Tag: Facebook
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Socials for the somewhat asocial Gen-Xer
In an era when many people could use less screen time, I’m challenging myself to utilize more social media. Let’s see if I last a month. I found myself in a social media void as I began to relaunch this blog. At my core, I am not the target demographic for most of today’s options.…
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Facebook’s trust engineers
If you’re interested in digital life and social science, the latest Radiolab podcast is fascinating. They start with an astounding perspective on the scale of Facebook, use an example of a problem that led to an engineering — and social engineering — solution, and then roll into the emotion manipulation study that caused a flurry of…
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Privacy vs. personalization: finding a balance
Try to discuss data privacy with someone outside of the tech world and an indignant, “I don’t have anything to hide!” usually comes up. Yet most of those people not only have locks on their doors, they have doors! Maybe even curtains or blinds on the windows. What nerve, wanting to choose who can rummage through their personal…
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Random thoughts and Rudolph
Ever start to write about a topic that’s just too large, leaving you wallowing in drafts and rewrites for days? I did that with a post I began on the weekend, so I started another post to publish while I was thinking. Wouldn’t you know it, the second post is turning into a monster, too. A couple random…
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Finding peace without ignorance in a hyperconnected world
Once upon a time, our ancestors knew little beyond the events in their clan or tribe or village. News from the outside world came with the danger of travel and trusting others. Later with improvements in transportation, the growth of cities, and communication technology, when a crisis occurred in a land far away, they still might…
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Online and offline worlds collided and everyone survived!
As I said more eloquently in an update to yesterday’s post, I suck at interpersonal communication. I needed to be pushed to go outside my comfort zone and take a risk, and I did. The best news: Jakob will be ok! He had surgery to remove a benign brain tumor this morning and will be in Intensive Care…
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Tragedy, helplessness, and the stupid stigma of online relationships
[I updated this post on 5 December; more news at the bottom of the text] This is a long, deeply personal post about a tragic twist in an online relationship. You might have read part of this story on another blog (many thanks to the friend who let me express myself when I needed release). Since…
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The role of rumor in current world events
In today’s connected world, we might think that facts are easily accessible and rumor would be limited to gossip magazines and movie casting speculation. We can always check it on Snopes, right? However, rumor continues to be hugely important, and since it is a topic of study for anthropologists, I’ve been thinking about a few examples in…
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The difficulties of writing personal stories in a connected age
I haven’t read any of Dani Shapiro’s books, but last week I came across her New Yorker piece “A Memoir is Not a Status Update”. It’s a dense essay and it got me thinking about online sharing, how we tell the story of our lives, and the expectations of connected readers. I wonder what would have…