Invasion of Privacy

Social networks are designed so that individuals can freely express themselves and create customized profiles that they can check freely throughout their day. These profiles allow them to feel connected even throughout their day by including photos, comments, likes, dislikes, and update their statuses. It is important to express your individuality however, people must be aware that the information they post online is not private. It is hard to say whether or not I agree or disagree with Andrew’s proposal. I say this because I believe that even if this act was put into place I don’t necessarily believe that employers, schools, or other social institutions would follow this rule right of the bat. I am a strong believer of our personal rights and privacy because what we post online should not reflect who we are as a person to these institutions. When different individuals that are representing these institutions are viewing their students or future employers profiles some may be more judgmental than others which is unfair. 

I understand where employers are coming from when they want to view their possible future employer’s profiles because they will be representing their company. It is understandable that they want a reliable and serious employer however I believe that is what applications and interviews are conducted for. There are even articles out there that list social media mistakes that can cost you your job which I think it is absurd that hiring managers are making hiring decisions based on social network profiles. 

I think that it is a whole different story when it comes to schools viewing their students profiles because that is an invasion of their privacy because their are thousands of students in the school and they have a right to post what they want online without getting penalized. Unless their is a conflict that becomes the schools concern I don’t believe that their profiles should be viewed because this is their personal space and has nothing to do with them as a student during the school day. 

I am leaning more towards the side of not allowing institutions to access social network pages or taking adverse actions against an individual based on their posts on social network or their profile alone. When we are at school at work most of us put on our serious face and acts in ways that our socially acceptable. In society we are faced with many different situations and people and it is our responsibility to act right in those situations. If these institutions need to check profiles in order to judge  people then they should reevaluate themselves because that is not the right way. Someone should not be given a chance based solely on what they are posting online when that should be their right to post what they want but still know their our consequences. 

Is Google doing more or less for our society?

In today’s society everyone relies on Google as their main source of information. This is not necessarily a bad thing because we have several resources available to us with just the touch of a button. However, we are spending almost all of our free-time and even time we should be working searching for answers on the web and not allowing our brain's to think for itself. This is where the real problem lies because we live in a society where it has become socially acceptable to be on our computers or cellphones at any time of the day even if we are with our friends or family. 

I have noticed over the past couple years that I have been guilty of this myself. Even when we are well aware of our actions we are so addicted to feeling connected with the media. If per say that Google decided to shut down all of its service the use of the  Internet would decrease immensely in terms of productivity and usability because many individuals in today’s society can not go a day without using a Google product.  Nicholas Carr’s article  he elaborates on an illustration by Guy Billout which I find to be an extremely powerful message because this is how many people I talk to feel and agree about the use of Google. It talks about how he feels something different going on with his brain and how it retains and relays informations. He explains that his mind can’t focus when he is reading a simple book or an article because he gets super fidgety and his mind starts to wonder. I feel like this has happened to be over the years as well. If I am assigned to read a long chapter, it is so hard for me to sit down and actually comprehend what I am reading after the 4th page. When I am writing my research papers I have to take about five to ten breaks so that I can actually stay focused. It is pretty sad that this is what it has come to because we don’t allow our brains to think for itself and we rely to much on the information we find online. 

Google has enabled us to open up so many channels of information and it makes information more easily accessible because almost anyone can get this information but it is also changing our memory and attention span. It is important to be able to critically think about situations so that we can improve our own though processes in different aspects. I don’t believe people need to stop using Google or the Internet as a whole, I just think that we need to rely on it less. 

The Ultimate Browser

Google is just a search engine for individuals where they can look things up and find important information. Others may use Google to just simply check their Gmail or work on a presentation with their fellow classmates. The problem with this is that any of their online activity can lead to their personal information to be exposed since it can be accessed by Google which many people not may be aware of, or have heard about it but did not think it was a big deal. 

 It is hard to say weather or not Google has too much power over our lives because everyone uses it in different ways and has different outlooks. I believe that most people are unaware of how much time they actually spend on the internet and rely on it to do everything for them. Whenever, we have free time we are using Google to research information to help us in our career, school work, with personal issues, and more. The problem with being on Google all the time is that it does endanger our privacy. According to this article Google is taking control over our private lives. Despite the fact that Google accounts for nearly 80% of all Web Searchers and  90% of all mobile device search it discusses how the data is used to sell targeted ads. To me this is an invasion of our privacy and should be not allowed. 

Even in this short clip from Family Guy’s video they are able to find Meg’s location thanks to Google Earth but Brian was shocked that you were able to do something like this online. The issue with this is that most people are not aware of the many things Google or even the Internet for that matter can do and still use it because it does have so many easily accessible things for us that help us get things does efficiently. 

The Perks of Blogging

Tiffany Brown’s interview on blogging has many interesting explanations a new-time blogger such as me can take away. There is no right or wrong way to blogging and each blogger has their own style. 

Perks to Tiffany’s blogging:

1 It helped her grow professionally

2 She blogged about something she was passionate about: gender, race, and politics.

3 Allowing comments equaled more traffic to her blog.

 4.  Bloglines and delicious.com are two links she used to find interesting links.

5 She sets aside time to blog each day which keeps her in tact with her blog. 

Although Tiffany has a background in writing due to her major in journalism doesn’t mean you need to have that type of background in order to blog. I like the idea of blogging because you are able to share your thoughts on topics you find interesting with individuals and get feedback. Tiffany explains how her writing has changed since she started blogging by turning towards a more conversational tone. This is interesting to me because although many of us use these types of tones through interactions on social media or when we are researching topics for a class we typically have to write in a more formal tone. 

It is interesting to read that a blogger such as Tiffany who has made blogging a big part of her life and even stated she would love for it to be her career even gets burnt out. The longest she has taken off in six months and I thought to myself that it quite sometime. However, we are all deal with many things in life, and it is not unusual to feel overwhelmed. Tiffany enjoys blogging so she can connect, debate, and share ideas with others and I believe this is a great way to feel connected even with the busy lives we all have. 

I am excited to start blogging, and learn how to get a better hang of it, especially after reading over Tiffany’s interview. She has many great tips to offer, and I have a lot to learn!