A Diary From Cyberspace

        

                               My main uses of media technology involve watching videos on YouTube and checking my emails. I use YouTube as a distraction when I’ve worked for a long period of time, as a tool to keep my brain occupied when I’m mentally having a low-functioning day, or as amusement. Otherwise, more recently, I have been going on Pandora, which is a music website that lets people listen to music for free. It also tailors your music to what you choose as a “station” first song and which songs you thumb up to indicate you like it, thumb down to indicate you don’t like it, or don’t thumb and therefore are neutral about. I was not at all surprised that YouTube and Gmail take up so much of my time, although I’m upset that I go to YouTube so much. I’ve used it a ton for years rather than reading and I’ve ventured into the dark and weird corners of the website. If I didn’t use it as much, there are many videos I would never have seen and therefore wouldn’t regret watching and wasting time over. I definitely waste way too much time on YouTube, especially because a fair amount of the videos I watch are clips from movies I’ve seen thousands of times. Gmail I keep open constantly in case I get an important email from my family, the college, or a professor.

                              

                             I should mention that about ninety percent of my media technology usage occurs on my computer rather than my phone. In today’s day and age, most people my age cannot live without their phone and social media. If for nothing else, people keep their phone with them in case of emergencies. Personally, I do like using my phone except for texting. I do bring it with me everywhere, but only in case of emergency and more recently now that my watch’s battery is dead, to track the time. I always have it on silent and try not to look at it too much during the day. I do not want it taking over my life.

                                I know that many people will likely have in their pie charts or whichever indicator of their tracked time that they use a lot of social media. I’m sure Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, and other such websites will occupy a lot of space on others’ charts. Personally, I don’t like social media. I only go on Pinterest-if that website counts as social media-if I’m really bored and need something that is guaranteed to interest me in some way. Because Pinterest’s feed tailors itself to what you pin, there is always something that you can find to amuse yourself with, whether it be pins of photos or pins that have links to online quizzes or YouTube videos. I only check Facebook occasionally to see if family or friends have posted something important or something worth looking at. Otherwise, I prefer to communicate with people via texting or in person. I think that the amount of time people spend using their phones screens is very concerning and detrimental to social behavior and interpersonal communication.

                                I know that I reference Turino’s reading constantly, but that is only because it can be connected to the class material in so many ways. His reading highlights “habit”, which is very clearly seen in our daily use of media technology and even more clearly seen through the graphic representations of amount of time spent on usage. As Turino states, “In many cases, we develop habits without much direct awareness of them as habits. They develop so early or so slowly, often through socialization (modeling ourselves on those around us),” (Turino, 100). Due to the prevalence of technology in our society and how popular and expansive it has become, it has become a habit for people to constantly have technology with them that can access media. It has become a habit to always check social media, a habit to post and comment on others’ posts. It has become a habit to incorporate social media so deeply into peoples’ lives that they never live without it.

                                Although I do not, for the vast majority, participate in social media, I know millions of people, especially those around my age, do. Susana Narotzky wrote about diverse anthropology, which might not seem like it connects with social media in any way. It does however, in regard to diverse anthropological study methods, because different anthropological studies can be performed on the different social media platforms. Perhaps Facebook can be used in an anthropological study regarding how people talk to each other when there is a screen between them and they can hide behind the protective design of a webpage so that their identity is not fully known. Instagram can be used in an anthropological study regarding how people communicate through images. Tumblr, regrettably in regards to this activity, I know next to nothing about. I’m pretty sure it involves posting and pictures, so maybe it can be used in an anthropological study regarding how people communicate to each other with both tools combined. Take people away from their screens after each of these studies and study how they interact when the people are physically with them. This way, anthropologists can study how the setup and operation of social media change people’s behavior and how they talk, what they say.

                                Trouillot writes in one of his readings about the silence of the past. In particular, he says that there are many moment in history that we are ignorant of because of a lack of record. He states, “To put it differently, any historical narrative is a particular bundle of silences,” (Trouillot, 27). Now, many details, such as what a person was wearing, are not very significant in the minds of most people. However, there are likely important events that we have no knowledge of because of a lack of a system to record with or a lack of witnesses or survivors. In this day and age, it seems like everything goes onto the Internet. News is always online, and it seems as though someone could look up anything and get any information they want, not matter how obscure the topic.