your space, myspace
I have been negligent with my posting lately. I blame the past four days at least on the fact that I have been in Phoenix, and my hotel room was a vacuum for any kind of reception. No phone, no wireless...and when I couldn't even get online via the rip-off $13/day to use the room's network (because my corporate card was rejected and it wouldn't charge the service to my room) I decided it was just not meant to be.
I was in Phoenix, by the way, to take the most awesome class I've ever attended. In my line of work we frequently use a questionnaire to help us figure out who we should talk to when something happens in a store, and I was able to learn how to analyze this questionnaire from the man who created it. It was a three-day training session that made my head spin, but I am returning to my job completely rejuvenated and excited to get going again.
Anyway.
I sent my Jung APA proposal to Dr. Amy Fisher Smith from UD to see what she thought about it (she's kind of served as an informal mentor to me over the years even though I'm not in school) and she asked if she could include it in a symposium with herself and Dr. Garza. HECK YEAH! She edited it down to 300 words and submitted it for me. WOO HOOOO!
Since she changed around what I originally wrote when I was going to submit it on my own, I do not have a copy of what was actually submitted. I do, however, have my submittal for the internet paper. Those interested can find it here.
Your Space, Myspace:
The Internet’s Impact on Social Networking
The news was shocking: a thirteen year-old girl committed suicide in 2007 after an online relationship with a boy through the social network myspace (www.myspace.com) ended suddenly, through negative messages. Perhaps more shocking was that the boy was a work of fiction; a former friend of the girl and her mother created him after a real-life falling out. The mother recently received misdemeanor charges for violating myspace user agreements.
This example illustrates how the internet and popular social networks such as myspace and facebook (www.facebook.com) have changed the way people communicate. The opportunities for ordinary people to present themselves, their pictures, their videos and their ideas have grown dramatically in the past decade. Users of social networking sites have more control over their self-presentational behavior than in face-to-face communication. By creating online self-presentations, users have the opportunity to think about which aspects of their personalities should be presented or which photos convey the best images - to some extent, their identities can be managed more strategically than in face-to-face situations (Ellison, Heino & Gibbs, 2006; in Kramer & Winter, 2008). These networks provide a user-friendly template for self-presentation, and people can easily maintain or form relationships with other users by writing messages and adding other people as friends to their personal contact lists (2008).
Unfortunately, this example also calls into question a frightening aspect of social networking through the internet, which is that these relationships developed online are considered real - even if there is no basis in reality. In internet relating, there is no corporeal body, no touch, no sensual impressions - this in contrast to real life meetings, in which one can “smell something fishy,” “hear a false note,” or react to body language (Hanlon, 2001, p. 567). Without traditional social cues, one might be more susceptible to falling prey to an online predator, as in this example.
This paper will discuss the internet’s impact on social networking, its benefits and drawbacks. I will also comment on the dependence some people have on this technology, with special focus on the element of ‘control over social interactions.’ In a study by Madell and Muncer (2007), participants indicated that they felt the use of many text-based internet and mobile phone communication media (but not voice calls) often gave them time to think about how best to articulate themselves, especially in emotional situations (p. 139). As this finding suggests, technology is strongly tied into our subjectivity and perspective - for better or worse. There are aspects of internet communication left unsaid and unspecified, and open to inference and interpretation (for example, feeling angry at an ambiguous email from a co-worker - the words are interpreted to mean something other than they may have been intended for.)
Finally, this paper will provide commentary on the specific social networks mentioned - myspace and facebook - and their contribution to the facilitation of real and imaginary relationships. It is important to note here that to some extent, all online relationships are imaginary. People choose the text and images that will present their identities on the internet (whether real or enhanced) and in turn ‘friend’ users who have done the same thing. In our willingness to believe and accept as truth the online personas of our friends, we expose the same vulnerability that led to the too-soon death of a young girl with a very real broken heart.
REFERENCES:
Hanlon, J. (2001) Disembodied intimacies: Identity and relationship on the internet.
Psychoanalytic Psychology. Vol. 18(3), pp. 566-571
Kramer, N., Winter, S. (2008) Impression management 2.0: The relationship of self-esteem,
extraversion, self-efficacy and self-presentation within social networking sites. Journal of Media Psychology. Vol. 20(3), pp.106-116
Madell, D., Muncer, S. (2007) Control over social interactions: An important reason for young
people’s use of the internet and mobile phones for communication? CyberPsychology & Behavior. Vol. 10(9), pp. 137-140
Type your cut contents here.
Keep in mind I have not written the paper yet. This is kind of a promissory note - if I am accepted with this proposal, I will write the paper. Truthfully, I have a much better chance of being accepted as part of Dr. Smith's symposium - but if I only get accepted for one thing, I am STILL going to Toronto! I've never been to Canada before.
I have a very full day tomorrow, which I need to begin by going to the gym...then a meeting...then playing catch-up...then presenting for a team of district managers over the phone. When work is done, Kyle is taking me to pick up a rental car because on Friday I'm driving to Austin and back (same day) to try to figure out why my stores are losing money.
