Month: October 2018

For my selfie post, I have chosen option one, which will analyze three different pictures that have been taken in the past year. One of myself, and one with my friends.

The first photo is a selfie of just me. I took this back in August before my nine hour flight to Europe. Half of my face is covered, and my eyes tell the audience that I am not looking forward to the amount of time I will be spending in the air. I remember taking the picture because I wanted to capture my emotions during that moment, and I also wanted to share the picture with my friends so that they could get a kick out of my experience. Looking back at Seeing Ourselves Through Technology, I was able to make a connection with my selfie, and one of the main points that Rettberg was trying to address. “The serial nature of most digital self-representation is closely connected to the tradition of the diary, which is written bit by bit over a period of time” (Rettberg 44). This quote is from chapter three. I am making a connection with this statement because my selfie could be considered a diary entry for that specific day. Again, I took the picture because I wanted to look back at it one day and remember how I felt before a flight that would feel never ending.

The second picture is of my friends and I. This picture was taken this fall at a John Marshall football game. Because the football games are very enjoyable, my friends and I wanted to take pictures together to show off later to our families. We took a lot of selfies, but this one in particular stood out to me because everyone is smiling or looks like they are having a good time. It shows the audience the atmosphere created by a typical high school football game. Again I was able to make a connection between this selfie, and a key idea from Seeing Ourselves Through Technology.  “Szucs’s mass of self-portraits cannot be seen today without thinking of Instagram and the millions of selfies posted every day in social media” (Rettberg 34). This quote is also from chapter three. I can relate this to my selfie because many people believe that all selfies belong on social media, but they do not. As mentioned earlier, my friends and I took this selfie so that we could show our families later on that evening. It was never meant to be posted to Instagram or Snapchat. The picture was meant to capture the environment of a football game spent with your friends.

Through the many years I have owned a phone, I have taken thousands of selfies. I have taken pictures with my family, friends, strangers, or just myself. I also have come to the conclusion that my main reason for taking selfies is so that I can look back at them in the future, and remember my experience from that day. I look forward to creating many more memories with my loved ones through selfies taken in the future.

Summary:

• Millions of selfies are posted to social media every single day.
• There are many ways to present your selfies to the world
• Selfie images show a version of ourselves that we want others to see.
• Time lapse selfies have become very popular among people of all ages.
• A time lapse selfie video is when a person takes a picture every week/day/hour for a certain period of time, and then puts them together to see the changes over time.
• The differences seen within the time lapse videos are a form of self representation.
• The videos also represent aging and mortality.
• There are many different approaches people take to the time lapse selfie videos.
• Profile pictures are not always selfies because sometimes they are pictures of us taken by someone else.
• Profile pictures are like time lapse videos because they change over time.
• Profile pictures are not always a picture of an individual person, they can be a picture of what represents the person.
• In each different profile picture, we present a different version of ourselves.
• Photo booths are the next closest things we have to selfies.
• Photo booths led to pictures being more of a game rather than a chore.
• We take selfies over and over again until we see the version of ourselves that we are satisfied with.
• Selfies have become the new diary for our society.

Key Terms/Main Idea:

The main idea of this article was to inform the audience of the many ways selfies are portrayed throughout our communities. There are time lapse videos, profiles pictures, and photo booths mentioned in this article.

Ephemeral: Lasting for only a short period of time.

Icon: A small symbol or picture on a computer screen that you can click on.

Surrealism: A style of art and literature where ideas, images, and objects are combined in a strange way.

Photomaton: A self-service machine that takes portrait pictures automatically.

Introspection: The examination or observation of mental and emotional processes.

Commentary: 

I thought the author did a great job with this chapter. It was filled with real life examples, and the audience was made very aware of what it was about. I really liked the way the author transitioned into each section of the chapter. There were always examples and definitions given to the reader. I found myself agreeing with a lot said because I too believe that selfies have come a long way in our society, and have created an impact like no other. I also liked the idea that selfies are in a way like diaries. A diary documents the life experiences of a person through words, while a selfie does the same thing through a picture. Selfies have become the new form of self expression for millions across the globe. While posing for a selfie, one could look happy, sad, excited, surprised, scared, bored, etc. Just by taking one look at someone’s self portrait, you could conclude how they were feeling while taking the picture. In conclusion, chapter three was a very good read, and there was a lot of new ideas presented for the reader.

The following reflection is going to be focused on the pros and cons of filters, the different kinds of filters, and the way society interprets them.

Filtering brings many pros and cons to the world of editing. One key pro that comes to mind are that filters bring a certain kind of beauty to images that was not there in the original. Some other pros are that filters allow people to get rid of unwanted flaws, they let others express themselves creatively through a form of art, and give things something unique to look at. There are also many cons of filtering. I believe that the biggest con of filtering is that it strips away the reality of a photo, document, or person. Some other cons are that filters can be overused, they can lead to the standards and expectations of others to be too high, and they can depict something that is not real. To conclude, there are many good things about filtering, but also some bad. It all just depends on the artists taste while editing a work of art.

In chapter two of this article, two kinds of filters were mentioned that stood out to me. There was technological filtering, and culture filtering. Technological filters are the filters that we apply to the internet. Examples of this could be blogs, pictures, videos, or anything that is online. In my opinion, I believe that technological filters are much more common than cultural filters in this day and age. Cultural filters are the expectations and norms that lead us to become like something we have  come across that was already filtered. Through these two different forms of filtering, many people are able to express to their communities what they like to see with certain situations. In summary, I found the differences between these two filtering methods very interesting.

