Words I’ve Left Unsaid

Over the course of the semester, I have read, replied, and reflected on the ideas and values of my fellow classmates in’Social Media & Society’. What I have noticed has both shocked and surprised me. In reading the discussion posts and blog entries of some of my fellow online classmates, I am frightened by the negligence to proofreading and critical thinking. I am not some authoritative power that can deem your writing obsolete, but I am a college student  and feel a certain degree of responsibility to criticize my peers when their skills deem criticism.

If you have a high school diploma then there is simply no excuse for you to not be able to write in complete coherent sentences. They do not have to be the most abstract ideas out there, but a sentence should be……well, a sentence. Fragments, run on sentences, and incomplete sentences are not college level writing standards. I should not have to slog through paragraph after paragraph of improper usage of punctuation.

As a student of Cardinal Stritch University, I expect to be held to the same standard of achievement as my classmates. I value my education as a reflection of my own work, as well as my classmates. Week after week I became incredibly demotivated when reading discussion post after discussion post that were merely cookie cutter clones of the last entry. We do each other no good by simply being average, blending into the pack. Our generation requires constructive self criticism and I aim to do that. No one should feel hesitant to call someone out on their ideas. The only way we can grow is if we are broken down and then rebuilt. Each skin we shed gives birth to a newer, improved insight. This is the way people have been learning since the dawn of academic thought.

These are thoughts that I have kept inside me for the entire semester. It may not be my place to say these things, but this is the land of the free and I will plead my first amendment right until my lungs collapse. My academic integrity depends on my ability to speak frankly and directly. This final reflection is my cry of outrage to whomever should read it.

I very well may have not been talking about you here. I have shared some intense connections with my classmates in all of my courses this semester and that statement rings true here as well. There are individuals whom have taught me much and through which I have been humbled. Do not inflect hate upon these words as you read them. If the ideas that I have shared cause you to stir, then reflect on your own competence as a communicator. None of us are perfect, and we can all improve.

Here’s to a future of academic growth, together.

Peace,

Sawyer Veseth

There Is No Law Here

Social media is an open book. With that open book comes an endlessly diverse set of standards and applications. Individuals take on the use of social media in a diverse and dynamic fashion, but have failed to establish a common set of ethics. Yes, I know that certain scholarly individuals who study social media have developed a basic set of ethics, but who is really there to enforce this? Nobody.

As an ignorant twenty something who spends copious amounts of his life on several social media platforms, I have noticed a complete disconnect from any set of public online display of decency and human dignity. The amount of defamatory and judgmental ideas present on Instagram and Twitter is troubling. Facebook has its own problems, but I have ceased my use of this medium. The majority of my knowledge of the breakdown of socially acceptable content stems from my usage of twitter and instagram in which I have seen some people sink to pretty low levels of mental stimulation.

For one thing, social media is where grammar goes to die. There exists no immediate repercussions if an individual communicates in a broken fusion of slang and improper grammar. I am pained when I read a tweet that uses the improper usage of “there/their” or equally as often, the misuse of  your/you’re. This literally pains me. It’s not that I truly care about that certain individual, but more that I am troubled by what this breakdown of literacy can do to our greater population. If mass amounts of individuals stop caring about the basic building blocks of the English language then where does that leave our society? It leaves us in the perfect position for China to dominate our pathetically minded population of degenerate fools.

If we are truly to maintain the identity of our society then we should harshly criticize ourselves for not taking better care at solidifying the basic foundations of written communication. I take comfort in reading a brilliantly written tweet. It reminds me that there are people out there who still believe in the power of good writing. Witnessing the breakdown of grammatical skills of my friends and former classmates is appalling.

I very much view the dissociation of proper grammatical execution as an immoral and unethical usage of social media. Our digital history is just as much a part of our written history, and I will live to maintain a strong intellectual identity on and off the internet. Do I use slang? Of course! I also realize the power of a well written message, and the consequences of an uneducated population.

Proofread your social media content, people. Do it for the kids.

My Life. My Medicine

I feel such a compelling attraction between social activism and social media. The usages for social media have become purposeful and informative. My freedom of speech has reached new heights, if you will. Blogging, social networking, YouTube are all seriously heavy hitters in the field of activism. There are organizations whose entire days are built around structuring their usage of these sites in order to convey an idea or value that they hold close. Whatever your fight is, the internet has made it stronger.

