Smartphones and Society

For my final research paper in new media class, I wrote about the good and bad effects of smartphones on society. I chose this topic because of the impact that my iPhone has had on my life since I purchased my first one in 2009. Almost everybody I know that owns a smartphone no longer know knows what to do without it. There are so many things that people use their smartphones for reference throughout the day. I was talking to my neighbor yesterday who fell out of his boat into a river with his phone in his pocket, and it is no longer works. He said to me that he feels "naked" without it. I totally agree with him. When I forget my phone I feel lost. In my paper, I cover the effects of smartphones on education, work, and personal life. Check it out at http://klconnors.students.noctrl.edu/drip/index.html.

Internet and the News

In class we learned about how the news industry has been effected by the internet. It is unfortunate that many of the newspaper companies have gone bankrupt due to online journalism, but after all the internet is a more effective way to get the news stories seen. The internet has allowed citizens to become journalists as well. Especially with all of the cameras people have on their phones. When events take place there are always people to document them. On top of this, people can look at the news whenever, where ever they are as long as they have access to a computer, tablet, or smartphone. This is great because people no longer need to wait for the stories to be printed, or broadcasted.

I love the fact that I can read the news on my phone. I think the majority of my generation agrees with me because it is a hassle to go out and buy a newspaper. Now we don't even need to leave the house. Before I had the internet I would rarely hear the news because I had to go out of my way to get it, or wait for the news to come on TV. I honestly didn't care enough to hear the news. Now, I am more up to date with whats going on locally, and around the world because it's right at the tip of my fingers.

Image from: http://people.howstuffworks.com/newspaper.htm

Transmedia Storytelling

Transmedia storytelling is when a story is told over several different platforms. Instead of just watching a movie, playing a game, or reading a book, part of the story is in the movie, part of it is in the game, part is in the book, and more is on the internet, or somewhere else.  This allows the person to either participate in only one and get part of the story, or get the more out of the story by involving them self in one or more of the other platforms.
One example of transmedia storytelling that we learned about in class is the Matrix. There are three movies, a game, and the animatrix, which is a collection of different artists that have their own story in the matrix universe. There was also an online game at one point, but it no longer exists because it did not become very popular. The Matrix is a story that that you will not fully understand unless you get involved with the different platforms. Other notable franchises that are also engaged in transmedia story telling are Star Wars, Xmen, Halo, Avatar, and Batman.
I think transmedia storytelling is awesome for people that fall in love with these stories and worlds. Transmedia storytelling is a great way for these franchises to make money off of the worlds that they create. They put so much time and money put into creating these worlds that they get so much more out of them through these different platforms. On top of this, the fans get so much more out of the stories too.

Image from: http://bridgeartsmedia.com

Music and the Internet

The rise of the internet has had a huge effect on the music industry. It is so easy now to download music for free or just listen to it online, that May people have stopped buying music. There have been laws put in place trying to stop the sharing of music and video files, but people are always finding ways around it. In my opinion, once the person has a considerable amount of copies sold. they should just let us download the music for free, it's not like they make very much off of each purchase. It cant be effecting the famous musicians that bad, considering they still have enough money to have million dollar houses, nice cars, and all the clothes and accessories they could want. And after all that, they still have more spending money. Many of these musicians make enough off of their shows and other promotions to survive off of. If they allowed us to download their music for free, they may get more fans because their music could be played by more people, more often.

Image from: http://w8themes.com/music-wallpapers/

Crazy Life

These past few weeks have been crazy for me so I haven't had much time to log on, so I apologize. In new media class we have learned about a variety of topics, such as the effect of technology on the music industry, transmedia story telling, and how the internet has effected the news industry. I think it's interesting to see  how everything has evolved due to the internet. In the next few posts I will talk a little about each topic, and later I'll tell you about my research paper I just wrote called The Good and Bad Effects of Smartphones on Society.

Bullying

In class this week we discussed Danah Boyd’s chapter on bullying in “It’s Complicated”. She mentions the case of Amanda Todd, a 15-year old Canadian girl who committed suicide after being constantly harassed and bullied, both online and in person. Before Todd committed suicide, she posted a video online telling her story. Stories like this one have caused schools to create “zero tolerance” policies towards online bullying, but Danah Boyd thinks these policies do more harm than good. She mentioned in the chapter that school and parent involvement can make the situation worse because the parents don’t know all of the details. Boyd also argued that with no tolerance, the bully is often punished but the reasons why he/she is being a bully often aren’t attended to. She mentions that often times bullies act the way they do because they are having problems in their own life that they don’t know how to deal with. 

Online bullying is a tough situation to deal with. I believe that schools and parents getting involved, especially online, makes the teens feel like their privacy is being invaded. Victims of bullying will possibly even suffer more because of this. For example, a neighbor of mine was being bullied at school, online, and over text messages. The problem was brought to the school’s attention when the 13-year old’s father found out what was going on by reading the text messages coming through to his sons phone. The following day the two boys were taken to the office for counseling. A few days later, both boys were suspended for three days after getting in a fight in the hallway. The fight was started by the bully because he was now accusing the other boy of tattling, and started pushing him around. Because the boy’s father got involved and notified the school, the bullying for his child was taken to the next level, continued verbal and now physical attacks. The schools often get involved but don’t know the background of the situation and why it is happening. Now that the bully is being punished, the bullying has gotten worse. The reason for this is because the school jumped right to trying to get the two boys to make up before knowing the source of the problem. The boy felt like he was being attacked and then took it out on the other kid. Before the schools get involved they need to separate the kids involved ask them questions and try to find the reason for the bullying. Jumping to conclusions and trying to force the boys to make up is not a good way to solve a problem.

The Social Life of Teens

In class this week, we started reading Danah Boyd’s book “It’s Complicated”. In the first couple of chapters she mentions how teens these days are doing the same thing that teens twenty years ago were doing. They just go about it in a different way. Years ago, teens would be hanging out at malls, restaurants, parking lots, and many other public places. Now due to policing and laws these places aren’t as available for teens to group together and hang out. Don’t get me wrong, these places are still around for teens to hang out, but it is frowned upon by many business owners for them to loiter outside their buildings. Instead they use social media websites and other forms of online communication in order to interact with their friends. There is nothing unusual about teens using these websites, they just want to be able to connect with their friends without the constant surveillance by adults. 

In the introduction of the book, Boyd mentioned how when she was at a high school football game in Nashville, the students were still doing what they did at football games when she attended high school in Pennsylvania. The student section of the bleachers was filled with teens dressed in school colors. The upperclassmen were in the lower seats closer to the field while the freshmen were up at the top of the bleachers. The teens weren’t sucked in to their smartphones even though they each had one on them. The teens that were alone would be texting until they found the friends they were looking for, but after they were together the smartphones were put away, unless the unwanted phone call from their parents came in or they were showing a friend something on it. This goes to show that teens are not using social media and other forms of technology to separate themselves from a social life. They are using it to connect with their friends and peers when they are unable to go out of the house and hang out with them in person. Social media also allows them to interact with more people than they would if they were to go to a friend’s house or hang out at the mall.