This week was our last class week of class. In class this
week we had people present there powerpoints in regards to their social media
platforms there were suppose to tell the class about. In my group, we had the
subject of the social media tool called Pinterest. I had the opportunity, they
asked me to do the subject of marketing and branding with Pinterest because we
hadn't talked about it in class prior to starting to create the group projects
and powerpoints. The parts I was required
to research and present to the class regarding Pinterest included; # 5 negative
social consequences of using this social media tool and #6 How Pinterest was
used in marketing and branding. I thought the following graph that I included
in my powerpoint listed some interesting statistics and facts about why Pinterest
does truly honestly have the highest revenue for business's "per click"
than any other social media website.
The #5 slide I had to present, one of the main aspect and things I shared with the class, I liked that I posted about negative social
consequences of Pinterest; was listed from the psychiatrist in this video to only use 30 minutes
a day of social media. From this incredible fact I wanted to apply this new honest
strategy in my life "30 minutes a
day minimum for exercise, and 30 minutes a day maximum for social media!"
Here is the following video about Facebook Addiction showed in class, that talked about how much social media intake is considered healthy and not detrimental to our overall health!
In regards to #6 From my powerpoint of talking about
marketing and branding in Pinterest, I really liked this info-gram!
I really like the social media platform Pinterest the best, and after I attend pinterest in just short amounts of time, I feel the best when I
get off of this website, because I find alot of educational, ideas, crafts,
meals that I can use to serve people and to make myself and those around me
happy in the physical world.
Random last reflections and Conclusions following from this class:
What websites will
I continue to use?
From this class the main social media websites I plan on
using are just #1: Pinterest, then number 2: Facebook, but I plan on using Facebook
in very very moderate consumption's, because I honestly don't like a lot of
aspects about Facebook to be honest.
What websites will
I try?
Another conclusion from this class, is now I am way more
motivated and curious into looking what other social media tools platforms and
other tools are offered on the internet that I could use to help serve others
and spread love and kindness in the world, one should never ever ever
underestimate the saying I heard that Dr. Kinghorn mention saying something about:
"the study of doctrine can change behavior, more than
the study of behavior can change behavior"
Some of the random reflections and end
results on my feelings from this class and
from learning all of the facts of how social media is
affecting our thinking behaviors and lives: and The end random effects and results of this
class on me and my beliefs:
-On the internet; There is "good" for me to do,
and people to bless on the internet.
- I dont really like Twitter or Facebook
- my eyes are more dry from screen time (ha)jk
- I want to try Pinterest's features more to honestly develop
my brand and some of my talents to help serve others and help become a better
loving person.
- From taking this class, I honest l think I am way more
opened into searching and trying and seeing different social media websites out
there, but that doesn't mean I will like these websites.
- I want to see what other websites are out there, and when
I make more money, I actually do at least once in my life donate to random
causes online, even small causes on crowdrise.com, kiva, or kickstarter.com and
others because every small cause if its important and good and uplifting and
praiseworthy I want to support!
- I want to use social media platforms, to do good for
others, and #usetheinternetforgood- meaning to do good for others, and to
develop attributes and knowledge to help myself feel happy and those around me.
- The internet, social media is indeed becoming one of the
main forms of communication, and I want to make
sure to follow the lords and not the worlds standards in judging myself,
others and with what to use my time for with and on these social media websites!
- not related to psychology of social media, but after all
the many notes, required readings, videos and projects that were totally
focused to psychology and how social media is effecting us as humans and our behaviors,
this class- might seem random and not related but just being honest about one
outcome- that this class honestly helped me to see that the gospel is really
one of the biggest guides in life, the gospel can even give eternally invaluable
advice for social media topics in regards to realizing and giving answers to the
blessings and pitfalls of internet and social media, and realizing and striving
to start implementing healthy and godly behaviors to have while being on social
media.
Other good topics
to apply in my future family
- teach internet safety and use internet safety tips I learned in class for parents
- make use of and save the gospel articles in helping guide
internet choices in what exactly engaging on and time spent on social media and
the internet.
- and many more! (listed on the survey from class!)
Here is my powerpoint I presented this week in regards to business
marketing and branding on Pinterest, as well as possible negative social,
psychological and physical health consequences and psychological affects from
attending the Pinterest site in over excess!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5PxuxwgXt8YbnlUNWptQnFRRXM/edit?usp=sharing The end. (better information about results from class I included on survey we were required to take in class and given in class) (sorry blog is kind of not as good as others, just
drained compared to most weeks but not complaining just being honest!!!)(but these were indeed honestly some of my reflections from this week, and major aspects of the class I want to apply in my current life and to implement in my future life when I have a family. This course is very helpful literally everyone in college, even older adults, or business's because social media really is taking over such a huge part of many peoples lives these days!
This week in social media psychology we learned a little
more about the negative aspects of social media, and negative behaviors on
social media and on the internet, and then later on in the week finally
introduced to some positive aspects of social media again. Some final points on
the negative sides of the internet were topics such as oversharing. Dr.
Kinghorn showed us real life stories, even with his own Facebook friends
stories of oversharing and doing ridiculous things online, it was interesting,
funny but honestly at times sometimes ridiculous
the things people overshare. One of the
examples of how oversharing, or sharing so much personal information on the
internet is detrimental was an example of a Florida teenage girl who posted a
crude Facebook post, that costed her father an $80,000 legal settlement. The
father was fired from a school, and after suing the school, they offered him $80,000 if they wouldn't go tell everyone about the stipend he received (part of
the confidentiality agreement.) The daughter, not thinking before she let her
fingers type away, posted with ignorant excitement, "Mama and Papa Snay
won the case against Gulliver. Gulliver is now officially paying for my
vacation to Europe this summer. SUCK IT." (Stucker, Matthew CNN.com.) Since
it broke the confidentiality agreement, they didn't end up giving the stipend
to the father and former professor at Miami private school.
Everyday people are oversharing, and because of this- identity theft, burglary, people getting fired from their jobs from Facebook posts, and many other consequences happen every day that honestly a lot of people, don't think the consequences could happen to them, but it happens every day! From this we learned to stop and think before we post things on Facebook that could be detrimental to ourselves, our futures or for the things we want to represent or become.
In addition, to help bring in the introduction to the
positive effects and aspects the internet and social media has on mankind, that
we will be learning next week also, Dr. Kinghorn brought in the guest speaker
again, Paul Wilson as an introduction, to finally start talking more about the
wonderful and positive effects and aspects the internet has had, and is
currently having on mankind.
Paul Wilson basically stated a lot of similar statistics tendencies,
that we have heard of in class before that show the increasing numbers of
people and hours spent on social media usage each day around the world. Dr.
Kinghorn already stated some possible reasons of why these social media tools
are so appealing to us; such as, based off attending or mimicking to certain psychological
needs such as the need to belong, or the need to feel like our voice is heard
and more. Although the statistics just proved the overall spread of social
media once again, one other additional topic and other statistics that Wilson
brought in that we haven't heard of before, were statistics that focused more
on YouTube more than on Facebook, Twitter, and/ or other social media websites.
In regards to the statistics showing the social media usage
on Youtube, Dr. Wilson stated that there are over 1 trillion views just in one year on YouTube
alone. To help us reach a realization of just how large 1 trillion views truly
is, the guest speaker asked us a question of about how many years we thought 1
trillion views would add up to and he stated it was about 33,688 years it would
equal to match the amount of views that happened, in just in one year on YouTube!
The guest speaker, that Dr. Kinghorn thankfully introduced
as adding more topics and information in regards to social media and its impact
on humans and their behaviors, the guest speaker, Paul Wilson also talked about
some strategies, as asked from Devin Supertramp and other social media guru's about
how to make social media videos or information go "viral" and reach
large groups of people on the internet. He introduced this topic by naming his speech,
"How to Become a YouTube Superhero." He also introduced a fake and made- up, joke business that people would
pay for clicks to get their social media to go viral, that some classmates
honestly believed was real at first. But after the joke, we learned that there
is actually some attributes that actually do make YouTube videos or online
media more likely to go viral in the first place. Some advice, he listed as
some possible, correlated attributes and strategies that allowed videos and
information to go viral on the internet included some of the following attributes
and advice. First, the video or information should have the qualities of; introducing
novel ideas or tricks that surprise or haven't been done before, or that don't happen
every day; second, keeping content short or "bite size," third, relatability
and fourth and finally, consistently publishing videos or information, or
commenting on the links allows for more consistent audiences- all in which,
Paul Wilson stated he learned from some guru's like Devin Supertramp and others
that these behaviors allow for the success of videos and information to go
viral, and to reach and appeal to largest groups of people online and more!
After the lectures introduced in class this week, all this
talking about the realities, of how much time, and how many people
truly use social media and internet everyday, every month and every year around the world and in the U.S. like most
people, who are becoming aware of this social media becoming ever so present in
the world, made me think and wonder...is this technological tool referred to as
the internet, and world wide web, providing more help or more harm to humans
physical, cognitive, social, emotional and moral health and well being? From
being taught by Dr. Kinghorn about the
positives and negatives of social media on mankind, I learned that when used in
moderation, I feel like technology, the internet and social media, can actually
help mankind improve in their physical, cognitive, social, emotional and moral
health than ever before! Why do I think this? The internet, lets information
and knowledge reach more people and places than ever before, and allows people
to learn skills and knowledge about different topics that might not be available
to them in their communities. For example, awhile back Dr. Kinghorn told us a
story and showed this video of a young boy who around ten years old learned how
to break dance incredibly good, just from using YouTube to teach him how to do
different break dance moves and from using the internet to teach him to develop
his talents.
http://youtu.be/EIZwPMrBBcU
Additionally, from a click of a mouse, you can get help in the worlds larger communities with any concern, advice or health issue out there, even I know people who use WebMD, to look up emergency health questions and answers before even going to a real life physical doctor. The opportunities to spread truth, light, knowledge and even participate in charity and altruistic behavior, by donating money to causes online or even providing answers to random people's questions that you specialize in or have knowledge of to represent online; the opportunities seem to be nearly limitless and abundant. If, like most Christians believe, we are here on earth to become like God, and according to the Bible "the glory of God is intelligence," and he wants everyone to become like Him, well then this incredibly inspired tool, helps us to spreads all varying topics of knowledge we had the opportunity to receive in our life, that others may not have, around the world, and to helps aid in the search for understanding and putting all the life's many questions and puzzle pieces together.
On the other hand, since the world is almost, in some peoples' opinions, being overcome with social media and the internet, is it crucial and imperative than ever before- that parents, teachers, and all individuals become educated of what using technology in overly excess amounts and not using technology in moderation, or what viewing the negative or filthy webpages or behaviors online, can truly do to them and their societies.
Sadly there are thousands and thousands of households, that I have even been in that use the Ipad, and internet or t.v as the babysitter, and who instead of playing outside running, strengthening their bodies and lungs, instead are on their technology video games the whole time. Not to mention there are also thousands and thousands of households around the world, that parents don't teach a single thing about internet safety, or don't even place a single internet safety block or password on their computers to protect their children from accidentally or curiously running into trouble. This social media over-usage, seems to be- even in many of my own personal friends and even actual and extended families lives-an epidemic problem in my opinion. If households, communities and school systems would just provide even more education about internet safety itself, about using internet in moderation , and the physical, cognitive, social, emotional and moral negative health effects of over-usage, and/ or the negative short long term consequences of attending or observing filthy sites, then the internet would become more of what it was meant to be, a tool if used in moderation, could help spread truth, light knowledge and altruism happiness around the world.
All in all, like I stated before; from class this week, my final reflections are that, if people become more educated, and seek to educate their families and others about moderation and about the positive websites and tools the internet puts out there( that humans should be thankful for,) it is then the internet could be the tool it was sent out to be-one of most incredible, awe-inspiring and back in the day unimaginable tools, to help aid in spreading truth, light, knowledge, goodness, and altruism to reach individuals who would have NEVER had the opportunity to access this information. As well as we all know have the ability, to reach further nations of people, and further individuals than ever before. The internet, breaks the bonds that physical space sometimes has on our access to information, people and events, that the limits of physical space wouldn't allow us to previously access knowledge and events to occupy at a single time, that the internet allows. Additionally, the internet allows people to present good information and release much good third order thinking out there in the world. From class this week, and my reflections from them, it is my hope that people will focus on using technology, internet and social media, with moderation, with focus and intent before opening their computer-to control the time and control their ability to reach ones purposes for getting on the internet in the first place. Additionally, it is my hope and wish, that everyone could focus on using the internet, with the intention of doing good, all of these concepts I reflected upon, as learned from class, I believe when implemented, can help aid in allowing the positive aspects of the internet to outweigh the negative aspects that so many people seem to be complaining about in their health and relationships these days.
In Finale, Here are some links on the topics of using technology, information and our time to do good.
Random quote I like, to do with moderation and balance
with social media and all things:
"We have thousands of times more available information than Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln. Yet which of us would think ourselves a thousand times more educated or more serviceable to our fellowmen than they? The sublime quality of what these two men gave to us—including the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address—was not attributable to their great resources of information, for their libraries were comparatively small by our standards.Theirs was the wise and inspired use of a limited amount of information."Available information wisely used is far more valuable than multiplied information allowed to lie fallow."
-Dallin H. Oaks, "Focus and Priorities" Ensign, April 2001
“I have learned
that it is very difficult, if not impossible, to unclutter one’s life by
starting at the top of the pile with the idea that the solution is just to
get things sorted and better organized.
It is nice to get better organized, but that is not enough. Much actually has to be discarded. We must actually get rid of it." -Elder William R. Bradford "UnclutterYour Life" Ensign, May 1992 https://www.lds.org/ensign/1992/05/unclutter-your-life?lang=eng
(reminded me of the golf ball and sand analogy that Dr. Kinghorn taught us about.)
#focus and priorities, #use the internet for good. #moderation-in-all-things
THINK Is it Thoughtful, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary, kind?
only use internet for life's main focuses and purposes.
Opposition in All Things; (Even On The Internet, And How We Use It!)
This week in social media psych we had many required
readings, that were meant to finish up talking about some positive aspects of social media, and positive things that social media can bring to societies, and humanity as a whole. Additionally this week, we
discussed some negative aspects about the internet and the web. Some of the
required readings which I thought were interesting included articles, videos on
the news where people used social media to show altruism, as well as talked
about the difference between slacktivism and activism.
My opinion on
slactivism which I learned from reading the required articles and videos is
defined as "anyone who does something in support of an issue or cause that
requires minimal personal effort" versus activism " anyone who does
something in support of a cause that requires maximum personal effort" is
that there must be a balance between the two Slacktivism by itself won't do hardly
anything for people, but activism by itself sure will.
Even though in
my opinion, slactivism doesn't bring as much power to good causes or changes as
does maximum effort of activism gives in face to face help of problems, we
learned from the required readings that slactivism, still does bring a lot of
good in the causes for humanity, at least because it brings awareness to
causes, and may inspire those slactivists, or others viewing the causes online
to make a difference through what the viewed online.
Here's an
example of a kid that inspires people to donate to a cause online, that
actually attends BYU Hawaii.
As seen in this video,
through social media this kid at BYU Hawaii has earned over $8,725 for his
familys cancer cause to help cancer research, that a kid that is currently attending BYU Hawaii
has helped earn $8,725, through this social media sites like Facebook, YouTube
and people also donate to this crowdrise.com website.
Additionally here are some links to articles and good news
stories where social media, helped people show, or become aware of altruism
happening in their communities, that we were required to read and watch for psychology
of social media class.
As well as articles and a video that talks even more about slactivism and
activism, that is also very helpful in understanding the differences, and
social media's effects on prosocial behaviors.
In addition to the required readings, I arrived half way
through Paul Wilsons talk but the general idea and gist of it I asked my group
members, during the group meeting because that I missed the beginning, was that
there is a whole lot thousands upon thousands of websites that none of us, even
know about or have access to. A technology called TOR allows people to not be
identified, but to present, sell, view and engage in mostly very very negative
acts. I went online to YouTube, to describe this better, because it was kind of
confusing to me since I showed up later, and this a you tube video that
described it better. From this video I don't know if it's real statistics, but
it says that 80 percent of the deep web's budget comes from the U.S gov't and
then the rest of the budget comes from other gov'ts and other groups. I was
never aware of the fact of the "deep web" existing, but it sounds
kind of dangerous so I want to stay away. I wasn't aware, of all the evil that
is truly out there also. People watch T.V shows like NCIS, but you think "oh people don't do this stuff
in the neighborhood around me," but the thing is the deep web has
thousands of pages, selling drugs, showing people killing others, really bad
porn and more. It just broke my heart to hear that people just to stay
entertained or whatever purpose go look, and then engage in these sites! I
guess there is some good things people can do with the software Tor like donate
to causes to remain anonymous, and also the deep web or known as hidden web to
some, is also used by our government, to send data to the military and help in
protecting our national safety and wellbeing. Overall though, I want to
discover what's on there, but the classmates said its mostly all bad things, so
I want to know if there is only bad things on the deep web, or can people
access good information on the deep web that could benefit us? I of course
honestly would only want to access the good information, but right now "no
body got time for that!" Way too busy with school, and would only go
browse if it was required for my classes because between work and school and
trying to sleep I don't have time to go get more distracted in the deep web,
the Google browser is good enough for me right now! :)
Lastly, When talking about this topic, about the "deep
web" and thousands and thousands of sites and things out there on the web
that we aren't even aware of, it made me think, the internet really is like a
whole other world on top of our world sometimes. Having so much technology and
loads of random information constantly popping up lighting on our browsers, up our
smart phones, all over the internet, out there makes me extremely thankful to
learn knowledge honestly, but at the same time, wouldn't go completely Amish,
but sometimes makes me want to have no TV, sometimes go back to a flip phone.
