Welcome back to my blog! I have finally picked a definitive topic for my evaluative essay! For this essay, I am going to be writing about the positive and negative affects that social media can have on a family. Does social media truly draw families closer together? Or does it push them farther apart?
For this exercise, our class needed to read several pages from the book, Curious Researcher, by Bruce Ballenger. Exercise 2.2 is focused entirely around "Academic Research on the Internet". We were allowed to pick one of the three steps, and I chose the second. This step instructs us to perform a search from one of the following websites:
1. www.dogpile.com
2. www.mamma.com
3. www.search.com
4. www.surfwax.com
5. www.yippy.com
After attempting a few searches from some of these websites, I finally landed on something of importance through the metasearch engine, www.mamma.com. From this website, I was able to find a website titled, www.saltywaffle.com. While scanning through what the authors of this website had to offer me and my research attempt, I came across an article with the title, "5 Psychological Effects of too much Social Media [Good and Bad]". In this article, the author, Mitchell Cuevas, says that there are five things about social media that everyone should know.
First, blogging can make you happier by causing you to feel more connected. The second one is a negative effect, the more friends you have on facebook, the more socially awkward you are in person. A study was done on college students who had more friends on facebook than in "reality" and the results were that the person with all the facebook friends was more socially awkward. However, these results faded over time as the person got older. The third point is negative as well as Mitchell argues that people choose facebook/social media over personal or physical relationships with others. 46% of women chose facebook over spending time with their spouse/significant other.
Cuevas tries to end his article on a positive note by numbers four and five. Fourth, blogging can improve friendships by making people more able to communicate with one another at a faster rate. And last, but not least, twitter brings us closer together. Psychologists have come to the conclusion that twitter and other forms of social media boosts our "ambient awareness". This is basically being more aware and knowledgeable of our friends lives. Overall, I think that this topic will be very interesting as, like Mitchell Cuevas, I dig deeper into this issue from both the positive and negative sides of this argument.
As I continued my search through www.mamma.com, I came across another website that proved very helpful; www.parentfurther.com. This website focused entirely on what parents thought about social media as well as a link to another page to inform parents just what goes on through social media and some of the benefits or dangers of internet access. This website offered both their own thoughts as well as posts from other parents who had already experienced their child participating in social media. One of the authors of this website even included a prezi that provides step by step information as to what to expect from social media as well as the best way to control what your child is or is not posting online for the safety and best interest of the child.
The last website that I landed upon was via www.yippy.com and it was www.cnn.com. While I thought that parentfurther.com was the most informative website I had found thus far, I actually found cnn.com to be even more helpful. These authors wrote on how teens and parents tend to struggle sharing social media. One daughter said that she even blocks some of her information from her mom because she doesn't want her mom to be able to see everything that she herself, or other people, post on her timeline. The daughter admitted that she tries to keep her profile clean and not allow pictures of her from parties or other events to end up on her timeline, but she ended by saying "it's hard to be 100% clean when your entire life is online". Her mother still does not know that her daughter has partially blocked her from access to certain parts of her profile. I think that these websites will prove to be very beneficial as I continue to research and record my findings on how social media affects families. Thanks for reading my blog, and I hope you visit me again!
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Curious Researcher 1.5 Research Proposal
1. Is there a direct correlation between the excessive use of electronics (Iphone, Ipad, etc.) and the lack of respect in today's society?
2a. Explore: how does the over-use of technology affect a person's mood? Does the use of electronics cause a person to care less about life, or more? Do the availability of electronics cause insecurity and/or selfishness in young people today?
2b. Argue: Electronics cause young people to question themselves and their authority.
3. I, personally, have seen how friends of mine have gone from being happy and secure without electronics, do becoming attached to them as soon as they get them. My friend, (for the sake of privacy, we will say her name is jenny), Jenny, received a new phone for her 16th birthday. Before she got the phone she was confident and knew that the Lord was in control of her life. Following the receiving of the phone, she began to question a lot of things about life because things were not working out to the way that she had planned anymore. I think she became so attached to her phone that it became part of who she was. So when she didn't have the phone, she felt insecure and wasn't sure if so and so liked her or if she would be able to keep her friends if she wasn't talking to them constantly through texts/ phone calls.
1. Is there a direct correlation between the excessive use of electronics (Iphone, Ipad, etc.) and the lack of respect in today's society?
2a. Explore: how does the over-use of technology affect a person's mood? Does the use of electronics cause a person to care less about life, or more? Do the availability of electronics cause insecurity and/or selfishness in young people today?
2b. Argue: Electronics cause young people to question themselves and their authority.
3. I, personally, have seen how friends of mine have gone from being happy and secure without electronics, do becoming attached to them as soon as they get them. My friend, (for the sake of privacy, we will say her name is jenny), Jenny, received a new phone for her 16th birthday. Before she got the phone she was confident and knew that the Lord was in control of her life. Following the receiving of the phone, she began to question a lot of things about life because things were not working out to the way that she had planned anymore. I think she became so attached to her phone that it became part of who she was. So when she didn't have the phone, she felt insecure and wasn't sure if so and so liked her or if she would be able to keep her friends if she wasn't talking to them constantly through texts/ phone calls.
Curious Researcher #2
Step 1: For step number one, we needed to take the following topics and brainstorm a lsit pf words that came to mind whenever we thought of the inital word. Here is what I came up with:
Places:
1. Germany
2. France
3. Italy
Trends:
1. tattoos
2. oversized sweaters
3. glasses without prescription
Things:
1. clothes
2. shoes
3. chairs
Technologies:
1. Ipad
2. Iphone
3. flat screen t.v.
