in school and so I give it a thought and I sign up for it. After a while, we heard that Bebo will be deleted for good and that is when I start heard people talking about Facebook. Then I join Facebook at 2005 and what interesting I had never used it so much back then as I had used today. And I can see the difference and how true the speech that was given by the lady in the TED Talk. Although social media is a good thing and it helps us to keep in touch with our family and friends all over the world. But if we took a second and really think about it, Facebook, Netflix, Youtube had take up so much of our time. It isolates us from the world, and we spend less quality time with our family. However, I think it all comes down to our choice and how to use these apps. These tools, and websites will never go away like Brian Kinghorn quotes, "technology can't live without it, can't kill it" but we can learn to minimize how often we use it and to use them only for good purposes.