Social Media: Spaced-out in Cyberspace

Can you believe that prior to Alexander Graham Bell inventing the first telephone transmitter in 1876 the primary means of communication consisted of US mail transported by horseback and railroad, face-to-face interaction, the telegraph and big city daily newspapers; intercommunication was slow moving. It wasn’t until 1965 that the first email emerged; which was basically a file directory “it just put a message in another user’s directory in a spot where they could see it when they logged in” (Peter, 2004). By 1976, the original personal computers began to surface although the main means of communication was still by mail and telephone. By 1988, the first chat rooms were in use as well as voicemail. Fast forward to 2013 and computer mediated communication (CMC) is the order of the 21st century. In contrast to previous technological advances, the new media is user-centered on interpersonal communications. “Human computer Interaction (HIC) evolved as a recognized discipline that attracts innovation and creativity; especially for the user as a human being, making the user the focal point that technology should serve and not the other way around” (Ghaoui,2006). There is no doubt that the Internet and cyberspace has exponentially assisted in linking individuals closer together more than at any other time in history. • According to Internet World Stats Usage and Population Statistics “on June 12, 2012 there were 7,0017,846,922 billion people on earth and 2,405,518,376 billion Internet users” (2012). • This is an increase of 566.4% since December of 2000 when there were only 360,985,492 million Internet users. • Social Media report 2012: Social Media Comes of Age claims “in July 2012 Americans spent 74.0 billion minutes on social media via a home computer, 40.8 billion minutes via apps, and 5.7 billion minutes via mobile web browsers, a total of 121.1 billion minutes on social networking sites compared to 88 billion in 2011” (2012). It now appears that the very technology designed to expedite, enhance and personalize intercommunication; is now essentially allowing individuals to become isolated, inaccessible, and detached.

• numerous clinical and epidemiological studies demonstrated, that Pathological Internet use (PIU) or Internet addiction (IA), is often associated with increased feelings of loneliness, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and general distress” (Wölfling, Beutel, Müller, 2012). • Identity is created or recreated in cyberspace through computer-mediated communication by emphasizing on the importance of media and particularly the internet in the process of socialization” (Kazeroun, 2008). • In her interview with Daily Mail Online, Baroness Greenfield a neuroscientist at Oxford University and director of the Royal Institution feels that “these technologies are infantilizing the brain into the state of small children who are attracted by buzzing noises and bright lights, who have a small attention span and who live for the moment” (Derbyshire, 2009).

Insufficient and absence of actual face-to-face communication(s) and interaction(s) between live flesh bodies not only affects personal communication between individuals. This lack of physical presence greatly influences other fundamental and essential areas of one’s life. With today’s declining job market one’s social media page play’s a principal part in whether one is granted an interview let alone offered employment. Jobvite.com points out that “88% of all job seekers have at least one social networking profile; 64% have two profiles and 44% have three” (2012). Most information on the Internet is now stored, recorded, and cataloged by the government and may never be completely expunged “the new interactive media is said to have vulnerable potential to enhance public communications. With appropriate policies and institutional support, some of that potential may be realized. Otherwise, it could be compromised and co-opted by forces with their own axes to grind, relegated to tricky sidelines, or just submerged by other games” (Blumler, Gurevitch 2001). Materialistically speaking, it truly is a “buyers beware” world and cybernetically speaking it is truly a “users beware” world. One does not have to search far and wide on the World Wide Web to discover that just a little caution, forethought, and critical thinking is all that is needed to strap on one’s mental and emotional jet pack and aim for the stars as one carefully, prudently, and judiciously navigates his or her way through interstellar cyberspace. Thanks Michael Valdez

References Derbyshire, D. (2009). Social websites harm children's brains: Chilling warning to parents from top neuroscientist | Mail Online. Home | Mail Online. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1153583/Social-websites-harm-childrens brains-Chilling-warning-parents-neuroscientist.html Ghaoui, C. (2006). Encyclopedia of human computer interaction. Hershey PA: Idea Group Reference. http://books.google.com/books Jay G. Blumler & Michael Gurevitch (2001) THE New Media and our Political Communication Discontents: Democratizing Cyberspace, Information, Communication & society, 4:1, 1-13 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/713768514 Jobvite. (n.d.). Jobvie. http://web.jobvite.com/rs/jobvite/images/Jobvite_JobSeeker_FINAL_2012.pdf Kazeroun, M. H. (2008). Identity in Hyperreal World: How Identity Shapes in Cyberspace? International Journal, 6(8), 35-42. Newswire | Social Media Report 2012: Social Media Comes of Age | Nielsen . (2012). Nielsen - What People Watch - What People Buy . http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2012/social-media-report-2012-social-media- comes-of-age.html Peter, I. (n.d.). History of email. Internet History Resource Centre. http://www.nethistory.info/History%20of%20the%20Internet/email.html Wölfling K, Beutel ME, Müller KW (2012) Construction of a Standardized Clinical Interview to Assess Internet addiction: First Findings Regarding the Usefulness of AICA- C. J Addict Res Ther S6:003. doi:10.4172/2155-6105.S6-003 World Internet Users Statistics Usage and World PopulationStats. (n.d.). Internet World Stats - Usage and Population Statistics. http://"www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm">www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm