Who framed me? The Internet

How has the Internet framed me? I have to start out by saying that majority of the people that I follow on social networks are people that I know on a personal level because I trust more of what they have to say. Although there are the selective few that I don’t know personally and have followed them because they’re attractive or we share common interests. The variety of the networks that I’m engaged in affect me in different ways and I’m going to break them down.

Twitter: I have gone away from Twitter and it is now a network that I rarely check out because I was never really fully involved with it in the first place. The first time that I got a Twitter was in high school because everyone had one, it was the “thing” to have. I never saw the huge appeal about Twitter except the fact that people used it to vent and let out frustration that they had. Out of all the social networks, I did think Twitter was good for instant responses. The way that it framed me wasn’t the most positive because I would just end up becoming furious at people and most of my conversations would end up in arguments which made me shy away from it. I followed people from high school but now that we don’t really communicate anymore, I’m not that interested in the things they have to say mostly because they don’t directly affect me like they once did. I also followed my favorite sports team but now I rely on Facebook because I’m on their more so I would get updates or basically play by plays on Twitter as though I was watching it live on TV. Other than that, I used it as a tool of entertainment because people just write down their feelings sometimes without thinking it through and I sit back and laugh or feel whatever emotion they are displaying and do what I can to help them out. Twitter is definitely the least most used social network for me now.

Instagram/Snapchat: Both of these social networks strive off of pictures for personal interaction and I use Instagram way more intensively than Snapchat. Let’s start with Instagram, the same rules apply here as with Twitter meaning that I majority follow people that I personally know and have those individuals that I meet online. Although, the thing with Instagram is that it gives me a better sense of security because all you do is post pictures so it’s easier to identify someone but I will still trust the person I know more than a stranger. I do follow some celebrities like Eric Bledsoe from my favorite basketball team, the Phoenix Suns and Molly Burnett from Days of Our Lives. I like to follow them to keep myself updated with what is going on in their lives (it might sound creepy but I want to be informed). I feel like how I’m being framed on Instagram is that I will normally only like someone’s picture if they show interest in me by liking my material or I if we’re good friends. I find myself scrolling past people’s timelines especially when they don’t like anything of mine because I don’t understand why we’re friends in the first place. The funny thing is I won’t unfriend them because they might be this really attractive woman who has a hold on me and I’ll be intrigued and anxious to know what they’re going to post next or something about someone draws an interest which will keep me engaged.

Now focusing on Snapchat, this is a program that I don’t invest a lot of time in and on my end, I rarely send pictures to people and most often never post anything on my story (which is a series of events throughout the day). Especially now that I’m in college and busy with school, I don’t have the time to record everything going on in my daily life and I never found it necessary to do it either. I know it might sound selfish but I don’t want people to know what I’m doing on a daily basis because some things are private and I personally feel like I don’t need to broadcast my life to everyone. When I first downloaded the app, I sent pictures to everyone I know and they’d send them back so it was good interaction and I could actually physically see their face and videos could also be sent as well. I check people’s stories nightly because I am interested and curious to see how somebody’s day went and it’s a good quick way to stay in touch with people that you don’t talk to anymore. This frames me because I feel like I’m intrigued to know how someone’s day has went each and every day plus I can identify body language and hear the tone of voice as well so it’s not just a robot talking.

