Forum #2

Topic One

I personally follow around 400 people on twitter, 1,000 people on instagram, 1,300 friends on Facebook who I defiantly know about half of. I follow some celebrities, such as the Kardashians @KUWTK, people from Disney shows and of course @realDonaldTrump.  Which is a complete joke. I follow his account purely for entertainment and to be kept up to date on what people are making fun of via social media. Such as covfefe. I also enjoy following people I follow on YouTube, as they refer to themselves as lifestyle vloggers. Some of my favorites are @tashafarsaci I enjoy following celebrities on social media because sometimes they tweet updates of their show. I also feel that it keeps me up to date on their lives when it is reality shows. I could use social media as more of an intellectual tool then I do. However I am only 20 years old and at this time I prefer to use social media for entertainment. 

I retweet and share things that make me feel something. As cliche and dumb that may sound, I like to share videos that either make me laugh, feel happy or cry at times. However I also enjoy fun statistics and random facts. There is a twitter account I enjoy that is called obvious statements, which pretty much just is tweets like “the sky is not purple” or other things like “if you walk in sand your feet will be sandy” just funny little things that make me laugh. I see a lot of negative things posted on the internet which doesn’t only bring me down but also those who are exposed to that. Because of that, if I see something that happens to offend me or I don’t feel was posted in effort to bring positivity to the internet I usually unfollow or mute the account. Just because there are already so many negative things circulating the internet and the world we live in, I don’t need any added negativity.

The words “participate in democracy” isn’t exalt something I agree with or find to be true. However, I do see and believe that a lot of the time social media does expose and offer a more current and accessible platform then have been available in the past. I think social media has created an outlet. In which people can voice their opinions and feel heard. I believe it is a good and healthy way for expel to talk about their emotions. Many times I find that people enjoy blogging or journaling online. Also like in one of the TED talks I watched, a lot of what we view on social media is filtered. In which I found extremely interesting, I feel I have more access to the world and public information in which I want to know about because of these different connections I can make. Also I see more things about the world, and different topics then I feel I would hear or know about just in my daily life. I do feel that I need these social medias that I use because I rely on them for interaction, and communication with people. However things I don’t feel I need are Yahoo Fantasy Sports, or Google Plus. Although google plus is nice because it links and allows me to use one account for many different accounts. I don’t need Yahoo Fantasy Sports because that doesn’t relate to anything that I am interested in. I also don’t use Reddit although I know it is a resourceful way to hear others opinions. 

Topic Two

From the very first second, I could easily tell that Sherry Turkle is an amazing speaker. I feel that she captured the audiences attention, with making the topic relatable. The points she made, speaking of everyone being alone together. Being present physically but not mentally. Wanting to be listened to, and feeling that you are heard through likes and interactions on social media. I have felt in previous times that people would rather text than talk. The idea that siri will be more of a best friend than someone in real life, a human is a scary and possibly extremely realistic occurrence. That people at work spend so much time “communicating” that you don’t have time to think, or be, or interact. The redefining of human connection is very real and also extremely frightening. When it comes to my family particularly we do not have phone free zones. In fact conversations are most commonly disturbed or paused because of the use of technology. Many of our family activities and interactions are based around technology.  

I have a very limited amount of games downloaded on my phone. Primarily because it takes up a significant amount of storage on my phone. The games I have on my phone are strategic games. I do at times download games to try them out sometimes, but I never keep them on my phone because I would rather have more room on my phone for pictures. I went through a phase where I really enjoyed playing words with friends, but I use more social media apps such as twitter, Facebook, snapchat and instagram. 

I do feel I spend a lot of time using social media. I spend a lot of time on different social media platforms, interacting with the same people I talk to everyday and spend time with on a regular basis. I probably spend about two hours a day on social media, which I am well aware how absorbent amount of time that is. Now that I realize how it changes the interaction in which you have with people around you. I hope to change the way and amount of time I spend on my social media and technological devices.