Comments on: Always on: the internet, social media, communications and everyday life

By: Joyce Koch

Joyce Koch — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:29:18 +0000

2ew0bo48cz0y8v6t

By: tony

tony — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:50:51 +0000

Deuze writes about how we’re putting ourselves into a state of continuous electronic engagement in which many of us are always connected and engaged in continuous cultural production as the domains of work and life are increasingly spilling over into each other. He observes that life is now lived “in the media”. McLuhan presaged this (as he did so many things) when he described the development of electronic media as promoting an “age of anxiety”.

By: Eryn

Eryn — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:30:27 +0000

I think we need to start turning away from technological determinism in such theory…in fact most interaction in’cyberspace’ occurs despite the barriers it places to perception.

Let us not confuse the tool for the task…and this comes straight out of Goffman who argued that we should not see new technology as informing interaction but how interaction works its way to inform technology. (See his ramblings on the car and stop lights – and getting to the destination) Of course he wasn’t talking about the internet…but i think the telephone perhaps…?

Always on? Thats called being awake!

In my position of four years sudying the game Second Life, I have seen that really technology is a great way to find a world in common with people that usually we would not have access to, of course we need to devlop new skills to overcome face to face communication, but its pretty amazing from my vantage point to see how participants can bring unique knowledges together in these emerging social interfaces.

Go forth and embrace the new world is my recommendation!

By: Kevin Rennie

Kevin Rennie — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:44:40 +0000

“The network society as …an amplifier of the conversation society has with itself”?

The blogosphere is often like the conversations that take place in the cab. Lively, topical, ephemeral. A bar without booze.

I find making video for the net the most time consuming and addictive. And the most rewarding. When you head off for a media free trip up the Gunbarrel Highway, your audience are “always on” and the videos have a continuing life. Sometimes it feels like no one is viewing and then suddenly, after the e-free holiday, the warm glow of the watched returns when you check your channels.

PS. There is a more discerning audience at Teachertube.com the Youtube. They never belittle the authors because they never comment. It’s the kind of conversation that happens in a cinema. Unless some Gen Y uses their mobile.

By: Barry Rutherford

Barry Rutherford — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:06:04 +0000

The question is whether communication technology is bringing us closer or driving us apart…

By: Eye

Eye — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:16:04 +0000

I think Laurel makes a wonderful point about the anxiety of being “always on”. The sources of these anxieties are nothing new, of course – the potential was always there – but what the technology has done is enable them in a way we have never had. I have a friend, for example, who is “trying” to get over a breakup. We know it’s failing, because she spends all day glancing at her phone, to check if there are any messages, and jumping on a comp, to check her emails. Detachment from something is an important part of getting through something, so “always connected” can go terribly wrong, when you’re always connected to a source of anxiety (such as Laurel’s instance of the bullied child who anxiously checks the net for the next attack). In the case of bullying, it’s also connected to the problem of the level of aggression with which people communicate on cyberspace (I think that’s one of the biggest problems with the cyber gen), but even so, it’s made worse by the opportunity the narrative has to be so constant and complicated – there’s never a moments rest from it, because any minute “something might happen”. It’s an unhealthy focus – something probably a lot of us have been guilty of at some stage (I have promised myself, however, that I will now go to bed, and not refresh the page that has user comments to my article on it )

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:10:33 +0000

Yep, I know! But it’s a really light sf novel.

I’ve been in the habit of reading in front of the tv for a very long time indeed. Most of the time it’s work/study stuff – which you can actually absorb a lot of given that a lot of it runs in predictable grooves with half an eye on it. I don’t have a lot of time for actual novel reading, sadly. I used to think – maybe more post phd. Now I tend to think – in my next incarnation.

By: Pavlov's Cat

Pavlov's Cat — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:07:34 +0000

Now I’m going to turn the thing off and read a novel. While still watching Andromeda though!

Noooooooooo …

That’s not ‘reading a novel’ — that’s ‘looking at pages’!

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:00:47 +0000

I wrote the post with my laptop on my lap in front of the tv watching Andromeda on dvd. Resolutely avoiding any work related emails, though I worked til 9pm, but doing a bit of LP admin emailing and keeping an eye on FB.

Now I’m going to turn the thing off and read a novel. While still watching Andromeda though!

By: barry

barry — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:51:05 +0000

typically, i’m commenting on this while in the office, writing. Gaaaaah.

By: David Rubie

David Rubie — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:48:46 +0000

If you wanted to know what the extreme ends of “always on” looks like, just ask any member of the IT fraternity who had to carry a pager during the 1990’s. We used to call it “beeper madness” that involved an involuntary flexion every time something in the room beeped (no matter what it was, microwave, digital watch etc.).

What’s intriguing about this in 2008 is just how many people voluntarily submit to a strange form of “beeper madness” without any kind of monetary gain. I’m mostly reminded of Skinner’s pigeons, but that’d be cruel.

(and yes, I’m working, stupid as that sounds)

By: Russell

Russell — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:33:59 +0000

Start with the obvious one: fractured concentration/lack of depth ?? That Aaron Darc post is the longest online thing I’ve read for awhile. It’s just not a medium (well, for baby boomers) that suits long, thoughtful reading. I think differently when reading print.