Social networking has become necessary in our world today. It has changed the way we communicate and interact with each other on a day to day basis which has led to many positive and negative consequences. Before social networking existed, communication was through the phone line or snail mail. Now, news and information is easily available because of social networking. We are able to instantly update what we are doing at any given time, while being connected within a web of many friends. Although Facebook has been the main source of social networking, Twitter has become another tool for instant updates with and to the friends on your site. I believe social networking is here to stay and will only grow and expand as technology advances.
There are many positive aspects that come from being able to network socially through websites like Facebook and Twitter. We can get news updates immediately. What these sites also do is allow people to stay connected with friends from years ago or meet new friends. I personally use Facebook and Twitter everyday to keep up with close family and friends while also using the network to share some interesting facts about myself….well at least I think they are interesting facts.
As with everything in life, where there is a positive, there usually is a negative. And that is the case with social networking. It may bring us many great things, but it can also bring us problems. Privacy is a huge issue when dealing with social networking. People put too much personal information on their profiles which gives unwanted people access to information you would rather keep secret. Also cyber bullying can become a concern for those using Facebook and Twitter due to the public access of the information. That is why the privacy selection should be used on these sites.
All in all, I use Facebook and Twitter daily to keep people updated with what I’m doing because I want to be transparent. I will never write anything on Facebook that I wouldn’t want my parents to read. It’s a good thing too because my parents are also in my community on Facebook and Twitter.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Being Anonymous on the Internet
Privacy is a thing of the past…especially if you use the internet. And who doesn’t use the internet these days? You can use a fake name or a screen name to hide your real identity, but if someone really wants to find out who you are, then they will. Sometimes a person may put too much personal information on social networks. Just because there are spaces to fill in with all of your personal information, does not mean that you actually have to complete it. Then there are people that you choose to “friend” that you don’t even know just to say you have over a 1000 friends on Facebook. To think about it, that’s me. I do not know who some of these people are and what they will choose to do with the information that is on my profile. So I need to rethink who I have accepted as my friends. And then there are the people who know you and set out to get as much information as they can from these sites. You can easily become a victim of a stalker.
Trying to keep personal information private is also a problem when you give out credit card numbers when you are buying items on the internet. If the site is not secure, your identity has just been stolen. And even if the site is secure, sometimes that will not prevent your information from being shared.
Also medical information about you can easily be stolen. If you search the internet for information about certain ailments you might have, those sites you have visited are saved somewhere on the internet and now strangers have information about what may be part of your health problems.
Additionally, being anonymous on the internet is a way for criminals to harm you or your family personally. Many older men and women stalk children on the internet for their own use.
So the internet is a tool that must be used carefully. There are dangers on the internet that we probably haven’t even thought of yet, but someone else has and they are waiting to make honest people’s lives miserable. Yes, the internet has made our lives easier but it has made our lives more open to danger as well.
Trying to keep personal information private is also a problem when you give out credit card numbers when you are buying items on the internet. If the site is not secure, your identity has just been stolen. And even if the site is secure, sometimes that will not prevent your information from being shared.
Also medical information about you can easily be stolen. If you search the internet for information about certain ailments you might have, those sites you have visited are saved somewhere on the internet and now strangers have information about what may be part of your health problems.
Additionally, being anonymous on the internet is a way for criminals to harm you or your family personally. Many older men and women stalk children on the internet for their own use.
So the internet is a tool that must be used carefully. There are dangers on the internet that we probably haven’t even thought of yet, but someone else has and they are waiting to make honest people’s lives miserable. Yes, the internet has made our lives easier but it has made our lives more open to danger as well.
Business and Technology
My dad runs a business so I thought I would talk with him about how he uses technology everyday in his business and how it helps him to run a successful company. He gave me some interesting facts about how technology helps increase sales. The following are the results of our conversation.
• Conference calls (www.webx.com) have really increased sales and decreased travel. The included web address is one he uses for conference calls. By arranging calls between manufacturers and customers, you’re able to answer a lot of technical questions without physically being face to face. Video conferencing gives a way to conduct a demonstration with equipment that’s expensive to transport, setup, take down and return.
• Email and email blasts allow you to stay in contact with customers as a group. Distribution lists are a way to run a promotion and distribute it with the click of a button. Once the contact(s) are loaded to your group, you can now send with any information you desire.
• Smart phones have really freed up an individual from staying constantly by his/her laptop or desktop. You can send and receive emails. The cameras are really high pixel which gives you the capability to send photos of damages, defect and identification of merchandise.
• Electronic billing has changed the way our society receives and pays bills now. The good thing about it is immediate posting and no chance of lost payments by the postal services. Your online account allows you access at any time to look and evaluate your account.
These are some of the ways that my dad uses technology in his business. This shows me that technology is important in the success of business no matter the size of the company. Overall, the use of technology in business increases a company’s profit.
• Conference calls (www.webx.com) have really increased sales and decreased travel. The included web address is one he uses for conference calls. By arranging calls between manufacturers and customers, you’re able to answer a lot of technical questions without physically being face to face. Video conferencing gives a way to conduct a demonstration with equipment that’s expensive to transport, setup, take down and return.
• Email and email blasts allow you to stay in contact with customers as a group. Distribution lists are a way to run a promotion and distribute it with the click of a button. Once the contact(s) are loaded to your group, you can now send with any information you desire.
• Smart phones have really freed up an individual from staying constantly by his/her laptop or desktop. You can send and receive emails. The cameras are really high pixel which gives you the capability to send photos of damages, defect and identification of merchandise.
• Electronic billing has changed the way our society receives and pays bills now. The good thing about it is immediate posting and no chance of lost payments by the postal services. Your online account allows you access at any time to look and evaluate your account.
