Machinima and our current technology fetish

I'm not going to lie.. I think I've changed my views on the internet a little bit after reading about machinima and watching the video about it in class.  I mean I think it's really cool that the internet has evolved to the point where we can create our own virtual world, but the direction we're heading in is kind of starting to scare me.  I don't know if it's just because all this is so new to our society or if it's the fact that we're slowly starting to lose touch with reality.  We are now able to manipulate systems so that we can pretty much live online, similar to the virtual game called The SIMs.  Through our virtual bodies, we can interact with other users, establish homes/jobs, throw events, and pretty much do all the things we're able to do in reality.  Although this proves that our technology is becoming more advanced and we're somewhat moving forward in society, it also hints at the notion that we soon may not be able to escape this virtual world we're starting to build up.  Don't get me wrong though, I'm glad machinima offers people an outlet from their problems in reality, but it should be seen as a type of vacation.. not a permanent residency.

People are starting to get so caught up in their virtual lives, that they stop living in reality.  We see games like Halo, World of Warcraft, Counterstrike, etc. taking over people's lives to the point where it's almost impossible for them to stop playing these games therefore leading them to lose their jobs and become unaware of their health as well as their failing relationships.  In the south park clip that was shown in class, the producers of world of warcraft referred to people that spent numerous hours playing the game as having "no lives".  Not to be mean or anything.. but this statement is technically true in the sense that they've exchanged their actual lives for their virtual lives.  My 23 year old cousin dropped out of college, got fired from his job, and lost pretty much all of his friends due to the fact that he got too caught up in his virtual world.  I'm not trying to bash him or anything, but I'm using him as an example to prove my point that it can be really dangerous to lose sight of reality.  He still lives at home and my aunty has pretty much given up on trying to snap him out of his internet fetish.  I mean he does have friends online and claims to be quite popular with the ladies he meets through online games, but still..he's pretty much getting no where in real life.  I mean come on.. spending numerous amounts of hours on the computer each and every day can't be considered healthy.

Just to wrap things up with this whole entire course.. I am still a fan of our continuous technological advance, but I do think there needs to be a fine line drawn between the virtual world and reality.  We need face-to-face interactions in order to maintain this sense of reality, but it is also essential to incorporate virtual interactions into our lives as well just to keep up with social norms and not get left behind during this current revolutionary transition.  I really don't like picturing a future where all of us are just sitting on computers all day, living our lives through the internet.

RIP: A Remix Manifesto

After watching the movie (RIP: A Remix Manifesto) in class, I feel as if I got a better understanding as to where our generation is currently heading.  Personally, I didn't really notice that we've transitioned into this type of "remix culture" due to the fact that I'm just so used to going with the flow and following social norms.  The movie opened my eyes to the fact that everything we do can somehow be related to the past.  Remixing and remaking movies, music, pictures, etc. are seriously what's considered to be "in" right now.  I'd rather listen to a remixed version of a song than the original version because it offers more variety of beats/lyrics.  When I'm looking for songs on youtube, I automatically type "remix" after the title of the song just to see if there are any other versions that might possibly improve the song.  And the funny thing about this is that I do it unknowingly, which infers that my brain has become accustomed to enjoying remixed music.

Like the producers of the movie, I don't think the fact that we're taking other people's music and building off of it with our own twists is a wrong or bad thing.  The movie makes some good points by saying that our culture has become this technologically advanced BECAUSE of this concept of remixing.  So why then shouldn't we be able to continue to do this?  I love the fact that artists such as DJ Earworm and Girl Talk are getting so popular because they deserve some type of recognition for having the talents to mesh more than one song into a combined beat.  Personally, I think the song we listened to in class (United State of Pop 2009) is a symbol that DJ Earworm has got MAD talent.  I would never be able to take really specific parts of songs and mesh them together in a way that would sound like a completely new song (and a really good new song just to add to that).  The song has gotten almost 30,000,000 views which is probably a good indicator that the rest of society is enjoying the remixing and remaking of music as well.

I really don't understand how we would be able to move forward in society without having the rights to build off of the past.  "Starting from scratch" doesn't even seem possible to me anymore because our ideas must somehow be tied into someone else's idea.  Think about it- every "new" idea must somehow be linked to an "old" idea (which can kind of link back to convergence culture).  For example the idea of a flying car is based off of two previous ideas: a car and an airplane.  However, I'm not saying that this takes the creativity out of new ideas.  In fact, I'm emphasizing the notion that we can still be creative with building off of old ideas.

