Blog Project

There are many positive and negative effects of the Internet and new media that everyone should be aware of:

1)    Employers and colleges look at social media sites. Whether you’re just applying for the job or you already have it, employers look at employees Facebooks, twitters, etc. to see if they hired the right person. If you post a status or make a tweet about how much you hate your boss chances are your boss might find out. If your co-workers see it they can tell your boss or if your boss decides to check up on you they’ll see it themselves. Colleges and universities also look at applicants’ social media sites while considering who to accept. According to the Huffington Post an 18 year old guard at the Buckingham Palace was fired because of a Facebook post he made about Kate Middleton. The post, which was later deleted, read "Hur and william drove past me on friday n all a got was a sh***y wave while she looked the opposite way from me, stupid stuck up cow am I not good enough for them! posh bitch am totally with u on this 1 who reely gives a f about hur."

2)   There is An Infinite Amount of Information at our Fingertips. Almost everything you could ever want to know can be found on the Internet. If you’re feeling too lazy to go to the library and search through a book you can just Google something. You can also go on twitter and search for something through hashtags. For example, if you wanted to find out information about the Boston Bruins you can go on twitter and search the hashtag “#BostonBruins” or “#Bruins” and see tweets about the team.

3)   Just because it’s on the Internet Doesn’t Mean it’s True. People tend to believe everything they read on the Internet and social media sites, which leads to the spread of misinformation. Students depend on the Internet for their research and schoolwork but don’t often dig deep enough to find credible information. Googling something and going with the first website you find isn’t always the smartest choice. If you want to know something you need to take the time to do an accurate search for information. Another effect of this is that once misleading information is posted, because of new media sites like twitter and reddit, this information can be spread in a matter of minutes. For example, as stated on USA Today, last April at the bombing during the Boston Marathon a crowdsourcing group looked at photos released by the FBI of a possible suspect via Reddit. They found a photo of a man who seemed to be the man in the FBI photos. The man these Reddit members were accusing was Sunil Tripathi, a 22 year old Brown student who was missing. Tripathi ultimately was not the bomber and was found dead in the river. However, the misleading information caused his family and friends a lot of emotional trauma and caused the public to personify and innocent man as a terrorist.

4)   Cyberbullying. With the increasing use of new media comes the increase in “cyberbullying”. People tease and taunt others over the Internet through social media sites like Facebook and twitter. Cyberbullying is common among teens, who feel more comfortable and powerful hiding behind their computer screen to bully someone. People post awful pictures or start fights through comments or tweets. According to the National Crime Prevention Center over 40% of teenagers with Internet access have reported being bullied online over the past year.

5)   Using Your Phone to Access the Internet Can Give Out Your Location. A lot of people use their smartphones to go on the Internet these days, but what most of these people don’t realize is that their phone has a location service. On the iPhone, for example, if you go into your privacy settings you will see something that says ‘Location Services’ and you can choose to turn it on or off. When you first purchase your phone the location service is automatically turned on and most people are unaware of this. So when you tweet something or post something on Facebook, the post will say where you are. You can choose what apps you want to allow to know your location, such as the weather. This way the weather will be accurate for the area you are in. But you can turn off the location services for Facebook, twitter, Instagram, etc. According to the CBS Philly website, their news station did an experiment to show just how accurate these location services are. Diana Rocco sent out a few tweets from different areas and Amanda, the producer, could pinpoint her exact location down to the address. When Diana tweeted from a coffee shop, Amanda pinpointed her location at 20^th and Callowhill, which is exactly where Diana was.

6)   Once You Post Something it’s on the Internet Forever. Even if you deleted it, it’s still out there somewhere. Also, posting something and then deleting it soon after doesn’t mean that no one saw it. Once you post something, like a picture, someone can see it and save it. A very common thing to do these days it screenshot pictures from the Internet, ultimately saving them to our phones. These pictures can be sent all over the world via different media sites. An article posted in the Huntsville Times in Huntsville, Alabama states that there are constant advances in recovery software meaning photos never truly get deleted from phones, cameras, and computers.

