The Social Network

 It's Not What You Know,  It's Who You Know.   Sophee Sanderson @socialsophee Have you ever been scrolling on social media and stumbled across a post and thought to yourself, "Who are these people?" Well, you're not alone. That's usually what is going through my head every time I open Facebook or Instagram and it has led me to purge a lot of people from my online network.  In chapter ten of "Understanding Digital Literacies," Rodney Jones and Christoph Hafner go into detail about the ins and outs of social networking and the meaning behind 'friends' on sites like Facebook.  They discuss how there are many different ideas behind the meaning of a friend online. Some argue that online connections are strengthening friendships while others disagree and say friendships are becoming devalued and less meaningful. A friend online can represent a connection with someone who you are actually friends with or it could be someone who is a total stra...

The (Mis)Information Age Sophee Sanderson We all differ in our online skills and activities. The way that I use the Internet and access information online is completely different compared to how my dad uses it and receives information. There have been countless times when my siblings and I have had to explain clickbait or fake news stories to my dad because he will believe anything he sees on Facebook. With the emergence of the Digital Age, people are quick to assume that individuals who have grown up during this time know exactly how to navigate the Internet world and differentiate the facts from the lies, but this isn't always the case.  Think about how  you  consume information online. Is it from a digital news outlet or social media platform? Maybe it's from a podcast or a Youtube channel or even a quick Google search. Now think about all the possible sources behind those channels that people rely on for information and answers. There is no way we are a...

The Next Big Thing Sophee Sanderson @socialsophee When I think about the emergence of new social media apps, I often think about what stage of my life I was at when I started using these apps, or at least where I was when I first heard about them. Social media apps are constantly being updated and changed, sometimes I can't keep up! Think about the apps you use and how much they have evolved since you first started using them. Is it completely different? Do you like them more or less? Do you use them as much as you used to or are you searching for something better and more fresh? I remember being in the 4th grade and my older sister making me a Facebook account behind my parent's backs. At the time, I was so excited to get to play games, upload pictures from my low quality digital camera, "poke" my friends and post on their  Facebook Walls .   Facebook had an innocence to it back then. It wasn't out of the ordinary for an eleven-year-old to have an account, becaus...

What's Real and What's Fake? by Sophee Sanderson Growing up in the  digital age ,  I have been exposed to a lot of good and bad on the internet. I remember running to the computer after school to play Club Penguin with my sister when we were growing up. I remember the innocence of technology at that age and how cool I thought computers were. As the years have gone by, technology and social media have grown exponentially and in my teen and developmental years, the internet was not always my friend. In chapter eight of "The Internet Trap" by Matthew Hindman, the online struggles, digital viruses and ethical principles that everyone faces online are discussed. He goes on to talk about how there are two kinds of internet, one real and one imaginary.  He claims that one of them, which he calls the  "real internet,"  is what is used by the world continuously. The second kind of internet that Hindman discusses is the  "imaginary internet,"...