So last week I read an article in the newspaper about Academy Award Winner Jennifer Hudson. I'm sure most of you will have heard how she tragically lost 3 members of her family recently. I'm not a fan of hers and I don't really know the exact details of what actually happened but from what i gathered from the article, she has since become a recluse.
In the article it said that she had thanked her fans for their sympathy through her face book page. I can't say that I fully understand her loss but at the same time I cant help but wonder about the state of society in recent years. Apparently, gone are the days of writing acknowledgements in newspapers. Now we must read of peoples thanks to us on the Internet? Is anyone else worried about this?
Does anyone else think that the Internet is slowly, but surely, taking over her lives...says she as she types this complaint on her laptop through the use of the Internet. Hypocritical you may think but Mr. Cooney has requested that we blog about virtual communities and I can't but struggle on the topic as I don't really have much time for them.
Yes I have a bebo account and several e-mail accounts but I rarely use them. I'm not one of those people that NEEDS to check their bebo everyday 5 times a day. I only ever check my e-mails in the hope that one of my lectures will have been cancelled and i can either come in late or go home early.
I think society has changed for the worse since broadband connections have become an essential in most households. Whatever happened to the art of writing a letter? How will people in years to come ever find any artifacts from our era if all our information is lost in cyberspace?
When I was young I never had the Internet and that didn't affect my everyday life at all. My 10 year old sister however wouldn't last a day without it. How times have changed. I used to spend my pocket money on sweets and magazines and such like, she spends hers on stardoll.com.
Star doll is a virtual community that is pretty much aimed at tweeners. You create an image of yourself as a doll and then you live your life through the styles of this doll. You can dress up celebrities in your self designed clothes or you can purchase designer clothes from them. And it all comes with a price tag. Star dollars can be purchased by texting a number that sends you back a code after it charges you E2.50. These dollars can be used to purchase clothes, build houses, purchase more clothes to put in your newly built house, you can even buy birthday presents and send them to your star doll friends! The only good thing about the whole set up is that you are limited to 3 top ups per week so a maximum of E 7.50 can only be spent weekly.
Is it not wrong for 10 year olds to want to make friends in communities like this? Shouldn't they be dressing up their bratz dolls with their actual real life friends instead? I feel like we are powerless against these communities because the Internet now plays a vital role in everyday life. We use it in work, in college, we are constantly plagued with adverts for it on both television and radio with website addresses being spat out at us like there's no tomorrow.
If the Internet was gone in the morning I really don't think it would be such a bad thing.
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