Mind Control and the Internet

In Eli Pariser’s:  Beware Online Filter Bubbles, he starts off talking about how the Internet was not a part of his everyday life as an adolescent. One interesting idea that he brings up is about how to people can search the same thing on Google but have different results. It is like Google knows exactly who you are when you are searching for something. The results that show up are what they want you to see, so ultimately you have no choice in what pops up. I actually find it quite interesting how two people who are searching for the same thing can come up with entirely different results based on what Google feels you as a viewer should see. In Pariser’s opinion, the Internet is becoming more personalized, and it does not show us what is irrelevant to our topics. I agree with him because the Internet chooses what it wants us to see. It can eliminate things right away just because it believes we have no use for that information.              

 Sue Halpern’s article, Mind Control and the Internet discusses Pariser’s ideologies in a similar light. She compares algorithms with Pariser’s ideas about the personalized search engines. Algorithms are the correctors that show the information to viewers that they feel is adequate for their searches. She agrees with Pariser’s idea because she also feels that Google hides information from its users that they are rightfully allowed to see. Google and other search engines make you see only what they feel is relevant to you, when in fact the information they are hiding from you could actually be useful as well.                                     

The last article Clive Thompson on High-Bandwidth Buddies, which is written by Clive Thompson, discusses the idea of homophily. This concept is about the trend of people to associate with others of the identical kind. He believes that we should not be exposed to the same ideas on the Internet, unlike Pariser’s and Halpern’s ideology. Thompson does not see the harm in Google or other search engines showing the viewer what they want them to see. He feels that everyone should not be exposed to the same ideas. Thompson ultimately wants society to break away from wanting people to see the same thing and accept the fact of being able to see different things on search engines. 

Obama's Campaign

            President Obama’s campaign swayed away from the traditional ways that people have become accustomed to in the past on how the presidential candidates go about being elected. In fact President Obama took a whole new approach during his campaign in regards to raising money for whatever was needed. The newer method that Obama used during his campaign was through social networking. What the president did to expand into cyberspace was create his own personal social networking site www.my.barackobama.com. This became known as MyBo which was the main site that was used to raise and bring in large sums of money. This site actually set the record for American politics by raising approximately 55 million dollars in a single month.                                                                                  
             The website was not just for raising money though. The President used his social networking site to also get America’s attention and tell them to go and vote. Due to President Obama’s networking site, an example of how effective it was is the case where Hilary Clinton had won the State of Texas’s primary vote, but because of the people who followed their MyBo “playbook” Obama was able to win in the delegate count in Texas by a count of 99 to 94. The impact that the social networking site had on Obama’s campaign was tremendous because throughout his campaign Obama was able to make the most of and take advantage of the arrangement of new trends that were occurring all over. Since such a high percentage of Americans are capable of using the Internet and gain access to his website Obama was able to reach out to larger populations of people without having to always be there in person which was what had to be done in the past.                                                                                                                        
          By Obama using social networking to campaign for his presidency it can open new doors for how presidents can be elected. In my opinion, with him using these applications most likely gave him an advantage over his opponents. Americans are constantly using the Internet each and every day, so campaigning for millions helped his chances of winning immensely.                                              

Growing Up ONline

Teenagers during this generation solely rely on the Internet in ways of communication and help in everyday life. With technology on the rise, more teens are becoming dependent on computers and cell phones. Parents that were interviewed in the video present themselves as being very distant from their children. We get their outlooks on how technology has created turmoil. Children in this day and age really do not know how to communicate over the phone or face to face because of their dependence to the Internet. Although the Internet can provide a faster and easier way of communication, it can also have detrimental effects to teens. One parent spoke about his son Ryan’s suicide and how the Internet contributed to it. Many other teens like Ryan have experienced cyber-bullying and have taken their own lives because of it. Before the Internet was around, when a teen was bullied at school they could have a safe haven at home. But in today’s era, a teen cannot go home and feel safe because the bullying can continue in their own home over the Internet. So if a teen cannot feel safe in their own home where else can they feel secure? This can ultimately lead to a teen committing suicide.                                                                                  

 However, one teen in the video used MySpace as an escape from reality. She created and used a new name and actually felt comfortable with who she was on the Internet. She stated that she was bullied and using MySpace made her become the person she wanted everyone to view her as. She posted pictures which were viewed as pornographic in nature by her high school principal and her parents made her delete all of them. Her parents initially did not accept her actions on MySpace but later on in the video they stated that they understood why she did it and that they accepted it as a part of who she is.                        

The Internet has both positive and negative aspects. In my opinion, teens in present day society have way too much dependence on technology. We cannot live without our phones or computers because this is how our era has taught us to be like. As each decade goes by, technology become more and more intertwined in our everyday life. If we took away all phones, computers and every other piece of technology we rely upon, many people would feel completely lost.