For example, I recently got a
smart phone and I'm extremely thankful but it seems to constantly be going off
with notifications from emails, Facebook, text messaging calls, updates, there
is barely ever time it's not flashing, but hey that's life it's not going to
stop. Overall, I hope to always live in the moment where I am at, not be living
in the past looking at old friends Facebook updates from high school, or looking
at other random people from Arizona or extended families websites. Might sound
confusing or dumb, but although every Sunday I make sure to use the internet for good as I email my little
brother on his mission, or use my smart phone to call my family, those things I
am extremely grateful for. But for those that literally can't live without their
constant postings and smart phones, I learned that when I live in the moment, face-to-face
with people and events in the physical world I have deeper revelation, and
deeper experiences and deeper learning.
Talking about some negative dark sides
of the internet, and using internet in moderation, made me think of a video Dr. Kinghorn showed us awhile back in
class was really incredible and really good,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dLU6fk9QY
heres another video called " I forgot my phone" about balancing technology social media, and real face-to-face communication.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dLU6fk9QY
All in all, lessons on altruism in social media, as well as
some negative things on the internet shows, fulfills the scripture "there
is opposition in all things." Even though there is a lot of scary, negative and bad things on the internet, many things on
the internet that I have no idea, what it's like for example, like the deep
dark web, drug sites, or pornography scary things sound scary, luckily I have
never ever ran into those sites, I just got lucky though. I honestly always
have, and always want to only use it for good educational, helping spread a smile
to others, to help others and help share information to gain truth, light and
understanding, not deep dark filth found on the deep web supposedly my
classmates were describing to me! I know some of my friends on facebook post
filth, and I have walked into a party where guys were literally looking at porn
which was absolutely disgusting. But I honestly on my own time have honestly strived to always only look up good things always, but I need to limit my time online sometimes, like a lot of people these days, but in regards to my browsing, I want to keep
my browsing to a minimum, as least time on the internet as possible, and I want
to when I'm finally done with school, have a job that's outside.
Those are all my thoughts, reflections, from this week
regarding the links, assigned readings and topics of altruism, slactivism, the
negative affects the web has such as cyber bullying, pornography and learned
about the deep web, which was a really scary thing, made me think of!
Here is some more links to sites that allow people to donate
to causes and show altruism!
This week in the Psychology of Social
Media class we had a lot of required readings on topics on social media and the
information age, and the positive aspects that social media brings to
societies. The required readings that we read included, reading chapters from
Clay Shirky's book called "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing
without Organizations" and also reading a chapter from another social
media book, from chapter 3 called "Revolution 2.0" by Wael Ghonim.
From reading the whole first chapter
of "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations"
I was just shocked, that Evan, through the use of social media and technology
was able to reach the NYPD even from having a phone stolen, which cops could
care less to pay attention to at times. After reading this chapter, and then
talking about it in class it made me think that it's hard to get the police full
on attention with any theft crime something that costs a couple hundred of
dollars, let alone a phone in one of the largest crime filled cities, which a
phone stolen is its smallest crime probably happening at the time, so social
media can definitely aid in getting peoples causes or voices heard, thats an
incredible but also scary thing in some cases. It made me realize, its true
with all the points the author was making that in addition I realized that the
new format of forming groups and social
connecting through technology and social media, is truly changing a lot about
society, and one of them is getting one's voice heard! I feel like the last
sentence of chapter one, really made a good point, and showed me that through
technology and social media, now groups and individual voices can be heard in a
way that was never allowed before. Movements can even be created and huge
events in history can be started for the case of good for humanity and ill for
humanity, the freedom of expression allowed in America, and then the use of
technology, can spread ideas faster and farther than ever before.
