Week 2

This week, the focus was on online dating. It would be easy to say that I learned a lot about the subject because I had little knowledge on it before.  However, one way that I did find myself improving and learning was in relating information back to other articles. I found that the article on Friday was similar to Tuesday’s article about internet scams because it discussed the unrealistic optimism that people carried when going into online dating. Though most people carry a solid level of conservatism, there are the unrealistic optimists that can open themselves up to dangerous situations- such as losing thousands in a scam.  Though I was surprised by the idea that people can be tricked into throwing away thousands, I was surprised that there were not more extreme optimists.  It was important to read the Friday’s article because if I had not, then I would have gone on thinking that online dating was full of unrealistic optimists that are willing to put everything on the line, including their security and money, in order to have a chance at finding love. 

I also found that the article of Tuesday and the online scams could be connected back to the previous week’s article about online security and how the older generation less often adjusts privacy settings.   I thought that adults not adjusting security settings was an important point.  They may not understand that people should not be trusted if there is no tangible personal relationship. I think that our younger generation, while not necessarily smarter, will be less likely to fall into such a trap because of more experience with the internet and technology and a greater skepticism towards online strangers.  

An important part to my learning over the past week has been the posts and opinions by the other students.  I have not had any experience in online dating, and have had limited experience in online communities. I found it very helpful to read posts from others who had friends that dated online or had even done it themselves. This perspective is important and allowed me to more thoroughly analyze the articles.  Specifically, La Tocha had a friend that had dated online as well as her mother.  Her friend said that she did not post a picture on her online profile because she believed it allowed her to get to know people better and not to have a relationship based on attraction.  I thought this was very interesting and wondered whether it would work when the relationship moved offline.  If she is one of the few people not at all concerned with looks, this can be a great way to develop relationships.  In addition, La Tocha also said her mother liked dating online more because it was easier to cut off relations if she so wished.  Over all of these articles, I think that there has been much information presented that says online dating is a good idea and can be very helpful. This is another point that says so and has come to counterbalance the scams and negative ideas that the person you are talking to online could be nothing like what you think. 

These posts were accompanied by many others which detailed student’s relations with people in online communities. Although I have been a part of facebook for a while, blackboard, and even posted on other web sites, I have not found myself compelled to develop new relationships with people online.  Those that had done so had very good experiences doing so, and that makes me more inclined to attempt to develop relationships online in the future. 

Week One - MHHIEST

The first week of this class has been quite different than I had expected. I was prepared for an English class in which we would read and discuss literature. I clearly was wrong as this week I have been forced to think about humanity and much of its interaction through technology.  It has made me reexamine my own online behavior and think about how exactly I communicate with people online, my online reptution and identity.  At first I thought that I was the same person online, but through readings and examinations I have realized that I definately say things that I would not usually in person, behind a screen.  This is not a major issue because most of what I say online I would say in person, but there are differences. 

I found some of the information to be fresh, as the first two videos developed my understanding on the brain. Watson and the human brain were both fascinatingly documented.  They allowed me to think about the extreme capabilities of humans and the machines they can create. On the other hand, the articles on the internet I did not find to be as insightful. While there was some new information, much of it has become common knowledge as I have used the internet over the past few years.  This is likely due to the fact that the study on online anthropology was completed in 2002 and cited often from the 1990s. It has since become stale in the ever changing internet.  The facebook friends article is similar because facebook is an ever changing entity that has grown tremendously since 2007, when the article was published.