For me, this fight hits close to home. I’m someone who uses cannabis medicinally in an area where legality is not in my favor. Suffering from Ulcerative Colitis, a sect of inflammatory bowel disease, I have real living proof that cannabis is beneficial to my life and still I live in a shroud of illegality and social stigma. Besides an obvious medicinal usage for the drug, I see Marijuana as one of the forerunners of social media communication. Legalization campaigns are greatly aided by the speed and efficiency with which our message can be sent.

Marijuana has had such a strong subculture in human history that naturally that culture would be adapted online. The internet has given birth to countless connection within the cannabis community. It’s not in the corner of the deep web either. Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, even Facebook are crammed with millions of people uploading cannabis based content. Why is this so significant? Because it legitimizes that Marijuana is not a schedule I narcotic as the US Department of Justice has classified it as such. Marijuana is not simply another way to get high, it has SERIOUS social value.

Cannabis users have helped to solidify the plant’s reputation as a meaningful piece of our culture. These connections have given way to understanding and then in turn, mindfulness. I have seen firsthand the trans-formative power of the internet on a non-cannabis supporter. The overwhelming amount of information in favor of the plant has changed perception and eased tension. It has helped my parents reconcile with my own usage. The social media wave of cannabis content isn’t encouraging intoxication, its merely placing a flower in our sight that has been shunned for far too long.

http://bit.ly/1fOmTfn – Marijuana businesses need to harness the internet and social media

 

The Game

Companionship. It is one of the fundamental values as humans that we seek suitable and reasonable companions to spend our days with. In such a large world it can prove difficult to even find someone to spend one day with let alone a lifetime. How many times can a fella strike out? Online communication gives the game a whole new playing field, with an infinite amount of unwritten rules and subjective land mines that can sink you further down the social ladder faster than it took you to creepily like that pic of her from a year ago.

Oddly enough, I played into this game. The tools were all there. I could talk one on one with a girl, hopefully keeping her in a comfortable and non-creeped state, in order to find out more about her. Aim and then Facebook chat made my school nights full of moments where I would sneak away to the family computer in order to see who was online. I realize that the game is two sided. I knew very full well that the females my age were employing probing tactics of their own. There existed dynamics to this game that nobody spelled out, they weren’t written in concrete. These rules and regulations however in-explicit could inevitably lead one to committing social suicide.

Learning the social implication of online communication is a process that never stops and can dictate a steep learning curve. One has to be plugged into many current trends or else they may fail to understand a critical part of a conversation through the use of a pun or acronym. Along my learning journey, I had my peers and, of course, the internet to turn to. Yet still, the scrutiny found me. I found myself embarrassed time and time again except that there were often no immediate consequences.

Punishment would come the next day. You never knew what was coming. God forbid that someone found out that I liked this girl! Sometimes the moments of silence alone were more painful than the sections of my day occupied with chatter. This social awkwardness has become a phenomenon that I realize everyone goes through. During the time, I believed that I was subject to a kind of awkwardness that was my fault, but really it was part of being that age.

There is such an awkwardness to middle school already and compounded with the social charges given off by social media, it is a powder keg that is ripe for disaster.

http://huff.to/1kLce9F – Tweens tweet about awkward middle school years.

 

Reflection

One significant aspect of social media I learned this semester would be regarding the convenience of it. In this day and age, making things as convenient as possible is the goal as evidenced by fast food drive-thru’s, at-home delivery, downloadable music, TiVo options, and much more.

The same applies for social media. Social media attempts to always be at our fingertips, which is reality for those of us who have smart phones, laptops, tablets and so on. This article http://thesitevamp.com/social-media-growing-simplicity/ goes on to share the idea of keeping everything simple and easy, which in turn is most convenient.

While having social media available to us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days per year is remarkable, there is a downfall to it as well. If you pause and think about all the methods you have to communicate with people you will realize all the social media resources you utilize. Having access to this all the time means you are never completely free from it. Yes – you can turn your phone or computer off, but that is only a temporary sense of relief. Once that object is turned back on, back appear all your social media sites.

