i have left this blogging thing to last because not only have i been looking at other things to compare on facebook and myspace and youtube. but ive realized that i cant really blame the websites. mainly i blame my brain for learning all this stuff about them.

so i took the time to post up bulletins at 3 am in the morning or play a game at 2 am the next night. or i stayed on facebook chat for 3 hours catching up with someone. and i still hadnt come up with anything. i know i already talked about this. so we take the time to change our picture. we take our lap tops to class and procrastinate. i know people who have spent hours changing their myspace background and html codes. and then it comes down to the final deadline. the project u left to the last minute. do you blame the website that someone created or do you blame yourself???

i blame myself.

Why are people so addicted? Especially now with the advances in cell phones. When you’re not at home, Myspace and Facebook are still at your fingertips. I find myself either browsing through pointless videos or looking at pictures. It is so distracting. I think of all that I could have accomplished if I put even HALF the amount of time and effort i spend on the internet, doing something else..I would have done a lot more.

Because I do a lot of digital artwork, I spend a lot of time on my computer doign that. But i always seem to drift over to my internet browers and click on my favorites tab at the top taking me to my favorite websites. Many times when people will come over and want to see something ive made on my computer, I will turn it on, and right away I open the internet and click on Myspace.com. I do this without even thinking. Then it clicks in..wow what a bad habbit!! its like I did it subconsiously.

Have we really let the internet take over us? Do we spend excessive amounts of times waiting for our inbox to say “1 new message” or “1 new comment”?? i think it most certainly is an addiction, but most people tend to just ignore it.

Status updates like this are kind of confusing because they seem to not be directed toward any particular person, but to the person they might be in conflict with will know exactly to whom these messages are directed. Once I had called a friend of mine and he didnt answer. A few minutes later I had updated my status as “Annoyed” but it had nothing to do with him not answering. A few minutes later he called me back saying “I saw your update, are you annoyed cuz I didnt answer?”

I feel people are so used to this method of impersonal communication, that it leads people to be more insecure about who this person is really talking about. As opposed to sending them a direct message saying “hey im annoyed with you”, they would rather leave it for all to see, making people wonder as to what is really going on.

do you think that updating your status can start an online war with others?

It made me think of how information is transmitted and how this has changed the world. Think back to the days we can only read about in history. It would take days to transfer information from 1 location to the next. THe pony express and “snail mail” as we commonly call it today, was simply a way to transfer text, and photos. Keeping in touch with someone that lives clear accross the state, country, or even world would be a very basic and slow form of communication.

There are some examples of why I found You TUbe to be really cool. First of all, The president Obama has a You TUbe account where he will put videos giving speeches, communicating things going on politically to the public. It gives people a better way to connect with politics. Another thing is to keep up with all the gossip going on. With websites like TMZ.com, it is the perfect way to get the dirt on your most loved celebrity figures. Many celebrities now use their own cameras to film themselves talking to their fans and it helps build their fan base and connect on a closer level. It lets Musuicans promote their music to get people interested and excited about their new songs. Last but not least it gives everyone an opportunity to showase their lives to those around them. I recently attended a concert on Sunday, and i wasnt able to stand in the very front and was ticked off because i was unaware of how this arena was layed out. To my surprise, the very next day people had uploaded video footage that had been in the front row onto You TUbe.

I think it provides a way of communication amongst all people . You tube does not discrimiate as to whom can sign up. They have copyright rules and such, but they provide a freedom that no other website had achieved before

ps. i still cannot get over the fact that it has a phonebook and if u need peoples numbers it might just be there. myspace still doesnt have that, i wonder what will happen when  they do.

In conclusion, there is no such thing as privacy on the internet.

“Sex, drugs and violence mark the majority of MySpace.com postings by 18-year-olds, a study found, potentially hurting job prospects and drawing sexual predators.

In a search of 500 publicly accessible MySpace profiles, 54 percent had items on risky behavior, such as sexually explicit images, text about killing people, or hobbies that included marijuana use and alcohol, said the authors of the research in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Teens often don’t realize that such information may attract sexual predators or repel employers, said Kimberly Mitchell, a researcher at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. One in seven kids is sexually solicited online and those posting sex information about themselves are at greater risk, she said.”

This is where social networking sites prove to be dangerous. It’s risky to put information out there when there are people who are waiting to discover those who are vulnerable. It would be so easy for a sexual predator to target a girl who relentlessly posts comments about being lonely and wanting to be loved. Often times, kids and teenagers don’t know where to draw the line between posting updates on their lives and posting information that is just too personal to be public domain. This might be where the “private” setting comes in use which allows only those who are your “friends” to view your page. That device might be employed in the hopes that Myspace users will be discerning of who to be friends with. This is also an instance that I think begs for parent involvement. How many kids would post sexually explicit images, text about killing people, or hobbies that include marijuana and alcohol if they knew their parents were able to see that on their pag? I’m not in favor of parental over-protectiveness, but I do support parental involvement to the point of a parent knowing what a child is advertising about himself. Myspace can be a dangerous thing if it is used carelessly.

-Amanda

• More than 200 million active users
• More than 100 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day
• More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of college
• The fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older
• Average user has 120 friends on the site
• More than 3.5 billion minutes are spent on Facebook each day (worldwide)
• More than 20 million users update their statuses at least once each day
• More than 4 million users become fans of Pages each day
• About 70% of Facebook users are outside the United States

The fact that Facebook has 200 million active users is insane to me. Facebook has really become a part of our society, and I’d even venture to say that it is now a vital resource in defining our society. It has provided faster, more efficient ways of connection for people all around the world and has contributed to and been influenced by our “instant gratification” mentality. I also think it encourages the idea of the individualistic culture that has become so prevalent in America because it is YOUR own web page that is devoted to promoting YOU and why YOU are important and how YOU are different and unique. YOU and everyone else. We’re all just a pair of ripped jeans.

-Amanda

-Amanda

-Amanda