Final Thoughts March 17, 2009

This was my first experience with blogging, and I really enjoyed it. It was a new way for me to express myself and have my voice heard by others (i.e. my classmates). I am one of those people who tend to express myself better in writing than I do speaking, and so I felt very comfortable sharing my thoughts with classmates in an online setting, whereas I probably wouldn’t have felt the same way if we had been in an actual classroom setting. I really enjoyed the class as a whole because it made me aware of how I communicate online. The class is entitled communication, culture, and cyberspace, and what better way to learn about communicating via cyberspace then to conduct the class online and experience this form of communication first-hand?

Probably my favorite part of the class was doing the blog assignments. The prompts caused me to think of things that I never would have considered otherwise. The first blog assignment, in which we had to abstain from the internet for a 24 hour period, made me realize just how much I rely on the internet as part of my everyday life, which is something that I took for granted before. After realizing this, the rest of the blog assignments made me look at different aspects of internet use and online communication, such as social networking and academic research, as well as differences in internet usage across age generations. To be perfectly honest, the thing that I disliked the most about the class was having to read. This has nothing to do with the material; I’m just not a fan of reading in general. However, I realize that the readings were necessary for us to understand and further our knowledge about online communication.

I would keep the class as is for the most part, because I feel that the weekly blogs and reading assignments were important. If I could change anything about the class, I would have to say that students should be able to interact more online. The only time we were interacting with each other was in posting blogs or discussion board questions, or posting in response to others. However, as we found out in this class, there are many different online venues in which we can communicate with others, including online communities, social networking sites, or chat rooms. I think it would have been interesting for us to communicate in these different settings so that we could see first-hand the benefits and problems that can arise with different types of online communication.

In this week’s reading, Postman discusses the need for us to understand the relationship between technology and society, so that we as students will be able to conduct informed conversations on “where technology is taking us and how”. I feel this class definitely helped to put us all in the position of “informed student”. We learned at just how important technology is becoming in society and how it is shaping the way we communicate with others. Before this class, I probably wouldn’t have been comfortable carrying on a discussion about where technology is taking us, because I was not quite sure. Now, I am much more confident in my knowledge of the subject.

Internet Misuse March 10, 2009

For this week’s assignment, the article I found deals with cyber-baiting. In 2006, a woman named Lori Drew created a MySpace page where she pretended to be a teenage boy. She used this pretense to communicate with a 13 year old girl named Megan Meier, who was a former friend of her daughter. She started out by sending love messages to Megan, supposedly from a boy named Josh, for a few weeks. However, she soon began sending hateful messages, including one that said that “the world would be a better place without her”. Megan ended up committing suicide because she felt so rejected by “Josh”. When I first heard this story, it made me sick to my stomach. I think it is disgusting that people use the internet to take advantage of children and teens for sexual purposes, but this case takes things to a different level because an adult was intentionally trying to harass and cause emotional damage to an innocent little girl.

I think this would definitely be considered a misuse of the internet! I mean, using the internet under false pretenses by pretending to be someone you’re not is, in itself, a misuse of the internet. But to take advantage of the fact that internet communication is somewhat “anonymous” and use it to harass or mislead someone, especially a child, is very disturbing. I think that it would be really hard to prevent people from abusing the internet in this manner, because there is really no way to check a person’s identity online. I mean, websites such as MySpace would have no way of knowing that the person creating the profile was actually a middle-aged woman instead of a teenage boy. And I’m not sure that there is really any way that we could prevent people from creating fake profiles. So I think that the only way to prevent a tragedy like this from occurring again is to educate people to exercise caution with online communication. I know that parents always tell their children not to talk to strangers online, or not to give out too much personal information, or not too go meet someone you’ve been talking to online. However, as I’m sure all of us know from experience, children don’t always listen to their parents. And children tend to be especially trusting of people who are their own age (or people they think are their own age, such as in this case). In that case, I think that really the only way to fix the situation would be to prevent children from using social networking sites.

In this week’s reading, Postman says, “…with its emphasis on progress without limits, rights without responsibilities, and technology without cost. The Technopoly story is without a moral center”. I think this sums it up very accurately. Some people on the internet tend to lose their morals and act in ways that are unbelievable, such as this woman Lori Drew. If she were to do something like this in real life, and maybe send letters to the girl instead, then it would be just as appalling of an act. So why should people’s actions on the internet be any different from how they would conduct themselves in real life? The answer is that they shouldn’t.

