lab4

Connected and Disconnected?

With the advent of social networking sites and the internet the world has become a much smaller place. Through sites such as facebook and myspace and twitter we are able to keep in touch with people from every aspect our lives. All of the acquaintances in our lives from school to work to family all re-convene in one place; or do they? As much as social networking sites connect us to the people in our lives they also alienate us. So much time is wasted on social networking sites forming artificial connects with the people in out lives instead of actually making physicial contact with them. Seemingly, individuals would rather spend time instant messaging with a friend than picking up the phone and speaking with them directly. We have substituted human contact with technological contact, on the basis that it is more convenient. Realistically, we are denying ourselves the human ability to make contact and share memories with real people in real time. On social networking sites, we can create the image we want people to see and even sometimes hide beneath the image. Through the use of photos and photo editing we can manipulate who we really are. This manipulation raises the question of "do we really know who we are talking to?" There have been numerous accounts of false identities that have been propagated through social networking sites. It is thourhg these sites that we succept ourselves to a false communication with individuals that may or may not who they say they are. In conclusion, social networking sites disconnect us as they lead us to believe that representations of communications with individuals online substitute for face-to-face communication.