Always On

Our generation and the younger generations are always on. Meaning they are always on the internet; connecting in some way. We carry around cell phones and laptop cases because they are available to us. On the same note, the internet is available to us (in the United States) almost anywhere. Our coffee shops turn into hot spots, hospitals have community wifi, even some McDonald's are "always on" (connected).

Because of being on all the time, everyday public spaces become places for solitude. People want to be on their phones or laptops instead of interacting with other people face to face. Sherry Turkle writes, "a train station (like an airport, a cafe, or a park) is no longer a communal space but a place of social collection: people come together but do not speak to each other" (AT 155). We are glued to the instant access of knowledge and the interconnectivity of social networks, so much that we sometimes isolate ourselves in public, communal spaces.

This is not a new phenomenon, just a rapidly increasing one. At the beginning of the internet era, people began to see how a new identity could be created on the internet. Now, there are games like The Sims and Second Life, where people can create an alternate identity.

Turkle writes about the identities some people create in online communities: "Online, the plain represented themselves as glamorous, the old as young, the young as older. Those of modest means wore elaborate virtual jewelry. In virtual space, the crippled walked without crutches, and the shy improved their chances as seducers" (AT 158). Some people enjoy being on these types of games more-so than their actual lives.

Because of the increase in technology, people have become more efficient multitaskers. Turkle makes the point that grade school youth today are juggling a monstrous amount of technology compared to the children that grew up in the 80's (AT 162). Most of us, growing up in the 80's or 90's can relate to her comparison. Gameboy and homework or homework and music almost always went hand in hand growing up, but today kids have, as Turkle points out as well, calls, videos, texts, facebook, twitter, blogger, and many other distractions to juggle while working.

A lot of us are guilty of always being on, I know I am. I looked up 2 youtube videos, sent 2 text messages and one email, and checked my Twitter all while writing this blog in a room with two other people. Although accompanied by actual human beings, I chose to "be on" over striking up a conversation. Just keeping up with the times, I suppose.

COM 409 Intro and CH1

Well hello, we are back again. My name is Greg Aitken and I am a senior here at Reinhardt. I have family mainly in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia, but other parts of the US as well.

I can not say that I am an early adopter as far as technology comes. I do not enjoy being on the computer, but I will admit that, once I got a smart-phone, my life was changed. Having that much information at my fingertips was truly an amazing experience for the first time. I feel like the next generation should be brainiacks. They are getting smart-phones at young ages, but I am not sure if they are being used to their

maximum potential.

I avoided Facebook and Twitter for as long as I could, but as soon as I bought a smart-phone, I was forced to give in. The inter-connectivity online is a remarkable aspect of the internet. Although I am not active on Facebook and am minimally active on Twitter, I find their services quite useful. I have been able to find friends from different places that I have lived and have been able to follow comedians and athletes on Twitter (@GregoryMcBeth).

Reading through the first online reading, I learned a lot about online cybercultures and what a cyberculture is. I interact in cyberculture all the time, but did not really know what it was. I am a member of xbox live, which is an online gaming cyberculture. You are able to create avatars which can represent you in the online world.

When I think of cyberculture I almost immediately think of the movie "The Matrix" and the concept behind that movie. In the movie, the fact that you can have a mental projection of yourself to plug into the matrix, the same goes with xbox live avatars. You can create an avatar to resemble yourself all the way down to its clothes.

Another topic and stat that interested me is that of the digital divide. The stats on population and internet usage and their correlation is fascinating because they do not go hand in hand. The countries with higher internet usage are not the most populated, in fact, the opposite is true in some cases.

Because there is internet usage, although not as prevalent in some countries and nations, there must be some kind of monitoring system to regulate cyberspace. There is a governing term which is used to describe the set of rules known as protocol.

A new term, cyberfeminists, stuck out to me as well. Cyberfeminists "seek to feminize cyberspace by ensuring that the technology is appropriated for their use" (CC 18). One website that is particularly geared towards women is Pinterest. This site seems like a cyberfeminists definition of technology appropriated for female use.

Cybercultures are popping up all over the internet. The interconnectivity of the internet and the ability to communicate over so many different mediums makes cybercultures more of a world culture than an internet culture. Although the internet is a global culture, it seems so much smaller and more connected than the actual world does.