The government needs to put an end to these ridiculous strict restrictions.  I mean the fact that we're trying to prevent other countries from benefiting off our medications just because it was originally our idea is the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.  Also, charging someone up to $20,000 just for illegally downloading one song is so fucking retarded (excuse my language).  Yeah, they're trying to make a point that illegally downloading music is like stealing but seriously.. $20,000 per song?!  Besides, I'm sure majority of the population has downloaded music illegally at least once.  This means that EVERYONE is a criminal in their eyes.  It's pointless to put these restrictions on anyways because our society has a natural mindset to move forward and find creativity by mixing the past and the present.  The fact that we live in a convergence culture is inevitable.

technoloy and social interaction

The fact that our world has become this technologically advanced still baffles me.  I can’t seem to process how we are able to video chat and communicate with someone halfway across the world.  But you know what… I don’t care because I love the fact that we now have different options for communicating.  Personally, I think my face-to-face interaction has definitely improved due to the spread of technology.  For example if I met someone at a party that I thought was super chill, I could just find them on facebook and chat with them online so that we’re somewhat more comfortable with each other the next time we meet up.  And it sounds pretty creepy but if you do a little research on someone’s profile, it gives you a lot more things to talk about in person because you’ll get a feel of what their likes and dislikes are.  I mean, I’d rather get to know someone impersonally (through facebook or texting) first before actually meeting up with them in person and I love that technology allows me to do that.  However, this may not be the same case for everybody.  I know people who only rely on the internet to meet new people and end up losing the ability to make face-to-face interactions.  It’s pretty depressing to see what the internet does to some people when they start to get addicted to it and spend all of their time on it.  I think my cousin became a little socially awkward due to the fact that he tweaks on his computer all day long.  He literally can’t go a few hours without it and I feel like he’s trapped in this virtual world with only “online friends”.

This was a long time ago, but I actually met my first boyfriend online.  Yeah, it sounds pretty lame and I admit to getting a lot of shit for it, but it’s not something I regret doing.  I did think it was a little weird to get a friend request on myspace from some random dude, but right when we started chatting we both sensed the fact that we clicked.  Although it didn’t end up working out romantically, he’s still one of my really good friends today and I’m so thankful to have met him (even if it was through the internet).  I’ve never really had any experience with online dating sites, but I’m sure they’re really useful for those who can’t find the time to go out and meet new people.  I honestly do think that the internet is a viable way to create relationships, but I also think it’s essential for people to have face-to-face interaction in order to maintain the relationship.  It’s possible to connect with someone online, but I feel like there’s only a certain extent to which you can do so due to trust issues and stuff like that.  I mean you don’t really know who you’re talking to online unless you see for yourself.  I don’t think people have too many problems with balancing virtual relationships with their everyday relationships.  I think most of people’s virtual relationships go hand-in-hand with their everyday relationships because usually people are just interacting online to keep in contact with people (or for my age group at least).  A lot of my friends think it’s really creepy to get friend requests from people they don’t know.

I do think it’ll be cool to create real public spheres for people to interact, but by the way our society is going now, I don’t think a lot of people will be in favor for it.  I mean who really wants to go out and meet people in a certain area at a certain time of the day to discuss political and social issues when they can just do it online in their own homes, on their own time.  I think the internet is popular due to the convenience factor behind it and I feel as if people are eating this internet shit up.  You no longer have to reach for your dictionary to search for the definition of a word because you can just look it up online.  If you need a second opinion about something, simply type it into google and a whole bunch of discussions forums will probably pop up.  If you missed an episode of your favorite television show, I’m sure there’s a website you can easily download it from.  And seriously though, who would want to pay for telephone bills when video chatting is much more efficient?  Honestly, I kind of like where we’re heading and I’m excited to see what more is in store for technology.  Perhaps the black box fallacy is somewhat true?

social networking and privacy

Honestly, I’m just going to categorize myself as one of those “facebook whores”.  I’m constantly checking my facebook for updates on friends, news, music, etc.  In a way, I kind of depend on facebook to keep me in check with my social world.  It’s somewhat difficult to keep track of how much time I really spend on facebook because my hands automatically lead me to my facebook homepage without my awareness.  Let’s just say that half of the time I’m on my computer, I’m on facebook.  The same kind of goes for twitter except I think I slowed down on that one.  I used to update my status regularly until I realized that my audience was kind of pathetic in size.  I feel like twitter’s popularity depends on the audience.  If you’re a huge celebrity and you know that your fans are anxiously waiting for your updates, then you’re more likely to use twitter on a daily basis.  However if you know your audience isn’t that big, then what is the point of constantly updating an invisible crowd?  But idk, I guess other people may have a different opinion on this.  Twitter is nice though when it comes to being in the loop on special deals from your favorite stores or exclusive sales that only tweeters are aware of. 
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When it comes to using my phone to check updates, I don’t do this too often.  My cell phone battery life is pretty depressing due to the fact that if I just go on facebook once, half my battery is gone.  Although I do get facebook updates via text messages.  I think it’s pretty useful for facebook to have that application so that I’m updated 24/7.  Texting however, is a different story.  I’m literally always texting.  I think I’d actually prefer to text someone than to call someone because texting is like an impersonal way of communicating.  For instance, if I’m mad at a friend than I’d rather just text him/her so that my feelings don’t come off as strong and I have time to think through the situation.  The same goes for social networking in general.  Face to face time is the most personal form of interaction and so social networking is great for keeping distance, but yet remaining in contact.  Personally, I like the cultural move towards social networking and now that I’ve gotten a taste of it, I can’t picture my world without it.  Yeah there are a lot of privacy issues, but that’s when you have to tell yourself to be mindful of your audience.  If you’re going to post your location or thoughts you should probably keep to yourself, then just be aware of the consequences it may come with.  I mean, I do think facebook needs to change their location application and allow people the option to reject being tagged in a certain location by their friends.  Other than that, it’s pretty much up to you to decide how much you want to share (unless I don’t know about any other inevitable privacy issues).  I’ve dealt with being bitched out many times because I’ve posted something stupid on facebook.  I used to always update my statuses with provocative phrases such as “fuck school! Or homework can kiss my ass” only to be bombarded with comments from my family members such as “stop wasting your parent’s money and keep studying”.  Of course I worry about my privacy issues, but if I really didn’t want people to know about something, then I wouldn’t post it.  Facebook is a place to express your feelings as well as yourself, but as always, “if you don’t have anything good to say, then it’s better off not saying it at all”.

