Help! The Internet's Got Me & Won't Let Me Go!

If you were to ask me, "Will, do you feel the web is changing the way people think?" I'll say, "You betcha!" and for a variety of reasons. The internet isn't just a global system of interconnected computer networks that uses code and protocol to serve many users worldwide, rather it's a world within our own.

The web changes the way we think because humans feel they are only exposed to and can acquire a certain amount of information without the need of a computer. Even with advances in televisions, in this day and age, the web is a powerful tool in crafting ideologies and persuading people to believe one thing or the other. Blogs, Wikipedia, and YouTube are some reasons for this effect:

Blogs are a common way for people to publish their own thoughts to provoke interaction and possibly discussion between the visitors of it. Even Blogger is a perfect example of one. The big way that blogs can change the way people think is because they may have an individual that is attempting to persuade their readers to agree with their subjective views on things. For example, a political blog that endorses the Democratic and Republican party may only express their own views in hopes to persuade people to endorse those same views. This can be an effective way for web to change the way we think because other media like television can only have a lasting effect for so long.

Wikipedia and YouTube are other websites that are big on changing the way people think. Wikipedia can be an excellent source of information when that information is correct, but since the site gives users the ability to edit content, then information can often end up misleading others because many people assume that Wikipedia's content is 100% truth. YouTube is a video-sharing site that can also change the way people think. And not only do the user-posted videos have this effect, but the comments that are shared between people also do as well. For example, if Random posts a video critiquing the need for NFL to extend its seasons by two games, they may very well present some good points and analysis. Further, users may agree or disagree with Random's arguments, but now that they have been affected by the video, their thoughts on the NFL might change and they may view the sport differently.

See what I mean?

When a tool as powerful as the web is relied upon by SO many people, it undoubtedly has an effect on the way they think. The internet's attraction is like the pull created by the Earth's magnetic force; we don't always notice its effect.... BUT we know it's there. My closing thoughts on the topic of discussion is that people need to challenge themselves to see if they can not depend on the internet as much and see if they notice in the way they perceive things. I wonder what would happen if life went back to the days when the web didn't exist. Things would be a LOT tougher for folks. With billions of people addicted to the web today, I'm surprised everyone's not running around screaming, "Help! The Internet's Got Me & Won't Let Me Go!" like they were stuck in a bad dream or something.

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Honorable mentions: Sites like Facebook, Myspace, etc. These social networking places allow for many ideologies to be formed since people are able to represent themselves in their own fashion. For example, John Doe might post a status or headline talking about Earth Day. The awareness that Doe creates from this status may make people think twice about doing environmentally harmful things like littering. This can even subconciously change the way people think.

My Thoughts On Technology

I don't know if the internet is changing the way we think as much as it is changing the way we do things. If we need information on a specific topic we don't have to look through book after book. We can go to a website and read a few paragraphs. If it doesn't have what we are looking for we can easily switch to a new one. It doesn't mean that we can't focus it just means that there is something better out there. I think the author of Is Google Making Us Stupid may be having a more difficult time concentrating because he is getting older, not because of internet use.

The brain implants discussed in Get Smarter are frightening. It reminds me of the movie Wall-E. It is about a futuristic society. The people in the movie no longer have to walk so they become extremely overweight and are no longer able to get around on their own. If people allow themselves to be implanted with an electronic "brain" will they have to learn anything? If they are using an electonic brain and not their own will it begin to decay? Who will develop future technology if people begin to rely on machines to give them information? I think that it is great that people can have pace makers to keep their hearts beating and electodes in their brains to keep their hands from shaking, but an artificial brain is going too far. It's unethical.

Where Does It Stop?

As everyone can tell from my previous posts and comments, my one question has been where does it stop? When does tracking become intrusive and an invasion of privacy? Obviously each persons answer will be different as everyone's comfort level will vary. But one thing has become increasingly clear to me from the reading we have been doing...the internet and its affiliates are still pushing, still progressing, waiting to see when they will cross enough people's comfort zones to be stopped.
As in the article "The Web's New Gold Mine : Your Secrets" states "Tracking tecnology is getting smarter and more intrusive. Monitoring used to be limited to cookie files that record websites people visit. But the Journal found new tools that scan in real time what people are doing on a web page, then instantly assess location, income, shopping interests, even medical conditions." I find this a little scary. When you think back to 1994 when cookies were first introduced, their purpose at the time was innocent...to help remember contents of web shopping carts. But as with anything anymore, someone quickly found a way to use it to make money and within a year it's purpose was no longer innocent.
When you study the progression of tracking it steadily becomes more detailed and intrusive. So far not enough people are uncomfortable with its level of invasion to do anything about it. However, don't kid yourself into thinking its going to stop there. Right now your name and face aren't up for sale but honestly folks, how long do you think it will be before it is...?

Its easier to focus on Facebook than the professor...

So we all have done it. Bring our laptop to class to take notes, and then before you know it, you are surfing the Internet and updating your Facebook status. You look up, and realize you have no idea what is going on in the class. I can admit that this happens to me in my night classes. The 3 hours just seems to drag on, and I just can't seem to focus on the professor for that long.