Facebook: Between Facebook and Instagram, those are my two mostly used social networks that I interact with and I tend to hold Facebook close to my heart because it was the first social network that I ever had. That’s right, I never had a Myspace as crazy as that might sound but anyway I feel the most secure and trustworthy towards Facebook because this is the only network that I follow people I know on a personal level because I have information on there that I don’t want a stranger to see because unfortunately you never know who is on the other side of the screen. I spend the most time of Facebook because there is so much content not only from your friends on their but Facebook will try and feed you into things it thinks you might like and this is how it frames me. I am a religious individual and my dad has a bible page that he post scriptures on and shares any videos that will help people. I enjoy it because it shows me how much he believes in our Lord and especially he was sick lately and now has dialysis. That’s beside the point and he’s always believed in God but I bring this up because I follow his page and every time that I log on, I see a picture on my timeline of Jesus being crucified or something that says, “If you Love God then comment ‘Amen’”. I will always fall into the trap of commenting because for some reason I feel like if I ignore them then I won’t be blessed and I feel like I’m not respecting God. At the same time, I understand that just because I like it doesn’t make me invincible and I do go to church and listen to the message but I try to respect him in every way. I am trying to grow out of that though. Facebook will also notify me if something is happening athletically in my high school because I follow people from high school and certain pages that they have to so I can stay up to date with what is going on. I am also framed in that way as well and it stems from the things that I like, Facebook will take notice of that and feed me specific articles or pictures to my liking and it’s kind of cool but scary altogether.

Who does the Internet think I am?

Obviously the Internet knows that I am religious and will keep feeding me those pictures as long as I keep commenting or liking them but it goes deeper than that. The Internet keeps track of whose statuses and posts you are engaged in and will narrow it down to those individuals because it feels like you guys have the most in common and are close friends. It will also find people and organizations that it’ll think you like and send them your way so you can friend them. For instance, when I was on Twitter, I followed the Phoenix Suns official page and similar organizations related to the Suns were trying to follow me. I find it crazy that the Internet works so hard to find similar people and organizations that it thinks you’ll be interested in to seek you out. I understand the concept because obviously the interests between the two are common but that is a way the Internet will keep an eye on you and what things you’re involved with and things you aren’t.

The Internet is public and so intelligent because it literally keeps records of events, sports, activities that people participate in and have it stored somewhere if someone decides to do some background research. I experimented and Google searched myself, the first thing that came up was that I was a part of the Dixie State University Cross Country Team and all the records that I have since I’ve came here. That is not the only thing that appeared, also my high school records from running and also my Instagram and Facebook although both are private. I have my own reasons for keeping it private but I don’t really feel like anything is private because all it takes is a simple search of my name and you can see where I go to school, the sports I play, etc. I know it is nothing to be worried about because my social security number is out floating around visible for people to collect but I do find it scary that I have so much information that is easily accessible. It definitely shows me, I need to be careful about what I post on the Internet because they do say “Once you put something out there, it’ll be there forever” and that is true. I don’t know who the Internet thinks I am but I will keep my eye on it!

Facebook Analysis and Insights

The page that I started was Fresh to Def Hip Hop and RnB for my campaign. It is a newer page and I definitely experienced the consequences of that but I enjoyed it at the same time.

What did work

• The times that drove the most attention was from noon to 1 p.m. and after 5 p.m. to about 8 p.m. One post that I had was posted at 11:10 a.m. and I actually drove a good number of traffic. Although I wasn’t seeing the likes that I wanted, my reach was high so I knew I was attracting people’s attention even though they weren’t liking it.
• Posting something interesting about artists’ or new information about their music seemed to be the most popular. For example, I did a post about Missy Elliot’s new song, “Where They From” (WTF) and people loved it. I believe it was because she hasn’t been around in a while but now that there is something new about her, it’s interesting.
• Even though my page didn’t receive much love overall, I feel that as time went on, I witnessed that I was learning from my own post. I started off with posting top music of the week (but it was more monthly) and any news about artist that I could find but now I find myself posting about artists’ albums and more relevant news about them.

What didn’t work

• I didn’t really have a lot that worked but something that I witnessed specifically was not generating enough likes or shares for my news. Although I managed to develop a reach, I was never able to compel people to share my news with their friends (at least online).
• Another thing that went against me was not tagging people in my post so they could see it and expand the news to their friends. The reason I didn’t want to do that though was because my channel was open to everyone and I wanted the news to be available to everybody as well. I never wanted leave people out of my post by tagging certain people or always tagging everyone too.
• Also posting times were a big drive to heighten my reach and likes and shares. When I posted in the morning from 8 a.m. to about noon I didn’t seem to reach a high audience and also the times from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. was considered a dead time for me as well. These are the specific times that didn’t actually work for me.

