Summary/Response to Children: Social Networking Sites, A Debate in the House of Lords

My English teacher assigned the class to read the article, "Children: Social Networking Sites, A Debate In the House of Lords", by Susan Greenfield, and to write a summary as well as a response about the article. The article goes into two main questions about social networking sites. The first is what is the appeal of social networking sites and the second is what is in jeopardy because of it. As Greenfield explains in the article, she believes there is four possibilities. The first being the attention span, the second being the expectancy of having the here-and-now , the third is lack of empathy, and the last issue is the identity of people. I have to agree with much of what Greenfield says because I myself have noticed all these things first hand. Being a teenager growing up during the technological era  has effected my life. I have yet to figure out if it is for the better or not. My attention span when it comes to others and talking to them is short because as soon as I become disinterested I automatically turn to my phone and social networks to connect with others even when I have a friend right in front of me. I like being connected to the here and now with everyone and that is the attraction to social media sites. It's also harder to be empathetic over the internet as well because we are behind a computer screen or a phone so we don't feel the same way we would as if it were in person.  Lastly, identity is a big thing on the internet. You can reinvent yourself or pretend to be someone else or even emphasize yourself to make you look better. Many people on the internet are inauthentic and it makes it harder to get to know others when they aren't even who they say they are. They maybe one way online and another way in person. That's where someone's identity can get confused.

Technology Log Reflection

                     Over the past week my teacher asked me to keep a log and track how many

hours/minutes I use of technology. The log lists; Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, iPod(which I changed

to Pandora), Blogs, Online Shopping, Texting, Web Surfing, Email, Online HW , Instagram, and

Other, which I filled in as Netflix. The top three websites that I use according to the sub total amount

of hours is Netlix, Instagram, and my tumblr blog. This past week was my spring break so of course I

had more free time than usual therefore I spent more time than I normally do on these sites. It was

actually surprising once I calculated the amount of hours I spent online on these three sites. Seeing as

I do not have a television in my room for the simple reason that I would ever stop watching it. Netflix

has the highest amount of spent hours watching movies and tv shows. The second is instagram

because I constantly check and refresh my feed to see who's posted recently and whats going on in all

my friends lives. The third is my tumblr blog, which I can scroll endlessly for hours without getting

bored. All these hours spent are not productive whatsoever ever. I merely use these websites to pass

time when I have nothing else to do. I really do not accomplish anything or do anything productive

while spending all these hours online. Technology was intended for academic use to expand the mind

and educate yourself but it has changed so much since it was first designed. So many teenagers only

use it to pass time and surf the web or go one social media sites when we should really be using it

for its intended purpose for education and school. The internet is a useful tool to research and learn

about anything your mind wants to know but sadly todays day and age we would much rather look at

out friends pictures and watch movies online.

24 Hours/1,440 Minutes/86,400 Seconds Without Technology

As an assignment my english teacher assigned the entire class to go an entire 24 hours without our

most used technology. Be it the computer, iPod, cellphone and whatever technological devises our

society uses these days. Personally I am always on my phone. Since I do not text as much as most

teenagers these days do I decided to cut out all social media because I use that most frequently. On

Friday, April 25th, I decided to cut all social media off and not log on or open any apps for an entire

24 hours as the assignment instructed. These 24 hours felt like an eternity. Not really but it felt like an

eternity when I would just sit down and not do anything.  Even with the distractions of being with my

friend I instantly got bored once I stopped doing something. I spent the night at my friends house

thursday night and woke up there friday morning. Naturally after opening my eyes, my hands

instinctively search the bed for my cell phone. Under the pillow, next to me, then the blankets until I

finally find it. I unlocked my phone, checked the time, and then automatically scrolled to find

instagram. Everday as soon as I wake up Instagram is the first social media app that I open.

Absentmindedly I opened the app and I started scrolling, I then realized that I was not supposed to be

on any social media networks for 24 hours. So reluctantly I closed the app and laid on my back and

looked at the ceiling. I quietly waited for a little until my friend awoke as well. In the mean time I

looked around and noticed the decorations in the room and the sounds of her father walking and

talking around the house on the other side of the closed door. Once we finally got out of bed, my

friend had to clean the whole house and cook. So of course I helped her and we cleaned the entire

house and got a lot done. More than we usually do to be honest. We blasted music as we cleaned the

whole house from top to bottom. From dusting, sweeping, mopping, washing dishes, washed clothes,

blankets and even cleaned her room! Which by the way is always a mess but as she was cleaning the

restroom I pretty much cleaned her entire room for her. I folded and put away all her clean clothes

that were sitting in the laundry basket for an entire week. I dusted, cleaned, reorganized, swept,

moped and threw her blankets and sheets into wash. I know for a fact that if I had my phone on me I

would have constantly stopped to check social media networks every 30 minutes or so and refresh the

feed constantly. Without the distractions that my phone held I was able to get a lot done. It felt good

to clean the entire house and get everything done. Her father was even impressed at how much we got

done in a few hours and at how clean the house was. As soon as we were done I sat on her bed and

went straight for my phone and as badly as I wanted to open up one of my many apps, I knew I

couldn't and it sucked. I felt bored because I did not know what else to do but just lay there and do

nothing since there was nothing else to do. I noticed we automatically turn to our phones as soon as

there is a moment of silence or a spark or boredom. Its crazy how dependent we are on todays

technology.