Tag Archives: #Change

Social Change

Posted on April 2, 2013 by | Comments Off on Social Change

@v_kono

Social networking has greatly grown in the last couple of years. MySpace used to be a casual thing where you would log on once in a while to see what your friends were up to. Now with Facebook, it seems like we have to be connected at every second. Facebook is not just for sharing what’s new or photos of events. I sometimes use Facebook as my source of news. Social networking is so powerful that people can create social groups, and advocate for social change in their communities. Dianna Zandt says that: “Social Networking gives us unprecedented power to share our stories with more people than we ever imagined” (Zandt, 159). On Facebook, people can post their own opinions about matters that they see on the news. As I’m scrolling through my news feed, I see all sorts of people advocating for their own beliefs. Someone wants freedom in palestine, while others want changes in the supreme court rulings. People with similar opinions are welcomed to go like a page where they agree about a certain issue. This brings people together and to get active in promoting their ideas. Just like when Lisa Goldman started a Facebook page that protested against standardized testing, emphasizing that  “testing is not teaching.” Over 6,000 people joined in on the fight against the standardized tests. While I do not know of the outcome, I think that they must have had an influence on the ruling. Social networking allows for these groups to arise and bring social change.

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Online Racial Stereotyping

Posted on March 25, 2013 by | Comments Off on Online Racial Stereotyping

@PerrinKyla

Another news story about racial profiling was on the news. Another article written about the racial stereotyping online. The African Americans are the ones stealing and robbing places, the Latinos are the ones dealing drugs, and they are both killing people.

They’re all alike (The Mentor).

“I do not know of any other time in history when there was greater need for political unity to confront effectively the dominations of ‘race’, ‘gender’, ‘sexuality’, and ‘class’.” (Haraway Pg.7).

Video games are a big cause of this racial stereotyping.

Young boys and sometimes girls are the ones to play these games.

“Approximately 80% of video game programmers are white, about 4% of designers are Latino, and less than 3% are Black” (Jones).

Clearly white people’s perspective on other races is not as subtle as they think.

We need to be the ones to help change the racism.

Change the perspective that all of the white people are “all alike.”

Our generation may not be like the older generations, but we have the ability to change how people treat others. There is a “need for unity” (Haraway Pg.5) to bring all races together to prove that the stereotypes are not always true.

Yes, there are times when the stereotypes are true and that could be due to the online information that is presented to children and young adults but it is up to us to be the change!

It’s pathetic how parents let their children grow into racist adults.

We can stop this racism, be heroes, and change lives.

One step at a time.

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Blog 9:Media and people

Posted on March 18, 2013 by | Comments Off on Blog 9:Media and people

@kylemcgee77

Media can drastically change how a person is viewed. It is said by Coleman 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.” (140)  Media devices and social networking have created barriers that users can hide behind and produce a completely different personality. Think about when you are texting someone. Do you always say things that you would normally say to a person face to face? The sad reality is most people would answer “no” to this question. You could come off as a completely different person through a text message than through face to face communication. Many don’t think before they send text messages. They feel there is no risk in sending a message because you can’t feel the recipient’s full emotion in response to your words. In many circumstances, this is the only way people feel comfortable communicating with one another and I feel this where we as a society are failing. We are living in a media dependent world and face to face communication is becoming scarce. Another example of how media can change the user is through sites like facebook. You can essentially be anyone you want to be on facebook. Your personal information and pictures you post may not even be yours yet people will still believe it because there is no physical communication. Without the use of media like facebook and texting, communication for many would be much more difficult. Media can truly change a person.

#dtcv

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Social Media and The User

Posted on March 18, 2013 by | Comments Off on Social Media and The User

@PerrinKyla

Coleman discusses that in the virtual world people “appeared to be cooler than in life” (pg.125). This can relate to how media changes the user because on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr someone can create an account and post pictures that are not truly pictures of themselves but of someone more attractive in order to get attention from other people. Anyone can log onto these social networks and become someone that they are not. Media allows the person to think that they are able to get away with pretending to be someone else. These social networks also allow people to be more outgoing then they would be face to face. For example, on Facebook someone could talk about how much they hang out with their friends and about all the crazy things they go out and do but face to face this person is really shy and doesn’t hang out with anyone. Coleman also references Albert Bandura’s model of agency in which he states “people’s belief about their capabilities to exercise control over events that affect their lives” (pg.136). Being a psychologist, Bandura accounts for how people think of not only themselves but how others will perceive them. This falls into Coleman’s definition of agency that says agency is how we understand ourselves as actors in an environment as well as how the environment will react to us. In my opinion this plays a major role in the way that social networks are used and how their influence can change the user.

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