Hi there welcome to my blog on social media and social change. My blog covers different topics on and about social media and social change, it covers some pretty interesting things about the technology in our world today and the effects of it, good and bad. Its shows ways that todays society with technology has changed us humans and ways we can stop our selves from being ruled by our cell phones and computers. While reading on the topics I wrote about if you would like more information on them I put the link below every text written have fun reading my blog. Thanks for visiting. :)

     On my fellow classmate Mikayla's blog she talk about Social Media and Bullying, which is a very serious and interesting topic, she mentions very detailed things about social media and bullying, please check out her blog you wont regret it. :)

                                  SOCIAL MEDIA GOOD OR BAD?

     All through this blog I have been posting something about social media but I never actually wrote the effects pros and cons of it apart cyberbullying. When it comes to it we all love social media, posting selfies, tweeting, meeting new people and reconnecting with old ones, but do you think that it affects your life in any way good or bad. On an article about pros and cons on social media by TopTenM Staff they wrote about ways that social media helps and hurts people; "-Increased criminal prosecution because of social media" the police can track criminals crazy enough to tweet about what they would be doing. "Students are doing better in school" this is a shocker even to me because when I think of social media and school work they don't exactly go together because its usually a distraction, and you don't exactly listen in class when your on your phone. TopTenM Staff said that 50% of students actually use social media to discuss school work and 59% talk about instructive topics. "Social media as a source of employment" this I myself must agree to because you can find really good jobs through social media. Now as good as the pros are there are always cons to everything including social media and one must talk about them. Also written by TopTenM Staff the cons of social media "Pupils spending too much time on social media sites have lower academic grades" now this is what I think about when I think about social media and education, statistics show that students that use social media frequently have lower GPAs' and test scores than students that don't use it as often. "Social media is the cause for less face to face communication" this is something you can't disagree to apart from online dating, social media is the cause for less real human interaction, studies also showed that families that reported spending less time with one another rose form 8% in 2000 to 32% in 2011. So what do you say that every week at a certain time and day put the cell phones down shut off the computer and have family time do anything other than stare at a screen, you could be missing out a lot.

Posted by  TopTenM Staff.
http://www.toptensocialmedia.com/social-media-social-buzz/10-pros-and-cons-of-social-media/

 DATING IN THE 21st CENTURY

    
      Do you think that you have found the love of your life or soul mate?. Jeffrey R. Ambrose wrote about dating back then and now he says that "Over the decades in the Western world, traditional dating was gradually overtaken by the high school “going steady/boyfriend-girlfriend” approach. Those who did not find a romantic counterpart in this way would then often be initiated into the bar/nightclub scene, sometimes derisively referred to as a “meat market.”" Its hard to imagine what dating was like in the past because today the dating game has definitely changed. Dating in the 21st century mostly involves online dating, only 17% of marriage couples met online in the past year, when you consider online dating people always tell you to watch out for sex offenders and perverts but only 10% of sex offenders use online dating to meet people. Now that you think that online dating is safe would you ever try it the modern way or do you think that your prince charming is waiting for you some place that does not involve online dating.
http://www.statisticbrain.com/online-dating-statistics/
http://realtruth.org/articles/090203-003-society.html

                                      

                        PARENTS AND TEEN COMMUNICATION 

     Parenting today is very different than in past thanks to technology. Technology has helped with parenting but it has not really made it easier, with all the problems on social media and the internet, kids today are always staring at a screen and communication with parents have been replaced by tweeting and sharing what's on your mind. Today when it comes to communicating with your parents about personal questions, we don't feel comfortable asking our them without raising some sort of red flag. The most uncomfortable topic a parent and their teen must have is the sex talk commonly known as "The Talk," it is said that 50% of all teens feel uncomfortable talking to their parents about sex and 19% of parents feel the same way. Apart from "The Talk" there are a bunch of other things not discussed by parents that teenagers do; drugs, drinking and driving, reckless behavior, theft, etc., Yes most of these things adults also do but it could have been stopped if they were taught at a young age. Neuroscientist B.J Casey lab at Cornell University suggest "adolescents aren't reckless because they underestimate risks, but because they overestimate rewards—or, rather, find rewards more rewarding than adults do. The reward centers of the adolescent brain are much more active than those of either children or adults." He says that teenagers do stupid reckless things because it thrilling and its even better they have an audience.