Next, then in Thursdays class one of
the required readings we talked about was from Chapter 3 of "Revolution
2.0" by Wael Ghonim Revolution, I was also surprised of how many people
joined the group within a short amount of days, and shows when everyone has a
cause and comes together their voice I guess is more likely to be heard and
once again, through the use of technology, can spread ideas faster and farther
than ever before.We read a lot of additional required
readings but, one of the websites Dr. Kinghorn gave us taught us about video
game addiction, but he even stated wasn't the best website, but I still felt
like it gave a little more knowledge about how you can tell, and what you can
do if children or adults are addicted to video games.
My favorite part of this week, was
how Dr. Kinghorn introduced different websites, groups and individuals that use
social media to show or lead others to serve and show altruism. Some sites he
introduced that I honestly never heard of before and am interested in include, One
of the sites we talked about was Kiva, which lends people money, and other sites
like Allstarter and of course lds.org and others. We also talked about in
class,the
definition, and the use of crowd sourcing within social media.Different
ways that people have used crowd sourcing to show altruism include, those
mentioned in the CNN video in class like for example, the use of crowd sourcing
to submit images to try and find a crashed plane, and also crowd sourcing to
submit pictures to find the Boston Marathon bombers. All in all, just in this
week, Dr. Kinghorn and other students brought up so many different positive
aspects that social media brings to societies, so I'm excited to learn even
more of them, because often people seem to focus on the negatives of social
media and the internet.
This week in the Psychology of Social Media class we had a lot
of required readings on topics on social media and the information age. The
required readings that we read included,
finding many articles about topics of technology information age, and
statistics on social media usage in the united states and the world. One
article I read found on the media shift website, included a website http://www.mideastmedia.org/media-and-leisure/introduction.html where it mentions a
six-nation survey done at Northwestern University in Qatar, that showed
statistics on entertainment media usage in the middle east. It was really
interesting to me that even all around the world Facebook seems to come out on
top as the site where people go to for entertainment or to even connect. It
made me question, I am interested to find more information about why exactly
besides being social creatures, why is Facebook so popular around the world,
and MySpace not as popular etc? I want to ask this question in class next week,
or maybe do some research into what is it about Facebook that grabs humans
attention so much and keeps them addicted, and second why Facebook is the most
popular social media medium on the internet? This website didn't answer why Facebook
is so popular around the world it just included the numbers of billions of
people, and the numbers of hundreds of hours a month that people spend on Facebook.
I feel like it just gives us a sense of creativity, sharing, and gives us the
opportunity to present ourselves in a way we want to be presented. The scary
thing is that they say that Facebook is truly making people narcissistic though
mostly only thinking about themselves, their self importance etc. Some articles
I read about twitter, stated that twitter and instagram might replace the
popularity of Facebook in the future, but I personally think Facebook will be
around for a very huge amounts of time, but I guess the future and past history
will only be able to see the outcomes of Facebook if Facebook will continue to
be one of the number one social media websites that people love and use even
compared to Twitter, Instagram, and of course an earlier chatting site MySpace.
To prepare for class, and in our class discussions we also
got to talk about amazing ted talks discussing social media, and also even amazing
lds talks that give direction about the incredible changes in use of technology
and even advice as I think the world will keep on getting obsessed and use
technology more and more for all different reasons as time comes. Why?
Technology, computers, internet and fast information, makes life and answers
come more quickly and at times, answer our questions even better. I absolutely
loved the talk that Dr. Kinghorn required us to read, by Dallin H. Oaks given
in 2001 conference called "Of Focus and Priorities." I don't remember
ever hearing this talk in conference I think because it was given so long ago,
but this talk I was honestly so thankful to read because it had so much truth
and literally so much application to my life and everyone's life in this fast
speed information age, and the need to keep up with the seemingly increasingly increasing
speed of society and information, but still keep up with being in tune with the
spirit.
