What's wrong with the internet?

Somebody's watching you: social media and surveillance' - MM52 page 13 

This article explains the truth behind how much we are atucally protected from the public and how much we know and think we know. This article really does make us think twice about how safe we really are when we go on the internet or use social media accounts such as Facebook or Twitter. 

What is your opinion on this debate?
For me personally, I think it is true that we don't have privacy. When we do go on the internet, we are giving all our information; our locations, phone numbers, emails, photos that give away a lot about ourselves. For example by posting things on the internet like 'Youtube videos' companies and website will pick out those videos and place them into their own sites without any permissions or warnings. This immediately hints out that ones anything that is put on the internet, and even if you do take it off, it never is really removed since you never know who has saved/kept it in other places. 

Are you bothered by people tracking your online movements? 
I would say i would be bothered by people tracking my online movements, but thinking it realistic we all do it ourselves, we 'stalk' people online on social media, it may be people we know or heard off, so we can't really be bothered or hate it if we do it ourselves to other people. It is something that is unfortunately that people do track peoples movements and keep an eye on what is someone doing every now and then. It does sound scary thinking about strangers who we completely don't know stalking or spying someone else. 

Is it a small price to pay for the benefits of a life online? 
No, i think it is a very big price to pay for the benefits of a life online, because we now are so consumed and consistently on the internet and using our smartphones. Before the digital media came, people were able to function and communicate without all of the internet connections we have now. It is a big price to pay as we are giving up your privacy and so much personal information about us just so we can 'fit in' in the 'internet world'. 

MEST3 - Introduction to New Digital Media: reading and blog task

Go to our Media Magazine archive and open up MM56 - April 2016. You need to read the following articles:

Page 10: Living and learning in a digital age.

This research was taking because they wanted to see in what ways the learning was being done in homes by young people themselves (year 9's) and also how they themselves keep aspects of them lives hidden from both family and school through the media. Within the research they came across with adults already making assumptions of negative thoughts about what young people were doing on the internet, their researched showed that they came across nothing bad/inappropriate when being friends on Facebook of the year 9 class. 

It was seen that the young people enjoyed the company of non-judgemental adults who were genially interested in them and were different from their parents and teacher. They then noticed how the school gave equal opportunity, so the difference between students, in terms of the students ethnicity, social class and their gender were treated as 'invisible'. They also mentioned that young people are seeing and are able to recognise inequalities and dishonesty. There was still a huge difference in high culture values at school and popular culture as teachers often used popular culture as a way of creating shared values and norms but never discussing the control, production and structure to create a certain representation. 

The research suggests that schools is less interested in cultural and social uses of the media then in the ways that they make the management and control more effective. Young people try to preserve space for themselves from the views of adults. The use of the media across homes and school were seriously policed, such as SIMS, VLE worked really well as a form of digital surveillance. Phones were banned to use in school as students preferred teachers/ parents not o have access to their world. Families, students and school kept boundaries within themselves was with the use of Facebook, this was because even though teachers themselves used it themselves - they disliked because it created problems for them, difficulties for that students faced on Facebook outside school then became a problem the next day at school. 

Page 46: Periscope and the implications of live streaming.

Periscope is an app that is purchased by Twitter before it was even launched. This app allows users to see worthy content as it is happening, live as it develops. Periscope allows the person to watch anything they would want to through other peoples streams and enjoy it through their phones or tablets as the other people who is actually there recording it. Periscope does also come with concerns which one of them being privacy. Unlike youtube videos or even Facebook photos, you can take them down if wanted by the owner but with periscope the videos can not be taken down as it is already going live, an example being a bully could broadcast their victims privacy or something to the rest of the world. Periscope can track down someones location even though GPS is still off of the user. 

However, despite the risks, they are also benefits of this app to which one of them being is that it allows people to explore different areas through another persons perspective, this allows them t o create their own opinions and views about things rather than go along with the reinforced stereotype some things have. It could also be a benefit to people who work in the news industries, people like reporters, journalist to gather news/facts quickly. 

Page 53: A2 A* exam essay on Spotify.

The answer was successful because i think they:

- focused and answered the question throughout the essay

- gave their opinion about what they thing about spotify but also then gave the other side of view too. 
- Examples were given from car study 
-terminology + theory 
- easy to follow through 

3) Finally, answer this question in a well developed paragraph on your blog: How has digital media changed your life in the last 5 years (for positive or negative)?

Over the past 5 years i think that digital media has made an impact in my life in a negative way and positive - but i wouldn't say digital media has  'changed my life". Its made an impact on me positively because now its led to me not using much of social media apart from instagram and snapchat, when it was 5 years before i would use Facebook and consistently being on the internet etc. Digital media has allowed me to explore and be open minded about things that i do come across on the internet and question what i do read. But it has allowed me to understand that some things that are just too open to people could be too much content (like for the younger audience) and if there should be a limit on what can be put on or seen as to me personally can be over powerful - for example young kids who access the internet and are exposed to something that isn't for their age or rude can change their behaviour and attudies in terms of how they behave or act - they wouldn't be acting their age which is a let down because i think for younger audience, new digital media are reinforcing negative things to them, which is why i also don't tend to use as much of it because most of the things that i see on social media especially is disturbing and useless.