Social Media and Politics

In today's day and age there is one thing that people pay more attention to than TV.  Social media apps can be found on most everyone's smart phones.  To be able to watch TV you have to have quite a bit of time on your hands, however during a short break many people can pull out their phones and look at social media.  Social media can include posts from people you know as well as online advertisements.  These online advertisements often include political information especially now when we have an upcoming Presidential Election.  Over time adults have started using the social media to stay updated on politics as one source said that in fact sometime more recent than 2011 66% of adults used social media or Internet sources to stay updated on political happenings.  As I said checking social media is much easier than trying to sit down and watch TV.  The world becomes a busier place as you get older meaning less time for such luxuries, however social media is only seconds away most of the day.  People realize this as well as more and more advertisements have appeared on social media sites and if many are spending millions of dollars on a campaign then what better way to reach someone than a device that stays in the palm of their hand, pants pocket, or purse during the day and probably the last thing they look at before they go to bed at night.

Hope everyone has a good Spring Break!

Sources:

"Social Media Use and Online Political Participation Among College Students During the US Election 2012." Social Media Use and Online Political Participation Among College Students During the US Election 2012. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2016. <http://sms.sagepub.com/content/2/1/2056305115623802.full.pdf+html>.

Comment:

https://evanpierceprod.wordpress.com/2016/03/19/social-media-and-politics/comment-page-1/#comment-32

User generated content is defined as: "any data or media that is contributed by individual users of a website."  Many companies have taken this and used it to their ability.  While searching for companies that use user generated content many results were found.  One of these results I found is a company that goes by the name of Eyeka, https://en.eyeka.com.  According to this company they take problems that larger companies are facing and solve them with user generated content.  It's a "win win" situation for both sides with Eyeka being the middle man.  Another company allows users to upload photos to where others can go to their website and order different size prints of these photos.  There are many ways to make money with technology and one of the greatest ways is with user generated content.  Of course there is a middle man who takes some of the profit, however they are also the ones who market the user generated content therefore they are a crucial part of the system.  As technology advances so do the ways of earning money with the use of technology.

Source:

 "The Definition of User-generated Content." Dictionary.com. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

Comment:

https://lakerabiblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/extended-interactivity-user-generated-content/comment-page-1/#comment-43

Dangers of Video Games

Gaming is something that most kids take part in today.  In fact kids of all ages as well as adults still play video games.  Improvements are being made to all things that can be improved, which is one reason video games have done so well.  Many people though are worried as to what point a video game becomes dangerous.  Many games on the market today contain violence, vulgarness, nudity, etc.  It seems the worse content the game contains the more popular the game becomes. 

Statistics:

• "About 10% of children aged 2 to 18 play console and computer video games more than 1 hr per day."

• "Among 8- to 13-year-old boys, the average is more than 7.5 hr per week."

• "in 1998, 13.3% of men entering college played at least 6 hr per week as high school seniors. By 1999, that figure had increased to 14.8%. Furthermore, 2% of the men reported playing video games more than 20 hr per week in 1998. In 1999, that figure increased to 2.5%."

The first video games came out in the '70's and were nonviolent games, however the '90's brought change to the video game world as the first games that contained killing others were introduced to the market. Of course games that show violence until you die just to regenerate you like nothing had happened influence the way kids think over time.  Kids learn from experience and today's games are as realistic as they ever were therefor it makes it hard for them to know the difference from whats right and what wrong.  Granted these games may not have as great of a negative impact as what some may think as they typically do not create serial killers, however these games become addicting.  Many people who get hooked on playing such games can tend to forget about everything else in their life, especially things that will lead them to their future such as schools or jobs.  Due to this these games can very easily have a large negative impact on many individuals lives.  My advice is to play the game smart with as little violence as possible and know the "fine line" between augmented reality and actual reality.    

Source:

Anderson, Craig A., and Brad J. Bushman. EFFECTS OF VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES ON AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, AGGRESSIVE COGNITION, AGGRESSIVE AFFECT, PHYSIOLOGICAL AROUSAL, AND PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Scientific Literature (n.d.): n. pag. Sept. 2001. Web. 5 Mar. 2016. <http://webspace.pugetsound.edu/facultypages/cjones/chidev/Paper/Articles/Anderson-Aggression.pdf>.