Wild Card March 2, 2009

I have had a couple experiences where using the internet has greatly affected my ability to communicated, both positively or negatively. I think that the situation that stands out most in my mind was when I first told my mom that I was pregnant. Because I was up in Oregon, and she was home in Hawaii, telling her in person was not an option. So I called her and ended up telling her over the phone. However, I felt that that there were still a lot of things left unsaid, so after that phone call, I ended up writing her an email telling her how I felt, and after that I felt a lot better. She wrote me an email back, and she was able to say what she needed as well. After that, we talked on the phone again, and it was a lot better because we both had said our piece and gotten everything out in the open.

While many people may feel differently, I feel that this situation was actually eased because it occurred in the realm of cyberspace. Having the use of email allowed me to write everything that I was feeling and get out everything that I needed to say. I didn’t do this because I was too afraid to say something to her over the phone; I did it because I couldn’t quite find the words to verbally express myself. But since I’m a lot better at writing than I am at speaking, I was able to put my thoughts in to words. Also, I was able to edit the email and revise it to make sure that it communicated what I wanted it to.

If things had been different and this situation had happened outside of cyberspace, I think it may not have ended as well. Without email, the only option that I would have for writing to her would have been a letter. For this situation, that wouldn’t have worked, because it would have taken a few days for the letter to get to her, and this was not a situation where waiting would help anything. In that case, it would have come down to just having more phone conversations, and I feel that if I had done that, things might have been left unsaid.

I think that many times, people have things that they want to say, but just can’t find the words. When we are communicating with another person face to face, their mere presence may cause us to be afraid or unsure of what to say, especially in “sticky” situations. Even if we use the telephone, it is sometimes hard to put our thoughts in to words, or it may be that the other person doesn’t give us a chance to say what we want to say. Email gives us a way to instantly communicate with another person without having to speak. Writing out our thoughts enables us to say everything that is on our minds, without having to be afraid of the other person’s reaction or of getting cut off. This week’s reading in Wood & Smith discusses the information gap, and questions whether or not access to the internet should be a basic human right. Without access to the internet or email, people are deprived of this form of instant, written communication, which can help ease the communication process greatly, and may sometimes even be essential to the process.

Different Generations and the Internet February 23, 2009

For this week’s assignment, the three generations of people I chose to interview were my friend Castro, my mom, and my grandma.

When I interviewed my friend, who is a student here at Oregon State University, I found that he uses the internet for a wide variety of things. He uses it for social networking on sites such as Facebook or MySpace, to complete research for homework assignments or papers, and to watch videos on Youtube. Also, because he is going to school away from home, he uses the internet to keep in touch with his family back in Hawaii through email. He said he feels very comfortable communicating on the internet, as it is pretty much a part of his daily life. He feels that technology has definitely changed the way that he lives his life, but for the better. Because he has access to technology from home, he doesn’t go to the library to work on school papers or projects, he simply accesses the library webpage from home. He thinks that the internet does have pros and cons, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons.

According to my mom, she uses the internet for both work purposes and for personal use. My mom works as a paralegal for the City and County of Honolulu, and uses the internet all the time at work to email people involved with the cases that she works on. She also uses the internet to do research and find information pertinent to her cases. She also uses the internet at home to communicate with friends and family via email or to keep up to date with the news. My mom said she feels comfortable communicating via the internet, but it took her a while to get the hang of things. She feels that technology has improved the way she lives her life, especially from a work standpoint. Because she works with people from many different states on cases, she needs to be able to keep in touch with them and send information back and forth. Before email, she used to have to use a fax machine to send documents, which was a big hassle for her. She also feels that the internet has made information a lot more accessible, which she feels can be both good and bad at the same time.

My grandma uses the internet only when she is at work. She works part-time at the Planning and Permitting department, and uses the internet sometimes to check for permitting requests or gather information. She doesn’t really like computers in general, and feels that using the internet is kind of a hassle. While she understands the convenience of being able to electronically file permits and keep records instead of having to keep paper copies lying around, she personally has an easier time processing paper forms. Aside from at work, my grandma really won’t use much technology. She doesn’t have a computer at home, she has a cell phone but it’s usually off, and you have to call her house phone. While she doesn’t have a problem with the internet or technology, she was able to liver her life just fine before it was invented, so doesn’t feel the need to use it now.

