1st Blog Post

This week in class we discussed the effects social media can have on peer pressuring people (children in particular) to conform to certain behaviors. Kids are very impressionable so when they see their peers or even other social media stars engaging in certain activities, they are likely to try it as well. This can have very negative consequences when the behaviors involve smoking, doing drugs, drinking alcohol, or other disorderly conduct. Most of the articles focused on the negative aspects, but if the influenced is unbiased in terms of good versus bad, then I say we look at the positive things that can come from this. People can be motivated if they see their “friends” on social media volunteering in the community, working out, or pursing their goals in life. It would be nice if social media could regulate the content on its feed so that illegal or largely held socially unacceptable actions could be blocked. However, this would be a difficult task since it would infringe upon the f...

In class discussion this week we covered the concept of filter bubbles. Filter bubbles are an algorithm used by many search engines and social media sites that are designed to show the viewer what they want to see. Using programming software, the algorithm is able to monitor what you have previously looked at, searched, liked, favorited, purchased, commented on, etc., to figure out how to best cater to you. This means that the links and articles that show up on Facebook or google searches are catered to your preference. Don’t believe me? Have you and your friends all search the same thing on google and see if you all get the same links to show up. I am not sure when this feat of computer engineering was accomplished, but I would like to imagine it had good intentions. Its sounds like a great idea to have all of your news and information catered to your liking so that it is exactly what you are looking for. However, there can be serious consequences to a design that only shows you ...

     In class discussion this week we talked about fake and sloppy news. With the ease of sharing articles on social media with the click of a button, it is easy for false information to spread quickly. Also, people on social media generally have the mindset of quickly skimming information to catch the highlights instead of deeply reading the information. This absence of critical thinking and checking the validity of a document accelerates the mass distribution of false information. A relatively benign example of this, that I have come across, is people sharing a weather forecast for a big snow that is supposed to hit in the next couple of days. When I clicked on the article to read about this snow I saw that it was dated several years ago. Most people just read the catchy headline “Possible Foot of Snow to Impact the Area Friday” and don’t click on the site to verify that it is accurate and up to date information. But what happens when the misinformation spread is not a...

Last week I had posted an article on Facebook in my “Psychology of Social Media” group page that talked about how social media and news could warp people’s memories. There was a specific focus on false information that was spread through social media among friends. I will repeat a portion of my post to lay a framework for further elaboration on the article: “The article detailed a phenomenon known as memory convergence. In short, this is the process by which a group of people come to agree on what happened. Social media allows for people to share ideas that are often reinforced by people with a similar viewpoint. The danger in this is that false information can quickly become circulated in these groups at large and distort the memories that people have of these events. This idea ties into the phenomenon of group think, which can be dangerous in regards to false information being accepted and stored into memories as vetted facts.” People’s thought processes and memories of events c...

What impact have cameras had on society outside of the movie industry? With the advent of cellphones having the capability to record and capture, the camera has become ubiquitous. When many people think of a camera they immediately picture a beautiful sunset, a city’s skyline, or a special occasion with family or friends. Outside of capturing the aesthetics and cherished experiences, how have cameras been implemented to change our lives? The beauty of cameras and technology as a whole, is that they are objective. The absence of a tainted viewpoint rooted in subjectivity and fallible memory allows for cameras to capture raw, actual events. Accordingly, cameras have been employed largely in the judicial sphere as concrete evidence of a technological eye witness account. For this reason, cameras can be credited with capturing many criminals and seeing that they pay the price for their unlawful actions. Many people will now just post a noticeable sign in their home window or at their ...

In my psychology class this week we discussed the future of social media, and the continued existence of Facebook specifically. Can Facebook stand the test of time and remain an actively used site throughout the near and far future? Or will it eventually crumble and fade out like nearly every other social media site has experienced in the past? According to research conducted by Princeton University in 2014, they suggest the latter. Princeton University made an interesting analogy between that of Facebook and an infectious disease. By comparing a growth curve from a contagious disease to social media, Princeton University researchers found that Facebook will lose 80% of its users by 2017. We can now see that they were wrong. If you are like me, you may be surprised that such a prestigious institution had a horribly incorrect conclusion from the results of their data. The question that must be begged is why? I assert that their analogy was a poor comparison. Not for the reason of...

     People often use social media to keep up with what is going on in their family, friends, or even nemeses, lives. It is a convenient way to keep tabs on people they care about without being bound by space or time to meet each of them individually and chat with them. I personally view social media as a newspaper. I read it every night before bed and it is part of my daily routine that assures me that I did not miss out on anything for that day. I think it is important to be “in the know,” and social media has the market cornered on this idea. In order for this system to work, however, the users must share information about themselves. If people only sat behind the computer screen and read others' posts without sharing their own, the system wouldn’t work.      Unfortunately, I must confess that I am the type of person who does this very thing. I have an account on several different social media sites and use them regularly. However, the people I foll...