The final thing I will be talking about in this reflection is how society view filtering. There are a variety of viewpoints. There are many people, like me, who do not care for filters. People who believe that the act of filtering something is truly irrelevant. I believe it has no purpose because we should be able to accept the reality of things we come across in our daily lives, such as ourselves. There are also people who frown upon filtering. They think it represents insecurity. They believe this because filtering is used to cover up imperfections that one wishes others will not see. Even though this makes sense, I would not go out of my way to harp on someone who uses filters for this very reason. Finally, there are the people who are extremely content with the act of filtering. They find joy in doing so, and think nothing but the good that comes out of making a beautiful picture even more beautiful. These are some of the many different perspectives on filtering.

In conclusion, I was able to learn a lot from chapter two of the past article. I was very interested in the material taught such as the pros and cons of filtering, the different kinds of filters, and the way people interpret them.

 

Summary:

• Filters have become a part of our culture.
• Instagram filters remove data instead of adding it.
• Technological filters are unique to others.
• You can filter absolutely anything.
• Many popular apps create their own styles of filtering that are very different from each other.
• Filtered positive posts lead others to do the same as well.
• The way apps filter themselves leads to how users will filter their own behavior.
• Cultural filters filter out forms of expressions that most of the time we are not even aware of.
• People tend to resist or change cultural filters.
• Photographers filter photos to add more beauty and complexity.
• Filters enhance the qualities that are not shown right away in a picture.
• Filters show us a different reality.
• The more we use filters, the more they will begin separate us from the real world.
• Filters applied to selfies create a “new” you, and that is why people filter themselves so much.
• Technology has begun and will continue to filter out our visual representations.
• Genre filters have rules that fit the kind of filter you are using for a certain something.
• Because of filters, we have started to take reality for granted.

Key Terms/Main Idea:

The main idea of this chapter is filters. The different kinds of filters, how they are shaping the community, the good and the bad that they bring, and how they impact us individually.

Filter: The process of removing something.

Electronic Filter: A passive circuit that attenuates all signals except those within one or more frequency bands.

Terministic Screens: The acknowledgment of a language system that determines your perception and symbolic action that takes place in the world.

Defamiliarization: The artistic technique of presenting common things to audiences in an unfamiliar or strange way in order to enhance perception of the familiar.

Aesthetic: Concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty.

Commentary:

There were many things that the author mentioned throughout this chapter that I was able to agree with. Starting with the use of filters. I completely agree that filters are used to cover up the flaws and imperfections of pictures. I also agree that they are used to enhance pictures for the audience. Some would argue that these fixes are cons to filtering because it is not showing the original post. The author mentioned this by explaining that filtering is “defamiliarizing” us with what is real and what is not. In my own opinion, I think filtering is okay as long as someone does not overuse it. If filters are used too much, the pictures become fake to me. I also think that people should just learn to accept the reality of what things actually look like. We should not have to constantly be searching for a way to make something better than it already is because then expectations become too high, and unrealistic. In conclusion, I really did like the way the author explained filtering. The good and the bad was mentioned, the different kinds of filters were mentioned, and connections were made. This chapter did a very good job at making the audience aware of real world filter situations.

This post is specifically about how I contribute to the “folklore” of our time through my own online activity.

There are many things that I am a part of on the internet. I use Snapchat to communicate with my friends. I use Instagram to post about what is going on in my life. I also use Instagram to see what my friends and family are up to. I use Twitter to find and post humorous tweets. From these last few sentences, you can see that I am well engaged in the world of online social media.

I will start with my contribution through Snapchat. Through this app, I am able to communicate through facial expressions, filters, emojis, and text messages. Just sending a picture of you to another person creates a whole new online atmosphere that will influence generations to come. I personally use my Snapchat for only friends and family. This is because I am not very comfortable with a lot of strangers seeing my snapchats. I could say that Snapchat is my most social app, and the most fun.

Next I will talk about Instagram. In my opinion, I believe that Instagram is the most popular app among teenagers. Instagram is used to post pictures, videos, and relatable quotes for all audiences to see. Instagram has many extra features such as messaging, livestream videos, filters, and the ability to highlight all your favorite posts. I use Instagram to share pictures of my friends, trips, and/or exciting events. For example, this summer I went to Europe and posted pictures of all the places I visited during my vacation. Another reason I use Instagram is to see what my friends have to post. It is fun for me to see if my friend got a new dog, or if they went down to the beach in Florida. When I see positive posts like these, I like them. Instagram is a great way to see the many interest of others.

The last form of media I will talk about is Twitter. I am fairly new to Twitter, but from what I’ve seen, I really enjoy it. Twitter is used as a way to express thoughts, ideas, and stories. It is way to promote and/or sponsor people, brands, companies, etc. It can also be a way to alert masses of people of upcoming events. For example, my basketball coach uses Twitter to post when and where our open gyms will be. I use Twitter as a form of my own humor. Whenever I think of something that stresses me out, or makes me mad, I use Twitter to make a joke out of it. Many of my friends use this app for the same exact reason. It is always fun to scroll through the humorous tweets that in reality are just sad.

If two generations from now were to see all of my social media, they could conclude that the online culture is very sarcastic and funny. They would see that social media was the number one form of communication for many teens and adults. They would see that the society I lived in revolved around the pictures, words, and videos that float around in the world of social media. They could also conclude that I was a typical teenager who used these three apps to communicate with my friends, post positive pictures and messages, and use my sense of humor as a way to not be so stressed.