Duel Lives

During the last few weeks of class, we have been learning about online relationships and how people have completely different lives on the Internet. On Wednesday, we watched the episode of True Life: I Live Another Life on the Web. It was about three girls: Judy who has a risque website; Amy, a virtual rockstar; and Maleri, who meets guys online. This supports the idea that having online relationships and conversations with complete strangers can be easier for some. I think that these girls have HUGE self-esteem problems and chose to blame it on other things like anxiety or shyness. It seems so easy to develop relationships online, however; I would much rather meet people in person because I would want to meet the REAL person, not someone they perceive to be (Like Maleri, Judy, and Amy).

Disconnected

After nearly being disconnected for an entire week, I have noticed how much people depend on their cell phones to stay connected. I agree with the statement made in class that people use their phones for security blankets. It seems like I can't even say hello to people on campus anymore because they all have their heads in their phones. However, I am guilty of this as well.

People have grown to be so dependant on their cell phones that they actually have high anxiety when the phones are not at hand. Some students in class said that they were missing out on the latest news, family time, and different types of social events.

Because of this dependance, more people are ignoring the world around them. For example, even my mother, nearly 50, is on this cell phone kick. She will stay at a stop sign for minutes while she texts, not noticing the cars behind her. Also, my younger sister will constantly be playing with her phone while the family eats dinner, causing her to extract herself from the conversation at the table.

I, too, fall into the category of an avid cell phone abuser. Our generation is entirely too dependant on electronics, especially cell phones, and it is scarey to think that it is just going to get worse. I do not even remember what I did with my time before I had a cell phone and I wonder how things would be today if cell phones did not exist.

Buffy

Ok, I watched an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in class on Wednesday and I noticed a TON of old school computer software. First of all, the monitors were absolutely huge! I also noticed that the laptop computer that appeared in this episode was also huge. It was very bulky and reminded me of a type writer or some type of handheld game; it looked like anything BUT a laptop!

Another thing that I noticed in this episode was how information just "popped up" on the screen, like the name and profile of people. Also, when Willow and her "boyfriend" were chatting, I noticed that a voice would read their messages. Last, the computers were used to spy on people. I thought these examples of the use of computers in this episode was somewhat unrealistic. I don't know much of anything about computers but I think what they used them for was not possible.

One last thing that I noticed was the scanner. It was a handheld scanner that was used to scan pages of a book and, within seconds, it all showed up on the computer. I know that scanners in 2008 don't even work that fast! I'm not sure if something could even work like that.