Is Internet making world wider or smaller? Can Internet help us to open our minds or reinforce what we thought already? Are the Internet just making who we are instead of we are using Internet to search for more surprising information? What we can do if we are already in our own "filter Bubbles" but we don't even notice that? Or, how could we get out of these bubbles? When we are Google information online, what happen if I get the totally different information with my friends but actually we are looking for the same thing?
All of those questions had been raised in the articles. The technology is developing in a unbelievable speed in today's society. Can we really control the Internet? The answer is absolutely not.
We are the generation who can't survive without computer, we are socializing online more than just hang-out with friends. But, can we realize that, when we have more than thousand of friends on the Facebook, but we actually only talk to less than 50 people? Only less of them are close friends, but we are even more likely to talk to them? Are we living in our own cycle but we are pretend that we are popular and social? Being a socializing person is harder than just making friends online. It's just like to have a open mind than just have a smart mind.
My thinking of Internet has changed because of those articles and video, it's much harder to use the Internet than I thought. Socializing online is not just talking to friends, checking emails, watching ads and news that we are interested in. It's about something we are not interested in, we don't like, maybe we can find more surprising information among those news we never thought we'll look at.
The cause of those problems is we are lazy. Sometimes we are just having fun on the Internet without even thinking what we are doing. Therefore, we are unconsciously searching for the similar topics again and again, and ends up with staying in the little bubbles we are actually created by our self.
On the other hand, the other reason of these problems are the development of the Internet technology are much faster than the human being's brain. We can't catch up with it, therefore, we are just relaying on using it. But, are we really having the ability to control the Internet?
It's impossible to answer your question can we control the Internet or not. May be if you are the creator of internet there's a possibilities you can control some functions of it, it's impossible to figure out how the whole system works and control it, because it's the while complex of different function in computer technology, and people creating new things every day. When you create "bubbles" around you, you are the controller of those bubbles, not that they control you! If you don't like those yellow bubbles you chose you can always switch it to green ( of course I mean different websites by colors). just like you say here, Jia, sometimes we just sitting in the Internet and don't even know what are we looking for and if even we do, we are too lazy to find the right result; we want the computer to think for us.
ReplyDeleteSo, in conclusion I will say, bubbles are fun and you have a variety of colors to choose from, just use your imagination!
In response to your topic/question “The Internet makes us who we are?” I say no. First, we are not machines, we are humans. We use our mind to think, we are not programmed with chips. Aside from the culture and principles that we instilled in us, we are who we are. Humans are first, we create machines, machine follow our instruction. Remember the programmers are human and everyone answers to someone. Further, we live in a democratic country where our voice should be heard; therefore if what we approve or disapprove of the internet sources, then we speak. Who knows? Someone may listen
ReplyDeleteSecondly, we can survive without computers, many generations before us survived and they have left tremendous inventions for us to use. The computer was made to make life easier and it has, for instance replaced the typewriter which was slower and more difficult in many ways. It also enables broader scale for socialization. However socializing is not necessarily with friends, it could be acquaintances, or a total stranger. Agree that the computer is a tremendous help and an advantage to society. Look back at the generations before us, just imagine the pendulum swinging the other way. The flipside is that there would be chaos but we would bounce back.
The internet exists for the people. But that doesn't mean that we "run" it. Those who create html and write programs also do not.
ReplyDeleteWe didnt always have computers, so people before us survived without them which in some instances made things more difficult. Technology is a huge advantage our generation has been able to grow up in.
I think you make a good point about what control people have on the internet. Still, I think its also due to a lack of knowledge about how the people who have major influence over popular sites on the internet, like Google or Facebook, are creating these 'filter bubbles' that I'm sure people are aware that show them things that they're interested in but don't realize that things are being taken out as well. This is something that was new to me before learning about it in this class. Now, it can be said that some people are aware of this and due to their own laziness are willing to accept things as they are, but I feel most people are unaware of what's going on altogether, and just know bits and pieces of the truth.
ReplyDelete