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/half-all-teens-feel-uncomfortable-talking-their-parents-about-sex-while-only-19-percent-parents

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203806504577181351486558984

CYBERBULLYING

 

       Cyberbullying is the use of  electronic devices to send hurtful and threatening messages to other people. Cyberbullying is a very big issue in today's society, 43% of kids have been bullied online and the bullying victims are 2 to 9 times most likely to commit suicide. It is known that cyberbullying is much easier than face to face bullying, this is because the bully can be a coward behind a computer screen and say whatever trash he feels like saying to his/her victim and nobody knows who they are because under a fake name and e-mail address. People bully the same reason they cyberbully, Justin W. Patchin and Sameer Hinduja wrote about cyberbullying and self-esteem they said that "students who experienced cyberbullying, both as a victim and an offender, had significantly lower self-esteem than those who had little or no experience with cyberbullying." This shows that people with low self esteem not all but some are the more likely to bully other people, just because they don't feel so great about themselves doesn't mean that they showed put others down to boost themselves up. What do you think about cyberbullying? Are a victim or an offender? Speak up talk to an adult, there is always a way to help with problems suicide is not the answer.

 

Patchin, J. W. & Hinduja, S. (2010). Cyberbullying and Self-Esteem. Journal of School Health, 80(12), 614-621.

https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-cyber-bullying

 

 http://cyberbullying.us/publications/journal-articles/

 

                  

 

YOUR PHONE OR YOUR EDUCATION??

    
     Have you ever just sat and thought about how much you could be missing what the teacher is saying in class because you are too busy on your phone texting or browsing the web. While cell phones are very fun use they can also be a tremendous distraction and rudeness  in the classroom not just to you but also your classmates and your teacher. Most teachers usually take your phone as soon as they see you using it in class, some give it back after class others take it to the office and you don't get it back until the end of the day. While cell phones in the classroom has it pros it also has some major cons; like cheating on  tests Zach Miners wrote that about one third of teens use their cell phones to text their friends answers on tests or they themselves keep the answers on their phones to look at while taking the test, this is a very big problem everywhere and its only getting worst. Administrators think that they have found a way to make people stop cheating on tests by creating cheat resistant computers, but the thing is people will always find other ways to cheat on tests if not by the use of their cell phones.

By Zach Miners June 23, 2009 | 1:45 p.m. EDT
http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/on-education/2009/06/23/one-third-of-teens-use-cellphones-to-cheat-in-school

                                        

                                                 TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION


       On a book called "The Use of Educational Technology Integration by Special Education Teachers in Rural Schools in South Carolina" by Shannon L Byrd-Jones, he talks about how today the government is spending a lot of money on technology on schools, because they think that the children might be able to benefit from learning when they have better resources. With this happening the education in schools are not getting any better, Jones says that "Educators receive pressure from multiple venues to integrate technology into the curriculum as a regular tool for teaching. School districts, administrators, government, parents, and even the media push to make technology an integral tool used by all teachers." Jones explains that there is a lot of pressure put on teachers to incorporate technology into there teaching because they feel like its important. Going to high school, every classroom had a smart board, but not every teacher used their smart boards, some teachers didn't know how to use it and it some times caused a lot of trouble for them, but the technology that really helped making learning fun were computers. Using the computers helped learning fun and easier because you could just look up anything and you can find so much information on it, by typing a few words instead of going to the library and checking out books.

