Free Write Blog #4--Video Games

            Video games were made as a distraction from the real world, a place where you could be whoever you chose and live a life with no regrets and no consequences. But it seems as though this world has gone to far. No longer is the video game world a place for relaxation, but instead it has become a false identity for some. Those who spend hour upon hour, day after day creating and creating their perfect dream world, all while neglecting the real world, their real life. Their real lives have been completely consumed by the life that they wish to have, and because of this they fail to live life to its fullest.

            The film watched on video gaming gave an in dept explanation by video-gamers as to why what they do is not only acceptable, but also necessary. One of the arguments by a video-gamer was that it took him to a place where he could never be. He uses the explanation of a peasant never being able to become a king, but in the video game world he could. This mentality in modern day America through me off. I was taught as a young child that as long as I put in effort I am not constraint by the limitations of my birth on the social hierarchy, instead I can move up and down this ladder as I chose.  To me it sounds like this video-gamer’s response is a give up attitude. Why should I slave away at real life when I can be what I want on this TV screen?

            It is also argued that videogaming is a social network, but is it really? Although these people speak to each other every day, they have a weak tie relationship. Their relationship is built upon one common theme and if that theme were to be taken away these people would have never met. Where as in real life if you were to meet someone you would stumble upon more than one common interest. These weak ties are sometimes made into something more such as marriage, as one may argue. But of all of those who meet and get married playing MMORPG’s, how many do not meet the love of their lives while fighting a dragon. Those are the ones that continue to play with no eventual reward.

            Videogames in turn, bring no real reward to the table. They allow for some entertainment, but do not give anything back to the player that is useful. If someone commits so much time and money to something, then their should be some kind of benefit. The benefits of videogames are very low as compared to the risk that they entail. Lives have been lost due to dramatic game playing. When lives are lost we need to step back and look at what we are doing and see how it is affecting our health.

            Videogames are meant to be a way to relax and enjoy ones spare time and should not turn into something that we feel obliged to do to a point where it takes over our lives.

2. Social Networking and Privacy

2. Social Networking and Privacy

Social networking is the key to a girl’s heart. It seems now a days social networking is the key to anyone’s heart, brain, life, and just about everything else. Social networking allows us the ability to stalk…privately. This is a great invention for all of those people who like to waste time, not be productive, and waste a couple hours of their day. Unfortunately I too have fallen into the trap that is facebook. I waste time, don’t do homework, and occasionally wonder about friends that I haven’t kept in best contact with. I use my Facebook about once a day until I really have nothing else too look at and have exhausted my news feed to the point where you refresh it and person’s status was posted 2 seconds ago, then 1 minute, then 5 minutes, while you beg for something to be posted because you don’t want to do that really important thing that you should probably be doing.  We have all been there, but what are we really doing. Is any of this actually positively contributing to our lives. In my view, no. I can honesty say that my Facebook was created and managed for the longest time by my ex girlfriend, who is no longer my friend (facebook official). And the only reason I kept it was because everyone had one, just like any other pointless American trend. I do not have anything else other than Facebook just because I don’t see the point. Myspace is Facebook for 12 year olds, Twitter serves no purpose but to let everyone know what your doing at every minute of your life, and I had never even heard of foursquare before this class, so in my mind it still doesn’t exist.

People like to argue with me and tell me that Facebook helps you keep in contact with friends, I know for a fact that that is not true. A lot of peoples friends on Facebook are one time acquaintances, and you only write on a handful of people’s walls, except during birthdays when you wish him or her a happy birthday when in reality if you were to walk into that person you would not even know its their birthday, even if you did just comment their wall. I believe that true friends do not need to use their long distance as an excuse to get/need a facebook.

Many facebook users complain about privacy, but what do you expect? It’s a social networking site, the things that you publish are suppose to be seen by other people. And if you don’t want him or her to see that picture delete them. The issue of privacy in Facebook is pretty much a summary of lazy America. We want a cake, and eat it too. You cant put pictures everywhere and not have people to see them, that defeats the point of posting the picture.  I never have to worry about any of this because I know what I’m doing, I know the 300 friends I have and everything I post up I do not need to hide. Simple as that. 

Question #1 Media Diet

Friday Media Diet:

            8am-Shut off alarm on cell phone and check weather

            9am- Use computer at work

            10am- Get out of class and check facebook at home

            12pm- Turn on television while on laptop listening to music

            3pm- Go to gym and watch TV

            5pm- Shower while listening to ipod speakers

            6pm- Watch TV while checking and writing emails

            9pm- Go to work and input hours on computer

           

This is a typical day of Internet usage, nothing out of the ordinary. I very rarely use the internet in my leisure time just for the simple fact that I have no real business on the internet, asides from the school work that s given to me. I find myself very easily bored at the use of fabcebook after more than 15 minutes. On a regular day I would use the Internet more for school purposes. I believe that I am very good with not over using the Internet, but it is impossible to completely avoid it in today’s society, especially in a University where everything is ran through the Internet. There has been a drastic change in the last few years in schools reliance on Internet and technology. It seems as though having a laptop in high school is no longer just a luxury, but now a necessity. The digital divide and where students end up in college would have an interesting correlation. It is very difficult to be in Santa Clara University without a laptop when all assignments are done on line. A persons entire life can now fit in ones lap, and people are taking full advantage of this and using it for leisure, but those who are unable to enjoy the full joys of the Internet deserve not just the means, but the ability to these benefits.

            It is clear that I would not be able to be without the Internet because of communication. In the last five days I have sent 23 emails to 10 different people. Internet usage has been on the rise over the last few years amongst the older generations, and not just in a leisurely way. It is clear to see that all work places are requiring some kind of technology.

            I would greatly like to change the dependence on technology in modern America because there is a clear distinction between the two classes, those with Internet access, and those who struggle to get Internet access. The Digital Paradigm is an explanation of how the use of Internet has greatly increased and how it was believed to be the answer to all, but at the same time the digital divide is still in existence. We cannot have the “answer” to the problem be something that not all people have an equal opportunity to attain that would only widen the gap between the two classes of people. The solution needs to be either we focus less usage of technology on schools, or we give all schools equal accessibility to the Internet and all of its benefits.