I really enjoyed today's presentation, and I've been thinking about the conveniences of new media throughout the day today. I've come to the conclusion that the Internet is a little
too convenient for my taste at times. For example, I can spend endless hours on Pinterest, a website that basically serves as a Google image search...but is more pretty. I know that I should have more self-control at times, like instead of searching for pictures of celebrities hanging out together for my Pinterest boards, I could maybe do something like, I don't know, my homework? As much as I should practice self-control and time management skills, sometimes it's difficult because websites like Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter do their best to draw people in and make them stay there. They carefully calculate their users' interests and basically shove these interests down their throats, coercing people to spend as much time as possible surfing their sites. What I'm trying to get at is that sometimes this seemingly useful feature of the Internet can really get on my nerves. I am straining to remember a time on Youtube when advertisements didn't pop up when I was watching a video, or when I could watch an episode of a T.V. show I missed on the Internet without enduring the same exact commercial every six minutes. I know these issues are trivial, but I wish I could just use the Internet in peace, without pop-ups, commercials, or weird advertisements for things I would never even consider buying.
On the other hand, sometimes I am grateful for the convenience of new media. Today when I logged on my Twitter account, I saw new tweets from my friends at home that gave the sad news that a child from my neighborhood who has fought cancer for many years passed away today. I don't want to say that I would have never heard about this news without Twitter, but I am saying that I'm glad I found out when I did so I can contact my friends and family and offer my condolences at this time.
So I guess my annoyance with the Internet depends on the information I am searching for or not searching for, and while some aspects of the Internet seems pointless to me, at other times the Internet seems essential. I guess I'll just have to take the good with the bad, and try not to get too annoyed when I get spam.
Mary,
ReplyDeleteThis was a well-conceived post, and I am glad that the motive was that of a class presentation. I too struggle at times with the convenience of the internet--pinterest is a guilty pleasure for me and my partner as well. I think, perhaps, what is at the heart of your post is how new media companies work to mobilize our legitimate pleasures (e.g., relaxation) for non-leisure purposes (e.g., audiences), and the effect this has on our leisure in the first place. Reminds me of Dallas Smythe's concern about the audience commodity from earlier in the semester. Great post.