Social Networking Goes To School.

This article talk about how schools are starting to use social networking sites to connect students with students from other countries. The schools are using this tool as a type of studying format. It also explores the benefits of using twitter for professional educational purposes. It also talks about the various issues with the subjects, such as cyberbullying, security matters, privacy concerns, and legal limitations. Some schools in North Carolina are using instant messaging to ask other students and even teachers about homework question, at any time of the day. From experience, I think that this whole thing is just not the right way to take care of business. I think that school and your personal like, which includes your social networks, should be kept separate. There is a strict policy at my old high school that students and teachers are not allowed to be social network friends unless they are family or it's a particular blog made for the class you are in. There have been many incidents in the past where kids were friends with teachers on Facebook, and if the teacher saw something inappropriate then they had to show it to the principle and so on. I think that school and your personal life should be kept separate. I am all for having separate blogs for specific classes in school, but not being friends with teachers or staff unless they are family or no longer have authority over me. 


Davis, M. R. (2010). Social Networking Goes to School. Education Digest, 76(3), 14-19.

Bye bye Facebook Friend, You're a Blabbermouth.

This article is about the technique developed my Pritam Gundecha of Arizona State University. The technique allows users to determine the friends they keep on social networks, such as Facebook. Pritam used statistics with the number of people who disclose information, like their home address and gender. She used this to give users a "vulnerability score", which can be altered by removing people as friends. Pritam says, that for every person you remove as a friend you get five percent of your security back. This article made me realize how much people learn about me just by what I post or what others post on my Facebook wall. I could have a friend check me in to the 5th Ave Mall and have someone from home back in Southeast call me up, and ask me to grab something for them. Not even joking, it happened to me just last week. I was at the mall with my roommate and some friends from up here. Within a few minutes of being checked into the mall one of my friends calls me and asks if I would pick up her and her brother a sweatshirt from Madhatter. It's amazing how fast your personal life travels on social networks, just by how many friends you have. If you aren't careful about who you add, you never know what might happen. Someone could steal your identity, or telling the whole world about what you did yesterday or where you are today. 


Aron, J. (2011). Bye bye Facebook friend, you're a blabbermouth. New Scientist, 211(2827), 18-19.

Cell Phone Usage and GPA Of Undergrad Students

This article is about a study that the Psychology Department of Shippensburg University had conducted. They got together a total of 118 undergrad students, 38 men and 80 women. These students took an anonymous survey about their cell phone usage and grade point average, as well as demographic information. The result revealed that there were negative results between the number of texts/calls a student sends and their grade point average. One surprising thing that the study discovered is that, the more comfortable the student was with texting during class the better the GPA the student had.  I had never really thought about wether being comfortable to text in class would have an impact on my GPA. So, I looked at the classes I am taking and my grades. Indeed the classes that I am more comfortable using my phone in I have a better grade. I don't know wether that is a coincidence or not, but I found it very interesting. 

HARMAN, B. A., & SATO, T. (2011). CELL PHONE USE AND GRADE POINT AVERAGE AMONG UNDERGRADUATE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS.College Student Journal, 45(3), 544-549.

Non-print Source Response

For my non-print source I chose this comic strip by RRMURRY.  I thought that this comic strip was very appropriate for the assignment, because it shows just how technology has expanded over the years. As you can see from the comic we have gone from using pencils and paper, to the computer, and on to the cell phone. We as people have became very dependent on the changes throughout technology. When you are walking from one class to another or passing people in the hall take a second and look up at the people around you. I bet that the majority of these people would either be dialed into their phones, listening to an ipod, or on their computer. Everyone uses technology these days. The world basically revolves around it in one way or another.

Personal Reflection About Technology.

Just before we started this assignment about technology, I read an article about college students and Facebook usage. I wasn't able to relocate the article, but it basically stated that college students spend most of their "studying time" browsing through Facebook. After I read the article I started thinking about how much I used Facebook when I should be studying. It had never occurred to me how much I actually got sucked into it. Not only did I have Facebook on my computer, but on my phone so I was constantly on and receiving notifications. So, I put myself up to a challenge. I was going to deactivate my Facebook account and delete my application on my phone. After the first day, I though that is was a piece of cake. When day three came around I was feenin to get online, almost like it was a drug. I eventually caved in and activated my Facebook again. The one thing I didn't do though was get Facebook back on my phone, and I don't plan on it for awhile. I found that Facebook is a way that I keep in touch with family and friends. Therefore, I made an exception and allowed myself to get online when I have free time. It's not been easy staying offline. It's hard to kick a habit that I've had for some time, but I am trying my best. 

Games

In the article Games the author argues for both sides, wether books or video games are better for a person and how they are bad. While reading this article I was not sure what side the author actually took. He fought for both sides, kind of leaving you to make your own choice at the end. He argued that video games are better for hand eye coordination in a person, and that books are better at keeping the mind "sharp" and good mental exercise. He also put out there that video games can be controlled, for the most part, as you would like them to be. Whereas books, you can't choose what happens in the end. You have to just take in what is on the pages and deal with it. I think that he has very good points in this article. I can also see why he jumped back and forth a lot. Honestly, I am not a gamer or a reader. If I had to chose to pick up a controller or a book though, I would probably choose a book. Just because I know how to deal with a book. I don't know anything about video games and don't have an interest in them. But I do see how they are good in their own ways. 


Johnson Stephen. , & Cohen Samuel, (2011).Games. (Third ed., pp. 196-201). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Liking Is For Cowards

In this article Jonathan Franzen talk about our "relationships" with technology. He starts out by telling us a personal story. He recently had replaced his outdated Blackberry for a more new Blackberry. He immediately fell in love of course, and he was so fascinated with it that he wanted to just touch it and hold it all the time. It was alway near him no matter what, even if no one was texting or calling him. He had grown a new relationship with his updated phone. He also talks about how we treat technology gadgets like they are humans. For example, we all blame our phones when we don't receive a text or call. Not always is it the phones fault, may be service is bad. We also give our gadgets human-like descriptive names like "sexy". Then he goes on and talks about Facebook. Franzen goes on to talk about the "like" button that everyone is so quick to click. Facebook changed the verb "to like" from a state of mind to an action that you perform with a computer mouse (Franzen). He also said that "To friend a person on Facebook is merely to include that person in out private flattering hall of mirrors." I agree with what Franzen has to put out on the table. I think that we do treat our phones and other technology like we have a direct connection with them, as they were to be human beings. Also, I had never really thought of the like button as he explains, but it does make a lot of sense where he is coming from. 


(28 M). Liking is for cowards. go for what hurts. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/opinion/29franzen.html?pagewanted=all