Social Media

Truthfully, there's always a good and bad to everything.. Social media is no different.. It's great, it helps us connect faster to each other.. Especially over great distances, so if you go halfway around the world (or the whole way) you can still keep in touch with family and friends.. I'm sure everyone's said that or heard that somewhere.. So I won't really get into it.. I think one of the best things social media provides is information.. Especially about things that are going on on this planet that I was never even aware of, and I don't think I would've known about it had it not been for social media.. Besides staying in touch.. Social media is very good at keeping us up-to-date with current events and so forth....

Once again, it is awesome.. But it can also be awful.. Yes, these are very huge plus sides to social media.. There's a huge downside... Scams.. Social media leaves us very vulnerable in many ways.. From identity theft to propaganda.. This does happen in social media.. All the time.. Many times I've been on Facebook and I see people posting there status' as "my page got hacked".. Or people spread lies about others..

The other problem I have with social media.. Is now that it creates the opportunity to rarely have to meet up personally.. A lot of things can be done without the need of physical presence.. I dislike this.. Why? Because now we don't have to learn how to be social.. Why is this a problem.. Well, I look at today's children and I think to myself.. "Wow, that child is so disrespectful.. (s)he has no idea how to speak to adults/other people.." And I realize.. that's the problem.. Because they don't have that experience communicating with other people physically, they don't know how to..

Maybe it's just me.... But I know there are some people who agree with me.. The more technology advances.. The less human we become..

Social Networking and Third Spaces

I spend a lot of time on the internet. I own a smart phone, have two twitter accounts, a blog and check facebook more often than I will openly admit. This probably makes me a pretty poor critic of social media, but I am going to criticize anyway.

In the town where I grew up, there was an amazing secondhand bookstore called The Raconteur. It was the kind of place that hosted poetry readings by Pulitzer Prize winning authors, and Hemingway inspired arm wrestling contests. It was decorated with offbeat (sometimes kitchy) antiques and had that wonderful book smell.

They closed their doors at the end of last year after 8 years, because the proprietor Alex Dawson wanted to move on to other ventures, having just finished his MFA, and because they simply didn't make enough money. The New York Times wrote an article about the store after it announced that it was closing and described it as a classic 'third space' as described by sociologist Ray Oldenburg. That wasn't a concept that I was familiar with before reading the article, but it's something I am now rather intrigued by.

Quite simply, a third space is where you spend your free time and create community. Neighborhood bars, local barber shops and similar places have fit this classification for millenia, however, sociologists are saying that social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are replacing them. Instead of interacting with their friends in person, people prefer to see them on the internet. I think that for a social species like our own this can't be a positive thing.

All in all, social media and social networking are a good thing. Living 8 hours away from my family, Facebook makes evening conversations with my mother or brother incredibly convenient, and enables me to stay in touch with people I would otherwise be too busy for. I think that there is such thing as too much of a good thing though, and creating interpersonal relationships in the real world will always be better than spending your evenings playing World of Warcraft.

My Opinion on Social Media

Social media is almost unavoidable this day in age. Like almost everything in this world it has its pros and cons. I wouldn't say I am on either side I like social media websites and stuff but I also know that they can cause a lot of problems as well.
I think that Social media is a positive thing because it lets people, no matter where they are, keep in touch. I found this to be extremely useful when I became a college student and left all my high school friends and my family back home. I am a facebook addict (like many other teens) and without facebook I probably wouldn't keep in touch with anyone. It allows you to remain close and keep up to date with a variety of people at once, its a big time saver. I also think it is useful because lets say you need to ask your professor a question about the homework that is due tomorrow but you missed their office hours. Back in the day you would just have to figure it out on your own but today you can email your teacher and they can get back to you before the day is over. It can also let you share your work as well. A lot of people post pictures of their art,music,comedy and etc on the web and get discovered.
It can also be a negative thing as well. A lot of people can post things that aren't really appropriate. Today some girl on my Facebook said that she was put on a website for being "trashy" by someone. it can cause a lot of fights between couples, friends, or just random people. People are on these websites when they should be doing more important things. it has also made people not want to talk face to face because they can just type it. It has taken our social skills away in a way. It has also made gossip more popular I feel as well.

I think that as long as the world doesn't become reliant on social media an can still function without it that it is more of a positive than a negative

The social media has increasingly become a very significant tools at all levels , it is the most effective way to interact , respond , participate , and contribute to every single event that is going around us .
I have been watching the developments in the middle east in the last few months , people over there have had enough oppression in the last two decades , they were under dictators who has been ruling the countries for decades ,however, the power of social media has made it easier to know more , to break the barriers for those who were always scared but no longer , and finally showed the extent to how those regimes were bad and oppressive .
another important role that the social media is playing right now , is that it gives us at least a clue or an idea about anything we want to know instantly and continuously ,that is , it keeps people who are interested in something -anywhere and no matter what it is- posted and provides updates .
the social media is really great and being very beneficial for all of us , and it could be improved in the near future to play more roles in more fields .

The Beauty of the Desert

Hello everyone and welcome back to IUP! This time around, I would like to share with you my trip to Peru. It's been a year and a half since the last time I went to my country so I was very excited to meet my family and friends. Every time I go, I plan a trip to see new places within my country. This time I decided to go to the desert. My adventure started after New Year with the company of my parents and best friend. We drove 5 hours to the south of Lima (capital of Peru) to arrive in a small city surrounded by the Atacama Desert (the driest desert in the world!). Once settled, we went to see the dunes (huge hills of sand). We joined a group and rented the dune buggies. The experience was full of adrenaline! The car would go fast in the hills to make us feel like we were in a roller-coaster; it was a lot of fun. We even got the chance to see a beautiful oasis in the middle of the desert. The trip was a total success!

I believe social media was meant for the goodness of being able to connect back with old high school friends or even to post about you and your new life, but how social media is now is completely different. Sure you can still connect back with old friends and post about your new and old life but there are many side effects to this. One side effect for example, would be that of harming you. There are many people out there who don't think before posting on facebook, myspace, or even a blog like this one, and there are many people out there who know this. We have to admit there are crazy people out there, and if you post where you life or where you are at...that crazy person just might find you and put you in danger. Also, social media can harm you in the long run. For example, college. Of course the typical college student is going to post pictures of themselves and friends at a "Frat Party" and of course those pictures will have alcohol in them, which will be viewed by the whole internet. If you post a picture or are tagged in a picture with alcohol you infact are attached to the picture for the rest of your life. Therefore when you are going for your job in the future and your future manager looks at your facebook or googles you name...those pictures will come up and your future manager just became a manager at a company you always wished you'd work for. So basically from all of this I believe social media is only out there to harm you.

Social Media

Social media can be good or bad depending on how you use it. Its very beneficial to connect with people who you have met over the years and to keep up with old friends. However it do this comes with a double edge sword. Yeah its made our lives easier but it also makes obtaining a job harder if you post things that aren't appropriate for all viewers to see. Also what happened to people privacy for example Jo Pa former Penn State Coach dies and everyone is either facebooking, tweeting so on and so forth. Twenty years ago that would have never happened. Its great to know what is going on but there comes a points where people need to show some respect for other peoples business. But overall I do think its definitely something that will improve our culture over the coarse of time!