Internet Word Play

Check out this article on The Most Hated Words on the Internet. Funny enough, the term “blog,” rests atop the list. Most words in the English language are arbitrarily assigned. The only reason that we call a tall object with bark and leaves a “tree,” is because at one point in history, a group of important people agreed upon the name. A chunk full of other names have been borrowed from other languages and some words have even been created in error. Ahh, behold one of my favorite classes in college: Structures of Modern English.

I would argue that hating a word is a silly concept to begin with. The English language is a great source of nouns, verbs, slang, nonesense, phonology and… you get the point. Instead of cringing at the constonant ridden “blog” word, you could simply just call it “web journal.”  Yes, I can see it now. “Hey, guys I haven’t written in my web journal in a long time.”  Unfortunately the consequence of a comment like that would be getting a pocket proctector for your birthday that year.

Love it or Hate it, Internet jargon has made quite the impact in today’s technological milieu. Additional words, especially slang, are necessary to make you seem like less of a dork when discussing the latest trends in media culture. And since I have yet to see anyone speak perfect Standard English (show me if you can find someone) I will continue to scoff at the notion that certain words can be “hated.”  Peanut butter-internet-history-viewing-COOKIE anyone?

Easing the Fear of Social Networking (Teens)

I love reading articles, whether it be online, in magazines or from newspapers. Hearing different opinions on a plethora of topics is healthy to the mind and provides for a distinct advantage if there is opportunity to debate. So after reading the blog post, Dangers Overblown for Teens using Social Media, my own thoughts effortlessly poured out like that of the grandest waterfall.

First off, I praise Antasia Goodstein for unlocking the truth of the situation. Internet predation certainly exists and most of us are aware of that fact. However, the media devours news that shocks and appauls, so I can’t help but think that this issue is incessently blown out of proportion.

Shows like DateLine NBC’s “To Catch a Predator,” acquire so much attention because parents want to see justice being served to these sick individuals who bite the bait on naive American children. But think about how small of a sample size this is. You could argue that the only concern of the network is to get ratings. Would it be any different if a local law enforcement agencies hosted a similar show? Probably. Nevertheless, the main goal here is to inform children and parents alike about the danger of being exploited online.

To risk going on a quick tangent, I will never dispute the importance of staying safe online. It’s important to safeguard against some of the brutal ugliness that the internet trancends. However, I don’t think enough credit has been handed to the kids themselves. Kids are smart and fully capable of controlling their own environments. Thus, I don’t think it would be totally unreasonable to go for the hotline-number route, as discussed in the blog post. It should be an option for kids to call a specific number in the event that they feel unsafe on the internet. This would allow the kids to explore these social networkings without feeling watched, yet still protected from potential harm.

This is my favorite passage from Goodstein’s article.

Even when we discuss cyber-bullying, we must put it in perspective. It’s definitely causing lots of drama at school and sometimes can be so severe that it results in lawsuits or expulsions. But most of the time, teens are pretty good at blocking, ignoring or IMing back until the harassment stops or goes away. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about bullying prevention or how to respond; it just means we have to understand how teens view this issue and are responding to it as well.

Exactly. Invest a little more trust into these kids, but keep communication with them alive. It’s not a perfect formula by any means but what is?

Application Overload: Facebook’s Latest Addition

When learning of Facebook’s plan to open up to developers, my eyebrow rose in curiousity. It seemed that implementing an API (application programming interface) would allow Facebook to strap on a jet pack and soar above the Myspace competition. But for those who haven’t logged onto Facebook before – or lately – allow me to further explain what this developer thing is all about.

From my understanding, the gurus over at Facebook have made it so that users can add their own applications directly into the Facebook platform. For example, an existing application is a compass that determines your political “direction” based upon a brief survey for those unsure of their status. Not a fan of politics? How about a “trakzor” tool that allows you to see who is viewing your profile? (the developer claims its safe and not creepy). The list of available tools and apps goes on and on and on. But, for some facebook users, that’s precisely the problem.

“Too much goin’ on,” says a friend of mine. “I don’t like how they keep constantly updating stuff.”  Interesting, to say the least. I guess I had never thought of it with a ‘if it aint broke, don’t fix it’ mentality. But just like when Facebook added the news feed feature, users will eventually warm up to the latest changes. Perhaps the top priority within these social communities should be to continue giving users OPTIONS, and Facebook is great about it. It seems like the most success occurs by introducing new features when the messages are direct, subtle and not “in your face.”

I haven’t played with many facebook applications thus far, but this doesn’t mean that i’m not tempted. A developer created a “top friends” application, which Myspace would probably label as “old news” since they’ve had that as a standard feature on their site. Listing my top friends isn’t something that I deem neccesary, though, so I will ignore this one. But give me the poltical compass and the ability to play games with other users – Now we’re talkin!

 But before I sign off for the night, I need your guys’ thoughts. Do you like the new Facebook applications? If so, which ones? Why or why not?