Campaign Plan

My Campaign Plan didn’t go as well as I would’ve liked it to but I did learn a lot about myself in the process. For the most part I followed through on the campaign about posting the top music but I didn’t feel it was necessary to do it weekly, instead I did it monthly. Basically all of my posts except a couple were all links to other websites with the actual information regarding whatever I added to it as well. I would always write a little summary to give everyone an overview of what it was and then leave the link so they could further investigate into it. I hope that people took the time to click the links and check out the piece of news that I was trying to promote more than actually driving likes. I want to continue to update this page so it’ll grow as well as myself growing to realize what I need to do and enhance the degree of Fresh to Def Hip Hop and RnB.

Self-Evaluation

This was definitely a new experience for me because I never created a page before but having the responsibility of managing it really was quite a new experience for me. Obviously, I didn’t have a lot of likes but for it being a newer page my audience slowly grew and over the last couple of months, the amount of people that I was reaching increased so I am proud of that little success. I think I’m realizing that the type of page that I developed is one to encourage people to interpret the information and click on the links so they could hear the whole story. This whole time, I have upset with myself that I haven’t been receiving a high amount of likes which is already affecting this generation including myself. I am more obsessed with the amount of likes I drive rather than the amount of shares and reaching people in the way that they’ll look deeper into it. Watching videos are more encouraging that reading an article but depending on how hooked people become with the story, they will acquire what information suits them best. I really tried hard to add variety to reach all different kinds of generations and by the end, it was increasing my success a little bit. I’m determined to keep this going and continue to improve.


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OTM: Automatic Attitudinal Responses

The way I would structure my On The Media assignments is that I would always start out with an overview of whichever particular story that I was covering then I laid my opinion out in the next paragraph. I would follow that up with the 5 different contexts (physical, psychological, social, cultural, and temporal). When it came to my opinion, on some post I remained to stay objective while on others, I just said exactly how I was feeling.

OTM 1: Roanoke Catastrophe!

I definitely had my share of primary certitude regarding this post because I have strong feelings when it comes to gun violence. It seems like within the last year or two that there have been too many incidents and tragedies with shootings. Whether it has to do with police officers (no matter the race) killing what looks to be innocent citizens or other citizens (e.g. Sandy Hook) unleashing bullets on other people. I don’t think that guns are the problem, I believe that certain people with guns are the problem. Now I haven’t had anyone in my family die by a horrific situation like this but the reason I believe that I feel so strong about it is because I’m tired of turning on the TV and hear another story about a killing. I tend to be more affected when it comes to children and innocent citizens because I always think about if that was my family. It doesn’t seem like you can go anywhere without feeling insecure about your safety.

OTM 2: Offer a Helping Hand Instead of a Voice

This post was talking about the photographs of kids, showing a graphic devastation of what had happened to them. It specifically had to do with the refugee boy who was shown fully clothed with his head plowed into the sand but unconscious because he drowned. What about the other image of the little girl running through the street naked stung by napalm. Writing about those images in this moment made my cringe and take a pause for a second and that is why I mentioned that we are blessed here in the United States. Most of us are, perhaps because there are homeless people. My automatic attitudinal response (AAR) unveils itself on this post because I’ve always lived in America so I am only accustom to one type of living. The reason I don’t want to just be a voice is because I believe that you aren’t fully committing by word of mouth. Actions speak louder than words and in my opinion, I live an excellent live so I want to make a change by helping others prosper.

OTM 3: Kim Davis! Right or Wrong?

 I was heavily opinionated when it comes to Kim Davis and the decision she made with the gay couple denying marriage licenses to them. Now I have an ethnocentric position regarding Kim Davis solely by her behavior towards the gay couple. I am a Christian just like her so I was not judging her based on her religion and I wasn’t even mad at the fact that she doesn’t support gay marriage but going against the law is another story. I do believe she was arrested on the morals she believes in but now that I have taken some time to read my post and react, I do think it was the correct decision to follow through with the arrest because it violates the law. I remained to stay objective about it although I support gay marriage because I personally don’t find it offensive that she doesn’t support gay marriage because tons of people don’t. The only big problem I had like I said was that she went against the law.