People:
1. Jesus Christ
2. George Bush
3. J. F. Kennedy
Controversies:
1. Obama Care
2. Death Penalty
3. Abortion
History:
1. Martin Luther being shot
2. the Holocaust
3. World War II
Jobs:
1. Retail
2. McDonalds
3. lawyer
Habits:
1. chewing gum excessively
2. biting your nails
3. playing with your hair
Hobbies:
1. Reading
2. Playing piano
3. Riding horses
Step 2: For step two, we needed to choose one item from each category to build off of and then choose one example out of all of favorites to continue your research about.
1. Germany
2. oversized sweaters
3. clothes
4. Iphone
5. Jesus Christ
6. Death Penalty
7. the Holocaust
8. Retail
9. chewing gum excessively
10. Riding horses
My final choice: the Holocaust
Step 3: Take your final choice and make a list of as many questions as you can think of about that particular topic. For example, my topic that I have chosen is the Holocaust, therefore, I would write questions such as:
1. Why did Hitler feel the need to murder Jews?
2. How many Jews were killed?
3. Why was Hitler so cruel to the Jews?
4. How many different ways did Hitler commit the crime of murder?
5. What do the "non-Jews" have to say about the Holocaust?
6. What did Hitler's family think about is actions?
7. What did the soldiers think about the Holocaust?
8. What are some of the last words of those who were murdered?
9. How is this a good example to us about our boldness for Christ?
10. What was it like to live during the time of the Holocaust?
Places:
1. Germany
2. France
3. Italy
Trends:
1. tattoos
2. oversized sweaters
3. glasses without prescription
Things:
1. clothes
2. shoes
3. chairs
Technologies:
1. Ipad
2. Iphone
3. flat screen t.v.
People:
1. Jesus Christ
2. George Bush
3. J. F. Kennedy
Controversies:
1. Obama Care
2. Death Penalty
3. Abortion
History:
1. Martin Luther being shot
2. the Holocaust
3. World War II
Jobs:
1. Retail
2. McDonalds
3. lawyer
Habits:
1. chewing gum excessively
2. biting your nails
3. playing with your hair
Hobbies:
1. Reading
2. Playing piano
3. Riding horses
Step 2: For step two, we needed to choose one item from each category to build off of and then choose one example out of all of favorites to continue your research about.
1. Germany
2. oversized sweaters
3. clothes
4. Iphone
5. Jesus Christ
6. Death Penalty
7. the Holocaust
8. Retail
9. chewing gum excessively
10. Riding horses
My final choice: the Holocaust
Step 3: Take your final choice and make a list of as many questions as you can think of about that particular topic. For example, my topic that I have chosen is the Holocaust, therefore, I would write questions such as:
1. Why did Hitler feel the need to murder Jews?
2. How many Jews were killed?
3. Why was Hitler so cruel to the Jews?
4. How many different ways did Hitler commit the crime of murder?
5. What do the "non-Jews" have to say about the Holocaust?
6. What did Hitler's family think about is actions?
7. What did the soldiers think about the Holocaust?
8. What are some of the last words of those who were murdered?
9. How is this a good example to us about our boldness for Christ?
10. What was it like to live during the time of the Holocaust?
Exercise #1, pages 1-12. Pick two statements and take three minutes to try to write whether or not you agree or disagree with what has been said.
Step 1: You're writing mostly for the instructor.
I believe that this is a false statement. If I was writing just for my instructor/professor then I would probably not try to relate to that person in a special way. I would just try to sound as smart as I could and use as many big words as possible to make myself sound more educated. When I was growing up, and when I was assigned to write papers/essays, I would always try to read other people's work first to get an idea of what I should be writing, and then I would write my paper with big, "only smart people would know the definitions" kind of words. However, that concept always seemed to back fire on me and the professor would not like my paper as much as opposed to if I had tried to relate to him/her on a more personal level by incorporating stories and being myself in my writing.
Step 2: When two experts disagree, one of them has to be wrong.
I definitely disagree with this statement. My boyfriend's mom has always told me, just because it is different doesn't make it wrong. Now this is a true statement. Just because I have a different way of playing piano than my friend Ruth does, that doesn't make either of our ways of playing piano wrong. We both just have different styles and different thoughts on what sounds better and what works better for our own personal experiences and abilities. I believe that two people are entitled to have their own thoughts and opinions no matter what the circumstance.
Step 1: You're writing mostly for the instructor.
I believe that this is a false statement. If I was writing just for my instructor/professor then I would probably not try to relate to that person in a special way. I would just try to sound as smart as I could and use as many big words as possible to make myself sound more educated. When I was growing up, and when I was assigned to write papers/essays, I would always try to read other people's work first to get an idea of what I should be writing, and then I would write my paper with big, "only smart people would know the definitions" kind of words. However, that concept always seemed to back fire on me and the professor would not like my paper as much as opposed to if I had tried to relate to him/her on a more personal level by incorporating stories and being myself in my writing.
Step 2: When two experts disagree, one of them has to be wrong.
I definitely disagree with this statement. My boyfriend's mom has always told me, just because it is different doesn't make it wrong. Now this is a true statement. Just because I have a different way of playing piano than my friend Ruth does, that doesn't make either of our ways of playing piano wrong. We both just have different styles and different thoughts on what sounds better and what works better for our own personal experiences and abilities. I believe that two people are entitled to have their own thoughts and opinions no matter what the circumstance.
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