Social Media

Social media is web 2.0 technology, users interact with websites and contribute to the ever changing sites such as Facebook and Twitter. While the original examples of such sites were at first used for business networking, they rocketed into a new wave of Internet culture with nearly everyone having a Facebook from grandmothers to small children. While such sites can be great for reconnecting with old friends or communicating with relatives in another country, they pose a new danger. People mindlessly post everything about themselves and their days, such information as their current locations is often tracked even if they are not posting - this creates a risk for easy burglaries and stalking. Much as the wild west was a new frontier, the Internet is not all rainbows and ponies, serious dangers exist online and people should be cautious in what they post for the world to see.

Virtual worlds are digital environments in which humans control three-dimensional avatars. These avatars can often perform many actions and usually are accompanied with a text chat feature the user can utilize. The worlds themselves vary from Second Life type worlds which mimic real life to massive multiplayer online role playing games (mmorpgs). In a typical mmorpg, players can do everything from talk, voice chat, battle, trade, and sometimes even experience digital weather and day-night cycles. Of the virtual worlds that I have had an avatar in, all but one have been mmorpgs. In these I tend to pick a sword slashing, potion drinking warrior. A shift from gaming and recreation is occurring, especially in the case of Second Life and spin offs which have begun to be used in place of international business meetings in person due to their cheaper cost and easier use (Going to the virtual office in Second Life by Mark Tutton).

World Wide Web

The future of the World Wide Web is looking to be packed with increasing changes in where information is stored. Computers started very large, filling an entire room and begun to get more and more compact. However despite the razor thin phones and tablets, physical servers have not declined in importance. In fact, with "the Cloud" (information stored off site, currently Amazon and Google are the major providers of cloud storage) surging in popularity - physical servers are becoming more important yet again. These companies own large physical servers on which the data storage space is available for rent to companies for a reasonable price.

In the article "'The Cloud' Challenges Amazon" by Brian X. Chen, it is stated that many companies pay for space on Amazon's data centers. These companies include everything from small time sites to popular and well-known services such as Netflix and Instagram. The article talks of how an error or natural disaster can damage a data center and such an event can take down "the Cloud" until the damage is repaired. While this causes minor inconveniences for people watching Netflix, there are much more serious implications for small sites who cannot afford to pay for all the redundancies Amazon offers at a price.

In the future it is likely that the use of "Cloud" services will continue to increase, especially as people become increasingly dependent on technology at their fingertips and monthly fees. Fast, easy, and cheap is seen as ideal in this country - so the "Cloud" flourishes and thrives. These services have driven businesses such as Blockbuster, family-owned video stores, and Hollywood Video bankrupt. Yet no one seems to notice, they just push a button or a spot on the screen and stream videos. The future looks dim for brick and mortar stores, as technological advances continue to fly past them in profits.

Networks and Communication

Internet communication technology includes email, texting, instant messaging, and video and audio messengers such as Skype. Such technology has a variety of strengths and weaknesses; lightning fast speed of communication tops the list of advantages - messages travel from sender to recipient almost instantaneously. This strength can also be a weakness as both companies and other parties can easily flood email in-boxes creating a virtual ocean of mail to sort through. Another advantage of email is low cost per message, all that is needed is internet access and some form of computer and one can send an email. Texting however comes at a monthly fee, which is extremely overpriced due to the almost non-existent cost of relaying a text message.

The major issues with such technologies that are frequently discussed are spam, texting and driving, and phishing. These issues are a problem because as people have become increasingly dependent on technology - millions have seemingly lost their common sense. Spam and possible phishing scams should be dealt with just like junk mail, if you do not know the sender and are not expecting the email - do not open it. Texting and driving is a problem because people split their attention between their phones and the road, this is also an easy fix - set your phone to vibrate or leave it in your bag. Bringing your phone with you and attempting to text while you drive is the older equivalent of trying to write a letter on horseback; people have to make a conscious attempt to remember that the road should be their only concern - their friends will still be there when they park, the world will not end if they wait until their commute is over. However insisting on texting and driving leads to injury and possibly death for not only the offender but other people driving on the same roads; this is a preventable event - society needs to re-learn how to be patient, lives literally hang in the balance.

The short Times article about the woman who took a 900 mile detour, a total of a day including a nap and gas refill. This not only shows the learned helplessness of modern society but the over-dependence on technology and the lack of common sense. People such as this treat technology as if it is manna from the hand of God himself, while it is supposed to be a tool just like a map or a telegraph. This woman blindly followed her GPS for 23 hours longer than the estimated 1 hour drive that she was supposed to undertake. The people in modern societies as previously stated need to use technology with common sense, and put a stop to the same sheep like behavior that led to the extinction of the dodo bird.(http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/01/15/belgian-woman-drives-900-miles-instead-of-90-thanks-to-her-gps/).