Digital media has had such a profound effect on society, its only logical that it has made it into the popular American satirical cartoons, Family Guy and South Park. These are two of my favorite adult cartoons, and they touch upon the subject in a variety of instances. We can walk through and analyze a few of these clips.

In this clip, Seth MacFarlane is pointing out how stupid and inappropriate some of the actions on Facebook can be. I feel that this particular example ties closely into the concerns Nancy Baym brings up in Personal Connection in the Digital Age about a certain loss of humanity. Louis posted a status about a serious and tragic loss of a loved one, and Joyce simply liked it, a gesture that highly lacks genuine care or support. Unfortunately, I feel that that type of interaction actually does happen on Facebook, and it reflects poorly on our modern society.

In this clip, Stewie is complaining to Brian about Joe’s use of Facebook, which Stewie deems incorrect. This situation brings up a point we discussed in class. What is relevant and worthy of sharing? Stewie is genuinely angry at Joe for posting something that arrived on his newsfeed that seemed unimportant to Stewie. Also, this is an example of how a social cue can be misinterpreted or misunderstood. Joe’s winky face at the end of his status left Stewie confused as to what the cue actually meant. Was Joe not going to the Cheesecake Factory? Was Joe simply confused about what the winky face implies? Who knows.

In this bit, Peter, Joe, Quagmire, and Brian are all standing together when Brian says something funny. After a brief laugh, Brian tweets his comment out, and it is soon retweeted by Peter. This piece is an example of how even when people are right next to each other, bringing the humor in conversation to a wider audience is something they will choose to do.

This is a clip from a full South Park episode about Facebook. The basic summary of the episode and context of this clip is that Stan is being pressured on to Facebook by all of the other kids and adults in town. They are all obsessed with the Friends list on Facebook and insist that Stan is essentially saying that he has no friends or human relationships because he chooses not to join Facebook. In this clip, Stan’s girlfriend, Wendy, is upset with him because she found out he made a page, but did not friend her. Likewise, Stan’s dad yells at him for not friending his Grandma. This is a great example of how social media can become a surrogate for reality and consume a great deal of time and energy. Stan simply wants to live his real life, yet he is forced to adjust his profile virtually to fit the structure of his real life. This is very relevant in that Facebook seems to almost consume Stan. If you have some free time I would recommend you watch the episode here, to expand your intellect.

-Nick

Recently I went to dinner with some of my friends- at least I’d like to believe that I did. It began with us sitting  down at a table from walking from the car. On our way when we walked, we all were conversing amongst each other in our group. Somehow, that dynamic changed in a matter of moments when we took our seats. Within minutes of our seating, the conversations died down and all who sat around the table had tunnel vision that only tuned into their various social networking sites or texting. What just happened?

It is so easy to just glance at a text message and then become engulfed in the conversation depending on how it catches your attention. I know for me if I am in a really good conversation via text or Facebook, in the back of my mind, I am lost in a trans. The topic I am virtually included in has now grasped my attention fully. I’d like to think of dinner with an old fashion taste to it: people gathered around a table with no phones no technology; just a lively family like conversation about how our days went and so fourth. Why didn’t I make that happen? Well, I don’t think it is my place to tell my friends to stop texting- I don’t hold any authority over them nor would I want to have seem a bit weird. I just feel like my friends and I all get into our phones when given a chance to catch up with our social lives outside of our reality. But it would be nice to have those dinners where instead of being invested in our screens while with others , we actually talk and have fun lively discussions and maybe play one of those “phone at the table games.” For example, there is one in which everyone puts their phones upside down stacked in the middle of the table and whoever looks at their phone first, pays for the bill (or takes the dishes when we are in the dinning hall :D). It’s worth a try!

After just waking up from an hour nap, I can honestly say that I don’t know how anybody could survive college without naps. Now I am sure that I have an earlier schedule than most people, four 8am classes, but that was not by choice. Looking into the future and considering biology as a potential major, the Ecology and Evolution class that I needed to take was only offered at 8am on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. After pairing my 8am class with another class at 9:05, I am wiped out. By 10am, the time that I would be sleeping until without classes, I already have two classes under my belt.

However, the early mornings combined with the late nights are killer. On the second day of classes, I was in the library until it closed at one in the morning and two nights ago, I was up until two. The only solution to sleep deprivation is plain and simple: naps. They can help to improve focus, gain more energy, and be a happier person overall. So if you are not napping on a regular basis, I would highly advise you to start. You will soon notice that they make a HUGE difference.

(http://thetalentcode.com/wp-content/uploads/2607621162_13ece1c44c-1.jpg)

On Sunday, I decided to take a drive down to Rutland with my parents (who were here visiting for the weekend) to go to the Verizon store. My iPhone 4s had been freezing so I figured now was the time to upgrade. We arrive and they tell us it would be a 45 minute wait. Fine. 45 minutes turns into an hour. An hour turns into an hour and 10 minutes. Finally, my name is called. The employee helping me is extremely nice, explaining the various options I have to upgrade to. I decide on the iPhone 5c. The 5c is a new addition to the 5 generation. The only difference between the 5c and the 5 is that it has a colored backing. I pick the baby blue one and wait for my contacts and such to be transferred over. The employee tells me everything from my 4s seems to be backed up on the iCloud so transfer will be quick and easy. She proceeds to erase the contents of my iPhone 4s. Bad idea. I watch as the contacts on my 5c are all of my mom’s contacts, including email addresses from her three emails. I immediately inform the woman of the mistake and she tells me that my contacts are coming in, but it will just take time. I leave the store feeling very unsure.

Arriving back at Middlebury, my parents and I both came to the conclusion that my contacts were not in fact going to come in. We then took matters into our own hands. I call Verizon and my mom calls Apple. By some miracle, Apple was able to restore my contacts and send them to my phone. As you can imagine I was extremely thrilled. Looking past my stressful day at Verizon, I am loving the 5c. It is so light and durable, I sometimes forget I am carrying my phone at all. 

As I began writing my query letter for my novel, I became quite attuned to the problem of crafting an identity through media. In my case, it was creating an identity for my work, representing it in such a way that it would be attractive to an agent or publisher. But fabricating such identities is something we do every day in other forms, particularly in social media. Certain elements of your Facebook profile may find their way there of their own accord, but for the most part you put them there. You control this identity.

Such control, at least for me, is frightening. In our daily lives much of our identity is determined by what we do, and this holds true in media as well… to a certain extent. Most of the identity-crafting techniques we use on a daily basis are unconscious. A constant stream of subtle social cues critique these techniques, creating a continuing reshaping. But in social media, and in representations like query letters and cover letters, there is only so much space to work with, and expectations that you will represent yourself in an attractive way. While real-life social interactions do allow for a degree of self-representation, it is nearly impossible to completely fabricate a sense of self in person. Through media, however, you have the option to ignore the truth completely. I could have written in my cover letter that I wrote a 7,000 page novel, or that I had a degree from Harvard Law School; the same is true for a Facebook profile, where your profile and cover photos do not even have to be of you. They just have to be of who you want others to think you are.

Going back to my query letter, the whole endeavor feels so contrived. How can I do justice to something I spent so much time on in one page? The representation of something can never live up to the thing itself. The scariest part is that I am in control of how, in a space of about 200 words, a work that is 120,000 words will be judged. It’s a little like writing a college essay – how can I represent myself in one essay? The answer is that you can never truly do justice to who you are through media. The only way to gain a real understanding of identity is through personal interaction. The same goes for my work.

-epn