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>.

Collective Actions & Social Movements

Collective Actions are situations where groups of people join together to reach a common goal.  Currently we have many collective actions forming given the upcoming presidential election.  In most situations a Collective Action may be linked to political issues for example.

A Social Movement is defined as: "loosely organized but sustained campaign in support of a social goal, typically either the implementation or the prevention of a change in society’s structure or values."  Both collective actions and social movements are both groups form to reach a common interest goal, however a social movement will usually be a larger formation than what a collective action would be. 

What do these have in common with digital media?  This goes back to advertising almost.  Companies advertise their product through digital media to attract people to their products.  Most collective actions or social movements will do the same, however instead of selling a product they are spreading the word about what they seek in order to gain more supporters. More supporters means their group will become larger, the larger the group the stronger the group will be, and the stronger the group is the better the chance they have of reaching their goal. To get people involved there is no better way to "spread the word" than digital media!

Sources:

"What Is Collective Action? Definition and Meaning." BusinessDictionary.com. Web. 26 Feb. 2016. <http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/collective-action.html>.

"Social Movement." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica. Web. 26 Feb. 2016. <http://www.britannica.com/topic/social-movement>.

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Online Advertising

Online advertising is something that has become very prominent and extremely advantageous.  Many people go online for work purposes or even entertainment instead of turning on a TV anymore.  I have talked to many recently who have said they haven't watched TV in forever or even some that has switched to online forms of TV streaming entertainment which is done online of course.  Many businesses have picked up on this trend and now advertise through such things as Hulu, YouTube, and of course Facebook.  Most people wanting information on certain services are more than likely going to grab their smartphone and search the internet for information or phone numbers for the service they desire so what better place to advertise?  In the not too distant past I have also noticed that certain adds on my computer seem to be keeping up with websites that I visit so when I am looking at other sites advertisements from car companies or clothing brands that I like are then displayed to the side of the screen even when I am not on their website.  It's like the ads are beginning to know me or at least my interests.  Of course these advertisements somehow follow the history on my computer.  As it may seem a bit weird that there are capabilities such as these it is also mind blowing as to how productive forms of advertisement like this can be.  Instead of advertising everything known to man this form of online advertising takes exactly what the consumer is interested in and keeps them reminded of products the consumer has at least considered before.  Millions of people turn to Facebook for entertainment even.  Scrolling through a news feed for just a few minutes will probably show me more ads than what I will see by watching TV for a week as it is something I don't get to do too often.  As everything adapts to changes for the bettering of itself advertising has done just that through the internet.  A prime example is the Oreo commercial that was put on Twitter when a blackout occurred during the Super Bowl.  This simple quick form of advertising reached 15,000 people on Twitter and 20,000 people on Facebook.  Granted there are more than 35,000 people in the world, but because of this quick response from a team of advertising specialists thats 35,000 people that definitely saw their ad that might not have seen it any other way.  Advertising online is probably now the best form of advertising there is by far.

Works Cited:

"How Oreo Won the Marketing Super Bowl With a Timely Blackout Ad on Twitter." Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital. Web. 20 Feb. 2016.

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Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality is simply the word or nickname for protecting the internet from the idea of creating "fast" and "slow" lanes for internet service.  Fortune 500 companies have developed this idea as another way to make money quick basically, however for many it would have a negative effect.  Luckily this has not been allowed to happen...not yet anyway.

The nickname was first used in a paper back in 2003 and even though this is a major debate that broadband providers are pushing for until today I had not heard of this.  If broadband providers got their way in the situation they would be able to charge extra for faster internet services.  On the surface this seems logical, however large companies would be able to buy the upgrade while newly founded companies would have a hard time finding ways to afford the luxury giving the large company the "upper hand" or even allowing them to place a monopoly on internet service.  It would also allow them to control websites and streaming services. Getting rid of Net Neutrality is simply a way for the large companies to gain more profit while at the same time keeping their "thumb" on smaller competition.  Many say that by allowing broadband providers to do this would create and "uneven playing field" in which it would and this is where the nickname "Net Neutrality" comes from.   As things change everyday it will be interesting to see how the outcome of this turns out.  Large companies may have the funds to persuade certain situations, however this is a situation that does not need to be allowed.

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-Cyberspace Bullying

Bullying has been around for ages without a doubt unfortunately.  Everyone thinks differently and many factors go into making a bully.  When we were growing up bullies in grade school were the main focus, yet today there is a whole other form of bullying taking center stage.  This form of bullying takes everything to a whole new and different level.  Old school bullying was done through direct contact.  You knew who the bully was and with this information it was much easier to take care of the situation.  With cyber bullying the bully gets to hide behind a screen name and is done through a computer program.  Of course there are still ways to take care of situations such as these however.  The best way is to possibly notify a moderator of the program about the situation.  They will take care of it by virtually disciplining the bully or by blocking his account completely.  Another method would be to stand up against the bully.  I wouldn't suggest this, however if the bully is not dealt with they may not stop.  This bullying is done through cyberspace.  In most cases the bully may not know who you are.  If you can use words to out wit the bully and make him look worse then he might think twice before he does it the next time.  It's kinda like parents who teach their kids to fight back against the bully or at least they teach their kids to defend themselves, but standing up against a cyberbully if the need is there can be done easier as there is no physical body contact involved. I may not completely suggest this, however it may not be a bad idea after all.  There are programs out there to deter all kinds of bullying, however it will always have to be dealt with as there is no way to make it go away completely.  It is amazing that as technology changes it can even create the smallest change in different things such as forms of bullying.  As I said there are many things that factor into what makes a bully so new ones are formed everyday.  Although new bullies are forming we know how to handle them even more so in todays day and age than we ever have when the need arises and we have several different options to do it with.  Whether the method you choose is standing your own ground or getting someone who has power over the bully involved there are ways to combat the newest form of bullying.  Though it may not be something you can stop it is something that can definitely be helped!  I urge anyone reading this to become involved in preventing bullying as much as possible as it can have devastating effects on a person.  Even teaching a younger relative about how bad bullying can truly be can have great effects on that persons future! Thank you for your time and please, get involved!