This article on "focus and priorities" reffering to the blessings and changes in internet and technology, in this fast paced
world literally I think made an eternal impact on me, if I apply what I read.
In this article, it talked about listening to the spirit, accountability, and
the internet and information inventions were inspired by God and we need to use
them with moderation to do good. Although it's always good to use our agency
with technology and information to do good, and be anxiously engaged in a good
cause, and as elders oaks talks about technology; "Every discovery in
science and art, that is really true and useful to mankind, has been given by
direct revelation from God."(Oaks1.) Elder Oaks also stated "We should take advantage of all these great
discoveries …and give to our children the benefit of every branch of useful
knowledge, to prepare them to step forward and efficiently do their part in the
great work” (Oaks1) Although it's always good to keep up with the world with
improving our individual talents and individual abilities even with technology,
Elder Oaks stated about technology usage, "The principle of accountability
also applies to the spiritual resources conferred in the teachings we have been
given and to the precious hours and days allotted to each of us during our time
in mortality. Each of us should be careful that the current flood of
information does not occupy our time so completely that we cannot focus on and
hear and heed the still, small voice that is available to guide each of us with
our own challenges today."(Oaks1)
In addition to the wonderful insights from honestly
incredible ted talks about why social media and online videos and entertainment
are so popular, and wonderful talks to give literally eternal knowledge about
technology to lead us to eternal progression, in addition to these amazing opinions,
facts, resources and required readings we also learned interesting facts within
out discussion groups. We talked about a teacher who tried to spread the word about
teaching her class how fast information can be spread on the internet about
internet safety, and Dr. Kinghorn stated that the reason why this picture was
spread over millions of times, was first, it was one of the first teachers to
do such a thing on Facebook, and second, the cause wasn't for what some might
call selfish narcissistic needs like, "if I get 1,000 likes my girlfriend
will get me a puppy" but was for a cause that reached the hearts and
interests of many. The cause seemed to be hidden messages of bringing in values
of educating children, keeping children safe on the internet, and also made
people feel included in this cause. Another way that some messages, news or
pictures are spread are there is a sense of unexpectedness, or relating to
emotions and topics that people can truly relate to.
Overall, this week on learning about all of the literal changes,
benefits, advantages that come with the increasing numbers and speed of
information available, I learned so much information it's hard to fit into this
whole blog, but my reflections I described on the insights an facts I thought
were insightful and interesting, and in addition
the questions I listed above, that the discussions made me wonder, and even
find out what my classmates thought, and even just being able to learn about
different topics from other students I learned so information that I would bore
people if I listed all my reflections and insights I got from taking notes and
class discussions , and sadly would make the outcome be that my blog could
probably get like 5 pages and would feel horrible if I anyone had to read that
long so to summarize all my reflections on the discussions required readings
and information from the book and in class, that I basically, this week I learned a lot,
and my favorite thing was the talk given by elder, oaks I'm literally saving this
talk because times are increasing in speed and knowledge and it is easy to get
overwhelmed, but when we make good use of our time, we can accomplish all we
were sent here on earth to do, with the resources and the grateful billions and
billions of information available around us and even with our fingertips can
either find information for to lead us to learn how to better serve others, and
lead us to our eternal progression for the better good, or if people pay
attention to just video games or social websites in a unhealthy 10 hour a day
thing, then people would join in distractions without eternal progression and
meaning to them. Instead of being against social media, I've tried to accept it
more, and since then I actually have found incredible quotes and knowledge. For
example even though I thought I would hate twitter, although I don't like
posting things, I have found incredible photos and even unique history facts about
the united states and even inspiring, motivating quotes by C.S Lewis, or being
inspired by the new engineered technologies Google company on twitter that
posts there working on, that help me to see, that if technology is used wisely
and moderately in balance with all other aspects in life, then it forsure can
add beauty, knowledge and even further skills such as looking up a new recipe,
that can help in aiding and serving our future families and others in this
life!
Here's links to just some of the cool articles, talks and topics required
to read for class.
This week in Social Media Psychology,
I added the class so I only attended Thursday's class. In class on Thursday
4/24 we started learning about the history and development of the internet and
the development of social media. Some of
the history I learned behind the internet and world wide web creation, as well
as history of the usage of social media, is quiet intriguing as it gave a
context for me to first see how it developed, and now after the intro, will
soon be able to excitedly see how social media has and still is directly
impacting the human psychology. To be exact I'm excited to see how social media
is affecting the way humans think, communicate, feel or behave over extended
periods of time.
