Reality vs. Virtual Reality - A Technological Deterministic Take

     Using a technological deterministic approach, the way that “technology is conceptualized as an external agent that acts upon and changes society” is evident through the article, "13, right now: This is what it's like to grow up in the age of likes, lols and longing,” by the way that the cellphone has influenced the change in the way that teenagers think (Baym, 27). The anxieties that Baym talks about - authenticity and well-being, interactions, and relationships - have been brought forward due to the virtual world that it presents.

     In the article it says that, “Katherine Pommerening iPhone is the place where all of her friends are always hanging out,” (Contrera). In this context, the cyberspace is basically described as if it were a physical space, where there is a cross between Katherine’s actual self and the virtual self that she presents on Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. Because cyberspace is an accessible area for her and her friends to communicate with each other, it is as if she prefers her virtual self, making the difference between reality and the virtual world hard to differentiate. Who is Katherine without all of her apps? Baym suggested that, “people who use [electronic media] lose their own sense of place,” which may be true in Katherine’s case (Baym, 29). Her virtual identity is taking over her real one, where she cannot even live in the moment anymore. She barely realized she was even in a moving car for 12 minutes because she was living and transfixed in the cyberworld with her friends.

     The  anxieties based on authenticity and its relationship with self-confidence in particular are huge factors when it comes to virtual identities and electronic media such as smartphones. When Katherine “wants to get better at her phone,” she wants to build up her virtual identity. She wants more Instagram likes, she wants to seem like she has an interesting and active life based on her Snapchat story, and she uses social media as tools to display a specific version of her real life. “Getting better” at her phone to gain likes, relationships and overall online popularity may involve her waiting a few extra moments to make sure the lighting in her picture is just right, turning back to redo her Snapchat because it wasn’t good enough, or perfecting her nail polish design that she replicated from YouTube. She is wasting time in real life to present a virtual identity that has been redone over and over again to gain some sort of status in the virtual world. Without her phone or virtual self, would anyone really believe that she did all of those cool things?

     I chose to look through a technological deterministic lens, because like a lot of other students in this class, it is applicable to myself. Although I was quite critical of Katherine, I can completely picture myself doing the same. I could go outside and sit on a hill watching the sunset, and I probably would think to myself, “this would be a great Instagram photo,” rather than “this is a beautiful sunset.” Electronic media make it difficult in some ways to live in our reality rather than our virtual one, and has clearly changed the way that we think.

Social Shaping of Technology - Kathrine Pommerening

In the article 13, right now: This is what it's like to grow up in the age of likes, lols and longing” Kathrine Pommerening depicts her life as if it revolves around her phone and social media. As Nancy Baym introduces in chapter 2 , Kathrine is not wrong by telling us this. Kathrine’s desire to be “better at her phone” is not misplaces because of the hold that social media influences in our life. In the case of social shaping of technology she list three factors that influence how technology is used; people, technologies themselves and institutions (pg 52). If we look closely at what Kathrine is asking we can see that she wants the ability to be “that girl” the girl that is always on top of social media, getting the most likes and being on top of trends.

Kathrine is looking for an answer to the question of what she can do in order to be better at social media. This question seems simple enough but if we look at what Baym says about social media, Kathrine does not stand a chance. Individuals revise the role of technology to try and fit in their lives better (pg 51). Kathrine is trying to do this by referring to the purely social side of social media. I believe that Baym is making a valid point for many social media users in that no matter how much you try to be the best at something like social media, there is no way that you can affect the institutional side of how post, comments and likes are viewed in society. Kathrine can strive to capture everything going on in her life but until she realizes that know exactly when the right social cue is needed. The nature of the media form is something that is taken on by the users and without completely negotiating a new meaning than users are always chasing the dream of being in a position of power.