Hearing your phone go off can heighten your sense of anxiety, since you want to look at that notification, but it may be work related or unimportant at the time. There is information you could obtain at your fingertips, but forcing yourself to not check it can keep you on edge. That is a constant battle of wanting to be home relaxed, but also desiring to know what is going on within your network. Having that sense of obligation to check work emails for example, or respond to important missed calls due to having the resources available to you can end up consuming any time off work or free time you have.

Keep social media in check, and make sure you control it – opposed to it controlling you. 

Romantic Dangers

In today’s world when it comes to meeting new people or keeping in touch with old friends, social media is the way to go. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other like it have many positive outcomes. Such sites allow you to see what your friends are posting throughout the day, liking or commenting on, what pictures they are taking and uploading for others to see, and so much more. All these sound like great aspects of social media, but just as great as they sound they can also be just as bad. When it comes to social media and relationships these great aspects can turn into the roots of things like jealousy and distrust. This article, http://www.psychologytoday.com/ discusses romantic attachment and the dangers of social media. It also provides examples of how social media can create or increase jealousy in relationships and cause trust issues.

Social media allows people who are in a relationship to express publicly the emotions that they have for one another. It is also a great way of keeping in touch with your loved one. As a result of social media you are able to keep an active tab on your partner like never before. You can observe what they comment on other peoples’ pictures and statuses, notice if your partner has been tagged in other peoples’ photos, and monitor if they have been checking in at different locations. Having all of these ways to keep tabs on you partner can lead to jealousy if for some reason you become aware of situations that you would have not known about if not for social media revealing that. For instance, seeing your partner tagged in a photo with someone they should not be with like an ex boyfriend or girlfriend, would definitely stir up some trouble.

The level of trust can also be decreased related with social media usage. An example would be if your partner tells you they are going one place and they check in at a different location than what was previously stated, this could bring about confusion and dishonesty, which could ultimately lead to distrust.

All these great aspects of social media all of a sudden do not seem that great anymore when these dangers are discovered. 

Leaving a Legacy

Many things in society that are caring and sweet such as flowers, gifts and photos all eventually grow old and reach a certain expiration point. What if something could capture all those special moments and last forever?

The untraditional idea of putting a Quick Response (QR) Code on a tombstone is the next step the digital age is taking. The Washington Post wrote an article on this innovative concept, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/. When I first read about this notion my first response was unbelief and a sense that it is unacceptable to utilize social media in this intrusive way. This initially fell under my list of what is improper social media etiquette.

After a while I began realizing the many benefits of using social media this way could provide. The idea is for loved ones, or anyone visiting the gravesite to have instant access to pictures, obituaries, videos and much more by simply scanning the code. By using this code the depth of information on the individual would be greater, the appreciation for the deceased more able to be realized and the genuine representation of the person most accurate.  Gravestones typically contain a small amount of information that does not provide the extensive information like a code would. Using the code would ultimately make the deceased become as alive as possible to others.

When looking solely at a gravestone it is like you are peeping through the keyhole trying to see the person’s life and only seeing a limited amount of information. Utilizing the QR code is like opening the door into the person’s life and seeing the legacy left behind. 

Almost as Fast as the Speed of Light

Light is considered to be the fastest thing in the world that we know of. Just to refresh your memory about physics class, according to NASA light travels at a constant, finite speed of 186,000 miles per second. Putting that into relatable terms, a person could travel around the equator 7.5 times in one second. That is freaky fast. 

Light currently holds first place for being the fastest, but there are some competitors arising. Since the information age, also known as the digital age, took place in the 1990’s the evolution of technology has been rapidly growing. Along with that came the development of global communications and social media networks. Benefits of the digital age include: efficiency, convenience and knowledge. As a result, topics spread more quickly, especially those like human deaths. 

Prior to the digital age, when someone passed away there would be an announcement made in the person’s home town newspaper. Phone calls would be made to family and friends to inform them of the person’s death. These types of old school information spreading techniques have very much gone to the way side ever since the digital age. Nowadays, death announcements are more public and exclaimed. Typically the first place people find out about a death is through some form of social media.

