Wednesday, February 21, 2007

The Age of Ease

So, I haven't written a post in a while, and so, in order to continue on in getting an acceptable participation grade in this class, I have decided to end my dry-spell.

Listening to Ryan Adams, while I type through a web-browser set against a Bob Dylan, No Direction Home desktop, I would not expect for my personality to be one that is digitally enhanced, or concerned--- but I am. Why this incredible fascination with recent activity related to my friends and comrades online? All I really do online is check to see if someone has left a comment on of my several outlets of internet community.

So, running with this notion of a continued interest in displaying ourselves online, most of the time, creating ourselves an image that will be most attractive, I want to look at the evolution of this sort of Community.

What is a Community, anyways? I like one of the definitions that dictionary.com provides.
  1. The region occupied by a group of interacting organisms.
To me, this a clear explanation of the draw of these online communities. Organisms, (that would be us) find a mutual ground to interact, such as any population might-- for comradeship, and relationship. The ultimate goal of a community of organisms is to prosper and fulfill the natural requirement to procreate? Right?

I heard a girl the other day refer to having sex as "Populating." Funny, and true. Way to go, friend.

Being a student of PR, I have had to take some classes about the evolution of media in our world. All of my professors have chosen to label different periods throughout history in relation to how we have developed in information and digital technology. Each of my professors has chosen a different way of expressing each era, but they are all basically the same concepts.

1. Pre-Printing
2. Printing
3. Radio
4. Television
5. Internet

Some call our particular era the "Information Age," in relation to a rise in online use and supplemental relationships through online communities. Information usually means that we are acquiring things that we previously did not have, in this case more technology, and digitization. To me, the information age can be translated as the Age of Ease. Without lifting much more than a finger, our generation is able to access literally a world of things online. Without lifting much more than a finger, we are able to watch videos online from across the world. Without lifting much more than a finger, we are able to present ourselves as "date-able" and literally date online.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Facts- a continued discussion

According to an Industry Report sponsored by Yahoo!Personals, "For every 1 match on eHarmony that actually resulted in marriage, there were 999 'compatible' matches that did not." With these kinds of results, what would be the attraction to these sites? Commercials for eHarmony claim "there's a reason so many eHarmony matches result in marriage. At eHarmony we match you based on the deep dimensions of compatibility essential for a meaningful relationship. And with over 6 million members your chances of finding a perfect match has never been better." (Dr. Warren, eHarmony spokesperson.) Along with reports from match.com statistics, sights on the online dating world are dark...

FTC (the Federal Trade Commission, regulators on advertising and publics) regulations foster feelings of embellishment on much of the advertising world related to online dating. In a few words, regulations can be summed up as:

1. Advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive
2. Evidence of claims must be presented clearly and conspicuously.
3. Cannot be unfair, cause injury, or be harmful

Also, consumer testimonials are popular these days, although consumer endorsements are not always representative of the entire consumer population.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

TRUth





So, I wiki'd online dating, and found out some really interesting stuff. Apparently, questionable activity through online community is not only exemplified through chat-rooms and fake profiles on these dating sites.

Many times, advertisers take advantage of the space on the internet to create fake profiles that oftentimes blatantly sell themselves for the sake of marketing. Ranging from prostitution to ditch efforts of advertising, most of these profiles sometimes present themselves as legitimate.

A lie begets a lie. From fibbing about your a/s/l at a young age in interest-oriented chat-rooms will come a natural inclination to lie later on. Those of us whom were the liars back in the day are continuing on the legacy of fallacy in online communities. This creates a lack of trust within the community to count on the legitimacy of each profile they see, or even each photograph they see, in representation of the available profiles.

Online predators still find the availability of personal information online a wealth of prey. According to www.TRUE.com, felons and marrieds are shunned from accessing the site for fear of immediate legal action.
If you are a criminal or married, DO NOT use our website. Consider this to be fair warning: Our Member Safety team vigorously pursues individuals who misrepresent themselves on our website. We report violators to appropriate federal, state and local authorities, including parole boards. We also actively pursue prosecution of these offenders in other ways. For example, we recently took the unprecedented step of filing a lawsuit in federal court against a convicted felony sex offender from California who applied for m
embership with TRUE and accessed TRUE’s database in violation of TRUE’s policies.

It's good to see that online dating sites are beginning to recognize this very prevalent problem. It seems like live communities, such as Austin Residential communities would be more aware of sexual predation. With recent problems in the area revolving around sexual predation and the lack of knowledge about their existence in certain neighborhoods, people are uneasy about their choice of living. The fact that sexual predators are being shunned from online neighborhoods makes it more inevitable that someday action must be taken in true neighborhoods.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Apparently, love equals insanity.


ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- Astronaut Lisa Nowak Tuesday was ordered released on an additional $10,000 bond for an attempted murder charge involving a romantic rival.

