RJA# 15b Reflection on What I Have Learned

This class has taught me how to properly research and draft a research paper, which is the exact premise of this course. More importantly this class taught me some valuable lessons for life and school. I learned how to stay with a subject even when I dislike or grow old with it. I had to stay with my topic even when I thought I wouldn't be able to find enough information on the subject. So, I suppose the valuable skill I gained was to be able to motivate myself to look harder and make it work. Another important lesson I've learned from this course was to work outside of my comfort zone. All of my papers thus far excluding this paper have been related to the criminal justice system or the political arena, I find it very easy to write papers about these topics because they are my main focuses of studies in college. This paper forced me to grow and expand my horizons to other areas of interest. All the skills I've gained from this course will help me throughout my college career as well personal life. Throughout life we all have and will continue to encounter situations that take us out of comfort zones and make us want to give up, but we have to learn how to work through them.

RJA #15a Word Cloud

Word Cloud Link

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/1421506/Eng_1020_Research_Paper_Word_Cloud

RJA # 14 Annotated Bibliography Part 2

Whose Space? Differences Among Users and Non-Users of Social Network Sites
by Eszter Hargittai of Northwestern University

The article "Whose Space? Differences Among Users and Non-Users of Social Network Sites" discuss the clear and distinct differences between social networking site users and non users. The article also highlights how a user's economical, ethnic,educational, and parental background impact whether or not a person would use such sites. The article addresses other pertinent questions surrounding social networking. Does social networking cause harm or is it helpful? How does social networking impact indentity construction and expression? The article goes on to say that it was believed at the starts of the internet boom, the internet would level out the playing field among individuals. Research has shown that individual's offline charcteristics are actually transferring over to their online endevors.

I found this article to be very useful to my research of my paper.This article is great reference for support of my argument of my paper. This article shows shows a possible negative aspect of social networking by causing dgital equality.

Hargittai Eszter, "Whose Space? Differences Among Users and Non-Users of Social Network Sites" http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/hargittai.html


"Facebook and Grades" Don Tapscott

This video found on videosurf.com shows Don Tapscott the author of the book "Grown Up Digital" argues a study which was conducted at the University of Ohio of 219 students. The study shows that non users of facebook studied more and received better grades, than those who are Facebook users. Tapscott debates that there are numerous problems with the methodology of the study. The study shows that less graduate students use Facebook than undergraduate students.

This video is excellent reference for an objection my argument. This video does not codemn the usage of social networking sites, just cautions they must be used in moderation.

Tapscott Don, "Facebook and Grades" Videosurf.com
http://www.videosurf.com/video/don-tapscott-on-cbc-facebook-and-grades-71258390


Friend Networking Sites and Their Relationship to Adolescents' Well-Being and Social Self-Esteem

Patti M. Valkenburg, Jochen Peter, Alexander P. Schouten. CyberPsychology & Behavior. October 2006, 9(5): 584-590. doi:10.1089/cpb.2006.9.584.



Grown up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing your world by Don Tapscott.


Don Tapscott's book takes an in depth look into today's youth are developing differently due to the fact they have grown up in a world of many technologic advancements.

Teenagers' Internet Socializing Not A Bad Thing

Lewin, Tamar. "Teenagers’ Internet Socializing Not a Bad Thing." Editorial. The New York Times 19 Nov. 2008. New York Times. New York Times, 19 Nov. 2008. Web. 17 Nov. 2009.>

Top Social Networking Age Distributions

This article discusses how the different social networking sites appeal to different age groups.

Facebook and Myspace tend to attract a younger demographic as where sites likes Flickr and LinkinIn have a higher number of slightly older users.

This article from Social Times is great for showing how Myspace and Facebook are geared toward adolescents and how this can become a problem if not used in moderation.

O' Neil, Nick. "Top Social Network Age Distributions." Web log post. Social Times. 19 June 2008.

Web. 10 Nov. 2009.