Byrd-Jones, S. (2011). The use of educational technology integration by special education teachers in rural schools in south carolina (Order No. 3488355). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global; ProQuest Education Journals. (915123953). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy.consortiumlibrary.org/docview/915123953?accountid=14473 http://sz3sa6ce8r.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Social+media&rft.jtitle=Applied+Clinical+Trials&rft.date=2014-08-01&rft.pub=Advanstar+Communications%2C+Inc&rft.issn=1064-8542&rft.eissn=2150-623X&rft.volume=23&rft.issue=8-9&rft.spage=8&rft.externalDBID=n%2Fa&rft.externalDocID=383573043&paramdict=en-US

This is a video of how technology really affects our lives on a day to day basis, do you think that you would be able to live your life without checking your phone every 2 minutes, I mean all your information is on it. Watching this video  will make you see how your life could change without checking your phone every 2 minutes, it also shows you what you are missing out. ENJOY:)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AO0IgRC0Qk

                                         A REUNION WITH BOREDOM

     Charles Simic essay “ A Reunion with boredom” he talks about the  days when they were living in the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. He says that they had to sit in the dark for three days, with nothing to do, just sitting there in boredom. While reading Simic’s essay one of the quotes that really stood out to me was “Being temporarily unable to use the technology we’ve grown dependent on to inform ourselves about the rest of the world, communicate with others, and pass the time, is a reminder of our alarming dependence on them.” This quote stood out to be because it says a lot about the use of our technological devices today. If the power was to go out for a certain amount of days we would have no use for our smartphones, computers, and other devices, with no source of power we would be left in the dark with nothing to do ,sitting there like anxious little beings hoping and praying that the power would come on  because we can’t miss an episode of “Gossip Girl”, or wondering what a certain person is tweeting at the moment. The quote also says a lot about how much we use a devices on a daily basis, its hard to go anywhere without seeing people eyes glue to screen, I must admit technology is a bit addicting even I’m addicted to it, I don’t really know a lot of people that can live without their phones on computer’s apart from my parents, but every once in a while it's good to just turn off the computer, TV, and  go for a walk, drive around, you will start to notice things you haven't  really noticed before.

 

                       DO YOU LOVE TECHNOLOGY ???

    
     When it comes to technology I would say that everyone loves it, there are so many things you can do today with it that the thought of living without is unthinkable. In an article by Yagana Shah she writes ways that technology has changed our world. she writes about times in class when you passed notes to the person you like, now that is replaced with text messaging, reading books, this is something not a lot of people do now because you can look up a book on your phone or just occasionally googling the summary of it, going on road trips and stopping to ask for directions, now replaced by the GPS. Talking on the phone has gone to a whole other level "The Bluetooth". Now instead of going to the library for research you can google it, and with the help of Siri she can help you find the closest place to eat or the nearest gas station. Yagana Shah. So when it comes to technology it sure has its cons but we cant live without it


 Yagana  Shah                                                                                                                                                    yagana.shah@huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/04/how-technology-has-changed_n_5045292.html

    
       In Nicolas Carr's article on "Is Google making us stupid," he talks about how the internet has affected our brain, for example reading long articles or books are a bit difficult. He says that "now my concentration starts to drift after two or three pages," other than Carr other people also have this problem like me; when I have to read something online I often get distracted by pop-up-ads or other things that look more interesting than what I was doing. Carr mentions that Google has a plan to create artificial intelligence, an artificial brain that is smarter than the human itself. The thing with the artificial brain is that " there’s a countertendency to expect the worst of every new tool or machine." Carr says, I would have to agree with Carr because the of some computerized brain sounds cool and awesome but I don't think that I would like to know everything because there is always joy in trying to solve the puzzle rather than just knowing the answer. Is Google making us stupid?, as for that question I would say that Google makes it easier to find things instead of doing it the hard way, but I don't think really think that its making us stupid, because you can choose to find your sources else where you don't necessarily have to use Google. There is always another way to do things.