This blog will be a place for me to
document the learning experiences and thoughts I have while participating in
the course Psychology of Social Media, with Professor Brian Kinghorn. This past
week I was only able to attend one class due to a wedding on Friday on the
mainland, however even just from one class I feel like I was able to learn so
much, and to brainstorm just how much social media and technology has
changed over the years.
I remember when I was in elementary school hearing my dad complain when my older siblings would texts on their cell phones. At the time texts were ten cents each, and the bill quickly added up. This memory came to me during our class on Tuesday after we watched a short documentary about the first online newspaper. It was very expensive and it took almost two hours to load. Like this electronic newspaper, I can imagine that no one truly predicted how popular texting would become, and the fact that someday there would be unlimited texting absolutely free with your plan. Also during class on Wednesday we read an interesting article written in 1995 by Clifford Stoll. The article, called “Why the Web Won’t Be Nirvana,” was ones man’s opinion of why internet use was only going to be temporary, and how it would surely fade within a short amount of time. It was so fun to read this article, which predicted the present so differently than it is now. What was most interesting was that Stoll, the author of this creative piece, was a very educated man who had been using the internet for twenty years, yet he still insisted that its time was limited.
After reading this interesting article I enjoyed discussing what other forms of technology have dramatically changed in the last few years. I can vividly recall my dad having a very bulky palm pilot, and using a little pen with a rubber tip to press the buttons on the touch screen. I was so impressed with this technology at the time, however, now as I sit her typing, I have my i-phone right next to my right hand and I rarely take the time to think about how truly awesome it is. It is my goal that throughout the rest of this course I can take the time to appreciate the advances that have been made and how they have benefitted myself and our society.
I remember when I was in elementary school hearing my dad complain when my older siblings would texts on their cell phones. At the time texts were ten cents each, and the bill quickly added up. This memory came to me during our class on Tuesday after we watched a short documentary about the first online newspaper. It was very expensive and it took almost two hours to load. Like this electronic newspaper, I can imagine that no one truly predicted how popular texting would become, and the fact that someday there would be unlimited texting absolutely free with your plan. Also during class on Wednesday we read an interesting article written in 1995 by Clifford Stoll. The article, called “Why the Web Won’t Be Nirvana,” was ones man’s opinion of why internet use was only going to be temporary, and how it would surely fade within a short amount of time. It was so fun to read this article, which predicted the present so differently than it is now. What was most interesting was that Stoll, the author of this creative piece, was a very educated man who had been using the internet for twenty years, yet he still insisted that its time was limited.
After reading this interesting article I enjoyed discussing what other forms of technology have dramatically changed in the last few years. I can vividly recall my dad having a very bulky palm pilot, and using a little pen with a rubber tip to press the buttons on the touch screen. I was so impressed with this technology at the time, however, now as I sit her typing, I have my i-phone right next to my right hand and I rarely take the time to think about how truly awesome it is. It is my goal that throughout the rest of this course I can take the time to appreciate the advances that have been made and how they have benefitted myself and our society.
We missed you in class on Thursday. Hopefully the wedding was fun. It is fascinating to see the changes we've been talking about and will be talking about in our own lives. You'll be able to tell you kids "when I was your age..." and then talk about some new technology of today that will seem so antiquated to your kids. Crazy. As I mentioned in my blog post (http://psychsocialmedia.blogspot.com/2014/04/welcome-to-psychology-of-social-media.html) we often don't have the needed conversations about the dramatic changes that are happening all around us, especially with advances in technology and social media. We rarely think about how remarkable all of this stuff is. I hope this class will help us to be more aware, more informed, and more open to talking about this stuff. Safe travels back to the island.
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