For now, I am going to sleep. I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving!
I was in Phoenix, by the way, to take the most awesome class I've ever attended. In my line of work we frequently use a questionnaire to help us figure out who we should talk to when something happens in a store, and I was able to learn how to analyze this questionnaire from the man who created it. It was a three-day training session that made my head spin, but I am returning to my job completely rejuvenated and excited to get going again.
Anyway.
I sent my Jung APA proposal to Dr. Amy Fisher Smith from UD to see what she thought about it (she's kind of served as an informal mentor to me over the years even though I'm not in school) and she asked if she could include it in a symposium with herself and Dr. Garza. HECK YEAH! She edited it down to 300 words and submitted it for me. WOO HOOOO!
Since she changed around what I originally wrote when I was going to submit it on my own, I do not have a copy of what was actually submitted. I do, however, have my submittal for the internet paper. Those interested can find it here.
Your Space, Myspace:
The Internet’s Impact on Social Networking
The news was shocking: a thirteen year-old girl committed suicide in 2007 after an online relationship with a boy through the social network myspace (www.myspace.com) ended suddenly, through negative messages. Perhaps more shocking was that the boy was a work of fiction; a former friend of the girl and her mother created him after a real-life falling out. The mother recently received misdemeanor charges for violating myspace user agreements.
This example illustrates how the internet and popular social networks such as myspace and facebook (www.facebook.com) have changed the way people communicate. The opportunities for ordinary people to present themselves, their pictures, their videos and their ideas have grown dramatically in the past decade. Users of social networking sites have more control over their self-presentational behavior than in face-to-face communication. By creating online self-presentations, users have the opportunity to think about which aspects of their personalities should be presented or which photos convey the best images - to some extent, their identities can be managed more strategically than in face-to-face situations (Ellison, Heino & Gibbs, 2006; in Kramer & Winter, 2008). These networks provide a user-friendly template for self-presentation, and people can easily maintain or form relationships with other users by writing messages and adding other people as friends to their personal contact lists (2008).
Unfortunately, this example also calls into question a frightening aspect of social networking through the internet, which is that these relationships developed online are considered real - even if there is no basis in reality. In internet relating, there is no corporeal body, no touch, no sensual impressions - this in contrast to real life meetings, in which one can “smell something fishy,” “hear a false note,” or react to body language (Hanlon, 2001, p. 567). Without traditional social cues, one might be more susceptible to falling prey to an online predator, as in this example.
This paper will discuss the internet’s impact on social networking, its benefits and drawbacks. I will also comment on the dependence some people have on this technology, with special focus on the element of ‘control over social interactions.’ In a study by Madell and Muncer (2007), participants indicated that they felt the use of many text-based internet and mobile phone communication media (but not voice calls) often gave them time to think about how best to articulate themselves, especially in emotional situations (p. 139). As this finding suggests, technology is strongly tied into our subjectivity and perspective - for better or worse. There are aspects of internet communication left unsaid and unspecified, and open to inference and interpretation (for example, feeling angry at an ambiguous email from a co-worker - the words are interpreted to mean something other than they may have been intended for.)
Finally, this paper will provide commentary on the specific social networks mentioned - myspace and facebook - and their contribution to the facilitation of real and imaginary relationships. It is important to note here that to some extent, all online relationships are imaginary. People choose the text and images that will present their identities on the internet (whether real or enhanced) and in turn ‘friend’ users who have done the same thing. In our willingness to believe and accept as truth the online personas of our friends, we expose the same vulnerability that led to the too-soon death of a young girl with a very real broken heart.
REFERENCES:
Hanlon, J. (2001) Disembodied intimacies: Identity and relationship on the internet.
Psychoanalytic Psychology. Vol. 18(3), pp. 566-571
Kramer, N., Winter, S. (2008) Impression management 2.0: The relationship of self-esteem,
extraversion, self-efficacy and self-presentation within social networking sites. Journal of Media Psychology. Vol. 20(3), pp.106-116
Madell, D., Muncer, S. (2007) Control over social interactions: An important reason for young
people’s use of the internet and mobile phones for communication? CyberPsychology & Behavior. Vol. 10(9), pp. 137-140
Type your cut contents here.
Keep in mind I have not written the paper yet. This is kind of a promissory note - if I am accepted with this proposal, I will write the paper. Truthfully, I have a much better chance of being accepted as part of Dr. Smith's symposium - but if I only get accepted for one thing, I am STILL going to Toronto! I've never been to Canada before.
I have a very full day tomorrow, which I need to begin by going to the gym...then a meeting...then playing catch-up...then presenting for a team of district managers over the phone. When work is done, Kyle is taking me to pick up a rental car because on Friday I'm driving to Austin and back (same day) to try to figure out why my stores are losing money.
For now, I am going to sleep. I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving!