In The Joyful Darkness of Social Media

At 8 o’clock in the morning, Rie set the post to be uploaded on social media at 5:30 in the afternoon when she thought that more people would surf more after their long days at work.

Mathew has not changed his avatar on Facebook for years, not many status or updates although his social life was fulfilled and energetic – to him, social media were not big issues. Some of his online followers did not know much about how interesting he was if they met him in the office.

A young college student, Mary, got inspired by several illustration artists on Instagram with thousands of followers. She looked back at her artworks and found them not amazing or professional at all. She tried imitating others’ style and jazzed them up with her personality. The number of her followers increased and job offers came as a summer rain to her.

D, a hacker, got a lot of money from “this job”. Faking others’ identities to spread the word of racism on Twitter is his hobby in the dark while back to the light, he was such a nice colleague to others.

On social media, people have more freedom and flexibility in expressing their identities to others. Without body language or voice tones, we use texts or media to let people know what we want them to know. We take an active role in shaping and framing ourselves in front of device screens instead of worrying about others’ eye-rolling or laughter. Of course, there are pluses and minuses of being relatively invisible or even anonymous on social media but in general, online users find it comfortable since they are bosses of themselves, at least on the platform that they can either choose to embrace for just a moment or 24/7.

Because of invisibility via digital communication, people tend to disclose themselves earlier in the “potential relationships” and “develop closeness faster than that in face-to-face offline relationship”. Although when meeting face-to-face, people interact with each other more thanks to the diverse source of information – conversation, voice tone, facial expression, and body language – those might be the barriers that we sometimes afraid to speak out loud. On screen, we might imagine others’ reactions to our stories but that also reflects our personalities or expectation. We can reasonably come up with excuses to stop chatting with those we don’t feel comfortable with while in real life, it is considered rude. Therefore, we take more risks sharing part of our lives, which even becomes a career path of so many influencers, YouTubers, or freelance designers.

Because of the invisibility of social media, online users share emotions more easily. They may not know the whole stories of others but they catch the sorrowful moment of their friends, empathize with others, and may even offer helps. A Facebook user who is not very active on social media still knows what happens to her friends via newsfeed, which might take her more effort and time just to update the news. Although she stays invisible, she is still taking an active role in absorbing information.

Being in the dark to observe others in light comforts most people, so does being anonymous on social media. People feel safe to speak out loud their abused childhood or to point out the evil in their lives without much fear when posting a status online. We have heard of a glossophobia – the fear of public speaking but we know that typing the stories on keyboard or mobile phone screen is such a pleasant feeling. The problem may not be solved – the evil may be still there – but our basic demands, including the ability to share and be shared with, are probably satisfied to some extent.

Even with power, bad guy remain bad or even worse. Now that in the darkness, everyone can become bad more easily. Their identities are not defined so there is no need to be responsible for everything they have done on social media. People text love icons to each other so effortlessly that they also commented harsh words to others restlessly. One can take advantage of other’s sharing on social media to steal their information, break into their house or kidnap their children. One can fake other’s account or personality on digital platform where they know no one would take time to confirm the information. The flood of information of online users, which is either shared on social media platform or collected via business system, could be their weakness that others can make benefit from.

Being identifiable or invisible depends on the lifestyle and decisions of web browsers. Social media enlarge the flexibility of the rate of information being exchanged, either providing ones with ultimate freedom or the depth of sin. Internet is not absolutely a nightmare or a paradise – what makes the e-society depends on how we interact with social media and technology

Cyberoptimism or Cyberpessimism – The call for a great society

Whenever we encounter a weird landmark in our seemingly long journey, we are excited and imagine the whole new world we would jump into; yet, at the same time, we are afraid of whether we should move forward, asking ourselves: “Are the upcoming changes worth itself?” We are into the same reaction when raising our head towards our giant product – technology or, more specifically, social media.

Technology is known as the nerd evolution, which was created to initially serve as human storage and transmission of information for scientific purpose. Through time, the giant grows along with human’s explosive demand in identifying and sharing their personalities as well as the freedom in accessing information. Human reaction to the rapid development of their “child” was positive with the assumption that technology would improve human relationship in certain forms of progressive social, cultural, and political change (Lindgren, 49.) Such high hope in the enlightenment of technology in our society is called technological determinism.

As mentioned, technology is initially our product, meaning that its being-worth-the-effort-and-time depends on our bad or good using habit. Tim Berners-Lee, the father of world wide web for nearly 30 years, expected the application of technology in establishing e-government, online healthcare service and data operation, or school with unlimited library and ultimate education tools. Technology was more than simply a product – it is a tool or even supportive business partner. Amazon started their digital business as an online book retailers and became one of the biggest tech companies in the world thanks to wise tech investments. Especially when 5G network arrives, not only data but also any kind of devices in our daily lives can be connected via the internet, creating such a smart environment that human could ever imagine. Lights are on whenever we want without touching the button physically; information of citizens are recorded so that the government can keep track of their legal or possibly illegal activities. How magical the product becomes for us.

