Smart Mobs
I wonder if anyone was astounded as me to hear about Filipinos' text messaging habits. In America we use text messaging a lot but i would both blown away and disguisted if i was at a funeral and saw someone doing it. I thought he article made a lot of interesting points. Will our continued use of non-verbal communication lead to a deterioation of social skills? I think so because of the differences in non-verbal and verbal face to face communication. The way you talk over instant messages, text messages, and email is worlds apart from the way we talk to someone in person. Another point i thought was very interesting was about the potential of events such as the Rodney King video. How would have things been different if the video was sent through networks of people instantaneously? The phenomenon of electronic communication has potential for a lot of good things. Imagine you were on your way to Taco Bell and recieved a text message about a recent E. coli outbreak. You later find out there was E. coli at the Taco Bell you were going to visit before you recieved the warning. The example used in the reading about the terror alert was easy to relate to. I use text messages less than often and have never thought about some of the possibilities discussed in the text. Have any of these uses for text messages crossed anyones' minds?
posted by Adam Browning at 9:23 PM
10 Comments:
I agree with Adam; I never knew how powerful text messaging could be. It seems so unrealistic for something like the Filipino's protest to happen here. Could people in America use texing to organize a massive protest movement? I guess it could happen...
Another thing that we've discussed in class before is the issue of social interaction. I wonder if our society will eventually become electronically based. Will all of our communication be done via the Internet? I think this will drastically change our personal relationships, and the way we trust people. With the new "communities" discussed in the article, this could be a reality in the near future.
The text messaging came as a shock to me as well. I would never have imagined that Filipino's would organize a protest through text messages, or would be texting through a funeral ceremony. Even hearing about the groups used in Tokyo to spot celebrities.
I defiantely agree with Courtney, can anyone imagine what it would like, if you were to get a text from your teacher telling you a homework assignment? Or check your grades from your cellphone.
Years ago this all would have seemed so far-fetched, but we already have videos streamed to our cellphones, and have the entire internet in the palm of our hand.
I agree with Adam, I never realized how powerful text messaging and other uses of technology can be. I use text messaging quite frequently and I sometimes send out mass texts to everyone in my phone on holidays, but I can't believe that text messaging could be used for something like a protest. I also thought that the idea of the Upoc was interesting. I have never heard of something like that and I think that in the case of an emergency like 9-11 when all of the phones and everything were out due to the attacks, the Upoc is an excellent tool to still keep in contact with people and stay updated on important news. This was an article that I enjoyed reading and really posed a lot of questions and facts that I had never really thought about.
I know that I text message a lot but nothing I send is ever really important or exciting. These people actually use text messaging to organize protests and other important information. If someone would text message someone during a funeral here, they would be looked at as very rude and disrespectful. It is hard to imagine how popular text messaging is in many other countries.
I think it is interesting that you are able to join text messaging groups and be able to be notified when your friends are in your area. This could get annoying though because your cellphone will be going off a lot and I can imagine that sometime it will be an inconvenience.
Adam makes a good point. The text messaging phenomenon, especially in the Philippines, is drastically different from from text message use in the United States. The fact that text messaging is used for more political protests, I think, shows genious and ingenuity; however it's hard to believe that interpersonal communication in general can rely so much on technology.
Honestly, I'm skeptical that the world will eventually communicate solely through the use of technology, but after learning how dependent the Filipinos are on text messaging, I'm finding it slightly more believable.
I also was astounded Adam. This article was crazy to think that things could be so mass when its just through a text message. Then again, we are all part of a similar event as Blackboard. Blackboard is for all students in a certain class and there are announcements posted in order for us to follow. So technically we are all a part of a smart mob through our education.
I agree with Courtney and Adam as well, I never thought that text messaging could essential start a political movement. It's pretty amazing how effective a simple text message can be as oppose to making flyers and word of mouth. If one looks at a flyer they might forget where to meet or at what time. But with a text message you can have your message on you phone, which most people carry at all times, also it immediately gets saved, so if you want to go back and look at it you can. The article essentially opened my eyes to how technology has evolved, now we can send text messages to contact people about important events and it is just as effective as a phone call, sometimes even more.
i don't even know what i would do if i saw somebody texting while sitting at a funeral. I wouldn't have thought that text messaging was becoming that popular. The fact that it is being used in constructing huge movements surprises me but it makes sense with how easy it is to spread the word via texting.
This article was fascinating. Text messaging has always been huge in the states, but wow... I would have never imagined starting a civil movement because of it. However, as great as this tool may be, there's a limit to when and how you should use it. For example, I've been in group meetings where members pay more attention to their cell phones than to what we're actually meeting about. This annoys the crap out of me, so maybe someone should write a "text message etiquite" manual.
i think that text messaging can be very influential in the future of society and how we interact with each other. I know already that it has changed the way that i communicate with my friends, but im not sure if it would get as huge as it has been for the filipino people.
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