Nowak, 43, had earlier posted a $15,500 bond on charges of attempted kidnapping, battery and attempted burglary of a car with battery. But, her release was halted as Orlando Police brought the attempted murder charge.

......................................................................

So, since I went to space camp when I was ten, does this mean that I will someday leave my husband and three kids and go after my secret lover's girlfriend?

I hope not.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

It's ok to look.


The beginnings of online dating were grim. Online Chat-Rooms and shady profile pictures were the only outlets to a somewhat unexciting life. The only people perusing the faces and claims of others were those that were:
a. Clueless
b. Creepy

I know that when Chat rooms first began, I was just at the dawn of my internet experience. My friends and I at the tender age of 11 always thought it to be an exciting thing to get on the "net" and chat it up with some "hotties" in chat-rooms full of kids our own age claiming to also be 18 with a stellar BOD. LOL. Consistently lieing about our age to people who consistently lied about their identity created a mockery of the entire dating system. I do believe that the rise of chat-rooms also resulted in the rise of mystery meetings between chat-room lovers. Usually including an underage female and, (to her horror) a 55 year old sexual predator hiding under the name "footballstud69." Sadly, most of these relationships were not mutually beneficial, or legal.

Because of this rise in illegal behavior on the internet, most shuddered at the idea of an online dating community. (You never know who could be behind that profile picture.) Commercials and print advertising for companies such as Match.com and eHarmony.com have inspired hope in those woed by the dating game. But, it has been an uphill battle.

There has been a migration from the online dating game from the creepy scene to the not-so-creepy scene. Creepy being those people who have no where else to go to find "true love," and, not-so-creepy being those whom have just had a rough play at the dating game. Those whom we consider normal, business people. It is an interesting thing to understand that many of those viewing and joining these sites are warn-down, stressed and busy professionals who would like to meet others of the same nature. "It's ok to look." People are now beginning to see online dating as a real solution to their lonely lives. With the click of a buttton, dating happens online: One now has the opportunity to take time out of work to surf the net for hot chicks...I mean prospects...I mean, I don't know what to call them. I guess you could see this as a glorified version of surfing Facebook during class. (You should be listening, but HEY, life is more interesting/important.)

It's not you, it's me.

So....How you doing?

What did you do today?

....yeah, me too.

Well, hey, I just wanted to let you know that, well...I've been getting really busy and, well, I need to focus on some different things.

No, no, it's not you. I just, have been trying to apply for a second major, and some other things have come up, and maybe it would be better if we would just be friends.

It seems like you are just so complicated all the time. I can't understand you. You require too much of me and my time.

Plus, well: I've found someone else...yeah, I know. Online.

Well hey, I'm sorry, but I have to go. Sabrina's on. I know, I shouldn't watch that show, but it just comes on at the right time.....and Melissa Joan Hart is such a good actress.

Ha.

************************************************************************************

Ok, so here's the deal. I'm switching topics. Child psychology is very interesting, but not for me. For fear of coming off creepy in writing about child sexuality, I am going to bail before I get too in over my head-- for all of our sakes.

Something else that interests me is the wide world of Online Dating-- not Facebook or MySpace dating, but eHarmony and Match.com dating.

I was first interested in this topic when my older brother, a graduate of Economics, and a literal web-developer, worked for Match.com. I know, pretty cool. Or, again, creepy. It's okay, I've heard it all before. Anyways, by talking with him about several additions to the online-dating world, I've become interested in it. Not that I want to date online, but instead, the idea of online dating is genius. Not only the fact of dating through the internet, but also the promotion and capitalism that feeds off of the ever-growing industry.

Sunday, February 4, 2007

The beginning

I chose to examine the life of a child in terms of love and sexuality. This hidden world of innocence and naivety is so interesting to me.

From the time a child is born, it is taught to love, by the love it receives. If the child is received as all children should be, it is told how much "I love you." The exact moment a mother begins to love her child is transient- whether it be at conception, acceptance, or birth.

A human creation is one to be loved and respected. I believe the almighty power required to assemble such a being is to be revered. Just to know that such a life has developed inside your body is to know that you have no choice but to love.

To be realistic, the ultimate idea of loving a child from conception is hard to relate to everyone. Sometimes, a child is given up for adoption to another loving parent or separate union, or even shared by three parents- involving a step parent. But, to be given an official home is in the most minute of circumstance, acceptance. Here, again, this love develops-- at whichever rate one can imagine.

I think that those of us whom were born to our two parents, and given a home immediately are incredibly lucky, yet few. And, those who are found by parents who love are incredibly blessed. My room-mate last year was an adopted child, whom has never met her original birth mother, nor has the desire to. Her mother had her at sixteen, and gave her up to adoption as an outlet to being unprepared for childcare.