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As Emily Balkan, 21, looks at a pair of light blue ballet flats on her computer screen, she swiftly moves her mouse to click on the product reviews. The shoes received a four-star customer review and approximately 400 “Love Its” from previous shoppers. “Look at how many people love the...
Monica de Graaf sets her alarm for 4 every morning. Groggily and half asleep, she reaches for her laptop and logs into Skype. Across the ocean in Holland, her boyfriend does the same thing – except for him it’s 10 a.m. as opposed to the crack of dawn. De Graaf,...
Allison Torres squealed loudly, staring down at her phone in openmouthed delight. Splashed across the bright, pixilated screen were the words “So I have a question. Can we be Facebook official?” Torres, a 21-year-old New York University student from Queens, had been dating Bryan King since May, and their relationship...
During a summer vacation in 2007, Cristina Pansolini’s cell phone kicked the metaphoric bucket and with it went her ability to enjoy a stress-free trip. Sans cell phone, how would she make plans with friends? Would her boyfriend think she was ignoring his text messages? What if she needed to...
In “The Social Network,” Mark Zuckerberg’s fictional girlfriend breaks up with him after he refuses to stop talking about himself at dinner. Miffed, Zuckerberg hastily retreats to his Harvard dorm, opens a beer, and posts about his latest personal problem on the Internet for everyone to see. This opening scene...
Type ‘petition’ into Facebook’s search bar and what comes up is a slew of results: pages, groups, apps, all having to do with social activism. There are Facebook petitions to raise awareness of animal cruelty and petitions for women’s rights—petitions that fight to keep ABC soap operas on the air...
Too much information killed college student Katie Ulrich’s relationship. The NYU junior began to suspect her romance was on rocky ground when she and the new flame were not exactly simpatico: She dressed up for dates while he sported sweats; they’d make plans for a day’s outing to Coney Island...
Signing up for Blendr is like signing up to enter shark-infested waters. Fill in your name, age, sex, sexual orientation and then click the ‘next’ button. Now wait for the swarm. Blendr is a social networking tool that uses Global Positioning Software (GPS) to connect users to each other in...
Ian Devaney’s Facebook default depicts a hand-sketched headshot of the 21-year-old musician. His photo choice is quite ordinary, save for the graphic of celebrity chef Paula Deen photoshopped atop his head. Devaney’s Facebook photo is among thousands of memes posted on “Paula Deen Riding Things,” a Tumblr sensation that portrays...
No TV. No Facebook. No Texting. Can anyone imagine such a world? This became reality for 26 students at the University of Central Florida. Last year their English professor, Mary Ann Murdoch, challenged her students to unplug and live a technology-free life for five days. Only two of 26 students...