Cyberoptimism still runs high since one of our most basic social need is fulfilled – communication. Human have a tendency to express themselves and desire to be heard – in this case, technology and social media become a helpful right hand in that people can share their stories, update their status rapidly, and see each other no matter where they are as long as their devices are connected to the internet. The Internet makes a breakthrough that television has not be able to finish:

The Internet can bring people of like interests and minds together in ways heretofore unseen, but those similarities can range from a past history of sexual abuse among people in great need of anonymous social support, to cirulent hatred of other racial groups.
Social psychologists Katelyn McKenna and John Bargh (2000:6)

Cyberoptimism still runs high since people find themselves being accepted and nurtured by the society that they have chosen to get involved on the Internet. Social media is the world behind the door of freedom that users decide whenever they want to get in and out; also through that door, they may come back to real life with real opportunities such as friends or even jobs.

However, cyberoptimism may not be always as high when people have realized that the opening world was not freely created by them. They have various options when shopping online but they became reluctant when aware of surveillance or cookies. Facebook was a huge social network that was popular not only to the young but also the old. Currently, a minority of users abandon Facebook when there was a scandal of selling users’ information to third-parties. Artificial technology was developed rapidly that automatic advertising phone calls get more annoying than ever before. Targeted advertising and increased commercialisation forced human to the reality that they were no longer their own bosses on the internet. The network is no longer simply a tool – it is a digital society or maybe even civilization.

There is not right or wrong for either cyberoptimism or cyberpessimism – we are both how people react to our “cyber-benefit” or “cyber-freedom” in the digital society. In the flat world where everyone has equal right to access information, more talents are found and their products, including technology, turn out of human expectation, or control. There is no end point for the development, so is for human demands.

In my humble opinion, it is better to survive with the tornado. People are scared of surveillance which might lead to illegally selling private information without permission. To deal with the issue, what about us creating cyber-examiners to avoid any probable crimes? Our worries of being taken over by robots has been illustrated by a lot of science-fiction movies. That might be because we have been pleased by the online service and become dull. The more we earn from the digital society, the more we challenge ourselves to survive or to bloom beautifully in this world. We are grateful of digital society because of our freedom but we need to bare the fact that freedom is only worth itself with acceptable actions, whether in real lives or social media. Therefore, there is a need of e-civilization, simply to name it. That would be the digital society which government and citizens both take active roles in protecting and nurturing. That would be the ideal world that even via screens, people are not anonymous or pseudonymous for their good or bad sides. I know, that’s a long walk to the destination that even me myself cannot imagine, but it’s a beautiful wealthy life. After all, what we drive for is the society of goodness, equality, and freedom, which should exist in both worlds of that freedom door.

Networked Publics – The New Society in the Blooming Technology

Networked publics – a term that comes along with the explosion of networked technology and social media. It was brought by the cultural anthropologist Mimi Ito to describe the digitization of media and the involvement of technology in the society as a means of networking and communication. The emergence of this term reflects the connection of technology and society in the modern day, marking the new stage of social development/change.

In a digital society where social media is not simply a means of communication, online users are also creators or producers of information. Internet is such a fabulous, mainly free platform that anyone can access while social media, such as Instagram or Facebook, are amazingly user-friendly that even the old can share photos and daily stories of their beloved ones. Back to the old days when internet was not developed yet, people learnt the news mainly via newspapers and televisions. The news needed to be confirmed before being published while there was even no platform for people to share their life stories as today, except via rumors. Nowadays, almost everything is updated just by one touch or one click, by which people interact and get to know others’ life stories more easily. People move away from social hierarchy to altogether establish the society in which each person is already a great source of interesting information.

In the age of networked publics, personal media stands by mass media – even sometimes the gap between them is as thin as paper. For example, Donald Trump wiggled the economy in one night just by his tweets; a video of a kid dancing a specific style became viral on the internet and people considered it as a dancing trend. Everything is loaded and transmitted speedily that reactions of online users influenced their real-life activities, marking an event or even contributing to the social change. In any case, online users take an active role in building either online or offline society – no boundaries in creativity and diversity and constantly evolving information. Thanks to social media, ideas would turn into action in the pressure of the online crowd. In the midst of global warming and polluted environment, had it not been for the help of social media platforms such as YouTube or Instagram, the idea of reducing plastic products, eating less meat, and planting more trees would not be as strong as today.

