I often wonder how much knowledge is out there.
The fact that men like Mark Zuckerberg can just turn an idea, like Facebook
into something massive is incredible (Business Insider). How much more ideas
can be turned into something that helps so much people around the whole world
connect; talk to each other face to face through video calls, send instant
messages, upload family or holiday photos online and generally share memories
and spend time with people across the globe any time of day.
When we first moved into Australia 20 years
ago, I had so much trouble getting in touch with my family and friends back
home as quickly as I had hoped. I actually put pen to paper and wrote letters,
then after posting it I had wait weeks to get a response. Thinking back, I
laugh at how much patience I actually had back then. I guess we have to cope
and adapt with the resources and capabilities that we have, right? Even so, it
was a great feeling, checking my mailbox and seeing an airmail envelope addressed
to me. I could never wait to read my letter so I used to always start opening the
envelope as I walk through the door!
Nowadays, it’s so easy to send a message by Messenger
to my sister in Canada as soon as I open my eyes. How awesome is it to be able
to celebrate my relatives’ birthdays with them through video chats (Age UK)? In
saying that, I would actually call myself a laggard when it comes to being
socially active, compared to younger people in today’s society, where 95% of
teens are online; 90% of teens are on Facebook; and 70% of teens spend almost
17 hours a week online (Socially Active). I didn’t join Facebook until 2009 and
even then I wasn’t so sure if it was a good idea. I was cautious of hackers and
of people finding out about what I’m up to that I didn’t start sharing photos
or events in my life until after the following year.
Since then, I don’t think a day passes by
without me picking up my phone and going on Facebook to check out what my
friends are up to or what photos my families abroad have posted. Although I’m a
bit of a passive participant as I usually click on my Facebook friends’ posts
or photos but only sometimes do I like or comment on them, I still love how we
can all keep in touch with what’s going on in our lives. The scary part though
is how much information is actually out there about our lives that others have
access to and can use to their advantage and at our expense, just like the
movie, Eagle Eye (YouTube).
I now wonder how others have used social media
like Facebook; as a tool to connect with people or as a means to steal someone
else’s identity...
References
Age
Scotland
Business Insider
Socially Active
Youtube
Hi Mayz, sorry I missed your post in Facebook, thanks for the nudge. You are right, its amazing really how much our ability to communicate across the world has changed over time. I wonder if you could go deeper into time and/or distance and explore the implications of quicker, global communications e.g. was it more meaningful to spend the time writing a letter and waiting for a reply? Does being able to keep in touch more easily reduce/erase th eneed to meet in person e.g. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07256860802169196
ReplyDeleteThere's lots of research in this space - have a look at week 3 learning activities for finding academic sources of information.
The Pew Research Centre is also a good source for statistics - I couldn't see where Social Active had got their figures from.
Looking forward to reading more :)