OTM 4: Primary Debates 2015

I seemed to have a hidden presumption when talking about Donald Trump and the presidential debates of 2015. To be honest, I didn’t have much of a background on Trump at all, I mean I knew who he was and that he hosted “The Apprentice,” but not a lot beyond that. I didn’t really know a lot about the type of character he was but who doesn’t know his famous slogan? “You’re Fired.” I feel like I used this given information plus some negative information that I have received from friends and family about him and automatically judged his character. Stating all that, I still don’t want him to run our country because I find him to be a compulsive liar and I don’t really trust anything he says plus thinking of him with all the authoritative power that is granted to come, I’m afraid that he’ll continue to plunge our country downwards.

OTM 5: Social Media Campaigns

Social Media is a topic that I have particular certitudes with because I’ve had many experiences with it and it’s something that changes on a daily basis. This post had to do with social media campaigns and I was saying that the Internet can either help or hurt people. The example Bob Garfield described was about this woman named Nicole who found a solution for her cancer through a campaign. Now she didn’t actually find a cure off Facebook but she liked a page which featured people who were in the same position as she was which then somebody offered her information about a certain doctor that she needed to go see. By that person’s generosity, she was able to get cured. I also said how social media can hinder someone as well by mentioning the show, “Catfish”. My example is that I have followed girls on Instagram simply because they are cute. In doing so, I make sure I am careful about the information I post on the Internet because it could be some creeper behind that computer who will stalk me especially if I distribute personal information.

OTM 6: Darkode, Are We Really Safe?

I had an automatic attitudinal response about hackers because I had an experience that happened to my mom over the summer break when someone who claimed to be the IRS called her telling her to send an amount of money or she was going to jail. My primary certitudes about hackers is that they are con artist and are willing to say whatever they need to in order to extract specific information out of you. I don’t know how I would’ve handled that situation if I was in my mom’s shoes because I am gullible but at the same time, I think you would know if you paid your taxes or not. Also when it comes to signing up for things on websites, I try and hold myself accountable for my actions and watch out for certain material that they might ask me for. This might sound corny but I after I fill something out online that wants me to provide the company with my address, phone number, etc. I always have my mom double check it because she can usually spot if something is off or if it’s a scam. So when it comes to hackers, I try my best to monitor myself.

OTM 7: Playboy Covering Up!

Looking back on this post that was put up about a little over a week ago, I’m now realizing that I am a hypocrite of my words. I wasn’t lying when I said I have never subscribed to Playboy when I was younger because my mother held me to higher standards. At the same time, I don’t like to view women as objects but in some cases, I do just to be aroused. It’s the truth and I do feel a little cautious and prejudged by admitting to it but I realized I was somewhat being deceitful. I do have an ethnocentric position on this because I feel like being a male alone, I will be viewed as dirty and cruel for wanting my own personal satisfaction. I am, however, glad that the magazine company has decided to cover up the women for their own sake so these women can have some sense of respect. I’ve never heard anyone talk about a playboy women in a positive manner regarding her “outstanding personality” or “fantastic smile” to throw out some examples. I usually only hear about them in sexual terminologies and I find it to be extremely unfortunate. I feel like I have an AAR about women’s rights and the faults that come with that because I have a sister. I feel bad for women in our society because they are supposed to stay in the house and cook meals and clean but at the snap of a guy’s fingers, they’re supposed to adjust themselves to be sexy. It’s extremely unfair.