These are some of the ways that my dad uses technology in his business. This shows me that technology is important in the success of business no matter the size of the company. Overall, the use of technology in business increases a company’s profit.
Technology and Society
Technology has affected people’s lives both in a positive way and in a negative way. The most obvious negative way is that people are losing jobs everyday because what they used to do is now being done in a better way through the use of technology. All jobs now are in some ways tied to technology. I was looking at a commercial and saw that the “actors” in the commercial were not real people. They looked animated or even like avatars. I am sure that money is being saved by using these fake people, but is it really necessary. I didn’t really care for it. On assembly lines where people used to put products together by hand, those products, like automobiles, are now being put together by robots. Also, people become attached more to their technology tools than to other people in their lives. They have to be on their computer, I-phones or Blackberries, I-pods, mp3 players, and so on all the time, even when they are walking or driving a car. It was in the news a few weeks ago that a lady was on her cell phone in a mall, texting, and walked into a fountain It is almost to the point where no one talks to other people, face to face, anymore. There are text messages or Skype or other ways to communicate. There are only 24 hours in a day, so the time spent with these toys is time not spent with family and friends.
Technology has improved people’s lives as well. It has made people’s lives easier. Chores are easier. Floors used to be swept with a broom, then came the vacuum cleaner that had to be pushed by someone and now there is a vacuum cleaner that runs on its own. The computer has made people’s lives easier too. Instead of using books for research, there are tools on the internet that will help you find more information quicker on any topic than having to look it up in books. The internet also is a place where you can meet people like on face book or my space. It is just important that you don’t give out too much information about yourself. Books are now being downloaded so that they may be read electronically, either on the computer or on portable computers like the Nook or Kindle. People’s lives are being saved because of the use of technology in medicine. Doctors use technology to help them diagnose patient problems and during operations. And to show how dependent we have become on technology, just let the electricity go out for a few hours. It sometimes will cause a panic because we do not know what to do without our televisions, music, computers or Wii systems. But our parents and grandparents did. So technology does affect our society in both positive and negative ways, we have to make sure that we don’t let it take over our lives completely.
Technology has improved people’s lives as well. It has made people’s lives easier. Chores are easier. Floors used to be swept with a broom, then came the vacuum cleaner that had to be pushed by someone and now there is a vacuum cleaner that runs on its own. The computer has made people’s lives easier too. Instead of using books for research, there are tools on the internet that will help you find more information quicker on any topic than having to look it up in books. The internet also is a place where you can meet people like on face book or my space. It is just important that you don’t give out too much information about yourself. Books are now being downloaded so that they may be read electronically, either on the computer or on portable computers like the Nook or Kindle. People’s lives are being saved because of the use of technology in medicine. Doctors use technology to help them diagnose patient problems and during operations. And to show how dependent we have become on technology, just let the electricity go out for a few hours. It sometimes will cause a panic because we do not know what to do without our televisions, music, computers or Wii systems. But our parents and grandparents did. So technology does affect our society in both positive and negative ways, we have to make sure that we don’t let it take over our lives completely.
Technology and Social Interaction
It seems like yesterday where we actually had to meet people by going out into public and talking to them. Today, with all of the technological advances in our society, we meet people over the internet through online social networking, dating cites, message boards, etc. Although these sites have great value in our society today, I still like talking face to face to people. Without that physical contact, you can’t really see what a person is actually thinking. All of the frowns and smiles and other signals are missing because you are not face to face.
My personal opinion is that technology has left us too dependent on a “computer” to meet our needs and as a society we have become lazy. Technology has decreased or even eliminated the number of jobs available since we can now use computers to do jobs that were once done by man. Fewer jobs lead to fewer people who have the opportunity to provide for their families. The ideal world would be one where technology was widespread but not overpowering. We need to use the technology and social networking that we have to our benefit but not abuse it.
Now, although I believe relationships last longer when someone meets someone else in person, online dating sites also has its benefits. Relationships can be formed quicker through online communication and those who aren’t as comfortable or confident meeting people in person can create profiles describing themselves and post it on certain sites for the public to see. The only problem is, though, that people lie on their profiles. So who you meet online may not be the person you are expecting when you actually meet them. Now, more than ever, people are using online dating sites to develop relationships. These sites tend to eliminate the characteristics you aren’t looking for in a person while highlighting the ones you are looking for. Fact is more and more people are using online dating sites to kick off a relationship before going on a real date.
Ultimately it is up to each individual as to how they use the technology. I personally choose to use it to keep up with my friends and family but I definitely don’t overuse it. I want to live my own life; I don’t want technology to live it for me.
My personal opinion is that technology has left us too dependent on a “computer” to meet our needs and as a society we have become lazy. Technology has decreased or even eliminated the number of jobs available since we can now use computers to do jobs that were once done by man. Fewer jobs lead to fewer people who have the opportunity to provide for their families. The ideal world would be one where technology was widespread but not overpowering. We need to use the technology and social networking that we have to our benefit but not abuse it.
Now, although I believe relationships last longer when someone meets someone else in person, online dating sites also has its benefits. Relationships can be formed quicker through online communication and those who aren’t as comfortable or confident meeting people in person can create profiles describing themselves and post it on certain sites for the public to see. The only problem is, though, that people lie on their profiles. So who you meet online may not be the person you are expecting when you actually meet them. Now, more than ever, people are using online dating sites to develop relationships. These sites tend to eliminate the characteristics you aren’t looking for in a person while highlighting the ones you are looking for. Fact is more and more people are using online dating sites to kick off a relationship before going on a real date.
Ultimately it is up to each individual as to how they use the technology. I personally choose to use it to keep up with my friends and family but I definitely don’t overuse it. I want to live my own life; I don’t want technology to live it for me.
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