In the article "Attention Literacy", Howard Rheingold, a online professor, described a very interesting experiment. He videotaped his students while he was teaching a class because he wanted them to see what it looked like when hardly nobody was paying attention. The students were focusing on their laptops, and when they were on their laptops, they were not focusing on taking notes but on surfing the web.

The point of his video wasn't for students to focus on their professors, but to show them that paying attention takes practice. I think that this was very interesting experiment. I feel bad when I get sidetracked and stop paying attention to the professor, but it is so hard to stay focused. I think Rheingold is 100% right when he says paying attention is a skill that needs to be practiced. I have been practicing for years, but I still can't get the hang of not using my laptop in my night classes.

What are your thoughts? Do you use your laptop in classes to help make the time go by faster?

Does the Internet and Social Networking change the way we think?

When I first saw that we got to choose our own response for the readings this week, the first thing that came to my mind was social networking. When I say social networking, I mean websites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. The reason why I specifically mentioned these social networking sites is because I feel that these three are the most popular social networking sites, especially Facebook. Also, websites like Google allow people to search pretty much anything they want on the internet. In our first research project, we had to be an outsider and find as much information as possible about ourselves and members of our family. Most of the websites I looked at were social networking sites and it always related me back to the same question. Does social networking make us change the way we think? I believe so because it makes us think deeply not only about others on these sites, but ourselves as well. Social networking sites give us the freedom to do so many things that include learning more detailed information about people that you never knew before. I really like this picture I posted on the left because it sums up all of the different things you can do on social networking sites. On social networking sites, you are able to participate, post comments, make connections, make friends, join groups, and post different bulletin ideas. Like I talked about before in my earlier blogs, there are very little restrictions on what you CANT do on the internet today. There continues to be multiple advancements in technology, which will help people continue to find out different ways to discover information about other people.

The reason I think that social networking sites in general make us change the way we think is because we change our opinion about certain people because of the information they post on their social networking sites. An example of this situation could be a co-worker who you really got to like at work and it turned into a good friendly relationship. Then, you decide to add them on Facebook because you guys have gotten so close at work. After you add them you decide to look over their page and pictures. Then after you look at them, your perspective about your co-worker completely change. There are pictures of him/her doing drugs and other illegal things. You start to realize that you wish that you never would of added them on Facebook because your relationship with them at work was so friendly and enjoyable. Also, if someone wanted to discover more information about someone else, they could try entering their name in the Google search engine. Nine times out of ten, that person will come up with more information about themselves. Nicholas Carr talks about Google and how advanced it is when he says "research that once required days in the stacks of periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in minutes. A few Google searches, some quick clicks on hyperlinks, and I've got the telltale fact or pithy quote I was after." I really do find his quote true because there have been multiple times when I have been doing research for a class and found it a lot quicker than if I was looking through books or catalogs at the library.

Carr even talks about even when he is not performing research on a topic as a writer. In his free time he is most likely surfing the web for own personal reasons. This relates back to most of us in that if we are on a computer and not doing research for a class, then we are mostly on our Facebooks, Twitters, or watching a Youtube video. Carr says, "Even when I'm not working, I'm as likely as not to be foraging in the Web's info-thickets' reading and writing e-mails, scanning headlines and blog posts, watching videos and listening to podcasts, or just tripping from link to link." However, if you are like me, most of the time that I am working on research for a class I still have my Facebook and Twitter open in another tab. This is a key factor in the theme for this week's readings of "How the Web is Changing the Way We Think." I believe that when working on assignments, whether it be for work or school, social networking sites distract us from our work. Right now, I am currently writing this blog, talking to my brother on Rockmelt Facebook chat, and checking up Twitter every few minutes for following updates. The internet is becoming a universal medium and I agree with Carr when he says, "the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind." I do feel this way when I am surfing the Web for information or playing some type of game. I feel like I am starring off into space and then when I finally turn away from the monitor, I am in my own little world and I can't stop blinking my eyes. The Web does change the way we think in different aspects of life such as social interaction, education, profession, and concentration.

Another website that I found interesting was by Sharon Begley and she talked about our brains online and how exactly the web changes the way we think. http://www.newsweek.com/2010/01/07/your-brain-online.html She explains her reasoning into four short sentences by saying, "Shortened attention span. Less interest in reflection and introspection. Inability to engage in in-depth thought. Fragmented, distracted thinking."

Your attention, please.

