1-800-ANXIOUS
Nov 22nd
They're convenient and helpful but cell phones are driving Gen Y crazy (Image Via: Daveibsen.typepad.com)
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 contact her family? Although Pansolini was back in cellular business a few days later, the now 21-year-old college senior winces at the thought of being without her beloved iPhone for even a moment. “The thing is my life, I don’t think I could function without it,” she says.
Like an arm or leg, the cell phone is a modern day appendage that millennials have come to depend on. With the ability to talk, text, send emails, and correspond over social media, cell phones are communication’s ‘round-the-clock nucleus and, simultaneously, society’s hopeless addiction. Lisa Merlo, a clinical psychologist at the University of Florida, told “Cellular-News” that cell phone users oftentimes feel anxious when they accidentally leave the device at home or are forced to turn it off. But why are Generation Y hearts so uneasy when their digital counterparts aren’t in hand?
Does Facebook Really Make Narcissists?
Nov 22nd
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 of “The Social Network” the story of Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site, i typifies a common attitude about such websites : outlets built for and by self-interested, whining Millennials.
Due largely to the writings of Jean Twenge, author “The Narcissism Epidemic” and “Generation Me,” the symbiotic relationship between rising rates of narcissistic behavior in Generation Y and sites like Facebook has been widely accepted.
The Choice to Slack or Act: Do Online Petitions Count As ‘Real’ Activism?
Nov 22nd
Illustration from The Express Tribune
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 and petitions against Facebook petitions.
The creation of websites like Change.org, that specialize in organizing petitions on the web, are a sign of the popularity of petition-making that reaches outside of the realm of Facebook. With over 5 million members, Change.org is the biggest and most influential petition-promoting site on the web. Boasting a team of over 98 organizers, campaign directors, software engineers and strategists, Change.org calls itself an ‘organizing platform’ for citizen activists.
Can a Relationship Survive Facebook?
Nov 22nd
http://www.shinyshiny.tv/2011/02/the_facebook_break_up_notifier.html
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 and he changed his mind just before boarding the train.
Ulrich was willing to let the faux pas slip until an indie concert they planned to attend together. “He called to say he was not feeling well enough to go,” Ulrich said. “I decided not to go either, even though I already bought my ticket.”
That night when Ulrich checked her Facebook newsfeed, she saw her “sick” date’s status: He was going to the concert with a number of tagged friends. After that, “I was done seeing him,” Ulrich said.
Many people have experienced Facebook postings have ending a blossoming relationship. Through the constant status updates, location check-ins, and photo postings, Facebook puts a relationship in hyper speed.
With Facebook, the need for introductory conversations is eliminated. One can find all the information they need simply by friending a person and viewing the profile. A profile is a goldmine listing the entire history of a person’s life through pictures, postings, and status updates. The information overload creates problems for dating — no longer do people learn about each other through interpersonal relations, all it takes is some snooping on their Facebook profile. Read the rest of this entry »
Blendr’s Fatal Flaw
Nov 8th
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 real-time. “Current social networks only connect users to people and places they already know,” Joel Simkhai, the C.E.O. and creator of the app, says in an email. “Blendr inspires users to discover fresh faces and places.”
Simkhai says that he decided to create Blendr due to requests from women wanting an app like Grindr. Grindr is Simkhai’s widely popular, all-male gay social networking app that he released in 2009. The app has come be to known as the gay hookup app (the Village Voice has called Grindr “The Gay’s Fave Hookup App,” and The Daily Beast calls it “addictive”) and has gained over 2.6 million users worldwide since its release.
Although Simkhai insists that Blendr was not created as a straight hookup app, the question remains, with the fame and success of Grindr, what are straight people going to use Blendr for?
I Can Haz Internet Memes
Oct 25th
"Hipster Ariel" takes a silly stab at popular culture as one of the Web's most sought-after memes.
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 the Food Network star “riding” a variety of random and unrelated objects. Each meme is generated and submitted online; funny modifications earn a re-post on the Tumblr site while the best clinch a feature on Memebase, a database that spotlights the Web’s most popular memes.
The word “meme,” coined by Richard Dawkins in 1976, represents the cultural equivalent of a biological gene and signifies transmission via mimetic imitation. Memes in everyday life include fashion trends, religious beliefs and regional jargon. But while memes are virtually any thing or idea that circulates among people, Internet memes are of their own technologically disseminated, socially conscious, comedic ilk.
What makes Internet memes worth the hype? Patrick Davison, a former script supervisor at KnowYourMeme.com, says Internet memes are popular because they reflect modern culture in a humorous manner. “We should think of memes as jokes about popular culture,” Davison says. “They’re funny because they’re relatable to other middle class situations. They give a stage to ‘dinner party funny.’”
Unplugged: Deactivating My Brain
Dec 9th
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 in Murdoch’s class were able to relinquish cell phones, iPods, portable CD players, text messaging, e-mail, computers, TVs, DVDs, and video games.
I crafted a similar technology-free experiment for myself. No texting. No web surfing. No social networks. No iPods, CD’s, TV, video games or personal e-mails. Just my phone for basic calls and my laptop for emergency school-related email and Microsoft Office programs. For one week.
