@starlingpreston
Coleman states that “media use changes the user. With each shift in automation, simulation, and transmission, we discover not only new technologies, but also new facets of ourselves,” (49). Going back to one of Coleman’s three C’s of Networked Media, media users can see how communication can shift “human perspective” as our “concepts of space, place, and time are impacted” (Coleman 49). We can apply this idea to Facebook and Twitter, two popular social media sites.
My personal example of how media use of Facebook has changed me is through the communication with my sister in North Dakota. Previously, my sister and I had no need to communicate through Facebook, we lived together. Now, she lives thousands of miles away, and the only way we can talk is through Facebook. Yet, Facebook has eliminated that gap between us. No longer are we limited by snail mail, which arrives days after an exciting event. Furthermore, from using Facebook I have become more technologically advanced than I previously was. I learned how to post and share videos with friends, and to link sites I like on my personal page. I can show my friends in Germany a video instantly, instead of waiting until their time zone matches mine to call them.
I am no longer limited to a location or specific time to meet my friends, when we can just chat online. As Coleman mentions I now have an “online identity” that I use to represent myself during information exchange (39).