Technology nowadays has such a strong impact on our society that it’s safe to say it has become a way of life already. Or, for some, it’s LIFE already. Yes, there is an extensive list of benefits and uses and clearly, it’s something the people in the world today cannot survive without.
In the span of 4 months of having fairly discussed all that is to know about Communication Technology, I believe this opportunity to be able to wittingly talk about such aspect in communication plus technology is a good challenge at the same time a gauge on how we did well on our listening skills. As communication would put it, listening is important in the process itself.
So who’s talking? It’s quite a stir really, that at times our gadgets are the ones talking for us. Computer emails and phone messages have macros, for one, that just makes texting/answering an email a breeze for us. Is there really not enough time to put a personal touch in our messages?
But even if we do send our own messages, does your recipient come to a state of believing it’s you who they’re really talking to? Is there a standard for credibility and what are the issues concerning this factor of communication? There are so many questions lodged in this aspect of technology and human communication. For a better discussion, I’ll be using the questions provided, as to not miss out on anything.
1. How does a medium provide information to its users about who’s talking? How trustworthy is this information?
Social Networking sites have the highest internet traffic by the year 2002 onwards, with Facebook garnering the most successful numbers since its launch in 2004, read: 600M users as of today. What does this mean exactly? Numbers game being over, social networking sites are now a powerful means of creating and tying bonds with people. Albeit we have personal interaction with some of the people in our friends list, most of who we add up we don’t get to be with or talk with much often.
That’s where other applications of social networking sites come in. Chat, games, tagging of people (either to places or pictures), posting links, and pictures on a contact’s wall. It makes the whole social networking more interesting. Added perks make us, humans, submit to spending hefty hours on the net just to be in touch with people in our networks. But how are we certain that we are not wasting our efforts in building ties with people we think we know? How are we certain that this person from grade school we are about to add up is really the person we used to have lunch with then? Unless his/her profile is viewable, if you have common friends, with photos of how he/she turned out, or if his/her page has information that we ourselves know, then that’s one way of looking how a connection is made.
Chat. This application is very useful as it lets you interact with someone from your friends list who is using the same social networking site. Other forms of chat, aside from the ones in networking sites are meebo, yahoo messenger, e-buddy and aim. These have been around for years now and so far, more advantageous especially for families or friends separated by countries.
Social Networking issues such as hacking another person’s account or identity theft is not an uncommon thing nowadays. What do they gain from it? First and foremost reason I guess is the opportunity to dupe people into creating a scenario that involves getting money from the victim’s contacts – perpetrators have the most bogus and creative way to touch base with the vulnerable contacts.
So if we are the target, how does one react to this? I for one, have the tendency to be doubtful on things, especially if it involves people not really in my core group of friends or family. But in any case that it involves a close friend or relative, surely I’ll be extending help. An educated person though, would also look for the validity of the content (i.e. a letter asking for money for a hospitalization, or a letter soliciting donations on XXX charity) – while you’re at it, research on whatever questionable thing you find in the content of what the person is saying.
There are so many things we can do on how to prevent these cases from happening:
1. Make sure that your computer has a good firewall, to prevent unknown malware to infect the system. Proper care for your computer is best, never leave it open, if you have to go someplace and need to leave it open, make sure to lock it.
2. Never open unkown e-mail attachments, or download from unsafe sites.
3. Protect your passwords as if your life depends on it. Because chances are, it equals as your life too. Be sure to use strong passwords. Do the habit of changing passwords once every 2 months. This would ensure that your passwords are safe and untraceable.
4. Choose the people you add in your personal networking sites. Limit the information you share to your contacts. As much as possible, abuse all privacy and security controls available for the site.
5. Be vigilant for any changes or upgrades in what you signed up for. (email, social media, instant messenger sites)
2. How does membership in a group offer certain guarantees of authenticity?
An adult person should carefully choose the group he/she wishes to belong in. When it comes tosocial media, belonging to a group or niche further personalizes the users; giving form to a person you are doubtful of adding to your contacts. How? These little bits and pieces of what your group is about somehow speak of your own personality or beliefs. (i.e. joining a group in Facebook that concentrates in saving the environment)
There is a possible authenticity of a person in lineage of the group that he/she belongs to, especially if the group holds enough credibility and can be proven to be legal or of no harm.
