So I think I've decided to blog about how media technologies divide and bring together a community."The Internet facilitates one-to-one, one-to-many and many- to-many communication and enables users to communicate easily and inexpensively with a wide variety of individuals across the globe.
Communication goes beyond the dissemination of information: it is a two-way
process that allows for the expression of viewpoints, the creation of intimacy,
and the coordination of actions. Because communication is so important to
individuals, the Internet's enhancement of the power to communicate can be
considered a great benefit. " That is in Breys article about the pro's and con's of the internet. I think that frames very well how it is important to people to have the two way communication with other people. And in a community like the one i am from it can enrich the isolated communities and keep everyone together. I'm friends with a majority of people from my graduating high school class and even some of the towns parents. It really keeps that sense of home town normalcy in my life, I believe it will do the same for everyone else.
Humans are social creatures by default. Rarely can a person go without talking with someone for an extended period of time. Social networking as a whole give people that outlet. It gives people that feel like they dont belong in certain places an outlet to find peace and happyness. They are going to be some extreme cases of things going wrong but that is always the case. Social networking is a technology that I would say is here to stay. It just is starting to evolve to different levels. It will be interesting to see where it goes from here.
off to a good start, but keep developing your thoughts.....try connecting to current events and synthesizing more ideas from the readings.
ReplyDeleteI can agree with you on your point about keeping a small community of people, like your child hood home, together through Facebook and MySpace. I can imagine how close everyone in a small community can be, and how these network communities that are becoming more and more popular can keep people in touch one they have moved away.
ReplyDeleteI also like your point about getting the city's name out there. People can see where others are from on these social network sites and thus can learn about small cities where people are from that they might have never heard before. This was something that I hadn't thought of before.
I think you have displayed how these sites can benefit a small community of already close citizens who have no need to rely on social networks to keep in contact with one another, but what do you think its effects on a bigger community of people, say a place where people know only a small percent of their citizens, that spend a lot of time on Facebook and MySpace?
I can imagine that there is a difference of attitudes towards these kind of networks and I'm sure that population of people in your area might have an influence on people's opinions. Do you think that you might have a different opinion of these social network sites because of the area (population of people relative to size of community) you grew up in?
I think that this is an interesting point you have made, and your insight of living in a smaller community provides valuable information. :)