Holstebro Tekniske GymnasiumEnglish B 2007/2009IS

Essay 2.D

Things you wouldn’t tell your motherMichael Sloth Trabjerg

Things you wouldn’t tell your mother

A. Summary

In the article “Things you wouldn’t tell your mother” in New Scientist 18 September 2006, Alison George gives the reader an overview over the discussion about the social networking sites.

The text begins with an example of a profile on the social networking site Myspace.com and some of the disadvantages of the social networking sites. We then hear about the structure of the social networking sites and that some people have multiple identities online. After this we hear about the service ClaimID.com and the advantages of this service. We hear about some of the disadvantages of in-jokes on the social networking sites for instance when you’re going to a job interview or is a US college athlete. After this we hear about the balance between too much and not too much privacy on these sites and the differences between offline and online life. Then we hear about some additional privacy tools and how we can prevent an eternal memory of our indiscretions. Then text says if the social networking sites will affect our norms: what do we think is private? The last part of the text deals with the question if our attitudes to what we say and think online depend on our profession.

(204 words)

B. Commentary

“Cols likes a smoke and has tried many different drugs. He has three piercings and is in the process of tattooing his arm. He earns between $75,000 and $100,000 a year and doesn’t see his dad.”

(“Things you wouldn’t tell your mother”, 1st column, lines 1 – 8).

My own opinion on this example of a social networking profile is that I don’t think that this is a realistic profile. I don’t think that this is realistic because nobody or at less not many would write that they have tried many different drugs. However, actually it’s a bit difficult to give my own opinion on the quotation because which site is this social networking profile from? There is a big difference if this is a profile from a site whose target group is people with, for instance, drug problems or problems in the family like: I don’t see my dad. Or a normal social networking site likefacebook.comwhich almost everyone knows.

Not many people at facebook.comwould write a profile like the profile I’ve to comment on. But if it was a site whose target group was people with drug problems then I don’t think it would be quite possible to write a profile like that. However, if I was a girl and I was using dating sites and I saw a profile like that I would think what the fuck?! Because I don’t think that many girls think that boys who try or have tried many drugs and have problems in their family etc. soundattractive.

Perhaps if the girl is young and the boy is young because some young people like danger and lots of challenges. I don’t think that a woman who is about 30 years old and is looking for a husband would think that Cols sounds like a perfect family father.

Well, I would not write a profile like that and place it on the Internet but I would not be surprised if someone would write a profile like Cols’ and I’m sure of that somebody would contact the person.

(298 words)

C. Discussion

Discuss the influence which information technology might have on our social life and identity, online and in real life.

Take your starting point in some of the issues in the text.

Information technology has a big influence on our social life and identity. The technology has a big influence because anything you put on the internet has the potential to be made public. And this is a problem. There are both advantages and disadvantages of this form for technology.

For instance, a disadvantage could be that you put something on the internet and you think that it’s only you and the people who are in your group that can see the pictures. Then it can be a problem if other people can see the pictures because the pictures could be private. Especially if you’re famous or well known in the public because maybe a journalist finds the pictures on the internet and then you get a bad mention in the newspaper. Another disadvantage could be that people have multiple identities online because a person’s profile at facebook.com is different from his profile at dating.com so this could mean that a person might get the wrong information about the person or a wrong impression.

However, there are also advantages of the information technology. An advantage could be that you are looking for a girl- or boyfriend but you are very shy so you can’t go over to a person at a party and ask if you should go on a date or something like that. So then the shy person can go to the internet and go on a dating site and then maybe start talking to a boy- or girl and then when the person knows the other person they can meet each other. Another advantage could be that before we got the internet and these kinds of information technologies we couldn’t talk and write with people from other countries andcontinents. However, now we talk with people from other countries and continents all the time. People have travelled to other countries to work in foreign countries, especially students at the universities are travelling to foreign countries to work. Actually in these days it’s a fashionphenomenon to travel to a foreign country to study.

Personally, I think that the information technology will have a big importance in the future because we need these kinds of technologies because communication is extremely important. I think that we can use the internet and the information technology to a lot and I’m sure of that this technology will develop even more than it is now.

(401 words)

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Udleveret: 06-10-08

Afleveres: 21-11-08