Nov-07-2009
Digitalization
Living in a world taking over by digitalization has many different meaning. It can mean that everything comes so easy; you’re just a click away from goggle. It can also mean that you are clueless of what’s going on in the really world because you live life behind a computer screen. Many people would agree and say that digitalization is bad but they wouldn’t have a reason for why they think so. Many people would also say that digitalization have a negative effect on teenagers , they would point out the fact that many teenagers spend a lot of free time on social networks such as MySpace, facebook or even twitter , staying connected to their friends other then getting out and interacting with them. People also say digitalization is bad because children and teenagers would often choose it over reading a book or writing a story. When student were asked what they would rather do read books, do home work or play videogames and spend time on the computer. More the half of them said they would rather spend time playing videogames and on the computer, because they spend so much time in school do work on the weekends and after school they just want to “chill” and get away from school. One student said “when I get home the first thing I do is turn on the computer, more so now than ever because most of our home work have to be done over internet, but I’m not going to front the first thing I do isn’t home work I go on Facebook or twitter or whatever and just do my home work when it start to get late or it get really bored”. This quote was said by one student but I know she isn’t the only person that feel s this why. When you ask the question what people think about digitalization you get the same two answers “it’s bad because people use it to much” or “it’s good because it make thing easier “. When you ask that question people never take the time to really think before they answer it , they don’t take a minute to think how digitalization affect them , or to think how can it help them or not or take the time to ask themselves how much time they spend using it and if they think they should cut down . Digitalization plays a major role in our society today, and affects many people. The addiction, staying connected as well as social networking are the reason digitalization is such a major part of our lives.
People spending so many hours a day watching T.V and web surfing, the part that seem interesting to me is that people can just sit for hours and look at one show or be log into one social network. The question I would like answered is what keeps a person interested and coming back for more? The answer is addiction. People can sit on MySpace or Facebook for hours, sometime they would not eat or go use the bathroom because they do want to get off the computer, People go out for the day but before they go they must get on MySpace or Facebook and when they come back no matter how late it is they would not be able to sleep without going on again, they are addicted and most of the time they don’t know they are or even why. Networks aren’t the only thing about digitalization that makes people addicted, also thing like on line shopping. Why go to the stores were you would have to look through the everything to find something you want with the chance you might not find anything at all, when you can just sit at our desktop or laptop and just press next till you find the things you want . If you don’t find anything on one sight all you have to do is go to the next one, It just so much easier. Some people aren’t even addicted to the computer, the internet is their adduction. “Creating a single definition for computer addiction is difficult because the term actually covers a wide spectrum of addictions. Few people are literally addicted to a computer as a physical object. They become addicted to activities performed on a computer, like instant messaging, viewing Internet pornography, playing video games, checking e-mail and reading news articles because all your need are fulfill and one place and they are easier to get your hands on ”, (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/computer-addiction.htm). I believe people get very addicted to digitalization because to makes everything easier, people think why they should take the hard way out when everything you need is just a mouse click away.
Digitalization is great when it comes to keeping people connected, today there are so many way to get in contact with other people. Cell phones, instant messaging, text messaging and the list can go on. Staying connected is one of the biggest reasons that most people are addicted to internet . Internet chatting make it so that you can talk to more than person at a time , and you can also be doing other things on the computer. People often like staying connected over instant or text messaging because it less personal , people find it easier to express their feeling in a texts message or over aim rather then talking in person or over the phone. “Kids are not learning to converse with people directly. Texting enables people to avoid face-to-face confrontation. The worst stories I have heard is someone being fired and dumped over a text message. One girl got fired over a text message, and since she didn’t have text messaging, she paid 40 cents to get fired. Please, find the appropriate time to communicate via text message”, (http://blog.hireahelper.com/2009/06/11/new-generation-of-communication-texting-versus-talking). People like to often say things over text messaging so it won’t become awkord between them and the person their talking to. Using Digitalization to stay connected also has its down falls. People spend less time going out or spend time with their friends and family, because they are giving other ways to be able to check on the m. Another reason why staying connect over digitalization isn’t always great because message can get crossed, meaning you can say something meaning it one way but since the other person can here the way you said they can take differently . That can start big problems and turn into a big miss understanding.
