While watching Dr. Dave White’s explanation of the theory behind visitor and resident of the Internet unfold, I started getting concerned about which definition I fell under. As Dr. White continued to make it quite clear that those who enter the web was not just one or the other, but that the concept is a continuum and the definitions presented were just a “pigeon hole” of how to look at it, I was still worried that I was more of a “visitor” than the latter in most cases.
Especially since the Internet is so vast, I feel that I am so far behind that it would take much time and work to make myself more of a resident. When I first started using the Internet on my own as a preteen, I was all about the social networking, keeping connected with my peers, and meeting others from other schools for hours (to the point of being grounded, it was almost an addiction). ICQ and MSN messenger replaced the traditional telephone and allowed multiple conversations at one time. Then in high school, the number of people I started connecting with grew and I started blogging on Xanga, a quick fad. When school became increasingly more time consuming, like the video mentioned about the education system traditionally encouraging autonomy, I fell victim and began to fall away.
The world is changing so quickly and digitally integrated that it is finally pushed upon me to get back into the system and try to become the resident I use to be. I was a latecomer to Facebook, (which required much insistence from friends), and even only now, I’ve just opened my own Twitter and Instagram account. This reminds me of a quote that I was once told when I was younger, “You begin to age and be defined as ‘old’ when you fall behind in technology.” How ‘old’ I’ve become.
It will definitely be a struggle to keep an ongoing persona in so many spaces. Currently, I have two Facebook accounts, one for work and one for my personal life. I rarely use my work one, which was suppose to allow me to connect with youths I work with in my after school program, and only login for discussions and updates with them. However, even my personal account doesn’t have my persona lingering around much. I go in to see how my friends are and what they’re up to, and I would post a picture here and there. I haven’t dedicated myself to continually feeding updates about myself because I haven’t built the necessity to do so. I almost feel like the connections with most of the people are surface relationships. On my birthday, I would have messages from people I’ve never talked to all year, and when I message back, no response.
I think what I need to overcome is that the Internet is no longer about building relationships as I had been use to. It is about networking, at a very different concept, and to learn together with everyone else that is moving and changing with the times.
References
Visitors and Residents. (2013, May 31). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sFBadv04eY
Especially since the Internet is so vast, I feel that I am so far behind that it would take much time and work to make myself more of a resident. When I first started using the Internet on my own as a preteen, I was all about the social networking, keeping connected with my peers, and meeting others from other schools for hours (to the point of being grounded, it was almost an addiction). ICQ and MSN messenger replaced the traditional telephone and allowed multiple conversations at one time. Then in high school, the number of people I started connecting with grew and I started blogging on Xanga, a quick fad. When school became increasingly more time consuming, like the video mentioned about the education system traditionally encouraging autonomy, I fell victim and began to fall away.
The world is changing so quickly and digitally integrated that it is finally pushed upon me to get back into the system and try to become the resident I use to be. I was a latecomer to Facebook, (which required much insistence from friends), and even only now, I’ve just opened my own Twitter and Instagram account. This reminds me of a quote that I was once told when I was younger, “You begin to age and be defined as ‘old’ when you fall behind in technology.” How ‘old’ I’ve become.
It will definitely be a struggle to keep an ongoing persona in so many spaces. Currently, I have two Facebook accounts, one for work and one for my personal life. I rarely use my work one, which was suppose to allow me to connect with youths I work with in my after school program, and only login for discussions and updates with them. However, even my personal account doesn’t have my persona lingering around much. I go in to see how my friends are and what they’re up to, and I would post a picture here and there. I haven’t dedicated myself to continually feeding updates about myself because I haven’t built the necessity to do so. I almost feel like the connections with most of the people are surface relationships. On my birthday, I would have messages from people I’ve never talked to all year, and when I message back, no response.
I think what I need to overcome is that the Internet is no longer about building relationships as I had been use to. It is about networking, at a very different concept, and to learn together with everyone else that is moving and changing with the times.
References
Visitors and Residents. (2013, May 31). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sFBadv04eY