I have had a MySpace account for about 3 years now. Seeing MySpace evolve has been interesting because it seems that the more popular this Internet community becomes, the more potential one has for drawing themselves toward anonymous, and potentially dangerous forms of cyberspace traps such as Spam messages and predators. When I first began using MySpace, the amount of friends and age group of friends seemed to be geared more toward young adult. Now MySpace has increasingly become popular with the younger crowd, as well as adults. I believe that because of the popularity and diversity of people joining MySpace, people may set themselves up for allowing too much personal information about themselves be revealed, which can lead to a variety of consequences such as being life threatening, career destructing, or just plain embarrassing.
On MySpace, I read bulletins and comments posted by friends to friends. Many bulletins are surveys and some are Spam messages from which a persons’ profile has become “hacked” onto. While reading bulletins, sometimes it amazes me what some people will write about for everyone on their friends list to know! It is interesting to see some peoples MySpace pages compared to others. You can tell when somebody feels they need to be a little more careful about the information that is broadcasted on their page by setting his/her page to private, therefore only allowing “friends” to see. Others are more careful by not disclosing where he or she works, goes to school, or even the city they live in. I think that some people are just more open to what they share with others. For me, I do list my hometown, high school, college, and place of employment. No matter how much information is given to others, everyone should understand the consequences he or she may encounter if a confrontation occurs because someone was not careful enough regarding the personal content shared on MySpace.
I have off and on set my profile setting to private. I did this a few months ago and decided to revert my page back to public mainly due to the fact that I could set my homepage as a favorite, and go to my page to listen to my profile song and see if any of my top friends were online at the time. I know it seems like of strange, but I found this to be convenient. I do however, have my pictures set to private, therefore the anonymous MySpace viewers cannot see my photo albums. Another reason I have kept my page to public is because I have set my Spam setting to custom, and have made messaging, commenting, and friend adding settings at a more secure level. For example, only those from my friends list can send me messages and comments, and must go through the security process.
Yes, although having my profile set to public doesn’t stop anonymous viewers from viewing my profile, it stops potentially dangerous anonymous communicators from communicating with me. I set my privacy to disabling those under 18 to contact me and the high settings I have for the Spam filter have completely eliminated any random creepy messages I used to receive. I also never get Spam comments or messages anymore. I also do not share my last name on my page, nor give information such as phone numbers, my e-mail address, or personal address to anyone! And if for any reasons I felt that I was putting my life in danger with the information I do have on my page, I would make alterations. I also do not write anything to personal in comments, nor personal bulletins.
Although MySpace's logo, "A place for friends" suits many peoples purpose for communicating online, this network creates the potential for people to communicate with anonymous people who may have false identities and be out to harm. The best thing to do is play it safe and not communicate with those you don't know and certainly don't post anything you would not want a dangerous person to know, or maybe your boss to know! MySpace has dealt up many controversies including the most recent with the Oregon mayor who has been under heat when photos of her in lingerie where found on MySpace. When personal content is posted on the Internet, basically anyone can find a way to access that information. Personal information has the potential to be transfer to the eyes of anonymous views and one must take responsibility for the content regarding their lives that is spread on the World Wide Web.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
So Much Cooler Online
I love this song and video. I think it is thoroughly entertaining and I can recite all the lyrics. So I can’t help but put a few lyrics in quotes as I write this blog.
“I’m gonna be him,” the pizza guy says to himself at the beginning of Brad Paisley’s “Online” music video. He says this as he looks at a recording of Brad Paisley’s live performance of "Online" after delivering pizza to a rude customer. The pizza guy is portrayed as an outcast, someone completely opposite of Brad Paisley's character. The pizza guy is seen looking forward to going home and logging onto MySpace Chat with a false identity. He sees cyberspace as the place to alter facts about himself and replace them with characteristics that make him "cooler online."
The differences between the two characters are apparent in looks, social status and behavior. The pizza guy is portrayed as a shy and quirky guy, with possible low self-esteem and confidence. I think that because he seeks cyberspace as a way to become cool, he feels insecure about his true self as the lyrics tell us:
"When you got my kinda stacks, it's hard to get a date
Let alone a real girlfriend..."
On the other hand, Brad Paisley is shown as rich, famous, good-looking, with confidence and high self-esteem. Unlike the pizza man, Brad Paisley seems very well grounded with his life and does not try to pretend to be someone he is not.
The pizza guys personality changes when he is online. In the music video, MySpace Chat is shown with the pizza guys profile image being Brad Paisley. The music video shows two bubbles above his head with images of attractive women whom he hopes he is chatting with. He feels that with the profile image and life style of Brad Paisley, he can “chat with two woman at one time.” The pizza guys face lights up and you can practically see the confidence building within him when he is chatting online using his fake identity. A good example from the song are the lyrics:
"But I grow another foot and I lose a bunch of weight everytime I log in."