Comparing the three generations of people that I interviewed only served to confirm what I have always thought, which is that people’s use of the internet varies based on their age. Younger generations seem to use the internet for anything and everything. However, older generations seem to use the internet less often and only for specific purposes, if at all. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that younger generations pretty much grew up learning how to use internet in school, while to older generations it was a relatively new invention that they had to learn about for themselves or from their children. However, I think that in the future, as my generation gets older, there will be less of a difference in internet use across generations as everyone will have the same amount of knowledge about the internet.

Online Community February 21, 2009

For this week’s assignment, I joined the online community called Maoli World. The purpose of this site is to connect Native Hawaiians around the world. It allows you to create a profile page with pictures and personal information, similar to social networking sites such as MySpace. However, the reason I chose to join Maoli World was because of the discussion forum. The possible categories for discussion on this site include things such as the Hawaiian culture, politics, and even your family genealogy. One of the discussion forums that I participated in was the political forum. In this forum, people mainly discuss their feelings about politics in Hawaii or political issues that affect Hawaii, including the Native Hawaiian Recognition Bill that will be reintroduced in Congress this year.

To assimilate in to the group, I started by posting on the discussion forum. I voiced my opinion regarding the issue of the Native Hawaiian Recognition Bill. Because I was new to the group, I didn’t want to seem to abrasive, so although I was sharing my opinion, I tried to be as respectful as possible. I knew that I had been accepted into the group when other group members replied to my postings and engaged in dialogue. I found that once this happened and I felt accepted by members of the group, I had an easier time opening up and expressing myself freely. Of course, I still tried to be respectful, but I was less worried with offending other people and instead was more concerned with sharing my knowledge and opinions on the topic.

Some people replied to my postings because they agreed with my opinions, and it was nice to know that there were other people who felt the same way I did.  There were also people who disagreed with my opinion, and they also responded to my postings. Those people who disagreed tried to explain their reasoning, and some people even tried to persuade me to see things their way. This is generally how agreements and disagreements are expressed on Maoli World, through the use of discussion. Because people tend to be pretty set in their ways regarding politics, disagreements on this issue are never really resolved, but if group members disagree on other issues, they are able to “talk” it out by posting in the discussion forum. Sometimes people were able to reach an agreement through discussion, and sometimes people just agree to disagree.

In almost every online community, you will find a few members who have really abrasive personalities and are just really rude. I had one of these people respond to my post by saying “how stupid can you be” and other insults. I chose to just ignore this person and let it go, but this week’s reading in Wood and Smith discusses the option of silencing group participants who act in this manner and don’t engage in proper netiquette. Although I think that silencing dissenters is probably the easiest way to get rid of people who don’t quite fit in with the group, I don’t think this is the best option, because while it is possible in CMC, it is not possible in “real life”. If you are communicating with someone face-to-face, you don’t have the option of silencing them simply because they say something you don’t want to hear, so why should things be any different online? I think that this just goes to show that people need to be more aware of how they conduct themselves in online communications. Just because the face-to-face factor is taken away, it doesn’t mean that people should conduct themselves in an inappropriate manner, such as being disrespectful or insulting towards others. I feel that a person’s behavior in an online group should be the same as it would be in person.

Academic Research February 9, 2009

For the purposes of this assignment, I chose to look in to the topic of online dating. I think it would be a very interesting topic to actually write a paper on, so I wanted to see what kinds of information I could find. Because this is an academic paper, I needed to use credible sources. I found my sources through Google Scholar and the OSU Library. By using these two databases to find sources, I knew I would be able to find sources that were credible and had correct information. When writing academic papers, I feel that it is important to use sources that are credible, which usually include things such as journal articles, newspaper articles, or books. Because these sources are published and distributed, in print and/or online, the information presented should be accurate, although the information may be very one-sided if the author is trying to support an argument. For example, one of the journal articles I found is entitled “10 Things Your Online Dating Service Won’t Tell You”. This article reveals 10 “down-sides” to online dating that people aren’t usually aware of when they sign up for an online dating service. The article never mentions any of the things that online dating services do share with their clients. However, because this article is published in a reputable journal, Smart Money, the information is accurate because it has been screened by Journal editors.

