Discussion Questions For 10/28/13

1. As Turkle mentions, if we don't adapt to the virtual and real worlds as it goes through changes, we will be not as both healthy mentally and physically. Can the internet experiences actually help us remain flexible, and in turn, healthy?

2. Turkle says that "Thinking about people as information carries the serious risk of impoverishing our sense of the human." How has the virtual world really affect the way we look at other people?

3. Since Turkle does not blame online persona, however the way she explains it is kind of interesting. She does not explain once a person adapts to the virtual world, they are opening themselves into having more than just one-identity notion. Why has the internet and online persona been the cause of more cases of MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder)?

The Bad Affects of Video Games

                Video games have grown graciously over the years. There has been a debate whether they actually affect children’s behavior. Studies shown that young kids playing violent video change moods dramatically, and become a little more aggressive. This usually occurs mostly of the violent games because they are much more intense than the other ones. Most of the games now also have online; where kids can communicate to people they do not know.

                 Some of bad habits that children can start to form are, not focusing on their studies in school, constantly playing games for many hours, and changing their behavior to their peers or family. These bad habits could affect them in the future because it could become an addiction, which is much more serious. Having an addiction could be hard to get rid of because psychologically, their minds are constantly live in a fantasy world. Health is another issue that can affect children. If kids are constantly playing video games and not exercising, they could increase in their weight rapidly. They should be exercising at least 60 min a day to keep their bodies in shape.  

                 This issue could be fixed in a variety of ways. There is a law where people have to be at least 17 years old in order to buy a rated M (Mature) game. The other rated games are rated E for everyone, T for teen, and A for Adult. This law does work to an extent; however the parents buy the game for the child and let them play. Some kids are playing rated M games at 13 years or sometimes even younger. Parents need to be stricter to their children, so they can turn out to be better kids when they are older. But unfortunately, video games will continue to be violent and more young children are playing them more rapidly.

http://videogames.procon.org/

Is social media bad for our society?

Social media has evolved over the course of many years. Some people debate whether it’s good or bad for our society. This website called www.debate.org is a community based discussion group that talks about social issues, which is very interesting to see what other people have to say about our society. 78% of people say that social media is bad and the other 22% say it’s a great thing to have in our society. I have to agree on the 78% of people because I believe social media changes people’s behaviors. Social media takes away from face-to-face conversation and generations before never had this type of media on the internet. However, I believe social media is a good thing to have for jobs. If you are starting a new business, social media is a great way to get your business noticed. Overall, the community agrees that social media causes problems that needs to be addressed.

                 Some of the issues include false internet stories, people loosing communication skills, and it is medicine for emotional security. Having false internet can start rumors about individuals that are not necessarily true. People loosing communication skills ties into having less confidence, this means people would have a hard time talking socially to others. Is medicine a cure for emotional security? No, however some people use it as an escape to life. The internet is one place anyone could feel good about them and have that power by just typing a message. I hope this issue brought attention to you and here is the link to where you can give your own opinion.

http://www.debate.org/opinions/is-social-media-bad-for-society

Social Action Project Part 2 (individual)

                In my opinion I believe the best project source to use to express electronic waste is guerrilla art. The reason why I that guerilla art is the best source to use is because it is a way to express your own feelings about the world. You can use guerilla art to express your ideas and creativity about electronic waste. The drawings could include how electronic waste is being an issue towards different countries and how it can prevented in the future. There are many great sources to use but, I believe guerilla art is the best way to use so more people can recognize it. The way the issued was expressed in the past was by videos or news. Now that technology and the internet have evolved over the years from generation to generation. It can be spread everywhere over the year and this is a fantastic thing. As more people see that this is a major social issue that involves the environment and lives of people, they can spread the word to their peers. Hopefully in the future, the social issue will gradually decline because people do not deserve living in these conditions. Guerilla art can be expressed in your own way, no matter if it’s a story line or just one simple picture. No matter how you express, it still tell us about the social issue. Technology will just continue to evolve in the future and electronic waste can still be an issue, if we don’t put a stop to this.

Social Action Project Introduction Part 1 (individual)

There is a topic that has been an issue for quite some time. This social is issue is electronic waste. Electronic waste means, when countries ship their wasted technology that is discarded to other countries. They usually ship it to the poor countries, like in Africa. There are workers that have to burn the technology in order to get rid of it. This is very dangerous because there are toxic fumes that can be floating in the air, which could cause health hazards. People that live in parts of Africa waste live in horrible conditions, and electronic waste is not helping the cause. People have to constantly work to get rid of it. They have no protection when they work, and they should be wearing special equipment. 

The interesting part is that some of the technology still actually works. Some of the hard drives in computers still have information on them. Some of the documents can show people’s personal information, as in credit card numbers. This could increase identity theft, and the victim could never know how they accessed their information. There have been actually some cases where government documents have been found, and this is a sign of careless with our nation. They need take this more seriously and delete the information. This is a huge disappointment to our country because we are shipping this waste and causing harm to the other poor countries. This is a very serious social issue that needs to be fixed quickly.

E-Waste Video Questions

1. How badly do you think the environment is affected by electronic waste?
              
              Answer: In my opinion, the environment is severely affected by this. As you see in the video, toxic fumes were everywhere in the air around Ghana. When they burn cords, computers, or any other parts of technology, it is very dangerous and unhealthy. Towards the end of the video, it showed a guy working with the acid bath and he said "Some of the fumes make me really sick and it's ruining my life." This is a serious issue that could be fixed by people not throwing away technology carelessly.

2. What would you do if someone had access to your personal information?

              Answer: Well that's usually what happens when people throw away a computer that is still working. Isn't that very scary? One of the guys tested a couple of hard drives to see if they actually still worked and amazingly, they worked perfectly fine. Some of them saw credit card numbers, and personal documents. People don't realize if they throw a decent computer with the hard drive still in it, there is still information on it, which could increase identity theft.

3. How do you feel that our nation's safety could be greatly affected?

              Answer: This is also ties into with in personal information because they have accessed federal documents in the hard drives. That definitely impacts our safety because there was one document that was a 22 million dollar contract and it was for the Defensive Intelligence Agency (DIA). If they have access to this kind of information, that means they can access plans about the Federal Government. This needs to be stopped immediately!

Here's the link to the video:

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/ghana804/video/video_index.html

Cyber Bullying

                 Cyber Bullying has been a major issue in the past years because of social media. Social media has been gradually increasing and it will continue in the future. Cyber bullying is verbally abusing somebody over the internet and it usually occurs with teenagers. In some ways cyber bullying can be even worse because it is on the internet where everybody can see it. I’m afraid it will be gradually become a problem because digital media is very huge and popular right now. The sky is the limit to where social media can go. The three most popular types of social media include, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. The most common website that could cause problems is Twitter because it is very similar to texting and once you post a message to a person your following, others can see it right away. The internet can be very dangerous and some people are brutally mean, which could lead to consequences.

                
                 This ties into social justice because no one should be treated like dirt over the internet. Bullying is against the law, no matter if it’s verbally or physically. Unfortunately, some teens do commit suicide because of this, and it’s very sad. An article that I read had some interesting statistics about cyber bullying. Here are the top three that I thought were the most interesting; "Overweight and obese kids are 63% more likely to be bullied, 39% of social network users experience cyber bullying, and 56% report that cyber bullying has real-world consequences." The person who wrote the articles is Jared Skye and he made some great points about it. Luckily, cyber bullying has been going down and hopefully it stays that way because people are getting more involved with social media. All of us can make a difference, by making someone feel better about themselves.