Journal #8

"In Your Face" by Christoper Beam

This article discusses the social networking phenomenon. The author, Christopher Beam, compares two of the most popular networking sites the Goliath MySpace and it's ing'enue Facebook. Beam seems to favor Facebook for being "comfy, sturdy, and attractive, without being showy", which may have been the case until recently when the website decided to expand it's borders and allow users to add and develop new programs. In doing so, some 900 new programs have popped up on Facebook. The author seems upset that none of the new programs have any real significance and the site still lacks an email or instant messaging system, which are apparently the keys to real success. Beam feels that in order for Facebook to take over MySpace it needs to be more all encompassing so users can virtually live online. It was about half way through this article that I started worrying about the state of society today. I think technology is a good thing. I think that what it has done to open up the international lines of communication is amazing. Aside from the whole technology in education theme we have going I love the Internet for so many other reasons. I love having quick and easy features like email which allow me to talk to my friends all over the world, and it's quite convenient to pay bills on line, but there has to be a limit to how much we do online. I feel like we should be spending more time out in the real world, we should get back to more personal, face to face conversations when ever possible. Who wants to be a totally shut-in who lives online all day. Do we need a supernetwork? Beam believes it is great to be able to download the same programs that your friends have or view what movies and music they buy while you graffiti all over their personal photos, but this all seems a little too much for me. Now I know that the people who do this allow their friends to have access to all their downloads and photos, but I just cant help but think of how this information can fall into the wrong hands. I guess it's just me, because according to the author the number of people who sign up for this kind of interaction is in the hundreds of thousands. It not like I think that this technology is the beginning of the end. I just think we can find better things to do with our free time. I'd rather go outside and play a game of softball with some friends.

Question 1

What do you think there is a positive side to social networking?

Yes. I do think it is nice to see what your friends and family, who live several hundreds of miles away, are doing. I feel that it's nice to share photos and music, but I just don't like to see so much dependency on the Internet.

Question 2

Would you incorporate this technology in your classroom?

No. I definitely plan on using class blogs or wiki web pages but social networking does not seem to be educationally appropriate.