The internet's influence

As I sat down to write my blog for the week, I began to wonder if this page had any sort of influence at all. Of course the answer is "no" seeing how it has only been viewed 6 or 7 times. I then began to think if there were any pages written by average people that did have some sort of significance or pushed that person further in life. And yes, there are some. These people having these pages show what power the internet has over our lives.

Last year my roommate introduced me to the webpage of George Ouzounian, better known as his pen-name of Maddox. His website, the best page in the universe, has had over 220 million visits since its creation in 1997. So, besides the views of his website, I'm sure you are asking what other influence has he had? Well he has received nearly 600 hate mail emails; has 2 internet fan websites; had an organization called Mothers Against Maddox formed to protest him; became so popular from this website he was able to write a book, The Alphabet of Manliness, and have it on the New York Times best seller list. And, along with all that was mentioned, he is able to, in his words, "stay above the water" by selling his t-shirts on his website.

So how does this man do it? The simple answer to that is; the power of the internet. This man, whom so many people love and hate, is able to make a living because of the influence of the internet. This concept is extremely mind boggling to me. Without the internet’s influence over us, Maddox, would never have had a New York Times best seller and never would be even close to as popular as he is now. Just the way the internet is run through CMC was the way he got popular. Someone would send the link to a friend on AIM; or the link to his website would be posted on someone of influence's blog; or another website would be created about him. This cyber word of mouth spreads so much more quickly than face-to-face word of mouth and because of this quickness in spreading news on the internet, Maddox became popular.

Looking reflectively the power of the internet just blows my mind. How someone, who so many people would consider a [insert profane name here], can become so popular from CMC on the internet show's how much of an influence the internet has over us. And like the directors of that episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that we watched in class were trying to tell us, we should be aware of the internet's power and act accordingly.

Halo and CMC

Have you ever noticed that while you are on the internet you have more courage to say certain things than you would in person? Whether it is a personal feeling of admiration or words of anger, it seems that people have the uncanny ability to say more personalized feelings when they can not see the other person's reaction. I noticed this yesterday while a friend and I were playing Halo 3 online. If you have the microphone headset accessory, you are able to talk to the other people that are playing with you. This is usually limited to a "hey, what's up?" or very extreme, profanity-laced "trash" talking. I was playing with a friend named Dan Ross. For those of you who do not know him, he would be one of those kids that you would bet to lose in a fight. But while playing this game, even with his skinny demeanor, he has the uncanny ability to insult people into quiet submission even if he can not back it up with skill. And everything that he says would never be repeated if he saw the other person in a public or private area. This is exactly what it is like for cyber bullies. They say more hurtful things on the internet then they do in person. And no, I am not calling Dan a cyber bully. The whole concept of people being able to talk to each other while playing a game where the object is to kill the other person is, of course, going to inspire angry, violent talk towards the opponent. And do not get me wrong, I also have the ability to insult people until they cannot stand to hear the sound of my criticizing voice and will then push the mute button to stop the barrage of words aimed at them. (I only do this to kids my age that start it.)
None of the insults that Dan or I say would ever be repeated in public. So what gives us this courage? Well in my opinion it is the anonymous factor of the internet. We will never see the people we are playing against and we feel that there will be no consequence for our actions. Cyber bullies must feel the same way. Because they feel they are anonymous, they get more courage to say more hurtful words. Also, since it seems that there will be no consequence for their actions, they are willing to do and say things that they would not say or do in person for fear of getting in trouble. Kids that are victims of cyber bullies need to learn to ignore what the bully says. Just hit the exit out button while they are trying to message you on AIM or just simply block them.
So who knew that Halo could relate to CMC? I, for one, did not. The anonymous factor of the microphone feature and the internet gives players of Halo and cyber bullies the courage to say what they want to people. The slight difference between Halo and cyber bullies is that usually your opponent is trash talking you right back and it is all in good fun. But, in all seriousness, if some kid is cyber bullying you on the internet just ignore them. Bullies lose all their will to bully people once they realize it is not bothering that person. This can also be seen on Halo. When someone stops trying to come back with insults, the argument just sort of dies. The person who is doing the trash-talking realizes that it is no longer bothering his opponent and just finishes the rest of the game quietly until someone starts the argument back up.

The second one

When somebody mentions great debates, I’m sure many things pop into a persons head. There’s the obvious ones such as creationism vs. evolution or pro-abortion vs. pro-choice or , for all those that really enjoy starting trouble, the battle of the sexes. These things have been discussed since either side was created. So what new debates are there? With the increase in social networking sites on the internet the cyber relationship vs. the in-person relationship debate has began. Both sides have advocates that proudly preach their side of the argument and both sides have very good points. So why do I bring all this up? Well to state my opinion of course. Which I’m sure all of you care about, why else would you be browsing my blog? (Besides the fact that part of this assignment is commenting on two of your classmate’s writings.)

I personally enjoy the in-person relationship over the cyber relationship. And I believe that the in-person one surpasses the cyber relationship for one reason. That reason is that in some point during a frequent cyber relationship both parties will want to meet in person. By doing this both parties are acknowledging that the cold aspect of cyber friendship is no longer good enough and that they need a personal touch for this relationship to go any further. This face-to-face meeting occurs at stage 7 of cyber relationships. What happens from there really depends whether or not the person can overcome their fantasy expectation of the other.

Even with most cyber relationships having to end in a face-to-face meeting, it still has a lot of good that comes from it. I find it easier to say more personal things over the internet rather than in person. That way I can rehearse what I want to say, revise it to make it better, and also, I don’t have to see the other persons face when they read it. Also using txt or aim gives me a way to keep in touch with my friends or to just tell them something real quick without having to have the obligatory conversation with them on the phone.

But reflectively looking on what I wrote and on the article we read for class, it really doesn’t matter which one is better. Both sides are here to stay and both have their benefits. Sometimes we want to see the person were talking to and other times you may just want to see the text popping up with that annoying AIM alert that comes with it. Whether or not there truly is a better one is really your opinion.

Buffy and CMC

Being the typical college kid and having “one of those days”, I really had no desire to make an effort in any of my upcoming classes and for once this desire was actually met. Today we watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer which I have never previously viewed until today. Even though there was the typical cheesiness that goes along with the thought of a young girl slaying demons or vampires on a weekly basis another thought came up. And that thought was; what power does the internet have over us?

In this episode, the demon talks to people, earns their trust and manipulates them all using the internet. Willow completely trusted this Malcolm kid whom she had never met or even seen a picture of the kid. I believe that the directors are making references to online predators and stalkers here. In this episode, Willow meets, talks, and falls in love with this guy all using CMC, and he turns out to be a Demon trying to take over the world. In real life young men and women talk to strangers everyday either through message boards or public chatrooms. These young people feel like they have a connection to the person while chatting even though the person they are talking to has no other desire but to hurt them. The power the Demon had to manipulate people using CMC may have been a warning to young teens to watch who they talk to and trust while on the internet.

Another point that I believe the directors are trying to make is that people can become obsessive with the internet or the content that is on it. Some people are constantly on the internet either checking social networks, playing games or just surfing. Even though I know that social networks and many other features of the internet and computers really weren’t around during this episode, the Fritz (?) character still had an obsessive nature about computers. “The only reality is virtual and if you’re not jacked in you’re not alive’— this sounds semi-addicted/obsessive to me. Many people truly believe in that quote though. Some people become so obsessed with their characters in role playing games (ie: World of War Craft) that they have been known to neglect their own health. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Two-Fanatic-World-of-Warctaft-Gamers-Have-Died-Becouse-Of-WoW-11821.shtml The directors may have been telling us that we have to learn what power the internet has over us and that every now and then we need to take a break from the computer screen and go be social.