The pizza guy’s personally is different when he is offline in the respect he is back to his true self. He has no Internet profile that he can hide behind when he is offline and facing the real world. He seems very shy, especially with the neighbor girl, who it seems he has a crush on. His confidence seems to dwindle down and his lifestyle becomes apparently different than what he would like it to be. He lives at home with is parents, not in Malibu, and works as pizza delivery guy, not a country music artist such as Paisley.
At the end of the video, the guy is seen taking his old band outfit out of his closet. He then is seen marching away with the love interest (the girl next door) while the band music plays. Marching away arm and arm, I think the moral of this music video and song is to embrace who you are and not pretend to be someone else. I think the character learned that it is better to stay true to yourself and to stop taking ideas from other lifestyles that are not your own just to be “cooler.”
All lyrics from http://www.lyrics.com/url.php?link=http://brad-paisley.freeoda.com/text/5thgear/3.html
“I’m gonna be him,” the pizza guy says to himself at the beginning of Brad Paisley’s “Online” music video. He says this as he looks at a recording of Brad Paisley’s live performance of "Online" after delivering pizza to a rude customer. The pizza guy is portrayed as an outcast, someone completely opposite of Brad Paisley's character. The pizza guy is seen looking forward to going home and logging onto MySpace Chat with a false identity. He sees cyberspace as the place to alter facts about himself and replace them with characteristics that make him "cooler online."
The differences between the two characters are apparent in looks, social status and behavior. The pizza guy is portrayed as a shy and quirky guy, with possible low self-esteem and confidence. I think that because he seeks cyberspace as a way to become cool, he feels insecure about his true self as the lyrics tell us:
"When you got my kinda stacks, it's hard to get a date
Let alone a real girlfriend..."
On the other hand, Brad Paisley is shown as rich, famous, good-looking, with confidence and high self-esteem. Unlike the pizza man, Brad Paisley seems very well grounded with his life and does not try to pretend to be someone he is not.
The pizza guys personality changes when he is online. In the music video, MySpace Chat is shown with the pizza guys profile image being Brad Paisley. The music video shows two bubbles above his head with images of attractive women whom he hopes he is chatting with. He feels that with the profile image and life style of Brad Paisley, he can “chat with two woman at one time.” The pizza guys face lights up and you can practically see the confidence building within him when he is chatting online using his fake identity. A good example from the song are the lyrics:
"But I grow another foot and I lose a bunch of weight everytime I log in."
The pizza guy’s personally is different when he is offline in the respect he is back to his true self. He has no Internet profile that he can hide behind when he is offline and facing the real world. He seems very shy, especially with the neighbor girl, who it seems he has a crush on. His confidence seems to dwindle down and his lifestyle becomes apparently different than what he would like it to be. He lives at home with is parents, not in Malibu, and works as pizza delivery guy, not a country music artist such as Paisley.
At the end of the video, the guy is seen taking his old band outfit out of his closet. He then is seen marching away with the love interest (the girl next door) while the band music plays. Marching away arm and arm, I think the moral of this music video and song is to embrace who you are and not pretend to be someone else. I think the character learned that it is better to stay true to yourself and to stop taking ideas from other lifestyles that are not your own just to be “cooler.”
All lyrics from http://www.lyrics.com/url.php?link=http://brad-paisley.freeoda.com/text/5thgear/3.html
Monday, January 7, 2008
Cyberspace Abstinence
To be honest, when I first read that I must refrain from the Internet for a full 24 hours I thought to myself, " Well, I better start now before school starts and this task becomes next to impossible!" So that is what I did. I have never really been a procrastinator, so I made my final rounds of checking all necessary e-mails and important sites such as Blackboard, Moodle, MySpace, Hotmail, banking and actually turned off the computer. I felt that by turning off the computer, this experience could be a little more manageable and a blank screen could set as a reminder.
I always knew I greatly depended on the Internet, but this experience gave me even a greater understanding of how resourceful the Internet really is and I found myself sort of surprised at the alternate ways I managed to communicate and use my time.
My ability to communicate was affected by having to resort to traditional ways of giving and receiving information and contacting others. On Sunday morning, I picked up the newspaper and found myself searching the paper for information that I would have so easily otherwise typed into Google. I turned onto FOX news and watch TMZ to get some gossip fix, even though there really was not much besides Britney news. I noticed the differences on the availability of resources projected on a television or newspaper compared to the Internet. On the Internet, a search engine can literally be one click away from finding the information desired. With a newspaper or news broadcast, all of the information needed may not be so conveniently there, and in a timely manner. I realized how much I took for granted the ability to find information so quickly online, where other methods of communication may be less convenient. Not having the Internet as an option was frustrating in this manner.