Many people complete research by simply using a search engine, such as Google or Yahoo, and take information off of whatever web results are returned by the search. I think that it is good to do this kind of information search, because sometimes there is some very helpful information on certain web pages. However, when using this method of research, it is important to critically evaluate the information before citing it in a paper, because the internet is a very “open” resource, and anybody can create a web-page or post up information online, whether or not it is true. A really good example of this is Wikipedia. Many professors, when assigning a paper, outright say that Wikipedia will NOT be recognized as a credible source. However, Wikipedia results are usually the first ones returned when doing a Google search, so people are prone to click on the link and use that information. The reason that Wikipedia is not considered a valid source of information is that ANYONE is allowed to post information on that site. Some people do place accurate information on the site; however there are others who post opinions or false information. Sometimes, it is hard to determine what information is true and what isn’t, so this is why most professors don’t allow Wikipedia at all.

I can definitely appreciate why professors feel this way. They have to grade so many papers and check the sources to see if their students are using accurate information and not plagiarizing, and it is so much easier to eliminate the use of an inaccurate source, such as Wikipedia, then having to analyze and grade a paper that cites information from that website. If I were a professor, I would evaluate the student’s research skills by seeing what types of resources they used. If a student only uses web-sites that were obviously found using only a search engine, then I would say that the student doesn’t have very good research skills. I mean, most kids are doing search engine research by the time they hit 5th grade, and so there should be some distinction between the levels of research done by an elementary school student as opposed to that of a college student. I think the students with the best research skills would use not only an internet search engine, but would explore their school’s library catalog (such as the OSU online library catalog). This way, they would find information that was credible and also have access to many scholarly databases, such as Ebsco.

In this week’s reading, Postman contends that educational institutions have failed in their role of information control, but I don’t think this is entirely true. While it is the role of educational institutions to control information, I think the best way for them to do this is by teaching students how to critically evaluate information and be aware of the different types of information that they may find. I feel that both the high-school I graduated from and the college I currently attend, OSU, successfully control information in this sense, as I have never had any problems completing research papers and analyzing and using credible sources. But I know that not all educational institutions are successful in controlling information, as there are many people who don’t know how to successfully research. I think the greater lesson here is that people really need to be critical when using the internet for research, whether it is for academic or personal purposes. Because there is so much information out there, people really need to learn how to evaluate the credibility of sources that they may find.

Citations:

Jennifer L. Gibbs, Nicole B. Ellison, and Rebecca D. Heino “Self-Presentation in Online Personals: The Role of Anticipated Future Interaction, Self-Disclosure, and Perceived Success in Internet Dating.” Communication Research, Apr 2006; 33: 152 – 177.

Kephart. “10 Things Your Online Dating Service Won’t Tell You.” Smart Money 18 (2009): 96.

Southard. “”Shopping” for a Mate: Expected Versus Experienced Preferences in Online Mate choice.” Technical Communication 2008 (2008): 454.

Letters and Emails February 3, 2009

The two people of influence I chose to write to are my Mom and Coach Ben Nary, My swimming coach from high school. I wrote to my mom using email, and wrote to Coach Ben using snail mail. I made this decision partially based on how these two people of influence use technology. My mom is always emailing me or text messaging me; in fact, she sometimes emails me off her phone. Coach Ben rarely ever uses email, since he says he prefers to communicate via telephone, or better yet in person.

Coach Ben was an instrumental figure in my life since I joined the swim team in 7^th grade. When I injured my foot during my junior year, I thought I was done with swimming forever. Coach Ben took extra time before and after regular practices to help me with my physical therapy and give me specialized workouts so that I would be able to keep up with the rest of my team. With his help, I was able to compete in the regional championships for swimming two months after I was injured. He taught me about perseverance, and I never got the chance to truly express my gratitude to him, so I decided to take this opportunity to thank him.

I chose to write to my Mom because she is just an amazing person. She’s been there for me through everything, and I wanted to thank her for always being there to support me thru thick and thin.

The letter I wrote to my coach long-hand was a page long, while the letter I wrote to my mom turned out to be two pages long when printed. I found that typing on the computer was a lot easier than writing long-hand. When writing long-hand, I was constantly thinking about what I was doing so that I wouldn’t make a mistake. However, with the email, I was able to type what was on my mind, and simply delete it or edit it if it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to say. I expected that the letter to my coach would be longer, since I haven’t talked to him since I graduated, and the letter to my mom would be shorter since I talk to her almost every day, but I found it a lot easier to express myself over email.

