Balloon Boy

Over the past month all we saw on television was this story on the Balloon Boy, but why did it get so much attention not being a major issue in our society. This is a perfect example of something being newsworthy. This story was all over every news channel because the news industry knew it would catch a lot of viewers attention. Many viewers were probably so interested in this story at first because they were so curious to find out if the boy was actually in the balloon and after they found out he wasn’t I believe they became curious to find out if it was a hoax or not. In addition, viewers were so interested in this story because they might have kids so they related with the family because they know how they would react and feel if it was their kid. I think this is the reason why people ignored how strange this family actually was.

Being in college it is hard to keep up with what is going on in society, but even I heard of this balloon boy story. When I saw the interview that took place with the family I saw that something was up because the way the mother was talking to the missing child. I think I was able to see that something was weird immediately because I wasn’t able to consume myself with the story being in college. This is the reason why people weren’t able to see how strange the Heene family was. People were just too deep into the story to see that story could have been a hoax. Furthermore, this is a big issue that goes on in our society. The news industry knows what will catch the viewers attention so they put it on and the viewer gets confused and tricked because the story is so appealing. As a result, the viewer is blind to the real issue that is going on in the story and are just able to see what the news chooses to focus on. This also shows how easily society is influenced by the news it sees on television.

Joining groups on Facebook

Why do people join groups on Facebook. Monica Hesse’s article, Click Through Activism, in the Washington Post focuses on why people join groups on Facebook knowing they won’t do anything more to support the cause. So why do people join these groups.
Users of Facebook join groups mostly because their friends do it so they want to do it to. People may also join groups because they feel it is the right thing to do. For example, if someone is invited to group about supporting cancer they will most likely join because they know cancer is a serious issue in today’s society. They also feel that joining the group is enough support in itself so they don’t need to do anything else after joining the group. In addition, people may join a group with a funny name because it was something that caught their attention. In class we talked about people joining a group where a guy said if he gets one million members to join his group his wife would let him turn their house into a pirate ship. Of course people would join a group like this because they are curious to see if his wife would really allow him to turn their house into a pirate ship.
Ultimately, people will continue to join groups on Facebook without really knowing what they are about. Personally I do not join groups on Facebook unless it is a group a friend made because I know I wouldn’t do anything after to support the group so why join it in the first place.

What Kind of Tech User Are You?

After taking the What Kind of Tech User Are You quiz, I received the results that I was a mobile newbie. I agree that I am a mobile newbie because I do depend on my cell phone to keep in touch with people and without it I wouldn’t really be able to find friends. I also agree that I wouldn’t be the same without my cell phone and depend on it to do a lot of things in my life. I don’t really use the internet or my computer unless I really need to. I mostly just use the news now to go on face book and check my BC email other than that I don’t really need it.