To illustrate my point I would like to use the example of cellphones being used to record videos at concerts. If you have been to the concerts in the last 5 years then the epidemic of people on their phones trying to capture the moment that you are in for the sake of others is great way to explain just how caught up in being the person who knows exactly how to show the key moments of their life. I personally do not agree with this, I think it is important to enjoy the moment over recording it and getting more likes or comments on social media. However, Baym would see this as social media users taking the advantage of social and technological cues of social media not understanding that the institution of these forms is actually what is making us do this practice. Kathrine can continue on trying to be better at social media but for now she is left chasing the meaning of the medium. 

Technological Determinism and New Media

In the second chapter of Nancy Baym's "Personal Connections in the Digital Age" she uses the majority of the chapter to differentiate between the multiple ways that new media is impacting society. For the sake of clarity and in relation to the article on Katherine Pommerening, I'm going to focus on the theory of Technological Determinism because I feel it makes the most sense when analyzing the case of Katherine. 

According to scholar Nick Carr, technological determinism is known as the way in which the technology is conceptualized as an external agent that acts upon and changes society (p.27). Baym referred back to Greek mythology to paint a clearer picture as she stated that Socrates decried the invention of the alphabet because he believed that it would be abused rather than used, ultimately placing too much reliance on this new technology. He feared that learners will put their trust into external written characters and forget how to actually do it themselves. This view persists the idea that regardless of the benefits that accompany new technology, we must be extremely careful to not let it change us for the worse. By this I simply mean that although technology makes things easier, putting reliance on it and neglecting our actual human skills and abilities could have negative impact on society as a whole.
These days we have gotten to a point where new technology has completely shaped the newest generation of children, which can be seen through their short attention spans due to rapid fire editing of current television (p.29). The newest generation of people were born into a world where technology has seen constant/rapid improvements and we are starting to see that the more you use them, the more they use you and the more you are influenced by them. Kids no longer hang out and play outside because they can sit on their couch and hangout online, and since these kids are experiencing social pressure to be online, anxiety is definitely present when their profile isn't the way they like it. 
Now looking at the case of Katherine Pommerening through the lens of Baym's work on technological determinism, one can clearly identify what Katherine and her family is experiencing. The anxiety brought on by the interactivity of new technology/ media is a very real concern these days, especially in the young adolescent age group. The biggest and most popular social media sites these days are ones that centre around the idea of creating a personal profile, and expanding your following. In other words, its essentially one big popularity contest which can be detrimental for young children. Throughout the article Katherine is portrayed as totally uninterested in what's happening in the real world because her attention is focused online. The amount of pressure that kids put on themselves to maintain a quality online profile is stunning considering it ultimately has no meaning whatsoever. When someone Katherine's age puts as much time into social media as she does, its hard for it not to have an impact on you. In the article it states that she has over 600 followers, and only 25 pictures which she carefully monitors and promotes to make sure she's seen as popular and cool. Although she may not have a problem gaining followers and likes other kids may, which puts copious amounts of weight on their shoulders as they are constantly comparing themselves to other kids. Also, at such a young age kids are very easily influenced which is usually more negative then positive. New media is constantly setting standards, telling you whats right or wrong, what to wear or not to wear, so the more time being spent sifting through these influences, the more it impacts you. In Katherine's situation, its evident that having a large online social presence is important to her, which leads her to spending more and more time online trying to improve. Although her online profile may expand, things such as real life social skills and multitasking ability will diminish more and more over time. 
I chose this theme because not only does it play a major role in the case of Katherine Pommerening, but I also believe it to be very true. Although I definitely still spend too much time online looking at new forms of social media, I do think that I have gotten better at letting it influence me as little as possible, and I'm confident that it comes with age. When you're a teenager there is nothing more important in life then being popular, but as you get older you start to realize that life isn't all emoji's and followers. 


http://www.quickmeme.com/img/4f/4f676f34245610503c8a7412bc44d8471940b570ad4a46704019b7f2fc9ef0fb.jpg