An instance which took place a last November, was the death of Paul Walker. Paul Walker was best known for his poplar hit movie series, The Fast and Furious. The story of the fatal crash first broke on TMZ news site and then spread to Twitter and other social media sites.

An article on Mashable, http://mashable.com/2013/11/30/actor-paul-walker-dead-at-40/, depicts the massive amount of social media involvement, particularly Twitter surrounding this event. Families, friends, organizations, fans and celebrities tweeted on the tragic news.

Paul Walker’s Facebook status was updated after confirming his passing, which received almost 17 million likes, over five hundred thousand comments and almost six hundred thousand shares within hours. Due to the digital age and all their advancements, these are a few of the many outside examples on how death is becoming more publicized in our society and making the news of death spread almost as fast as the speed of light.

Final Reflection

Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter tout themselves as great tools that help us stay in touch with family and friends and share with the world around us. But I’ve had a Facebook account for close to eight years now, and I’ve learned that social media can also be a tool for annoyance, bullying, and seclusion that can cause more harm than good. It can cause us to miss out on the things that really matter in life and can actually serve to lessen our real-life connections with the people we love. One thing I will definitely take away from this class is that social media truly can be a great tool for staying connected, but we need to use it properly in order for that to happen. 

I think when it comes to social media use, the phrase “measure twice, cut once” can be reworked and applied. “Think twice, post once.” A lot of mistakes can be made when people post out of excitement or anger. Something really great or really bad happens to them and without thinking twice, they post something about it to Facebook or Twitter, and they hurt someone’s feelings or get themselves into trouble. Immediacy is very important in today’s world, especially to people our age and younger. When something important happens, we immediately want the social media world to know about it. But I think if people just slowed down, and thought twice before posting about a wild party they are at, or saying something nasty about someone who made them angry, there would be fewer Facebook mishaps.

This is not to say that all use of social media is bad. Personally, it allows me to stay in touch with people back home in Illinois, and with my family in Pennsylvania. Because of Facebook, I can see pictures of my baby cousin who was born a few weeks ago in Arizona. I can make plans with groups of high school friends when we want to get together. Social media truly can be a wonderful tool for keeping us all connected. We just need to be careful when using it, and know that there is an appropriate time and place for everything. Because of this class, I have definitely became more consciously aware of my social media habits, and will be more careful in the future to use it in the proper ways. 

 

 

Social Media Wedding Etiquette…Really?

I’m not sure if it’s because I’m in my early 20s, but it seems to me like everyone and their brother is getting engaged. How do I know this? Facebook! It seems like every other day there’s something in my newsfeed about the ring, the cake, invitations, trying to lose a few pounds to fit into a dress, or a countdown to a rehearsal dinner. The other thing I’ve noticed is that it seems like people are making some sort of engagement related post within minutes of the question being popped. This definitely reflects our complete and utter obsession with posting our lives on social media. I understand that this is a HUGE event in someone’s life, and I am indeed happy to see these posts, but the speed and relentlessness with which people post about their engagements or weddings baffles me. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-gottsman/social-media-etiquette-fo_b_5255189.html 

This article that I found offers its readers something of a Do’s and Dont’s list when it comes to wedding or engagement announcements on social media, and highlights my points perfectly.  For example, the first piece of advice the article offers tells us to, “Tell your immediate family and BFFs before they read about your engagement on Facebook.” Honestly, I thought this went without saying, but apparently there are plenty of family members who have been hurt because they read about their son’s or daughter’s happy news on Facebook instead of receiving a phone call. My other personal favorite from this list reads, “A “thank you” post does not take the place of a thank you note.” I wasn’t even aware that people think it’s acceptable to use Facebook to send out their thank-yous. There are plenty of other gems on this list, but I think these are perhaps the strongest examples of just how obsessed we are with social media.

I really do find it interesting that there exists an article about social media etiquette in relation to weddings. I think it says a lot about our priorities that an event so steeped in tradition has in a way been degraded by our online habits. Again, I can totally understand that someone who gets engaged or is going through the wedding planning process would want to share on Facebook. But by making braggy or cheesy posts, Facebook friends can actually become annoyed, and no one wants people to be annoyed by their wedding announcements. There’s nothing wrong with posting exciting news about a wedding, but people need to be careful about what they say, how they say it, and keep in mind who can see it.