My media diet

Monday: Honestly, I try to avoid reading as much as possible. I won’t even open a book unless it’s for homework or some type of requirement for one of my classes. Today I read for about one and a half hours though because I had to for my Chemistry class.  I usually never watch television either unless it’s a certain show I’m obsessed about (ex. Glee).  However, even then I still tend to miss episodes due to the fact that I’m not a big television type of person.  Today I didn’t watch television at all.  Out of all types of media, the internet is by far going to get the most attention and hours from me.  I’m an active blogger, youtube user, facebooker, tweeter, etc. so I’m constantly checking these different websites for updates.  I’ve probably spent around four hours on the internet today.  I dedicated an hour on the internet for school related things (camino, looking up definitions, reading online texts) and the other three hours for my own source of entertainment.  I’m probably on facebook most of the time though.

Tuesday: I actually had to do some major homework today so I spent around two to three hours reading my psychology textbook, and “the Misunderstood Jew” for my religion class.  No television time once again.  I did go on facebook today for about an hour just looking at what my friends have been up to.  I also spend an hour or so on my tumblr account.  I really like tumblr because people post some really interesting pictures on the web and I’m a very visual person so I appreciate photos of just random things.

Wednesday: I watched like 15 minutes of the news on television today because my roommates were watching it and I just so happened to walk in on them. I didn’t do much reading today because I was feeling kind of lazy, but I did skim through my Japanese book for about a half an hour. I also spent around 45 minutes looking through a Cosmopolitan magazine.  I love reading the articles about people’s personal experiences with relationships!  It kind of makes me want to become a marriage counselor.  As for the internet, I spent the usual about of time on facebook (an hour and a half) and I spent like half an hour going through my emails.  I also watched a couple of youtube videos for about half on hour.

Thursday: Today is usually my slow day. I try to catch up on some extra sleep or start on my homework for the following week. I probably spent around two hours reading and looking through textbooks. I also online shopped (karmaloop.com, forever21.com, sephora.com) for about an hour and purchased a new jacket and some new makeup! I spent around half an hour on facebook and half an hour trying to update my blog.

Friday: I definitely don’t do any reading on Fridays! I mean, I’m a college student. What can you really expect from me? I’m usually not even home on Fridays to go on the internet. I spent around half an hour on facebook and 20 minutes replying to emails and blog posts. Fridays aren’t usually my productive days.

Saturday: Saturdays are typically the same as Fridays.  The only time I really use the internet is to update my facebook or reply to emails.  I typically only spend an hour on the internet on weekends because I’m usually never home.  However, I do update my twitter through my Iphone if that counts for anything.

I feel like my media diet reflects the fact that I don’t really do much that doesn’t require the internet unless I absolutely have to.  For instance, the only books I read are textbooks.  All the other reading I’ll do comes from online such as reading comments, emails, news articles (sometimes), blog posts, etc.  I don’t think my media diet is different from a lot of other teenagers my age.  Facebook has pretty much taken over the world; I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have an account.  All of my other friends spend just as much time on facebook as I do so I don’t really feel like I stand out.  I do however feel guilty about the amount of time I dedicate to facebook because I know I could be doing other things like working out, doing some extra studying, hanging out with friends, etc. instead of constantly checking for new updates.  Our society today depends heavily on the internet whether it be for entertainment, educational purposes, or simply just to keep in contact with friends and relatives.  My media diet simply just reflects the fact that America has become dependent on the internet.  If I had the choice, I definitely wouldn’t spend as much time on facebook and other seemingly useless sites.  However, I feel like it’s somewhat out of my control at this point because my fingers are on auto pilot right when I touch a keyboard.  I’d love it if I could stay focused on strictly school work when I’m using the computer and not just automatically going straight to facebook.  It doesn’t really help that my social location is a college campus though.  I see people on facebook/myspace/twitter all the time and it kind of just makes me want to waste my time on those sites as well.  I feel like facebook is predominantly targeted towards college students and so my social location does have a lot to do with the types of websites I’m on, the types of books I read, and how many hours I spend on each.