Social Shaping of Technology

           In chapter two the social shaping of technology is defined as a middle ground between technological determinism and the social construction of technology. This perspective explains that people have the power to change both technology and society but that also that machines have a hold on us. The consequences of technologies arise from the social qualities that new technologies have to offer as well as the way that people use the elements of technology. Baym explains that people are not questioning new technologies anymore as they are becoming domesticated in society. These technologies then become a part of the daily ritual and are no longer seen as causes of change. This perspective explains that the technologies are not the cause and the people using the technologies are not the cause but that both of them together are creating the cause. “People, technologies, and institutions all have power to influence the development and subsequent use of technology (p.45). “

            Katherine is a typical teenager in modern society. She has her social media accounts on her phone which is causing her to experience all of the anxieties that center themselves around social media. Katherine feels separated and nervous when her cell phone isn’t within reach because she might just miss out on something that could be the topic of conversation at school the next day. She finds that social media is a way of validating herself and her status within her friend group much like every other teenager who has social media. Katherine uses social media as a way to gain self-confidence. If she gets X amount of likes or comments on certain photos posted on Instagram or Facebook then she feels as if she is being accepted by her peers. She admits in the article that she ends up deleting a lot of the pictures that she takes instead of posting them because she fears that they won’t get her a lot of likes. When her dad tries to monitor her texting and calling on her cell phone she admits that she doesn’t ever call anyone and usually her conversations occur via snapchat which is something her dad doesn’t really understand so she gets away with communicating on that platform.

            I chose to write about this perspective because I feel that everyone who has a social media account is guilty of turning to an array of platforms for acceptance. There are unwritten rules of Instagram where in order to get the maximum amount of likes you should post your photo between 4pm-8pm when people get off work. We find validation in the amount of likes we receive on a photo of ourselves that really doesn’t represent who we are on a daily basis. We try to create a new persona to be viewed online to make it seem that we are far more interesting than what we actually are. Checking and participating on social media platforms are becoming a part of everyone’s daily routine as a way to achieve acceptance.

                                       http://www.relatably.com/m/great-memes-for-instagram 

Assignment #2: Social Shaping of Technology

In the article written by The Washington Post about a young girl named Katherine Pommerening and the influence and interdependences the technologies she posses has on her everyday life. Within the article, Katherine spends countless hours looking down at her screen and in particular at memes on her mobile phone. She is just 14 years old and has become dependent on social media and other interactive outlets to stay connected.

In the text Personal Connections in the Digital Age, written by Nancy Baym, she relays this idea about a certain anxiety that is created the this new screen age. Children and younger adults are being more and more influenced by digital media and its interactivity. Things such as relationships, authenticity of content and people moral in general become subordinate to these virtual realities and create a social anxiety when theses channels are removed.

In Chapter 2, Nancy Baym talks about the social shaping of technology and how certain technologies shape new histories and outcomes. With many popular technologies there are certain expectations of how these technologies will be used based on their initial design/makeup. With this being said, this doesn't necessarily define the way the user will use that specific product, how they will experience it or if it was used for its original purpose. Baym writes "Machines do not make history by themselves. But some kinds of machines help make different kinds of histories and different kinds of people than others" (51).

In reference to the article written by Katherine we can see that things like memes and other social media outlets (i.e. Instagram, Snapchat) have become mostly recently popular in last couple of years. It can become a social standard to carry your phone everywhere you go and to be constantly updating, receiving and sending some form of communication to the online world. Baym describes this point in the text by stating, "social media platforms engineer particular kinds of sociality even as their users develop norms around their use" (51). Katherine allows herself to be consumed by these ideologies and what its like to be constantly consumed by digital media. Technology becomes the regulator as to what is being shaped within this new "screen age".

