Technology Thoughts

A Tale of Two Tragedies: With and Without Social Media

Waking up on 9/11 was just like any other day for an elementary school student living in New York City. My mom woke me up, made me breakfast, got me dressed and I was out to door walking to school with my father. It wasn’t until I was sitting in my first-ever computer class that my teacher burst through the door, screamed that a plane hit the World Trade Center, and then started to sob. Not knowing what to say or do, we sat at our desks quietly as we listened to people screaming outside. As we saw smoke creep up the sidewalks and up to our windows, we panicked. Teachers who had access to a radio were talking about the rumors that were quickly spreading about other possible attacks. We heard about the possibility of bombs being placed in schools and I prayed for my mother and brother who were in academic buildings. My dad soon burst into my classroom and grabbed my hand, telling me we had to leave. We then sat around his office with his employees listening to the radio, watching people scurry around outside, and trying to put the pieces together.

But the radio was all we had. I didn’t have a cell phone to call my parents, nor did they have cell phones to contact my school.  Twitter and Facebook had yet to be created, and there was certainly no TV nearby to listen to the news. We waited around our landline phones for calls from family members. At night, we watched one news station to try to figure out what was happening.

Waking up on July 20th, 2012 was just like any other day for a college student living in the digital world. I woke up,  browsed through my Instagram feed on my iPhone, and then started to check out the tweets I missed while I was asleep. I anticipated seeing word of how the most recent Batman movie was, expecting to hear about how amazing it was mixed in with a negative review. 

My Twitter feed was quickly filled with talk of movie theaters, children, and the horrific news of what happened the night before. Tweets of sadness, disbelief, and links to articles about the event were all that anyone was talking about. I read articles directly from my phone, retweeted links to spread the word, and continued to read reactions from people I followed. I then decided to run a general search on Twitter for Aurora to see what others were saying.Thinking that this may have been something personal that happened in her life, I dismissed the tweet and made a mental note to check back in with her later. Tweets posted shortly before this one included discussion of guns control laws, how people were in disbelief, and how sorry people were for victims in Aurora, CO. Feverishly scrolling through my Twitter feed, I quickly found the one tweet that summed up the events of the night.

It was only a matter of a few minutes before I knew the whole story. Facebook allowed us to keep track of what people were saying, along withReddit, Twitter’s search, and a Storify. I didn’t event get out of bed and yet, the news was sitting in various forms in the palms of my hands.

I then turned on my compter to watch the news about the horrible incident. (Mind you I do have a TV, but why would I watch it when I had a computer within arms reach?) My other roommate walked in, said that she checked Twitter and heard what happened, and then watched the news with me.

Checking Facebook later while at work, I stumbled across this status update. Developments, as well as continued condolences and reactions were overflowing the Internet.

News stations and Twitter accounts are still curating data and aggregating responses to best show the reaction to the news.Syracuse University is especially grateful to have Class of 2012 Class Marshall Stephen Barton (mentioned above) alive and well.  News will continue to pour in today as more people share their personal accounts of the story and updates on the alleged shooter are further investigated.

And yet, I can access it all from something I can carry in my pocket. I have yet to turn on the tv, sit around a television with my family, or look outside to try and get the news.

Social media has given us the ability to discover information faster than ever, discuss thoughts, send condolences, and share reactions.  Keeping up with the latest news or the ability to share your opinion with the world has never been easier, or more convenient.  What a difference eleven years makes.

Note: I do not think the events of 9/11 are comparable to the events of the shooting early this morning, the stories were compared merely for a comparison of the spread of news. My heart goes out to the victims of this awful tragedy as well as family, friends, and those injured. 

We’re The (Digital) Kids Our Parents Warned Us About

“Get off the computer! It’s bad for your eyes. ”

“I don’t know how you can sit on that thing all day.”

“Why don’t you go outside rather than stare at that screen?”

“Who are you texting? Put that thing away while you’re at the dinner table.”

Gosh, kids these days.

Admit it, you’re guilty of being told to stop using technology. Whether it’s being glued to reality tv shows, browsing through too much Reddit, or texting your friends throughout the day, you’re dependent, if not addicted, to technology. It is no longer a personal choice to be dependent on technology, it’s now a societal pressure. Homework assignments with deadlines and sent through email, your friends rely on you to check your phone when you’re making plans for later that night, and who knows when that cute guy is going to post new pictures on Facebook!

I’m guilty of it all. I’ve sleep texted before, checked the weather online rather than look out the window, texted at the table, and sat on my laptop all day rather than going outside. I’m guilty of checking the weather on the Internet rather than just looking outside my window or opening the door. I also often experience phantom vibration syndrome, in which I think my phone is buzzing when it actually isn’t. I’ve also played the phone stacking game while at dinner with my friends and have been the first to lose. My phone is always in my pocket and I bring my laptop to work and class. I always have technology right at my fingertips and feel naked without some sort of connection to the Internet on me.

I’m afraid to admit I’m addicted to technology. I’ve contemplated books about digital dieting to learn more about the phenomenon of Internet addiction. Even WebMD posted an article about web addiction. Doctors and other technologists are researching this fascinating field and publishing more and more stories about the pros and cons of having technology as such an ubiquitous factor in our lives.

Although I love being able to check my email, tweets, and Facebook timeline virtually anytime I want, I wish I wasn’t expected to. It’s truly a vicious cycle: not wanting to check on your Internet life, being scolded that you didn’t respond quickly enough, and then checking more often than you should so you don’t miss anything. Whenever I feel like I’m catching a break, I end up spending more time on the Internet catching up with all the things I think I missed.

Your parents may be annoying when they tell you to put down your phone or turn off your computer, but they’re right. Is it really necessary for you to take a break and enjoy your nondigital life. The webpages you want to visit will always be there, your texts will stay on your phone, and your parents will appreciate your undivided attention at the dinner table. Taking a digital vacation for technology is healthy. You’re guaranteed to feel less stressed after the initial shock of not being able to Google your burning questions.

My Digital New Years Resolutions

1. Get off Facebook. And get people to do it with me.
Let’s face it, Facebook is fading fast. Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare, Path, and Pinterest have all becoming very popular social networking sites (especially towards the end of 2011). The only thing that’s keeping me on Facebook is my friends that are still on. Once they stop posting content that’s relevant to mr, I’ll leave too.

2. Get people to actually use Google +.
I’ll admit that I don’t use Google + often. I don’t because unlike Facebook, not enough people are using it. Google + is cleaner and much more organized than Facebook will every be. Plus, doesn’t the +1 button seem much more appealing than a “like” button?

3. Ditch the BlackBerry.
I am one of the only people that still admits to bbming. I’m sick of not having a touch screen keyboard and going through several unnecessary menus to complete simple tasks. Apps are taking over the mobile word and BlackBerry’s App World couldn’t be more frustrating.

4. Learn to code.
I’ve had very negative experiences coding. I took a class to learn Java but had a terrible professor that made me hate coding. That summer, I had an internship gone wrong and yet again, I had to code. The more internships I apply to and the more I explore technology, the more I realize I really need to know how to code. A friend of mine told me about codeyear.com, a website that sends you weekly interactive coding lessons. Check it out, it can’t hurt.

5. Stop using technology as much.
Yes. Take digital timeouts. Take a walk, go outside, just do something without worrying about texting, Twitter, and checking in on Foursquare. It’ll be there when you get back, I promise.