I absolutely loved participating doing the weekly OTM Post because I know that I learned so much valuable information that I would’ve never known about before. The problem that I have is that I am never usually aware of what is going on around me and that is rather dangerous, I don’t watch the news unless it just happens to be on. When I was little, I didn’t have the full knowledge to understand everything happening surrounding myself but I couldn’t do anything about it and I frankly didn’t care. Now that I am 20 years old (about to be 21, November 30^th) and still don’t watch informs me that I need to pay much more attention and I feel that the OTM Post has opened me up in that way.

There is something about listening to a podcast rather than watching a newscast on television, I think it’s just the fact that you are using your ears to listen attentively and reflect. The picture for some people including myself sometimes can be a distraction and I’ll kind of tune out whatever the newscaster is saying. Although if I don’t have the option of the pictures then I find myself fully engaged in the conversation and reacting on a much more personal level. 

On The Media: Playboy Covering Up!

Playboy decided to cover up and show no more nude women. Starting March of next year, it will be official but it might hurt the industry given that last year Playboy revamped its website making it safe for parasol at work, its web traffic quadrupled ranging from 4 million monthly to about 16 million. Plus the average age as well from 47 years old to just over 30. Hugh Hefner who is owner and creator of Playboy Magazine served his time in WWII sitting behind a desk state side because he had writing ability. Hefner’s favorite magazine was Esquire and he became fond of Alberto Vargas who was the creator of pin-ups for Esquire and later worked at Playboy. He called his creations the “Vargas Girls” who were paintings of nude women and Hefner loved his creations but wanted to see real women in the magazines who looked identical to the Vargas Girls.

Personally, I’m not going to lie, I’ve seen pictures from Playboy magazines that my friends had but it happened when I was younger. I grew out of that now and never subscribed to Playboy because my mom would’ve probably never had let me but at the same time, it feels dirty and wrong to me to speculate a women as an object and staring at their body parts rather than appreciating them for the kind of person they are. Especially in a magazine where all there are nothing but naked women, a guy is not picking up that magazine to read an article about how nice or charming that women is, they are looking for the sexy lingerie to satisfy themselves. I am glad that they have decided to cover up their women because modeling can be done with clothes on and should. I know some people want to see certain things explicitly but there are other networks out there that you can do that but I even think that those should be monitored as well.

Physical: Playboy was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and some of his associates. Women are modeling with little to no clothes on whatsoever and it’s just for men’s and others own entertainment and sexual satisfaction.

Psychological: The publishers and buyers of these magazines aren’t really considering the feelings of how the women feel and their view on it. I mean I know it is their job but they are posing their body for the public and why does it have to be nude? It doesn’t, women are beautiful in all kinds of way and posing them naked literally adds to the phrase: “Sex sells.”

Cultural: Playboy isn’t the only place that girls are naked and it’s not only in magazines either. We have something called the Internet where this can easily be expanded. I hate to use this word publicly but “porn” is a form of sexual entertainment that has more detail with two people who will have sex publicly and cast it online. It’s really sad actually because in that way, both men and women are being viewed as objects.

Social: Playboy is something that has been constantly talked about for years but now that they have decided to cover up, that might stir a whole different conversation with some people supporting that idea and others that would reject it. Either way, this sort of thing is something that is always being brought up whether it’s in a serious manner or not.

Temporal: Hugh Hefner liked the “Vargas Girls” but wanted to see the real thing by having real women being depicted as them instead. Playboy is seen as a trendsetter and a “sophisticated” magazine that have made other magazines want to follow it as well.

Has Hugh Hefner lost his mind?

Well-Informed 2.0: Climate Change 1.0

Discussion:

Climate Change starts with us (humans) because we are the ones that are constantly changing the climate by our own doings. One video that I checked out was, “This Changes Everything” by Naomi Klein and an example I extracted from it was the massive forest of Alberta, Canada. It had been undisturbed for about 10,000 years until recently by putting oil in it and strip all the sub soil, top soil and clay off of it. They place the oil in holes that are about 30 to 40 feet deep. Leaving the forest alone for 10,000 years and now all of the sudden we want to mess with it? Why? The simple answer is that it is for our own benefit while at the same time interfering with the environment. Constructing more buildings, monuments, statues, zoos, etc. I am not a fan of zoos because humans are taking animals away from their natural habitat and locking them away in cages and expect them to perform for people and whatever but all it is a really selfish move. It’s a shame when a huge tsunami comes rolling through and thousands of people are left dead or injured. At the same time, when you imagine all the pollution that is around then that is what really bothers me? Somehow this needs to change.