7)   “Catfish”. On the Internet a ‘catfish’ is defined as: To pretend to be someone you're not online by posting false information, such as someone else's pictures, on social media sites usually with the intention of getting someone to fall in love with you (Catfish: The TV Show). This happens quite frequently. In 2010 Nev Schulman made a documentary film called “Catfish” about falling in love with a woman over the internet who was lying about who she was. He then started a TV show spinoff about other people who have internet relationships with people they have never actually met. Nev helps these people finally meet the person they fell in love with online and see if they actually are who they say they are. More often than not, they aren’t. People make fake profiles, with fake information and fake pictures. Internet users really have to be careful about who they are talking to online.

8)   Too Much Reliance on the Internet. Imagine a day when the Internet stopped working. You can’t, or don’t want to. What would you do? Talk to people face to face? Go outside? You wouldn’t be able to watch TV or update your Facebook status. Many businesses and jobs rely on the Internet as well so what would happen if the Internet wasn’t working? My job completely relies on technology and computers so without the Internet it would make it impossible for my department at ShopRite to do anything. BBC asked the public if they thought people rely on the Internet too much and even they agreed. “Asking if we can live without it is as complex as asking if we could have lived without the industrial revolution”, said Andrew McKillican from the UK. Relying on the Internet too much could lead to utter chaos if it were to stop working, even just temporarily.

9)   Online Shopping. For anyone who loves to shop online shopping is a wonderful thing. It makes it easy to purchase things that you couldn’t find in the store or things that aren’t even sold in stores. You can even order groceries online and have them delivered to your house. This is very helpful for the elderly, people with kids, or people who don’t have time to grocery shop. Online shopping also allows for pre-ordering items before they are even released. Music can also be purchased online now through things like iTunes. You no longer have to go to the store to even get a CD. “We don’t need to bother with opening hours, pushy sales staff, parking, traffic and the hundred other problems that accompany any shopping trip. The process can take as long as you like – or be over in a matter of minutes. You can buy from anywhere in the world”, says Chris Nickson of A Technology Society.

10)  Taking Online Classes. Online schooling is becoming increasingly popular in this day and age. Adults who never went to college or who want to go back and take some more classes but don’t have time because of work or families can now go to college online. Obtaining a college degree online is something that people years ago would have never thought would be possible. Even teens and young adults who are working a lot but still want to take classes should take advantage of this opportunity. It is a great advancement for people who want to get a degree but don’t have time to attend school. SCCC even offers online classes, as do many community colleges. A study reported in The Boston Globe showed that students who take online classes do just as well as students taught in the classroom. It also showed that the online students actually learned faster. The study also showed that online classes are suitable for a wide variety of students.

Works Cited

"CHILD'S PLAY AND CRAZY WOMEN-WHY BULLYING ONLY HURTS THE VICTIM." : CYBER BULLYING STATISTICS THAT MAY SHOCK YOU. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. <http://childsplayandcrazywomen.blogspot.com/2012/03/cyber-bullying-statistics-that-may.html>.

"Catfish: The TV Show." (Series). N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. <http://www.mtv.com/shows/catfish/>.

"Do We Rely Too Much On Computers?." BBC News. BBC, 4 Dec. 2000. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/703939.stm>.

Emerson, Ramona. "13 Controversial Facebook Firings: Palace Guards, Doctors, Teachers And More." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Oct. 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/17/facebook-firings_n_1003789.html>.

"Everything posted online is there forever, even after it's been deleted." The Huntsville Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. <http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/03/everything_posted_online_is_th.html>.

"Has Online Shopping Made Life Easier?." Has Online Shopping Made Life Easier?. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. <http://www.atechnologysociety.co.uk/has-online-shopping-made-life-easier.html>.

"Metro." BostonGlobe.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. <http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/05/21/findings-give-boost-online-classes/qtokLQeQZvE85EMzSBG6PM/story.html>.

Rocco, Diana. "Tracking Your Moves Through Social Media." CBS Philly. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. <http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2013/12/06/tracking-your-moves-through-social-media/>.

Stanglin, Doug. "Student Wrongly Tied to Boston Bombing Found Dead." USA TODAY. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2013. <http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2013/04/25/boston-bombing-social-media-student-brown-university-reddit/2112309/>.

MLA formatting by BibMe.org.