To consume the normally couple hours spent online, I found alternate activities to engage in. I did laundry, cleaned up my workspace around my computer desk, watched television, and actually got out of the house for awhile. I realized within that time refraining from the Internet, there were still alternate ways to communicate and enjoy time. I better understand how the Internet can practically eat away time on the clock that could have been better spent. For example, I am pretty sure I would not have been as productive on Sunday if I would have turned on my computer and logged into MySpace and/or began browsing my favorite clothing sites.
For handling communication, I actually called three people during this time that I know I would have otherwise used the Internet as my first option of communicating. Two of the people I called regarding small issues, I would have probably just wrote to on MySpace if the Internet were available. Realizing that I would have to use my phone for the use of communication, I discovered that I relied on the Internet as a tool to communicate socially more that for very important, school related issues issues. Although my connection with the Internet seems to be for both social and school related purposes, I feel like my alternate communication techniques come into play more for social reasons. For example, this online class in ONLY online, I have no other way to communicate this information on this blog other than on this blog! I can’t just go call up everyone in class and recite my blog. That would be, well, not a blog! And for assignments for my nursing program, everything is to be handed in via Moodle. Therefore, without the Internet, my ability to perform in school would be pretty much ruined because taking away Internet access would take away my ability to present work and receive grades. On the other hand, although calling my friends to communicate small discussions was not the way I would have first chosen to communicate, it was possible, and did work fine.
Overall, although I knew it before, I am convinced that the Internet is hands down the most resourceful and convenient way of communicating and receiving information in general. Although the journey was tough, I actually felt a bit relieved that I had a reason to refrain from the Internet and explore other ways to use my time and communicate. I think I am going to try to reduce the time I spend on the Internet for non-school related purposes and try to fulfill the time with other more productive activities.
I always knew I greatly depended on the Internet, but this experience gave me even a greater understanding of how resourceful the Internet really is and I found myself sort of surprised at the alternate ways I managed to communicate and use my time.
My ability to communicate was affected by having to resort to traditional ways of giving and receiving information and contacting others. On Sunday morning, I picked up the newspaper and found myself searching the paper for information that I would have so easily otherwise typed into Google. I turned onto FOX news and watch TMZ to get some gossip fix, even though there really was not much besides Britney news. I noticed the differences on the availability of resources projected on a television or newspaper compared to the Internet. On the Internet, a search engine can literally be one click away from finding the information desired. With a newspaper or news broadcast, all of the information needed may not be so conveniently there, and in a timely manner. I realized how much I took for granted the ability to find information so quickly online, where other methods of communication may be less convenient. Not having the Internet as an option was frustrating in this manner.
To consume the normally couple hours spent online, I found alternate activities to engage in. I did laundry, cleaned up my workspace around my computer desk, watched television, and actually got out of the house for awhile. I realized within that time refraining from the Internet, there were still alternate ways to communicate and enjoy time. I better understand how the Internet can practically eat away time on the clock that could have been better spent. For example, I am pretty sure I would not have been as productive on Sunday if I would have turned on my computer and logged into MySpace and/or began browsing my favorite clothing sites.
For handling communication, I actually called three people during this time that I know I would have otherwise used the Internet as my first option of communicating. Two of the people I called regarding small issues, I would have probably just wrote to on MySpace if the Internet were available. Realizing that I would have to use my phone for the use of communication, I discovered that I relied on the Internet as a tool to communicate socially more that for very important, school related issues issues. Although my connection with the Internet seems to be for both social and school related purposes, I feel like my alternate communication techniques come into play more for social reasons. For example, this online class in ONLY online, I have no other way to communicate this information on this blog other than on this blog! I can’t just go call up everyone in class and recite my blog. That would be, well, not a blog! And for assignments for my nursing program, everything is to be handed in via Moodle. Therefore, without the Internet, my ability to perform in school would be pretty much ruined because taking away Internet access would take away my ability to present work and receive grades. On the other hand, although calling my friends to communicate small discussions was not the way I would have first chosen to communicate, it was possible, and did work fine.
Overall, although I knew it before, I am convinced that the Internet is hands down the most resourceful and convenient way of communicating and receiving information in general. Although the journey was tough, I actually felt a bit relieved that I had a reason to refrain from the Internet and explore other ways to use my time and communicate. I think I am going to try to reduce the time I spend on the Internet for non-school related purposes and try to fulfill the time with other more productive activities.
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