David Mathew's Blogs

Virtual worlds are changing the technology environment at a rapid rate. Our reality is also being shaped by the use of virtual worlds. Virtual worlds can be used as classrooms, conference facilities, field trips, gaming, exploration hubs, etc. There are many pros and cons to this. The pros are that they make life so much more convenient. In the article "I've Been in That Club, Just Not in Real Life", Dave Itzkoff talks about his experience of going to a music club to listen to a band and not being able to stay because of the amount of people and the smell inside the club. So he went home, turned on his computer and went to the same club, but this time virtually. Talk about convenience! Here, Dave was able to enjoy through a virtual world. Now although this is a pro, this can also be seen as a con. The con is that he loses real-life interactions with human beings. It no longer feels real anymore. And personally, I would probably go insane with no human interactions.  Anoth...

Twitter discussions is different than Blackboard discussions because of the convenience twitter offers users to upload and read information at a quick pace. Twitter has an easy interface to use and this results in more interactions among friends and even strangers you don't know. Twitter discussions are open to the world if you are public, versus Blackboard discussions which are limited to your class.  Twitter in comparison to in-class discussions is totally different simply because you are behind a screen. You lose the face to face interactions which makes things less personal. For me, I am not a big fan of that. Also since twitter is on the internet, information can be checked, double checked and triple checked. In-class discussions do not offer that.  To compare these, all three discussions are ways to interact. And this is important. Hearing and learning from the view point of others help grow your knowledge a lot! 

My impressions on: Facebook: THERE ARE SO MANY ADS. The first thing I notice when I log on to Facebook is the amount of ads. When I watch a video, the first thing that pops up is not the video but rather the ads. This can be frustrating at times. Moreover, I realize that Facebook targets an older age group than college students. I use Facebook to stay in touch with all my uncles and aunts so for this purpose I enjoy it! Twitter: I find it so interesting to read peoples' tweets. You can understand someone's day by their tweets/retweets. There is so much interactions going on, on twitter. Everytime I refresh, something new comes up and it goes to show how many people are using twitter! Although it is not an in person interaction but real-time conversations are still able to take place! Instagram: This by-far my favorite social networking site. I love seeing pictures. People are so creative and fancy and its amazing to see! I find myself being on Instagram for hours. This pl...

Social Networking has revolutionized the media world and it shows no sign of slowing down. Everyday new improvements are being made to enhance the social networking world. People prefer convenience and the convenience of social networking is what has made it so popular. Social Networking can be used in many ways but one way is through job recruitment. In the article "Social Networking Technology Boosts Job Recruiting", Frank Langfitt mentions how LinkedIn has served as a platform to connect thousands of professionals together. Through LinkedIn, professionals are able to stay connected and have the freedom to explore opportunities.  I would say the dark side to Social Networking, specifically Facebook, is the privacy feature. In the article "Facebook Privacy is so Confusing even the Zuckerberg family photo isn't private", Rebecca Greenfield talks about how outsiders were able to retrieve personal information from Randi Zuckerberg. The issue was that Randi...

Blogs are a platform for an individual to share their personal news. It is also a platform to exchange views/perspectives amongst viewers so that it becomes a two way street. A community of bloggers can inspire and motivate each other through interactions. A Wiki is a collaborative platform where users can edit, delete or update content of other users. Shared content in wikis' are constantly changing but it is the best way to get work done together. In the article, "More on How to Build Your Own Wikipedia", Margret Locher talks about how wikis' make it easier to gather and share information as well as record discussions about a subject. This has become a valuable tool for managers in business to collaborate with employees. Furthermore, in the article, "Brooklyn Blogs Helps Lead to Drug Raid" by Michael Wilson, shows how blogging was used as a form of collaboration among neighbors to crack down on a suspicious drug dealing home. Because of the blogs of vari...

This research study has been an area of interest for me for a long time now. We live in an age where technology is growing at a rapid rate. These advancements have brought many changes to world especially the social media world. The age group I want to focus on is 14-25 year olds, as these are the key time periods in which these individuals form a sense of identity. And as my title suggests, I believe the social media has a big impact on ones' personal development and identity. One specific point I would like to tackle in my project is the development of comparison among these teenagers and young adults. One thing I notice in society now a day is the detrimental effect of comparison. This causes these individuals to have poor self-esteem and to not fully develop into who they're meant to be! And social media plays a big role in this! For my project, I intend to find scholarly articles of this topic to support my argument.