Anxieties Surrounding New Digital Media: Social Shaping

Social shaping as discussed in Chapter 2 describes how culture and society adapts and revolves around the introduction and continual use of new technologies. According to Baym, "Social media platforms engineer particular kinds of sociality even as their users develop morns around their use (van Dijck, 2013)". This highlights how social media platforms in particular, such as Instagram and Snapchat are responsible for indicating how people should live their lives, and what should be most important to them. In the article "13, right now: This is what it's like to grow up in the age of likes, lols and longing", it describes Katherine Pommerening's habits and mannerisms concerning her phone in great detail. The young teen is constantly opening and closing social media apps on her phone in a short amount of time. When she finally peers her head up from her phone screen, she realizes that she is home and that duration of time has escaped her while she was so enveloped by her phone and the virtual profiles on each platform.

There are several anxieties concerning the young generation and social shaping due to technological advances. One anxiety is the ability to waste incredible amounts of time without fully engaging in one activity. For example, Katherine is constantly opening and closing the apps on her phone on the car ride home, and isn't fully absorbing any information from a single app. Instead, Katherine's focus for each app is limited as she moves onto the next without really thinking- almost as if she was bored in a matter of seconds. A second anxiety is regarding Snapchat is the ability to document ever second of your life, with the mindset that your "friends" really care to see it. The anxiety revolves around both parties, the person posting the story, and the person viewing the story. The person posting the story feels the need to let her "friends" know what she is doing at all times, in hopes of reassurance or jealousy. The person viewing the story is blindly viewing someone's day without really absorbing the information. As well as this person can feel left out or FOMO (fear of missing out) for not participating or experiencing the same event as the person who posted the story. People always try to make their profiles as "cool" as they can to provoke jealousy and a false sense of admiration.

An important ideology to mention, is the fact that before the creation and introduction of social media platforms or new digital media, people were not subject to feeling this way. This is technology shaping our society and our cultures without us even being aware that it is happening. It moves too fast for us to stop, and in the blink of an eye, the entire generation has become so dependent on mobile devices, as well as so concerned with likes and followers- things that never used to matter. People are becoming obsessed with virtuality and are no longer living in the moment.

Technological Determinism and the Anxieties Around New Digital Media

                Technological determinism as discussed in chapter 2 of Nancy Baym's book brings to light anxieties about new media technologies changing us as individuals by shaping how we as a society think, feel, act and operate as a whole. New media technology in this sense is rapidly changing how we communicate with each other and can be arguable making us "dumber". This is one of the central arguments of technological determinism and it is a theory as old as time. These concerns can date back all the way to ancient Greece, the example used in the book of Socrates and his thought about the modern alphabet he states "this discovery...will create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories...they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing...having the show of wisdom without the reality" (pg.28). The concern is that with the creation of a new communication technology other forms of communication will become obsolete therefore people will lose the ability to use them properly.

 I personally argue that this is the case now with new media technologies that allow for people to be constantly connected over the internet. We are becoming so fixated on the digital realm that we lose our own sense of reality and how to communicate with the people who are actually around us. Also it is argued that media technologies are making us dumber by too much multitasking. Instead of focusing on one conversation or task we are able to multitask with multiple forms of communication over the internet and we are spreading ourselves thin which has been proven to be unhealthy to our memory. It is also argued that social media technologies are not just spreading our mental capacities thin, the "useless babble" these technologies produce are not helping either.

        

      In relation to the article about Katherine Pommerening, anxieties about how new media technology are changing the way people are communicating for the worse is prevalent in the way Katherine and her friends communicate with each other and how she communicates with the people around her. You can see this immediately in the first few sentences of the article

" She slides into the car, and even before she buckles her seat belt, her phone is alight in her hands. A 13-year-old girl after a day of eighth grade.

She says hello. Her au pair asks, “Ready to go?”

She doesn’t respond, her thumb on Instagram".