3. Is bracketing of the physical self a productive feature of certain kinds of communication? Does it lead to interactions that address and problematize the self, identity, and issues of truthfulness and sincerity?
I think a common practice of bracketing of oneself or enclosure of one-self is a form of intra personal communication. It addresses one’s issues, it’s an opportunity to recognize one’s strength and weaknesses, and it usually leads to the need of releasing thoughts: what other way than writing? I think this is one form of communication wherein the highest form of self appreciation for human thoughts is expressed. Being true to one’s thoughts and sharing it whether through blogs or just for self-reading, is one way of addressing the creativity the mind is capable of doing.
Whether one is sharing an experience or opinion about an issue, it is through the output that we can gauge if there is a certain ring of truthfulness or sincerity to it. Communication is such a powerful tool, and it is hard nowadays to gauge such, unless fully expressed and recognized by trusted or known mediums.
4. In what cases of communication are there benefits to anonymity, insincerity, playing with identity, use of multiple identities and so on?
Pseudonym (or using another name as the author of an article) is common among print media.Communication through print, boasts more on the opinion and this one tactic to keep unbiased evaluation on what the writer wants to share. It’s somehow a personal freedom for a writer, wherein he/she can experiment and make people guess his/her take on certain issues.
In this case, a person that uses a pseudonym, in any scenario may cause him/her to discuss openly some topics that are sensitive – no strings attached. No racial discrimination, no hint of any gender issues and it serves as an opportunity to share more of themselves.
But in the cyber world, I believe it’s not in people’s culture to have this idea of anonymity, but the whole Internet structure – on what power the Internet can hold that formulated such ideas on having multiple identities or having anonymity in the net, how it can benefit them. So far, the only good thing I can see about being anonymous on such things such as in blogs or forums, is that you can fully express what you thing about anything under the sun. Voice out opinions or recommend things, anything is possible with anonymity.
Same goes for having multiple identities in sites as one can set aside an account for personal wherein one can feel comfortable sharing information to everyone in his/her contact list, and another one for his/her business contact or office community—having that awareness that business and pleasure sometimes really don’t go well together. That it is a good thing to have separation from both worlds. And that is one perk of social media – you get to choose what works for you.
5. What mix of social and technical efforts are involved in securing the privacy of a mediated interaction? How might privacy and security concerns impact future development and uses of networking technologies?
It’s amazing how things are today in the Cyber world. People at the same time are more cautious, more intellectual and keener as to how systems work. But then again how are we really conscious of the information we share in the internet? It’s only now that we have this subject that I get to be aware of what the trends in the internet in our generation. So, as I put it, this is new to me as well.
As far as I’ve researched, here are some of the things that I found out about security, concentrating more on the social media, facebook, for that matter as it is the in thing right now. In a few months or years from now, I guess, this information would be obsolete or outdated already. Here goes.
In the 400M active Facebook users, 25% of it are not aware/don’t use the site's privacy controls. It’s there, the Facebook team has provided it, and people just don’t care. They also should know that some of the applications, such as games and pop up horoscope for the day applications are not affliated with Facebook. They are from third-party vendors (Zynga, for most of the games on the site), and any information you share on these applications, Facebook is not accountable. Security measures are constantly evolving, and Facebook, being the most viewed site today, has taken privacy and security measures seriously. They do their share in communicating any changes/upgrades that the management does in the privacy dept, although it’s hard for ordinary/unconscious people to take notice, especially if they are more interested in updating their statuses. Somehow, Facebook should learn how to better communicate to its users more of the changes they make in the system, I think that’s the only opportunity I’m seeing.
Endpoint in the security issues, the users still has the last say. It is up to us how much information we share. Systems constantly upgrade – and there will always be security and privacy issues that will turn up, yet, seeing the effect and the advantages of how social media affect our everyday life, we cannot give them up completely, nor would companies stop coming up with new trends that users won’t get hooked on. It’s just a matter of being responsible users.
Today, all things are becoming possible. The world is basically right at the tip of our fingertips. Connections are there, people are reachable. We should be able to adapt to the fast-paced environment this world is turning into. We should keep abreast of all the things happening around us, enjoying the perks, but at the same time, being vigilant -- more for our own security and our loved ones’.
