Binary Solo

So, this isn't part of the assignment, but I thought it would be a fun way to spend two minutes and think about some of the stuff we've learned in class so far! Enjoy :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1BdQcJ2ZYY

The Whole Wide Web

The Internet has, without a doubt, had a huge impact on the lives of many. I can clearly remember the mid-1990’s when we got our first “real” computer. We purchased it from Comp USA and it came with a modem that could be connected to a phone line. I was about 14 at the time and could not wait to bring the computer home and install the America Online disc offering 500 free AOL hours we had received in the mail. The installation was not easy -- but after hours of work and multiple phone calls to the America Online customer service line, it was installed on our computer. Prior to the new purchase, my nights had consisted of tying up the family phone line to talk to the friends I spent all day with in school. However, now my nights primarily included tying up the family phone line to log into AOL, find my school friends on my buddy list, and have private chats with them. Occasionally, my friends and I would arrange to find each other in teen chat rooms. There, we would discuss school sports, recent movies, typical teenage banter. The idea of online predators never occurred to me, or my parents. My concept of the online world was completely naive compared to today’s standards. In a recent conversation with a friend, we discussed how much the Internet has evolved, primarily in the realm of social networking. We reminisced about how long it would take to actually log onto AOL, and how the Internet browsing was minimal, at best. We even compared the Angelfire web pages we designed with friends. 

The days of early social networking and America Online 2.0 seem like a distant memory, if that, for many of us today. The Internet has expanded into something much greater than we can even fathom. Positively, the Internet can help connect people that may not have the easiest time relating to or communicating with others, as seen in the online program, Second Life. It can also be a way for people who have a difficult time socially in the real world find honest, and satisfying ways to express themselves and what they perceive as their true identities, as presented in the Frontline episode, Growing Up Online. And while we typically call these connections social networking, they can also, accurately, be considered business networking. This component of connecting online has increased over time, and was a huge factor in Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. However, along with the pros of this amazingly convenient system, come many cons. Sometimes the connections we make online are not good ones. The Internet can sometimes be used as an outlet to connect with others that may want to hurt you, as in the case of online predators, or can encourage you in the wrong direction, such as self-injurious behavior. There is also a world of hackers and people who have figured out ways to dig into the pockets of others.

Real life interactions can be stressful. No matter how social some of us may be, we all know and understand the pressures of how it feels to try and come up with witty banter with colleagues and acquaintances, to be scrutinized and judged, and to sometimes not feel as though you’re accurately depicting yourself the way you’d like. In a world known as Second Life, we have the ability to forget about all of those insecurities and vulnerabilities and present ourselves the way we want to be seen. It is a program that emulates real life, except the users can create whatever identities they want, including where they live, what they do for a living, etc. The program was initially designed to be an”open-minded environment that would allow players to fly, drive fantastical vehicles, dress up in outlandish outfits and build just about anything they could imagine,” (Second Life Teaches Life Lessons, Daniel Terdiman). However, since the game’s development, it has gone much further than that. In one case, nine individuals with cerebral palsy get to interact with others in world where it’s not nearly as difficult as it is in real life. In another example, child abuse victims are able to communicate with people they don’t know, which is a way to get them out of the idea of hiding, which is what most have them had to do due to their abusive households. It also serves as social outlet for those diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Asperger’s Syndrome, as real-life social interactions are extremely difficult for them. 

Not only does the Internet serve as a tool for those who have a difficult time physically communicating, but it also helps those who have an emotionally tough time relating to the real world. In PBS’s Frontline, an episode titled Growing Up Online, presented vignettes of various teenagers living in New Jersey, who in fact, grew up online. Deemed the first generation to grow up online, most of them never knew a world where the Internet didn’t exist. While my initial online experiences were another form of communicating with others, for many of the teens in this episode, online communication was essentially their only communication. For some, the Internet offered a place where they could be themselves in a world where they felt they could not. A young woman by the name of Jessica felt as though she was not one with the world around her. She created an online persona of herself, Autumn Eadow, a Gothic model, and shortly after received a following on various social networking sites. While her parents were not thrilled when they initially found out, they have since changed their minds and have come to see this as Jessica/Autumn’s true expression. And since she is not hurting herself or anyone else as a result, or putting herself in danger, her parents have actually become supportive of this outlet. However, as in the case of another young girl, Sara, she was able to connect with others that helped facilitate negative behavior. She was a sufferer of Anorexia, and rather than find a support group to help her overcome her disorder, she connected with others that also had anorexia, but were happy to have it. They would brag about how much they didn’t eat that day. Eventually, she realized that this was not a healthy way to view her disorder and that if she wanted to be healthy, she would have to try to overcome it. Another vignette featured a teenage boy named Cam. His mother was constantly worried about his time online and how he could be taken advantage of by online predators, however, her constant surveillance only pushed Cam further away into his online world. Luckily, he remained safe and used the Internet primarily to communicate with his friends on websites such as Facebook. However, a father of a young teenage boy was not as lucky. His 13-year old son was the constant victim of bullying and ultimately wound up taking his own life after finding a “friend” online who helped convince him that suicide was his only way out. 

While the examples above give some insight into the social capabilities of the Internet, many businesses and politicians have taken advantage of the online world’s large reach. Before coming to Queens College to change careers to Education, I worked in the marketing world. One of my jobs was in publicity and one of my primary duties was to build online presences of the brands I represented. I was told to take full advantage of social network sites, blogs, you name it! As I read through David Talbot’s article about how the Obama campaign reached successes like never before seen, I couldn’t help but see small reminders (however, on a much larger scale) of my life before! In the case of Obama’s campaign, his staff immediately jumped on social networking bandwagon and hired the best in the business to get his online presence known. They established a website for him that brought people together, made it easy to donate money, and also allowed for people to get truly involved in the campaign by organizing rallys and get togethers to benefit the campaign. Howard Dean attempted to utilize social networking in his 2004 campaign, however, the public hadn’t quite caught up with the technology yet. However, by 2008, social networking was a main way to communicate with others and bring people together. Clinton and McCain tried to take advantage of social networking, but were much later in the game and it did not benefit them the way it did Obama. In addition to his own website, www.my.barackobama.com, known as MyBO, he had a presence on Facebook, via text messages, and supporters were easily able to post their thoughts and creative expressions on websites like YouTube (as in the case of Will.i.am’s modification of Obama’s “Yes We Can” speech, which received 10 million viewings on YouTube). 

These channels of social networking and online communication have definitely changed since those early days of America Online. I’m sure buddy lists still exist somewhere, but in a world full of Facebooks, Twitters, Amazons, Second Lives and Text Messages it’s hard to believe we ever relied solely on America Online and Prodigy as our link to the computer world. While we need to make sure we watch our backs and try to go into this large, expansive world with a watchful eye, we can be assured that our lives have been made remarkably easier.