Understanding Digital Natives

Some may ask just exactly what a Digital Native is and I would answer that by saying most of the worlds youth or younger generation.  Really anyone under the age of 36 or so that was born into the current era of technological systems.  While these systems are changing and/or being created day by day there are a few that have stuck around such as Facebook.  While there are many other sites created for social media Facebook seems to still be on or near the top of the list for most popular social media sites.  Granted we read the articles our professor supplied for the post, yet we are all Digital Natives ourselves therefore we should know first hand what it means to be one.  Every culture or region even within the United States is different.  Some regions show that guys may use social media more than their female counterparts or that guys prefer their gaming consoles over social media.  In the end these are all forms of modern technology.  Most every kid out there has a smart phone or at least a phone while one of the articles broke it down by which race had the most smart phones or access to them.  If you walk around any city that has enough size to urbanize the community most kids in that community will most likely have a phone it seems, yet I do not want to speak for everyone.  Some kids consider their phones their lifelines just as much as any prominent business person might.  I'm not sure I personally would be at the lifeline stage, however I have had to write a few papers on my phone when I was in a "pinch."  Text messaging is even being phased out as new messenger apps are becoming available.  When I want to share something with my closest friends from Facebook for instance I send it in Facebook's messenger app to our group.

Everyday technology is changing.  I know grownups that use to be great with technology, yet now they ask the simplest of questions regarding how to operate technology and it can leave you bewildered, but that's part of the ever changing forms of technology.  Younger generations or Digital Natives started out with systems similar to whats around today therefore it is easier to adapt for us as to where the generations above us, a.k.a. our parents and grandparents, have gotten use to the systems they had while growing up, which is nearly a completely different era of technology therefore they can not seem to adapt as easily to the systems we have today.  Whether they became too busy with their jobs to focus on technology, it is too complicated to comprehend, or that it is simply changing to fast for them may be a few causes for their poor adaptability, however I can't exactly point out which may be the correct cause as it may be a mixture of all three or there may even be causes I am unaware of one thing is certain Digital Natives can usually take the technology we have and "run" with it while what some may call "Digital Immigrants" or older generations struggle to make the latest technology work.  It all depends on what we grew up with and became accustomed to I believe.  It is easier to learn how to work something than learning how to work something, that something being changed, and then trying to relearn how to work something new again.  Most kids today are connected to technology more than ever if they have the means to do so.  After all there was a statement made not long ago that stated most kids carry more technology in their pocket than the amount of technology it took to send the first person to the moon!

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-Communication Revolution

Over the years it is very simple to see that many parts of the world have in fact been going through a "Communications Revolution."  The definition of what this revolution is can be simply derived from its name.  This is a revolution consisting of how humans interact.  Every form of communication has been enhanced from where it started and will continue to be enhanced while some forms are being invited.  I remember when my grandmother had a phone in the floorboard of her vehicle and it even had a cord on it, yet now she has the latest generation iPhone that can fit in some of the smallest compartments for portability compared to the old system she once used.  I remember when I was young and didn't have much understanding of the internet.  All I knew was mom could type something in and it would appear on a screen as I always enjoyed looking at pictures of aircrafts, pets, boats, etc.  Advance a few years and now we have social media.  I think we all remember customizing our MySpace pages with lava lamps and backgrounds.  As I said everything is advancing everyday and so did social media.  Now we have Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, etc. while MySpace and even Facebook are becoming somewhat a thing of the past.  The form of communication will ever be improving at this point.  We use to use pen and paper to write a letter, now we just email.  We use to use fax machines, but now we just attach it as a pdf document to an email.  Our computers started out as machines that took up whole rooms, yet one can now hold a much more sophisticated machine or computer in the palm of their hand.  After all most everyones if not everyones cell phones contain more technology than what we used when the United States sent the first man to the moon. One can only imagine which form of communication will be invited next.

All of this started and was largely made available by the World Wide Web.  Although many take it for granted and don't give it much thought some describe the web as a platform of which everything is based.  This platform acts somewhat like a universe as a universe contains everything in it with different planets existing inside of it.  The Web is a platform or universe per-say that hosts many different websites for many different things to exist upon.  The Web is something that many can access and carry about business upon, go shopping, communicate, learn, entertain, or even use as a link to personal belongings with.  Web 2.0 is simply an improvement along the way of how people think if anything.  With changing times improvements have been made to whats on the web from everything to somethings name, its efficiency, or even complete redesigns of stuff in its entirety.  The transformation from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 was a miniature revolution in itself and I as far as I can see its far from being the last of the Web revolutions.