Immediately we see Katherines sense of the space around her being completely lost, she is not participating in reality even though there is a person right beside her attempting to have a conversation with her instead she is in her virtually constructed reality. Later on in the article it discusses how the internet is where all of her friends are "hanging out" therefore that is where she wants to be as well. This sentence shows how media technologies are constructing our social and cultural norms. She does not seem the slightest bit interested in hanging out with her friends in person, instead she feels the need to be "hanging out" with her friends over the multiple forms of social media used by her and the millions of other people doing the same. Anxieties about being a part of this online social circle and not missing out on anything that is happening over these multiple forms of communication is obvious in this article about Katherine.

                I chose technological determinism because I strongly agree with the argument that these technologies are spreading us thin and making us dumber in a sense. I catch myself multiple times a day switching from app to app on my phone not committing to one, having multiple shallow conversations that have no purpose because the other person is as well only half into the conversation and in turn am missing the world around me. These technologies are shaping the social and cultural aspects of our lives and until you really read deeper into it you do not realize how much social media technologies control us and the way we interact with other people and the world around us.

The Domestication of Technology

The Domestication Of Technology

 Technology has become deeply immersed within society today and with it has brought forth a great deal of anxieties for young adults, especially young girls. The “Screen Age” paints a picture of present day society’s 13 year Katherine Pommerening, constantly on her phone and obsessed with sites such as, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. She strives to attain a strong presence on her social media in order to maintain a steady following. Always making sure she uses the right filter, and posts at the right time of day, in order to reach the most “likes” or “views”.

 The term domestication of technology “concurs with social shaping in seeing both technology and society as influences in the consequences of new media…[and how they are] embedded deeply in the practices of everyday life” (Baym 52). New technologies are constantly being brought into young adults lives. Furthermore, the angst that comes with new technologies and social media is unavoidable. 13 years olds are documenting and sharing every detail of their life in order to gain a positive response and if they don’t get one, they delete what they posted. 

Pommerening’s social presence essentially controls her identity. She has effectively created a place for people to view her life through an edited lens. This in turn can make someone very anxious, as they must continue to keep up their appearance.

Baym states, “ as technologies are integrated into everyday life, they come to be seen as an offering a nuanced mix of both positive and negative implications” (Baym 53). A positive is that it allows for people to easily communicate with one another from any location. One of the major downsides is the stress and obsession one attains with their phones, it becomes their lifeline and if lost the individual becomes lost.  

 This theoretical framework can be applied to not only Katherine Pommerening, but to many adults today. Technology has become a tool that dictates ones actions in life, and it is safe to say it has become a very important tool in my life. Looking back to when I was 13, I had a Hot Pink LG Razor, and it was solely used to get a hold of my parents. I remember being able to go on the Internet maybe twice a week and sitting at the computer watching and listening to the dial up connect. Today, you see 4 year olds crying for their IPad and 13 year olds with hundreds of followers.  As technology has increased its presence over the years, it has also begun to immerse itself into younger generations lives.

I found a really interesting article on time.com based on the book "American Girls: Social Media and The Secret Life of Teenagers" By, Nancy Jo Sales. It is about how social media is impacting young girls lives. Its a short read so check it out if your interested!

Link: 

http://time.com/americangirls/ 

Social Construction of Technology

·      It is evident that Katherine’s friends have constructed a their own way of using the technology in order to socialize. They are using features within an application such as Instagram to create a social space, which wasn’t the original intention of the application or the technology. Because of where this social space was created and how the technology functions, Katherine’s anxiety can stem from a flurry of notifications on a constant basis where if she isn’t keeping up with what is going on she will feel like she is missing out. 

·      Things such as when to post a picture, what filters to use on a picture can provoke anxieties with this new media. It is as if you are creating a brand new reputation for yourself outside of what people who know you in real life understand about you. If people associate you with traits such as dull or boring, social media is a new social space for you to redefine yourself and to make a new impression. All of the same anxieties that are found when making a first impression are found through the new media as well.

·      The reason why I chose social construction of technology as a framework for examining Katherine’s situation is because it can easily be applicable to not just her situation but everyone elses. I feel like it is common to know of a scenario where someone acts or seems different on social media then in real life.