Position:

When I hear the words “climate change” then my mind automatically turns to Mother Nature and the weather around us. I never really thought that it can be somewhat controlled and toyed with. Pollution can be manipulated with because people will dump their garbage on the ground or in the ocean (both disgust me so much) and you’ll have these piles of trash floating around in the air. People seem to be blind by it because they act like its normal and there’s nothing you can do about it but in fact there is something that can be done. Simply stop doing it but people continuously treat the Earth like a trash dump and it sickens me. One example that I can think of is the Fresh Kills story which is the trash site that has now been transformed into a national park in Statin Island, New York. Up until March 22, 2001 when it was closed, it was largest landfill, as well as HUMAN-MADE STRUCTURE, in the world. I shouldn’t have to repeat it, but a man-made structure that continued to grow bigger and bigger and would stink up the streets. I would’ve complained if I lived there and I’m sure that people did but now they did the right thing to close it down and transform it into a beautiful park which is crazy when you think about it. California is another example because the pollution there is so thick that you can visually see it. I hope we can just leave nature alone but it doesn’t seem like that will happen unfortunately. We need a policy that everyone can buy into so we can all contribute to the problem.

Well-Informed: Religion 3.0

Discussion:

Religion 1.0 is the authority of elders, Religion 2.0 is the authority of scripture, and Religion 3.0 is based on evidence. I watched a sermon spoken from Michael Dowd, “Religion 3.0: Inspiring Science, Realistic Hope.” Religion 1.0 is based on what we hear from our parents, grandparents and follow their beliefs even though we don’t fully understand. Religion 2.0 is based on scripture like the Bible and stories we read. Both of those theories are perfectly fine and structured but what proof do we have? That is where Religion 3.0 comes in and above all religions, Dowd says there are 3 things that are considered real and can’t be changed no matter what you believe in. The 3 things are time, nature and mystery. When it comes to time, he talks about how the past is real because certain things have happened to help shape out the future. Dowd says, “If we act as if the future is not real, we will condemn the future.” Nature is the second rule (inner nature, outer nature, social nature and interpretive nature) that is real. We act in a particular way that we believe in and we can connect with people accordingly and Dowd says our interpretations matter. The last rule that is real is mystery which is everything that we don’t know. If we’re basing our findings on evidence, no one on Earth really knows if there is a God given that people have never physically seen him. In the end, the final thing that matters is our legacy.

Position:

In my personal views and beliefs, I do believe in a self-righteous God who sacrificed his life in order for us to live out our purpose. When it comes to Religion 3.0 and putting my beliefs against evidence, I don’t have physical proof. My stance is more of a 2.0 perspective because I rely on scriptures, that is ultimately discover and base my truth from. Honestly, a part of me believes that there is a real human-like figure who is God and sent his son Jesus down to save all of us. On the other hand though, I believe that God shows his presence within other people. I’m not saying that a human on this Earth is God but I do think that he works in mysterious ways using people to get his message across. When Dowd talks about the 3 concepts that are unchangeable referring to time, nature and mystery, I agree which helps me believe even more because of the scriptures. Dowd mentioned that the past is a real thing and sets us up for the future and in the scriptures that I believe in, Jesus was in Jerusalem to lead the disciples and undoubtedly committed the greatest sacrifice known to man by dying on the cross for our sins and help us cleanse our body and mind. If time is real than I believe that it actually happened without seeing God for who is truly is. There is my evidence that I have and therefore I believe in Religion 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0. 

Michael Dowd: "Religion 3.0: Inspiring Science, Realistic Hope"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr3ZnCRNO7Q