Tech Diaries
Sunday Night 11:45pm –
The experiment was set to start at midnight. Before I unplugged from my comforting world of chargers and wires, I posted a disclaimer on all my social media profiles stating: Doing a social experiment for a class which involves me giving up most technology for a week. If you wanna talk to me, call me or stop by my place! Starts tonight at midnight! Bets on if I can do it?
The Evolution of Fashion Journalism
Dec 9th
For the past ten years, Los Angeles Times fashion critic Booth Moore has been covering fashion shows in New York, Paris, and Milan. But at fashion week in New York this year, she noticed that something was different. “Bloggers were the flavor of the month this season,” she says, noting the overwhelming presence of these hyper-intense fashion fans.
Known for their role behind computer screens, bloggers upgraded this year to front row seats at once-exclusive runway shows like Dolce & Gabbana and Rodarte. These trendsetting, influential, and style-conscious members of Gen Y seized the role of fashion editor, with the Internet as their stage.
The number of colorful blogs and fashion forums has exceeded ten thousand, providing some stiff competition for traditional fashion magazines like Vogue and Elle. Fashionistas rely on daily visits to these sites in order to keep up with the dynamic fashion industry.
“The Internet has really allowed for the democratization of fashion,” says Moore . “Now everyone can participate in the discussion of clothing and designers.” Read the rest of this entry »
Bears on the Web: Gen-Y Gays Get a New Attitude
Dec 8th
Twelve-year-old Lorenzo Rodriguez’s cursor hung over a link labeled “Gay Bear Porn.” He had no idea that what he was about to see would end up defining part of his identity.
One click, and everything changed.
Though earlier Internet adventures had helped Rodriguez accept his attraction to men, he had never seen a gay image he could relate to until he discovered bear porn. “I was 12, chubby as hell,” he said, “I never knew any gay people, so all I had to go by was the skinny, hairless twinks in the porn I was watching early on,” he said. “I always thought that being gay meant being effeminate…my biggest fear was that if I told my parents I was gay, they’d make me wear a dress.”
Growing up in the Dominican Republic, Rodriguez, now 20, felt that since he didn’t fit the image of gay men he saw in the media, he would never be able to have a relationship with a man. “I thought I was the last person in the world anyone would want to have sex with. The bear thing completely changed my life,” he said.
So, what is a bear?
To Friend or to Follow?
Nov 24th
Danielle Simon, a college student at Colombia University, is obsessed with Twitter. The 23-year-old has over 6,000 tweets posted since she started her account two years ago. Simon tweets multiple times per hour about her day, posting pictures and boasting of her run-ins with celebrities. But just because she does all this, doesn’t mean any of her friends read it. “I know that my friends are on Twitter, but that doesn’t mean they’re looking at my tweets,” she said. “We mostly follow celebrities and use Twitter as more of a scrapbook to commemorate that.”
While Twitter captured some eccentric users like Simon, experts say that Twitter isn’t intended for Generation Y. “I think Twitter is targeting people over 25 years old,” said Daniel Brusilovsky, CEO of Teens in Tech Networks and a writer at TechCrunch.
Twitter functions as a site more effective for marketing a product and conducting business according to Brusilovsky. With some of the Top 100 Twitter users being Whole Foods, JetBlue and Dell Outlet (who garnered over 2 million in sales last year on Twitter alone), Twitter is more effective for industry news and professional purposes rather than a social network.
In June 2009, the Participatory Marketing Network (PMN) polled 200 Gen Y-ers about their social media habits. The study showed that while 99 percent of 18-24-year-olds have social network profiles, only 22 percent of them used Twitter.
Some Gen-Yers started an account to try Twitter before abandoning it shortly thereafter. NYU Junior Ariel Altschuler, 20, opened an account in April 2009, with his first ‘tweet’ reading, “I give in. Against my better judgment, I’m trying twitter.” Every few days, he posted his thoughts, upcoming events and even shared funny links. But a month later, he stopped. “I just stopped updating it. No reason – I just didn’t think about it anymore, unless one of my friends mentioned it.”
Twitter has yet to capture the attention garnered by Facebook. With an impressive 409 friends on Facebook, Altschuler seems like a popular guy. But compare that to his 22 followers on Twitter. And with only 22 people occasionally reading your ‘tweets,’ there is no need to invest as much time in upkeep.
While Gen Y worries that their friends won’t read their tweets, they also worry about strangers who might. “Facebook is a closed network,” Brusilovsky said. “It’s a network of people and friends that you trust to be connected to, to share information like your email address, AIM screen name, and phone number. You know who’s getting your status messages, because you either approved or added each person to your network.”
Brusilovsky, author of the TechCrunch.com article, “Why Teens Don’t Twitter”, believes that security issues have a lot to do with Gen Y’s hesitancy toward Twitter. “Twitter is the exact opposite. Anyone can follow your status updates. It’s a completely open network that makes teenagers feel unsafe about posting their content there. Who knows who will read it?”
For other young people who used Facebook since the beginning, there simply isn’t a need for Twitter. “I post things on Facebook for my friends to see,” said 20-year-old Alexandra Marchese, a junior at NYU. “Considering none of my friends are on Twitter, there is no guarantee anyone I know, or even care about, will read what I’m writing.”
Marchese decided against activating a Twitter account. “If Twitter came first, it might be a different story,” she said. “I have everything I need on Facebook. And for now, that’s not going to change.”