RJA #13b Annotated Bibliographies Part 1

1.) Royal College of Psychiatrists, "Psychiatrist Warns About Impact of Social Networking Sites" RxPG News.com RxPG News July,12th, 2008

This peer-reviewed article by Royal College of Psychiarists discuss the observations of Dr Himanshu Tyagi a psychiatrist at West London Mental health Trust in regards to the usage of online social networking. Dr. Tyagi goes on to explain that the youth who were born in and after 1990 have a very different view of world. Dr. Tyagi believes the youth in this age range for a disorted view of reality, they may put less emphasis on real world indenities and relationships and view them as disposable and interchangable. All these factors can cause these youths to be unable to adquecately deal with the realities of the real world society. Dr. Tyagi also fears that just as the older generations have a hard time remembering a world without the internet there is a generation of teens who are growing up who can't imagine a world where they cannot go on Facebook, Myspace, chat rooms, etc etc.... Dr. Tyagi does not fail to mention positive aspects of online social networking he explains how these social networks allow for a less importance on class, race, and gender consideration unlike the real world. Dr. Tyagi also mentions that online social networtking allows for the absent of geographical boundaries which gives way to the opportunity to find support from all over the world.

This article was very useful to me. Firstly it was one of the best peer reviewed articles I was able to find. Next it gave way to very strong and credible information in favor of my argument, but it does not fail to present a counter argument.

2.) Anoma. "The Facebook Addiction" Tickled By Life tickledbylife.com
August 24th, 2009

The blog entry entitled "The Facebook Addiction" is a blog written about the growth in popularity of social networking sites not just among teenagers although the are the largest age group who use Facebook. The blog discusses how adults are signing up for Facebbok to be able to monitor their children's activity on the site. The author also mentions the amounts of valuable time is being used to play Facebook games and contest instead of being used more constructively. The author is a Facebook user and young adult themselve and doesn't disvalue the positive aspects of the social networking site , just states its usage must be modest. The author also believes the users need to realize that Facebook is created to be for enhancement of life enjoyment, not meant to be the only means of socializing and communication.

This is a blog entry I found on Tickledbylife.com. I was intrigued by the title intially then when I began reading I found this person had a lot of great points. The best part of this blog post is it from the perspective of a young adult who is a Facebook user who is still able to see that there is growing trend is usage and it can have a harmful impact on users. The author also presents that observation that not only young adults are becoming addicted to Facebook that adults themselves are being engrossed into the craze.

3.) Grohol PsyD M John. " Teens Text A Lot, Adults Worry" Psychcentral.com Psych Central
May 29th, 2009

In the article entitled "Teens Text A Lot, Adults Worry" explains how every twenty to thirty years a new technology is developed which creates an almost hysteric state among parents and researchers alike. First it was the radio, then it was the television, next video games, and now text messaging. Text messaging allows people to communicate with others and sometimes discuss with peers things they may not feel comfortable doing face to face. The article also goes on to discuss what adults may see as a distraction teens do not. Growing up with technology is second nature for teens states John M Grohol PsyD. The article also goes on to say that texting has actually allowed for teens touni-task which many adults have a harder time doing.

I found this article to be a very useful source of credible information for a counter argument to present in my paper. The article shows the usage of texting and other new technologies by teens in a positive light.

4.) Campbell Marilyn. "The impact of the mobile phone on young people’s social life" Queensland University of Technology October 25th, 2005


This article discusses how the cell phone now plays a critical part in young adults' lives. It makes very good points about teens' relationship with technologies such as cellphones.

I plan to use this article as a very informative source for my research paper.

RJA # 13a Field Research Report

I have decided to conduct a survey which I am still in the process of doing. I am surveying my fellow classmates in my other courses about what their opinion is on social networking/text messaging impact on their personal study habits. Do these technologies distract them to a point where they have impact on their academics? Or are they able to use these technologies without letting them over take their time? Being that most of my classmates are around my age and social networking and text messaging were not as prevalent when I was in high school , I wanted to find out how they feel their study habits would have compared had these technologies been as widely popular while in high school. I am also asking if they feel teens today should be limited in their usage of these technologies.

Research Presentation

Link to research presentation .

RJA #12c Introduction Check

I checked Jon-Michael's and Lindsey's introductions.