Reference no: EM133762156

Assignment:

This readings focus on the centrality of technology (more precisely electricity in the McLuhan reading) in our social world. Indeed, McLuhan argued that our world is shaped and "massaged" by the media that exist in it, and Donath and boyd argued that the advent of social media has contributed to people no longer adequately separating their social circles from one another. This reality can be seen in the various high profile issues that have been reported to the public (e.g., social media use by terrorist organizations, inappropriate social media use by politicians, and even criminal prosecutions based on public social media profiles).

In this forum, please discuss the implications of the ever-changing, ever more sophisticated social media platforms on U.S. American society. Specifically, how have these social media platforms influenced the way you socialize with your networks, include new people in your networks, maintain privacy, and make decisions on how, where, when, and with whom you share things in an online environment?

Furthermore, please answer the following question in your post: To what extent do you believe society has become dependent on social media and the Internet, and what would happen if both of these things disappeared tomorrow? How might one (or more) of these platforms be more or less conducive to creating a "need" to be online constantly?