In the networked community, the world is flat and sometimes naked. People from any region of the world can be connected via the screen – communication is easy and free as long as there is internet connection. However, no freedom is gained for free – the rise of personal media is a great chance for business to have surveys of online users to plan on creating products that meet social needs. Artificial intelligence is developed and applied to serve individual needs. Profiles and privacy might become transparent in the business plan of such tech companies since they master network and social media are their playgrounds for making huge amount of money.

Networked publics mark the revolution in the society in which human communication and interaction is the top priority while accuracy and privacy is, sadly and annoyingly, challenged.

Technology and Social Change – The tight relationship for millions of years

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.
Heraclitus

Along with unstoppable society development, human have created several means to fulfill their growing needs. Inventions such as the compass, the printing press or the telephone were invented, contributing to society changes through time, or human civilization in other words. There came the relationship of social change and technology – the quintessence of previous inventions and the foundation of countless outstanding innovations of human.

There are several definitions of technology, one of which from Wikipedia is “the sum of techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives.” Technology is basically any invention that is made of scientific knowledge and skills. In the early age of human existence, the control of fire is also a technique, meaning that the application of fire in various human daily activities is considered technology. On the other hand, internet, social media or computer is the modern technology which brought the “standard bar” of society development much higher.

Technology is more than simply a tool or means of satisfying human needs. For example, internet was invented with the primary purpose of connecting multiple computers in a single network, by which scientists and military arms could exchange data and important information. Gradually, internet has become a vivid, active society in which users have multiple profiles on social media such as Facebook. It became a huge environment where great minds are connected and great ideas are transmitted, rather than an assistant or problem solver.

Thanks to the invention and the innovation of technology, society has been through remarkable changes, during which human have more options or freedom in their daily activities. As for the means of communication, the printing press helped a lot with mass-media as the public was able to access information more efficiently and rapidly. Then, with the creation of telegraph, people did not have to be worried about their distance since they are connected via audio conversations through the machine. Now, with the assistance of wireless networks, it seems to be no boundaries in scheduling periodic meetings with workers – messages can be sent any time and various tools are used for work efficiency via Google Hangout or Skype (such as screen sharing.)

Technology itself is also a service which is interestingly a game between people (Simon Lindgren.) It is involved in various human interactions – such as bank transactions or daily news – during which there are service creators and information receivers. When numerous services were developed to satisfy human beings, competitions take place as to claim their unique role in the society – boosting the social and cultural development. In the increase of information work, there is definitely a growth in job market. Thanks to the freedom and the emergence of a flat world brought by technology, labor sources are not limited to specific group of ages, genders, or majors.

Technology is not only a vital part of human development – it is the environment for social changes through time. On the other hand, social changes push the creation of new technology, breaking the prevailing standard bar of human civilization.

Justin Hall with the old friend – social media

On Wednesday, 4 Sep 2019, via YouTube video “overshare: the links.net story”, we had a chance to learn more about Justin Hall – a pioneer in using website as to share his story life and spread the words.

Growing up in the family with a busy mom and an alcoholic dad, Justin started sharing his favorite web links and daily notes on his web page in 1994. He became popular not only with his interesting daily stories but also with his published guides on sex and drugs.

In the early stage of website development, websites, to Justin, was where people found empathy, spoke the truth, and learnt more from each other. He called for funding via his website and traveled to different states in the country to teach people HTML – bringing technology and social media to office, bars, or anywhere he had reached. Social media seemed to be his good friend or colleague whom he made his dream come true with.

Unfortunately, the old friend knew a lot about him while he did not know his soul mate as much. Technology was developed impressively – search tool was invented and the access to his past was easier by just one click. People want to share their lives but they cannot endure the criticism and annoying curiosity from others. Justin got a lot of great jobs thanks to his website as a well-founded portfolio but he also lost those because people knew his overshared past and considered him with psychic problems. He seemed to be betrayed by the good old friend who could not kept the secret of his wild childhood and started talking at his back with other friends.

Social media is a place where users’ lives are more spoiled or naked – where they would be influenced by others’ stories and responses from their “friends”.

Justin’s usage of social media resembles the desperate need of the young who want to raise their voices and claim themselves in the society in which everyone is busy with their own business. It is such a flat, accessible network where the talented are more recognizable and news are updated more regularly. However, it is also a place where their lives are more spoiled, or naked – they would be influenced by others’ stories and responses from their “friends”. Social media raise emotions from people so easily that they even help establish the habit of not confirming the accuracy of information and, thus, criticizing others dramatically.

Social media himself is not a bad friend but at the end, when everyone wants to share lives with him, his “public’s secret container” explodes. Should people abandon the old guy? Meh.. Actually, he would be an awesome third-party friend who connects us to other great people and assists us in developing great things.