While I was reading James Gee’s book
on video games, I was attempting to connect his ideas to the digital world in
general. In chapter four when Gee discussed the idea that we gain meaning from
something as we’re immersed in the situation, I thought about the possibility
that websites could do this too. For example, I thought of the reasons why we
use certain social media websites like Facebook.
One of Facebook’s features allows us to post pictures. When we post pictures, we post them for ourselves and for an audience. Speaking from personal experience, I post pictures on Facebook mostly for myself so I can refer to them later, but more and more lately I keep in mind a specific audience when I post (e.g person x and y make appreciate a specific picture). I suppose one of the things I like about Facebook is that I get to more easily see what other people are up to (e.g through pictures and statuses) than I would for any other route. Because seeing those pictures and statuses interest me, it keeps me coming back to the website.
I also believe that what takes me back to a website is the fact that I get to interact with my friends. When I post a status, there is a chance that one of my friends will like what I wrote and/or then comment on it. Because those things can leave me feeling warm & supported, I wonder if that is another thing that make me keep coming back to the website as well.
In addition to interconnectivity with websites, I was also thinking about how we project our identities to the digital mediums we use. For example, when I use YouTube, I watch channels that make me feel positive emotions like laughter. I don’t watch videos that make feel negative emotions unless I’m just stumbling upon those videos on that website or if I’m linked there from a friend. I feel like when the video makes me happy, I’m reflecting pieces of my identity onto to what I’m watching because I’m choosing to engage in something that I value. In other words, the videos that make feel happy are a part of what I value as a person.
Then, the idea of values & identity makes me return to our previous ideas about the filter bubble. One of my take aways from the Filter Bubble reading is that what we see online is the product of what we click/interact with and where our values lie. I feel like what we click shapes what we see online and the reason why we click on certain things is because we value it for one reason or another. For example, when I use YouTube, I mostly look up instrumental stuff and various gamers (because that stuff interests me at varying times) and so that makes up a lot of what I see in the suggestion section of YouTube. It’s sort of gotten to where if I want to find similar 80s music that I may enjoy, that I do not get much of a variety for suggestions because YouTube thinks that songs that I’ve heard before are what I haven’t heard before. Perhaps I just need to dig harder for a variety of 80s sounding songs, or perhaps I just need to reshape my filter bubble a little bit more to accommodate my desires. …. But it makes me wonder something else …: Can this filter bubble really help broaden my horizons as a music listener to find new music I may end up loving that may or may not sound like the 80s I enjoy or will it only reinforce the sounds and styles that I currently like? (And could the filter bubble be that smart to figure out the exact music style/composer/structure that I like?)
One of Facebook’s features allows us to post pictures. When we post pictures, we post them for ourselves and for an audience. Speaking from personal experience, I post pictures on Facebook mostly for myself so I can refer to them later, but more and more lately I keep in mind a specific audience when I post (e.g person x and y make appreciate a specific picture). I suppose one of the things I like about Facebook is that I get to more easily see what other people are up to (e.g through pictures and statuses) than I would for any other route. Because seeing those pictures and statuses interest me, it keeps me coming back to the website.
I also believe that what takes me back to a website is the fact that I get to interact with my friends. When I post a status, there is a chance that one of my friends will like what I wrote and/or then comment on it. Because those things can leave me feeling warm & supported, I wonder if that is another thing that make me keep coming back to the website as well.
In addition to interconnectivity with websites, I was also thinking about how we project our identities to the digital mediums we use. For example, when I use YouTube, I watch channels that make me feel positive emotions like laughter. I don’t watch videos that make feel negative emotions unless I’m just stumbling upon those videos on that website or if I’m linked there from a friend. I feel like when the video makes me happy, I’m reflecting pieces of my identity onto to what I’m watching because I’m choosing to engage in something that I value. In other words, the videos that make feel happy are a part of what I value as a person.
Then, the idea of values & identity makes me return to our previous ideas about the filter bubble. One of my take aways from the Filter Bubble reading is that what we see online is the product of what we click/interact with and where our values lie. I feel like what we click shapes what we see online and the reason why we click on certain things is because we value it for one reason or another. For example, when I use YouTube, I mostly look up instrumental stuff and various gamers (because that stuff interests me at varying times) and so that makes up a lot of what I see in the suggestion section of YouTube. It’s sort of gotten to where if I want to find similar 80s music that I may enjoy, that I do not get much of a variety for suggestions because YouTube thinks that songs that I’ve heard before are what I haven’t heard before. Perhaps I just need to dig harder for a variety of 80s sounding songs, or perhaps I just need to reshape my filter bubble a little bit more to accommodate my desires. …. But it makes me wonder something else …: Can this filter bubble really help broaden my horizons as a music listener to find new music I may end up loving that may or may not sound like the 80s I enjoy or will it only reinforce the sounds and styles that I currently like? (And could the filter bubble be that smart to figure out the exact music style/composer/structure that I like?)
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