Despite the fact that I wrote the letters via two different methods (snail-mail and email), there were not many differences between the language and tone I used in either message.  Because I know both these peoples on a personal level, I didn’t have to make either letter too formal.  I was able to write in a conversational manner, which allowed me to express myself accurately.  However, I did use proper grammar and spelling in both letters.  This was a little difficult for the email, as I sometimes caught myself doing things that I usually do when emailing, such as writing the letter ‘u’ instead of the word ‘you’.  My mom responded by sending me a short email that said “thanks, love you” and called me the next day to thank me.  I still haven’t heard anything back from my coach, but this is most likely because I sent his letter via snail-mail, and so he probably only just received it.  Also, I know he is very busy coaching, so he probably doesn’t have much time to sit down and write out a letter long-hand. However, I do hope to hear from him eventually.

In this week’s reading in Wood and Smith, the authors discuss social presence theory. However, I think that people don’t always take these cues as to which media is most appropriate, and instead use whatever means of communication is most convenient. We tend to use internet communication, especially email, all too often, even when another means of communication, such as a long-hand letter or phone call, may be more appropriate. I think people in society need to be more aware of social context cues in choosing their means of communication.

Personal Pages January 27, 2009

I have both a MySpace page and a Facebook page.  I have had a MySpace page since I was in High School. I made my page when MySpace was first becoming popular, because all my friends had one.  Now, I still use my page, but it is mainly so I can keep in touch with my friends and family. My page is pretty straightforward, it has basic information about me such as my name, hometown, age, and the school I attend as well as information about the things that I like and dislike.  I also have pictures of myself and my son on my page.  I only made a Facebook page during the summer before I started my freshman year of college, because it allowed me to meet new people who would be attending college with me at OSU. , However, I have found that now I don’t use my Facebook page very often.  It has very little personal information aside from my name, school, and birthday, and a few pictures.

All of the information that I post on my both pages is true.  In Chapter 3, Wood and Smith discuss all about self-presentation online and how many people may play roles, distort information, or expose more information than normal, depending on how comfortable they feel on the internet. Some people distort information on their pages in order to seem more appealing to others, but I don’t feel the need to distort information about myself. All the people who are looking at my page already know me, so there is really no need for me to role play or fabricate information in order to make myself seem appealing to other people. Because I already know the people I communicate with online, I don’t feel the need to put an excessive amount of information about myself on my pages.

Although both of my web pages have privacy controls on them that only allow my friends to view my profile, nowadays you never really know who is looking at your profiles.  For this reason, I don’t put any personal information on my web pages that I wouldn’t want a stranger to know, such as my phone number or address.  Surprisingly, there are people who actually do put this kind of information on their web pages, which I think is a stupid idea because you never know who can access this information and use it to their advantage.

Also, I try to put minimal information about myself online because I don’t want it to affect my ability to get a job. Nowadays, prospective employers are using the internet, especially sites like MySpace and Facebook, to search for and get information about prospective employees.  If they see something on an applicant’s page that they don’t like, such as pictures with excessive partying or offensive remarks, then they won’t hire that person.  Although as I said before, I have blocked my page so that only people who I add as friends are able to see my profiles, so a potential employer probably couldn’t access my page, I feel that it is better to be safe than sorry.  For this reason, I try to make sure that my page is a true reflection of the person that I am but at the same time portrays me in a positive manner. This week’s reading talks about how we judges others based on their online profiles. I don’t want people to make negative judgments about who I am as a person, and if there is not too much information about me online, it may be a little harder for someone to judge me. I’d rather have people wait until they meet me in person to make judgments about me.

There are many people nowadays who use personal pages, such as MySpace and Facebook, to meet other people and make friends or even dates. While I don’t think any less of people who do this, I personally would never do something like that. I think it is too big of a risk, especially since there are so many predators online. While this may seem paranoid, I don’t want to put myself into that kind of situation. However, many people are starting to use personal pages to network. While it does seem more convenient to be able to make friends over the internet, I think it greatly reduces the amount of face-to-face communication that people engage in. In my opinion, we shouldn’t sacrifice interpersonal interactions for the sake of online communications; Rather, people should find a balance between the two!

So Much Cooler Online? January 20, 2009

The characters in Brad Paisley’s “Online” music video have very different personalities when they are offline as compared to when they are online.  In the real world, the characters are the stereotypical losers.  The main character is an overweight, balding, middle aged man who still lives with his parents.  He works as a pizza delivery guy, drives an old, beat-up car, and is obsessed with Sci-Fi, and has asthma.  Essentially, in real life, he is the guy that women scoff at and men bully.  However, when the character logs on to the computer and enters his online life, he has a completely different personality.  He portrays himself through his MySpace page as being tall, handsome, and rich.  While in reality, this guy is ashamed to even say hi to the girl who lives next door to him, online he has no problem chatting with two or more women at a time.  The character has an entirely different personality online, and is able to portray himself as the kind of person that he has always wanted to be.

