Internet and its effect on the college setting

I'm going to take a look at how technology effects us as students. There are many different angles I could go with this. I need to do a little more research to be sure what I am going to do. I could look at technology and see how it is effecting our productiveness. See how social networks maybe slow us down and prevent us from doing our work. I could look at how technology is distracting us from learning, for example being on facebook, shopping and texting in class.Another angle I could go with t is how technology might alow us to portrey ourselves as something we are not through the use of the social network. I could look at how constantly being connecting doesnt actually bring us together but actually seperates us, which could be an issue in a college setting especially for freshman when people are trying to get to know one another. Sherry Trukles video "Connected but alone" Touches on these things. She comments on how we are "getting used to being alone." I think the stance she takes on it is interesting. She comments on how technology could cause an issue with not only "how we relate to others, but how we relate to ourselves, and what that will effect self reflection." I think that in order to grow and better yourself you need some solitude and self reflection to understand who you are. With technology preventing us from finding solitude we might not be able to make changes in our life.

In Sherry Turkles Ted Talk, she quotes an 18 year old boy. He said to her "Someday, someday, but certainly not now, I would like to learn how to have a conversation." This is interesting because at that age everyone should be able to have a conversation. Is technology preventing us from being capable of having face to face conversations? I think technology is very beneficial when it comes to learning but the social aspect of it is definatly detrimental to society. In a report entitled Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Doesn’t Believe In Privacy done in 2010 by Wired Mark Zuckerberg comes out and says just that, "we live in a world where privacy does not matter." This is an interesting concept. In one end of the spectrum we have people who cant have a face to face conversation and on the other end of the spectrum, we have a social network that allows everyone to know everything about you. So what are we left with? An 18 year old boy whom we know everything about, yet we can't even engage in a conversation with. I think at that age everyone should be able to engage in a conversation because it is at that time in your life that you are going off into the world alone to meet new people. It makes me wonder how many people are at college yet too scared to go out and meet new people.

Buskirk, Eliot Van. “Report: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Doesn’t Believe In Privacy.” Epicenter. N.p., 1 Feb. 2012. Web. 5 Feb. 2012. http://www.wired.com/‌epicenter/‌2010/‌04/‌report-facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-doesnt-believe-in-privacy/.

 

Connected but Alone. Narr. Sherry Turkle. TED Talks, 2012. Film.