Say goodbye to your alone time. [source]

I recently finished House of Leaves, a 700+ page monstrosity of a book, with pages that often look something like this. It's full of footnotes that trail endlessly into one another and multiple plot lines arranged in different columns on the same page. As I was jumping between pages in a frenzy, trying to follow the labyrinthine plot, I realized: this isn't so bad. In fact, I'm used to it. Books like this emphasize the backward pollination of the internet into earlier forms of media. Not coincidentally, the book is kind of meant to drive you insane, and it does that pretty well. Like the footnotes in the book, internet hyperlinks don't just give us an option to switch contexts. As Nicholas Carr says, they "propel" us; they give our reading momentum. I can relate to Carr's remarks about losing the ability to focus on content with depth, not breadth. Banner ads and other flashy content make it tough to focus as well, and with a bookmarks bar at the top of my browser with all of my favorite sites, I often find myself unconsciously opening new links when I should be studying what's on the page. And thank goodness I never got hooked on StumbleUpon. Sites like Wikipedia give us a rabbit hole of information that we can easily spend hours on, learning about things that have almost no relation to the ones we started off reading about. Like Carr, I'm now having a harder time focusing on books than I did in the past. With practice, I can overcome it, but it's definitely frustrating.

Even so, I don't agree with Carr's fear that Google will become too powerful of an AI, systematizing everything and removing mystery from the world. In any case, it wouldn't be Google's fault; it would be ours. Google is a tool like any other, and it's our job to use it judiciously. Technology hasn't robbed us of moderation and discipline, now has it? I recently went for almost a week without internet access, and apart from being unable to check my email, I found I wasn't missing much at all. When I got it back, I checked a few sites and said, "That's it? That's all I was missing?" As Howard Rheingold mentions, though, some people are growing up without being taught how to detach from their technology. I didn't have the internet until I was at least 12 years old; what'll it be like for kids who grow up with it in their earliest conscious memories? I don't think Ludditism (rejection of modern technology) is the answer. We should instead focus on teaching kids how to sit down and read a book in one sitting, or finish a painting before getting back on the internet. Google won't be able to do either of those things for us in the near future, and they're still immensely satisfying even if it could. We're going to need people for a very long time.

Still, I'm afraid. The internet may be killing the introvert. Many deep thinking activities require isolation. While I certainly enjoy socializing, I also put a lot of worth on having time to myself to focus on my personal projects (or just to think). In that sense, I'm a bit of an introvert; I often need to recharge my social "batteries." I'm finding it hard to do that these days. My phone is almost always on me, even when I'm alone, meaning I'm usually juggling several conversations at once via text message. Even the most hardcore of introverts - you know the stereotypes - aren't really alone anymore. They may be locked up in their room for weeks, but they're on Facebook, or playing online games like World of Warcraft that are based on community interaction. I often want to cut off communication for awhile and simply have my own time, but I worry that I'll miss something. Will my friends be insulted if I don't text them back for awhile? What if there's an emergency? In recent years, I've taken to staying up late at night. Because most people are sleeping, I find this is one of the only times I can get things done without the hindrance of social responsibilities. Since being almost nocturnal has taken a toll on my health, I'd like to find a better solution. I think that many other people my age are developing a growing discontent with our constant connectedness, too, despite the many advantages it's given us. As Bill Hicks once joked in the 80's, try watching CNN for 24 hours. You'll go insane. Several of my friends have expressed a wish to go off the grid entirely and renounce these modern trappings in all their constancy. That's a little extreme for me, but I understand where they're coming from. I suspect we'll see a strong increase in the number of these young technological outcasts very soon.

Being a programmer by trade, it's a confusing fence for me to sit on. Despite my disdain for certain aspects of our technology, though, I'm excited about the future of artificial intelligence. Something like a self-driving car could free up time for more mindful activities. By offloading tasks to computers, we can spend more time studying the finer things. In any case, the horizon may come sooner than we think. Futurist Ray Kurzweil thinks we'll have an AI that can pass for human by 2029 (in fact, he's betting $20,000 on it). The concepts of trans-humanism can get a bit extreme, but I'm excited by the possibility of augmenting our bodies and intelligence with new technology. Regardless of how thrilling the future may turn out to be, we should remember to apply forethought and to be disciplined in its use, and embrace that little cultural undercurrent that tells us to hesitate.

Who's tracking whom?

When you visit a website like "Facebook" and search or look up things, did you know they are keeping track of that? Well they are, they keep track of it so that they can know what to advertise to you. They say it's better that way so you get "personalized" advertisements, but is it really? I mean let's say you put single for your relationship status, then the next time you log on the ads on the side of the page are all for "LOCAL SINGLES IN YOUR AREA."

I think it's fair game, I mean if you choose to use the service and input the information your giving it away then. It's just like telemarketers with phones, if you choose to use the service you gotta deal with the possible annoyances or consequences.

I've noticed though that some things aren't as they seem. For example I looked at my own Facebook and noticed that I had "given permission" to 161 applications to track what I look up, "like" or input. I didn't realize I allowed them to do that and each application is owned by a different company which may allow other to see what I like and advertise to me.

Other sites you visit can do the same thing. Let's say you go to google.com and search something which takes you to youtube.com. Now both google and youtube know what you were searching. Then you post the youtube link onto Facebook and now Google, Youtube, and Facebook know what you looked up on which site and now have access to your facebook and can see that you shared the link. The different websites can know "interact" and come up with advertisements to show you on the other websites. It's just a never ending loop.