Free Essay Sample on Superconnected

When someone is super connected, it means they spend most of their time online while using the internet. 'Superconnected' a book written by Mary Chayko brings an insight into how the society and the digital technology has affected the contemporary social life through the influence of mobile devices, social media, and the internet. Each chapter talks about how technology has shaped the modern information age through surveillance and information sharing, development and digital socialization, digital inequalities, the impact of the digital media and internet across social institutions. While the internet has significantly developed, it has also changed and affected the lives of many people.

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The proliferation and rise of the digital media, ICT's and the internet show how people can live more productive lives but also experience but also be more surveilled and scrutinized. As we all know the harness of super-connectedness and collective knowledge creates infinite possibilities but also brings unclear outcomes because the endless options can either be exciting, daunting, overwhelming or freeing. The future generations of digital connectors have the probability of being connected digitally.

Young adults and children that are raised in a technology-rich environment have various advantages such as having the agility in moving among offline and online spheres since space is considered to be digital. Most of them never see the offline and online as enmeshed. Upcoming kids brought in tech-rich societies and communities will always know the world through the internet. What will happen when that time arrives and will there be any loss or gain?

In societies, people have always been challenged when it comes to the creation of cohesive communities and identities. People that live in modern technology, in other words, will always be super-connected because most of their strategies and thoughts are shrewd because of using digital technology and the internet to help them manage their techno-social lives. This is because digital media and the web give countless opportunities to people because it involves them when it comes to shaping, critiquing, improving and making technology better.

Others have however decreed the use of the internet because it makes them feel hopeless and weak. Everyone who lives in the technological world should, therefore, manage to control their lives. In other words, most technological experts have control and a voice to lead us in the wrong direction, and that is why they always have control over us. However, technology also makes life easy particularly when someone is in a foreign land.

While traveling, for example, I noticed that the process was natural, gradual to the point that I never realized. In retrospect, before the advent of the internet, it was happening to me. Since I was always used to storing things in my head, I realized I started relying on the internet by using a more natural path to store essential items. As known, every dog has a meta-memory, and I thought I could adapt the same but ended up being lazy to memorize.

Not only did the internet then become an occasional habit in my life but also a primary way of storing knowledge. The advancement of the web also made my browser to bloat with bookmarked websites which had sites that saved information that I felt they were necessary. I stopped bothering with bookmarks when the engines matured. This made me discover Google, Hotbot and Altavista thus making my pointers to ideas, meta-memories to be replaced by the meta-meta-memories created by the sites.

To expand my memories, I now use my hard drive similar to how I do it in my brain. I realized this process made spend most of my time organizing my work while retrieving the on demand as I arranged them through the online platform. My memories are no longer filled with memories but folders saved in my gadget. In cases where I need to find anything all I do is to search and the information is retrieved.

According to the author, kids that grow up with digital technology and the internet have become comfortable using them. This means that digital media and the internet have become a norm in their environments. Contrary to this, the author emphasized that the use of technology does not make them experts because of the consequences it generates. In most circumstances, kids end up spending most of their times in front of the screens. Usually, the use of technology by the young comes with a wide range of effect that becomes hazardous.

When I was young, technology was something we used to see on the television. Today it is with us, and I am addicted to every new thing that emerges. The internet, for example, is everywhere, and every home owns one. To add on, mobile devices have become so advanced that we can do anything with them. I have always had this habit of scrolling my phone before I sleep. For the last two years, I have ever been deprived of sleep because of my phone. Every time I come home and finish all my chores including taking dinner, I still went to bed with my phone. For the longest time I have been addicted to browsing various sites and yet am very sleepy. This has eventually changed my sleeping patterns because most of the time being either scrolling on FaceBook or Instagram.

Similar to this story, the author also emphasized that kids have gravitated towards the common uses of their computers and phones. Most of them have also customized their tablets, phones, and machines to enable them to spend a good deal of energy and time editing and creating their social media profiles by using specific fonts, and ringtones to represent their status. This is why most of them are unable to sustain and build their self-identity due to shifting emotions, demands and identifications from the internet.

Teens and adolescents spend too much time using digital technologies because of the platform of friends generated. The enthusiastic and spontaneous adoption of young people and children of self-presentation and online opportunities has made them have a strong desire of using mobile and online communication because they can connect anytime and anywhere. It has, therefore, become a culture to the teens because they always escaped adult supervision to have fun and hung out with friends. However, since most of them are accessed online most of them spend time while talking to their friends through the online platform.

It is quite interesting that what the writer is saying reflects my life. When I want to plan something, the first thing I take is my phone. I then contact my friend through various platforms to pass the message. Sometimes when it comes to financial assistance, I chat with my friends and then we send money through the online platform. The internet and media digital, in this case, has become part of my life, and every time I use it not only to update myself but also to connect with my friends.

Conclusion

It is evident that people who live in the present life are super connected. This means that everything they want is either a click or a touch away. Mary Chayko insight into how society and digital technology have affected contemporary social life. Each chapter talks about how technology has shaped the modern information age through surveillance and information sharing, development and digital socialization, digital inequalities, the impact of the digital media and internet across social institutions. Comparison to this, my personal life also gives a reflection of how I am addicted to the advancement of technology.

References

Chayko, M. (2017). Superconnected: The Internet, digital media, and techno-social life. Information, Communication & Society, 20(12), 1834-1836. doi:10.1080/1369118x.2017.1346137