Another part of the video that I found funny but also realistic is when the main character’s dad, played by William Shatner, goes online and creates a MySpace profile and makes friends with some “chesty” women, as his wife calls them. This was funny to me, because nowadays more and more older people are starting to make online profiles on sites such as MySpace and Facebook. This is because technology is becoming more and more widespread, and things such as online networking which were once considered to be for younger people are becoming more acceptable for all ages.

My favorite part of the music video is at the end when the guy ends up going outside as his dorky self in his band uniform but ends up walking away with the girl next door. I thought this was a really subtle way to show that even though you may be “so much cooler online”, it is important to remember who you really are and not be ashamed of that.

I think it is safe to conclude that the ability to communicate/interact online gives people a lot more confidence.  This might be because they don’t have to interact with people face to face, which allows them to be more outgoing because they aren’t worried about being judged.  Whatever the reason, chatting online allows people to express themselves to other people in ways that they probably would not if they were offline.  In some ways, this is a good thing, as it allows people to break out of their shell and gain self esteem through being able to communicate with others without inhibitions.

In this week’s reading, Postman says “technology in providing Americans with convenience, comfort, speed, hygiene, and abundance was so obvious and promising that there seemed no reason to look for any other sources of fulfillment or creativity or purpose.” The music video “Online” shows one of the ways that technology is providing people with fulfillment. You could say that being able to communicate with other people and create an online persona fulfills the need that some people have to connect with others. As can be seen in the video, some people may be too shy to connect with people in real life, but they become a different person online and are able to connect with others that way.

Overall, I think that there is nothing wrong with what the character in the video did, which was to create an online persona much different from who he truly was. However, I think it is important for people to remember that while disguising who you truly are while online may seem harmless, there are people who use false identities on online networking sites and use them to take advantage of others. While these people may seem trustworthy, it is really difficult to judge people’s character through their online profiles. For this reason, it is important to not get too caught up in online identities and to be careful about what kinds of information you do share with others online.

Abstinence January 13, 2009

Having to abstain from all internet use for a 24 hour period was very hard for me at first. Not because I am addicted to the internet or anything, but because I am taking five courses online. I usually spend a good amount of time on the internet, especially on blackboard or checking my email, so it was a strange feeling to not be able to do any of my school work for a day.

Not being able to use the internet didn’t drastically affect my ability to communicate. I was able to use my cell phone and send text messages or make phone calls as I usually do. Although I do email people occasionally, I don’t think it is the most effective means of communication. I prefer to use the telephone because in my opinion, it is actually much faster and easier than waiting for someone to reply to an email. If you think about it, people nowadays are much more likely to have their cell phone next to them than they are to be sitting at a computer at the exact time you need to get in touch with them.

Other things that I usually do on the internet include checking the newspaper, checking the weather report, or going on social networking sites such as Myspace or Facebook. Not being able to do these things didn’t really impact me. The only impact that it had was that there are certain people who I only talk to on Myspace or Facebook, so I wasn’t able to communicate with these people for the 24 hour period, but it wasn’t a big deal to me.

Instead of going on the internet to do my school work, I was able to spend the day with my 3 month old son. I was able to take him to the beach and to the zoo. It was really nice to be able to enjoy one of my last few days in Hawaii by getting some sunshine, and I’m glad I was able to devote a full day’s worth of attention to my son, instead of having to take some time away from him to do my school work. It is interesting because in this week’s reading from Postman, he says that technology has created an ideology that speed and efficiency are the most desirable traits in any aspect of life. However, after completing the 24 hour abstinence period, I found it more enjoyable to be able to just slow down and enjoy the simpler things in life, such as spending time with my son. I almost wished I didn’t have to return to online classes again the next day!

Although I really enjoyed having a “day off” from the internet, it made me realize how different my life would be without the internet. I have been taking online classes since the beginning of this school year so that I can stay at home to take care of my son and continue my education at the same time. However, if the internet did not exist, then I would not be able to do this. I would either have to take a break from school to take care of my son, or find child care for him so that I could attend classes. To me, it seems like a lose-lose situation.

This experience has made appreciate the internet much more than I did before. I think that people tend to take the internet, and technology as a whole for that matter, for granted. However, not being able to use this technology for a whole day really makes you appreciate how convenient the internet makes life.