The Obsession with Perfection

Firstly guys let me just say how interesting the last few weeks have been, ive learnt so much concerning internet and how social media affects our everyday life. In this last post I would like to briefly touch upon the influence that social media has on individuals (females in particular). As females we obsessed with looking good but do we take this a bit to far? Perfume adverts present a stereotypical image of how we want to look as the models have been emphasised to look beautiful. Phone apps such as facetune, afterlight and Instasize have been created to transform the way females look. personally, I feel like these apps have been formed due to female insecurities however it removes their actual identity and makes them something they want to be.

 I have so many friend that use this app to change the size of their hips, the structure of there face and even the tone of their skin, is it all worth it? On YouTube lifestyle blogger and make-up enthusiast, Patricia Bright, even gives a tutorial on how to use such editing apps which shows that editing has become the norm in society.

 

 

What do you guys think? Is social media affecting body images and appearances? Leave your comments below thanks

WHY PAY FOR MUSIC AND MOVIES ANYMORE?

To be honest with you guys i dont see any point of all this licence on music and movies anymore seeing as there are so many other ways to listen and watch the latest stuff.
Apple music is a new app which was launched last year. it is another music streaming app that provides hand-pick songs, artists and albums based on what you listen to and like. although there are a variety of online music apps such as sound cloud, spotify, tubidy and Youtube, apply music provides you with the latest hit when exactly when they come out. the app gives you three months free trial before you subscribe to paying £9.99 a month.

Creative Commons licence allows the app to showcase new music in comparison to sound cloud and tubidy which does not have a CC licence which means that people can stream for free and even upload there music for others to share and list yen to it. to be honest from that its even arguable whether apple music is even necessary as in today’s youth generation, no body really buys albums or even videos for that matter, we all just wait for one of these music apps to upload it first.

I’m sure most of us have heard of putlocker, it is an online website that allows free movie streaming, it does not have a a creative commons licence as it provides illegal streaming of movies which we all love (lets not lie to ourselves). Nowadays noone want to pay for cinema tickets just but your popcorn and stay in the comfort of your own home.

 

 thanks for reading guys 🙂

IF YOUR LOOKING FOR ME ADD MY SNAPCHAT

How visible am i online? Well lets just say if you  needed to find me just add me on snapchat (whitsxox). I feel like in today’s generation we put ourselves at risk due to the things we post online. Whilst doing the regular readings a few weeks back i came across a text by Papacharissi (2010), according to him he discusses that ‘our privacy is becoming a luxury commodity’ which simply means that we basically put our information out there in exchange to be social with others, so really isn’t privacy in our own hands?

 bet you thought id show the video lol

For instance once i made a YouTube video of me singing, i thought i was the next Beyonce so i posted it but after coming to my senses i realised i was actually more of a Rebecca Black. I managed to deleted the video but somehow my friends had fund a way to access the video and re-share it. So i guess the question is once you’ve posted something online do you still consider it to be yours or the Internets? Personally, i think its no longer under your control, whether your account is on private or not people will still somehow have access to your account. In another reading i did it also mentions that privacy is a dynamic process of optimisation, which is influenced by two psychological needs- ‘The need to preserve privacy but also the need to interact socially and therefore has to disclose personal information’. Again proving my point about privacy and what we post online is in your own hands.

Dating websites: yes or no?

Dating websites is a good example of an online community as it allows single people with common interest to meet. Personally I feel like dating websites can having their positives and negatives. An advantage would be that it allows people from different locations to find love, it is a good site for people who have low confidence as it gives them the ability to interact more as they a not standing in front of the other person.

A negative could be that people could result to the formation of fake accounts, this is known as ‘catfishes’, this is someone who pretends to be someone they’re not using social media to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive online romances.  This is a common problem with dating sites in particular. A few are examples of dating websites that have a specific target audience and can therefore be perceived as limitations are as follows:

• Elite singles is a dating website specifically aimed at ‘elite’ individuals, aged 30 and above who come from higher income and education groups. This is in some ways degrading to individuals that don’t meet their criteria
• Soul swipe is another example of a dating websites however this mainly focuses on the race of the individual. It is primarily for black people living in the UK.
• Christian mingle is targeted towards religious Christians therefore promoting the thought that Muslims or individuals of other religions can’t interact with them.

