It is a scary thought to have the lines between real life and virtual life blurred so much on that day. In cyberspace, people feel safe behind the animosity of the computer screen, but unfortunately, this is not how it really is. The virtual world, as proven by this article, is a scary place where literally any one can pry on you.

I definitely believe the videos. I’ll start with the Dove commercial. I think the message at the end regarding out distorted perceptions of beauty was so accurate. The model was perfectly acceptable looking, and yet was still computerized to become someone almost unrecognizable. How can people ever be expected to impress when they are constantly being compared to models computerized to perfection? The Dove video shows how easy it is for technology to alter the appearance of something. 

The second video is equally, if not more thought provoking as the first. It is easy to believe the information presented in the video considering that civilization began over 5000 years ago and yet nearly all major technology has come about in the last two centuries. Since the first technologies have come about, such as the telephone and electricity, technology has been on an exponential increase ever since. It seems like the more that engineers invent, the more doors that open to better and newer technologies. I think this video is a warning of our future. If we continue to utilize and invent technology at the rate we are going, who knows where we will be 100 years from now. Our entire lives could be controlled by technology if we don’t put a stop to it.

Yes, I think it is possible to foster a community without things that normally constitute a community. In my opinion, the normal things that constitute a community are having face-to-face interactions and the occasional huge get-together. However, in online communities it is obviously impossible to have face-to-face interactions and get-togethers. However, despite this lack of real life communication, I still consider online communities real communities because of the amount of interaction that takes place.

Last Thursday, I went to a concert at the 930 club to see a country-rock band, Lucero. Not only would I be taking the Metro, which is always full of interesting characters, but I would be at a concert with hundreds of people. There was no better place to complete this activity. 

Person #1. Location: The metro. She looked about my age. She was bobbing her head to the song “Empire State of Mind” (I could hear it through her headphones. That song is my current obsessions, so I used this as a starting point for the conversation. At first it was awkward because she did not hear me talk to her since she was wearing headphones, but once she took them out of her ears, she was extremely enthusiastic to hear that I loved the song too. We made a little bit more small talk, until the conversation hit a lull when I told her I was going to a country-rock concert (I do not think she was into country or rock).

Person #2. Location: Still on the metro. After person #1 walked off the metro, a guy who looked in his late twenties or early thirties sat in the seat across from me. He was wearing a Fleetwood Mac shirt. There was nothing that could have gotten me more excited to start a conversation than seeing someone with a Fleetwood Mac shirt because I had seen them twice in the past year on their 2009 tour. We talked about Fleetwood Mac (he too had gone to see them during their 2009 tour) and we spent the rest of my metro ride talking about the concert, the band in general, and other great shows we have seen.

Person #3. Location: At the concert. When my friend and I got to the 930 Club, not many people had arrived yet. Of the people at the show, nearly everyone was in a group of 2 or more,except for a couple of people alone. One guy in a newsboy hat was standing close to my friend and I, so I asked him if he was excited for the concert. He told me that he was old friends with the singer of one of the opening acts and that he did not know any stuff by Lucero, the main band. We talked about his friend’s band. It was interesting to hear about life as an up-and-coming musician. After a good but of conversation, my friend and I went to go sit down because we were tired. The conversation could have potentially lasted a lot longer. At this point, I realized how easy it was to have a random conversation with someone as long as they were willing to contribute.

Person #4: Location: At the concert in the bathroom. I asked the person next to me at the sink if they were excited for the show. “Yes,” they said. “I am big Lucero fan.” And that was it.

Person #5. Location: At the College Park metro station waiting for the bus to take us back to CP. A guy next to me was eating a delicious smelling sub, and I was already starving. I told him that his sub smelled really. Looking back, this probably a really creepy/weird thing to say. All he said was “Yeah, it’s not bad,” and continued to stare ahead. I was embarrassed.

In this picture, there is a lot of visual rhetoric going on. The most obvious argument being made is that television takes over a person. The wires coming off of the woman that seem to be attached to the TV and the way that she is intently staring into the screen imply that she is completely consumed by it. There is nothing else that appears to be going on in her mind.

The less obvious argument is that television takes away from a person’s identity. The woman is without clothes or hair; two things that make a person identifiable. The woman’s personality and characteristics are impossible to discern without a style to judge her with. Thus, the image argues that television takes away a person’s identity, possibly because they are unable to think for themselves as they slowly begin to adapt to what the things on television tell them.

Sunday night on the way home, I turned on my phone for the first time in two days and a flood of information came pouring in. My phone was littered with “Oh my god, can you believe what happened?” texts, but also texts from friends with funny anecdotes about their weekend. I realized how much communication goes on a day as my phone kept buzzing with new texts and voicemails from the weekend. There were also texts from friends asking “Where are you?”, indicating how much we rely on our phones to get in touch with people or figure out where they are. The only slightly scary thing about not having my phone was that my parents had no idea where I was. I forgot to tell them I was going camping, so when they were unable to reach me all weekend, they began to worry. People’s reliance on reaching someone via cell phone can cause detrimental results if that person is suddenly without use of their phone.

This experiment was refreshing. It was nice to focus on being somewhere else for a weekend and not have any reminders of life back at home. However, it was still nice to see texts and voicemails from my friends on Sunday because it reminded me that they do care about maintaining communication with me.

Who someone is is absolutely seen in some ways on the internet. I see this idea displayed via Facebook every time I get on. People create the way they wish to be perceived based on what they choose to show on their profiles, and there is usually a connection between what they give away and who they really are. People’s pictures often reflect a part of who they are. If someone has pictures of them doing ridiculous unmentionable things from the night before, it often means they have a wild, tell-all personality. There are definitely exceptions to this, just as there are exceptions to everything, but from what I have seen in the past, this is usual true.

However, there are also polar opposites to this theory. I know many people who refuse to have certain pictures of them on their profile or keep aspects of their life hidden because they do not wish to be perceived in a certain light. I had a friend who was in Girl Scouts and untagged any picture she was in from Girl Scout camping trips or events. In this case, parts of who she was offline were unable to be seen online because she chose to make it that way.

People have the power to portray themselves however they want to online and how they do so often reflects the type of person they are in real life.