At the beginning of my sophomore year I one day noticed my friend on a web page I had never seen before. When I asked her about it she quickly introduced me to the world of blogging. The sight was Xanga, and within about a 2 month period about 7 of my real close friends had developed sights of their own. It was like nothing we had ever experienced. We were free, free to express our emotions and to communicate with each other at all times of the day without tying up our home phones (none of us at this point had cell phones). We blogged about our love lives, friendships, disappointments, exciting events, family, pets… the list went on and on. It was the period during which our friendships were the closest. It was easy to comment suggestions and celebrations on other’s pages, and it was easy to express your emotions when you knew that somewhere one of your friends was going to log on and share them with you. Maybe it was our adolescence, or maybe it was simply the thought that something in our lives was simple, but blogging became the center of our world. As we got older, however, our posts became less frequent and our friendships began to unwind themselves. By the time the end of my senior year Xanga was just a place we visited for a melancholic reminiscence or for a laugh about the things we toiled over in our earlier youth. This experience makes me wonder about all the things we were infatuated with in our youth that diminished in value in our life as we age.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Post 9: Xanga Reminiscence
At the beginning of my sophomore year I one day noticed my friend on a web page I had never seen before. When I asked her about it she quickly introduced me to the world of blogging. The sight was Xanga, and within about a 2 month period about 7 of my real close friends had developed sights of their own. It was like nothing we had ever experienced. We were free, free to express our emotions and to communicate with each other at all times of the day without tying up our home phones (none of us at this point had cell phones). We blogged about our love lives, friendships, disappointments, exciting events, family, pets… the list went on and on. It was the period during which our friendships were the closest. It was easy to comment suggestions and celebrations on other’s pages, and it was easy to express your emotions when you knew that somewhere one of your friends was going to log on and share them with you. Maybe it was our adolescence, or maybe it was simply the thought that something in our lives was simple, but blogging became the center of our world. As we got older, however, our posts became less frequent and our friendships began to unwind themselves. By the time the end of my senior year Xanga was just a place we visited for a melancholic reminiscence or for a laugh about the things we toiled over in our earlier youth. This experience makes me wonder about all the things we were infatuated with in our youth that diminished in value in our life as we age.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Post 8: Response to Nebraskans dropping land lines in favor of cell phones
America is quickly becoming “the cell phone nation”. And although I knew that the number of cell phones in the world was growing, I was surprised when I read the article that in Nebraska this growth is being countered by a loss in the number of landlines. I guess it was fairly naïve of me to be surprised by this information, but I grew up in a small town where cell phone reception is labeled sketchy at best. I did some research and a basic phone line in Nebraska can be expected to cost somewhere in the ballpark of $60.00 a month; this service would provide the service to the whole family. On the contrary a cell phone plan, for 2 users, averages about $100.00 a month (including tax). S
o why is it that the Nebraskan people are so willing to pay more money for the cell phone? I believe the answer is mobility. Our culture has become fascinated to see how much of our lives we can pack into the smallest gadget possible. We have grown from a nation who had one phone line, in the house, per family to a nation with a phone line, and a computer, to a nation who has a phone and a computer built together in our pocket as we stroll down the street. Compact is the way to live; almost cell phone carrier in Nebraska, and the world feels lost without the gadgets that connect us to each other. And yet as we increase our communication with each other it could be said that the communication is less personal then before. Our new ultra modern communication devices (aka- cell phones) allow for a whole new mode of communication: text messaging. Rather than picking up our phones and calling someone people can now simply “shoot someone a text” and avoid voice communication all together. Mobility of communication has certainly become a standard presence in the lives of American teens, businessmen, and ordinary people.
o why is it that the Nebraskan people are so willing to pay more money for the cell phone? I believe the answer is mobility. Our culture has become fascinated to see how much of our lives we can pack into the smallest gadget possible. We have grown from a nation who had one phone line, in the house, per family to a nation with a phone line, and a computer, to a nation who has a phone and a computer built together in our pocket as we stroll down the street. Compact is the way to live; almost cell phone carrier in Nebraska, and the world feels lost without the gadgets that connect us to each other. And yet as we increase our communication with each other it could be said that the communication is less personal then before. Our new ultra modern communication devices (aka- cell phones) allow for a whole new mode of communication: text messaging. Rather than picking up our phones and calling someone people can now simply “shoot someone a text” and avoid voice communication all together. Mobility of communication has certainly become a standard presence in the lives of American teens, businessmen, and ordinary people.
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