Overall dating websites is a positive example of an online community as it people that take part in it do benefit from their participation in the sites.

 

Audience participation? To be honest what can’t we involve ourselves in? There are so many sites that allow the growth of an audience such as Wikipedia, Facebook, dating websites and even sound cloud. However I want to discuss about the obvious YouTube site. Now I’m not going to start off by giving you a description of YouTube because I know most of you are well aware of its contents. However did you know that the average time an individual spends on watching YouTube videos on their mobile phones is 40 minutes.

videos most commonly watched on YouTube consist of vlogs and tips, these are very  popular as it allows a build up of relationship  between the bloggers and their audience. through blogs, you-tubers are able to interact and with the viewers by asking questions and introducing stuff like giveaways whereby the you-tubers organizing competition where viewers get the chance to win prizes.

our generation has become so involved with videos to get by. Most vloggers talk about their current life problems which also relate to similar problems viewers encounter in day to day life. Such vlogs includes things about sexuality and coming out while others are tips on makeup, fashion or even silly stuff like what drinks are better! i think its fair to say that YouTube is a great example of audience participation.
 

 

Technological Convergence: Our smart phones

 

Technological convergence can be defined as ‘the process by which existing technologies merge into new forms that bring together different types of media and applications’. Our mobile phones are undeniable the best form of technology convergence there is, we live in an intensely mediated world therefore our mobile phones are included in our day to day living. Mobile phones have moved far beyond their beginnings as simple voice communication devices however in today’s generation  we are now able access online news and research but it is now possible to complete word documents and watch the latest movies (soon they’ll be less and less people going cinemas as there are in buying newspapers). Honestly how many of us can do we our mobile phones today, it is our map, our personal trainers, our diet planers, our organisers and even or personal banks; with the creation of online banking apps there’s really no need to make that long journey to the bank.

The advancement of the mobile phones are making traditional media platforms seem weak and useless as individuals no longer see the need to buy newspapers or wait a certain time to watch a specific programmes.

Technological convergence of smart ones has made it more convenient for us all, we have ability to access the internet wherever and whenever. To be very honest soon they’ll no such thing as newspapers, is only a matter of time before they become extinct. However a disadvantage to mobile phones is that due to all its advantages, it becomes very expensive and therefore now accessible to everyone.

To conclude I think it’s fair to say that our smart phones are undoubtedly the best form of technological convergence although the more advanced they get the more expensive they become therefore people tend to rely on the traditional forms of media e.g newspapers, television and radio.

The history of the internet

 

The Internet can be defined as ‘the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link billions of devices worldwide’. The study of the history of the internet provides many fascinating facts such as its progression from 1969 till present day. From research the most fascinating fact I discovered about the history of the internet was the formation of social media which was a good method of communication and meant easier ways for individuals to contact one another, like seriously what would you do without these sites! Some few examples  consist of Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, MySpace and Hotmail which allows employers to easily get in touch with job seekers without need for sending letters, it is also a quicker way to promote sales for online shoppers. Facebook was one of many social media sites first created in 2004 however originally for college students and was known as ‘The Facebook’. Later YouTube was created in 2005 which in some ways allowed the freedom of speech as it instigated the rise of bloggers. 2006 was the year twitter was formed and allowed individuals to share news with one another, it also allowed the use of hashtags and re-tweets (which i personally enjoy).

Around the world approximately 2.55 billion people by 2017 will be involved in social media sites, which demonstrates the power of social media and its massive impact in today’s generation of both youth and adults. As well as for social media purposes the internet is also a faster and prompt way to find out news stories in comparison to using television and newspapers. Without social media business connection or even socialising will become difficult. What do you think?

By Whitney Ajudua

Hi there

Hello, my name is Whitney, I study journalism, looking forward to do this module 🙂