I learned some very interesting
important facts about the history and development of the internet and world
wide web with its many social media tools, and these important history facts definitely
left me inspired to see how much work and inspiration was put into the internet
and social media tools, and how the creation of such social media tools, have
allowed much further inspiration and people's work to be spread through these
social media tools via the world wide web!
First off in regards to learning
about the history of the internet, In class from videos and discussions I
learned that the internet first got started back in the day as a way to
communicate during the cold war. During the cold war, Eisenhower and America's
Department of Defense created a group called Advanced Research Projects Agency
(ARPA), which hired some of the best scientists and scholars to create inventions
and technologies such as rockets and computers to help aid America in their
communication efforts and to protect them. Eisenhower wanted the Advanced
Research Project Agency, to create a communication tool that could send data,
that even if one connection was broken it could still reach its destination.
Also a fact I found interesting that
I learned from class, was in class videos I learned that later in history on
top of this internet connections, a man named Tim Berners- Lee created an
amazing invention called the World Wide Web, that works on top of these
internet connections with importantly the purpose to help people around the
world find and read documents on the internet. He created inventions such as HTTP,
which are Hyper Texts for computers to be able to communicate, Urls known as
Uniform Resource Locators, and lastly invented html also known as hypertext
markup language which is used to design web pages.
By reading the article "25
things you might not know about the web on its 25th birthday", it made me
realize that truly, 25 years ago, when the World wide web was designed little
did people know, the literal enormous impact and transformation, the world wide
web would have not only on people's ability to have access to and retrieve
information easier, but also have access to mass communication and/ or social
media. This inspired me to see and be thankful for the technology and social
media tools available because of the hard work and research of others.
Learning about the history behind social
media tools, the internet and the world wide web through discussions, videos
and in required reading articles such as "25 things you might not know
about the web on its 25th birthday", might sound cheesy but learning the
historical context first of the history of social media, literally opened my
mind to not only the amounts of work, inspiration, complex systems that keep
the social media tools such as internet, world wide web pumping each day, but
most importantly in relation to this class, I am excited to learn how social
media, whether through internet world wide web or other sources, has impacted people's
thinking, feeling and behaving over periods of time.
Upon reflecting on the readings and
videos in class, now after having a clearer understanding of the historical
context, I'm excited to learn, how social media is impacting human beings every
day lives. In particular it makes me wonder if social media tools, the
internet, the world wide web have more benefits or detriments on people and
their cognitive, emotional and physical wellbeing. Overall, I'm just excited to
see how exactly daily usage and sometimes overusage of the different
tremendously well-known social media tools and applications, are impacting
human kinds communication abilities, thinking and learning processes, as well
as learn the realities of the benefits and the pitfalls that can come with such
an obsession with social media tools people have these days! I'm so thankful
for the opportunity to learn, grow and help communicate, serve and love with
these social media applications and tools so widely available. Overall, after
this weeks class, obviously, most all of these questions I obviously don't have
all the answers to yet, but from taking this class, I am honestly excited,
interested, and can't wait to learn about the impacts social media has on the
human psychology in their thinking, feeling and behaving over extended periods
of time! I will use this knowledge I learn about social media effects, to teach
my future family to choose healthy choices and habits with regards to choosing social
media tools, as well as, facts to maybe inspire and sadly maybe even have to scare
them to see the realities of the long term affects of their choices and to choose
lifestyles and behaviors especially with social media that will help them keep
growing as our wish to keep positively, growing, learning and serving in
general.
As a side note just seeing and
learning about the unfolding history of the world wide web, made me realize how
honestly thankful I am and honestly of course how blessed I am to live in a
time where there are networks of knowledge, opportunity, loving connections,
even in regards to social media tools available, to help me achieve and learn
about god, because the glory of god is intelligence, and when I am motivated to
work hard out of love, and find my place in the world, I can use my knowledge I
learn and put the knowledge to practical use, to bless my future family and most
importantly to me, out of love, and inspire me to serve and work for people in
compassion. I'm honestly sincerely thankful for my opportunity to learn here at
Byu Hawaii, but now I need to keep using my time wisely to accomplish all the
tasks this semester heavenly father has blessed me with being able to have the
opportunity to have!