Why do people use social networks? Can’t they just go hang out with their friends or call them on the phone or even text them ? But why limited yourself to talking to one or two people at a time when you can go on Facebook or Twitter and talk to as many people as you want to ? That is the outlook that a lot of people today have on social networking . older people would blame it on teenagers for spending so much time on the networks , but most peoples parents and grandparents are sign up to the networks as well. People sign up to these network to keep others posted on what’s going on in their life’s by putting up pictures of what they did that weekend and so on or to make them self feel important when they see that they have over 5000 followers on twitter . Social networks start out as just good fun for most people but once they start spending time on the network and seeing what it can do, it starts to become more of a life style for many people. People put up a lot of information about them self on social networks, such as their full names, date of birth , were they live as well as attend school and things they enjoy doing. Most people will agree and say that’s not the safest thing to do because just how you are already friends or at least know the people you are friends with on their social networks there are also the people that you don’t know that you are also friends with. By you telling on your information you are making it easy for them to find you. “ The Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported more than 2,600 incidents last year of adults using the Internet to entice children. With numbers like that, you'd think all parents would be hovering over their kids, wanting to know what they're doing online. But authorities say many parents are clueless about their kids' MySpace profiles”, (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/06/eveningnews/main1286130.shtml). This quote proves that just how great social networking can be for keeping you connected to your friends and family . It can be just as dangerous , and that’s we many adults don’t want their kids to have MySpace or facebook pages . Most children go behind their parents back and sign up for MySpace or facebook , because all they are thinking about is how their friends have one and they don’t want to feel left out. They don’t think about the danger they may be putting their self in. Social networking isn’t all bad but it isn’t all good as long as you are aware of what’s going on.
This paper is important because it is warring people of the ups and downs of digitalization. This paper is trying to make them think deeper about digitalization and the affect it has on our society so that when their asked about digitalization their answers aren’t limited to it good or bad they will be able to think and say why they think is good or bad they will also be able to list the pros and cons about it. Although this paper is mostly talking about computers and internet use, digitalization is so much more than that and we are surround it by it every day. Most people have cell phones, T.V, computers, rodeos and so much more. Even living in the city, when you go out to 42nd all the lights and images showing on the big bright screens are digitalization.We are living in a society where we cannot escape digitalization, so we just have to learn how to live with it. We can control how much we use it and how much time we put into do other things.
The connection I would like to make to this paper is a self to text connection, before taking this class and writing this paper my thought about digitalization were very limited. I was always on the internet and didn’t find it to be a big deal. If somebody was to ask me at the beginning how I felt about digitalization I would have be like it’s a great thing when I need something to do and when I need to find out information its always here for me , but I wouldn’t be able to answer with a very deep answer. Before I never took the time to think about how much time I spent using it or if I would be able to live without it or not. I’m not going to front like since I started learning about digitalization, I stop using it or I even cute down the time I spent using it because I have not . The only difference is that know when I use the internet I think about it more. The question we ask each other in class come to my mind, why I’m I so addicted ? why do I care what people posted on my wall or said about my picture ? I feel like I care so much because it keeps me in the circle of knowing what is going on with my friends when we aren’t together. I learned so much through this unite and even though I didn’t stop or cut down on ma internet use is mad me very aware.
Digitalization plays such a major role in our society today that there is no way of getting around it. The tree points I bought up as augments were points that was important or interesting to as we deeper learned about digitalization. The topic of digital is so lager that I couldn’t cover everything but I talked about the parts that that I though affected me the most . The addiction because I can say I was really addicted to internet use , staying connected and social networking use because they have their pros and cons and I just wanted to aware people . we live in a world so big I think it’s room for us as well as digitalization.