Lauren Alexis

Upon research of podcasts that discuss online communication I explored many different avenues. The podcast that I landed on is about how online communication has changed dating. “Big tech is transforming every aspect of our world. But how? And at what cost? (…) Through conversations with industry leaders, experts, and users, this series will look at the past decade of dating.” (Fox Media Podcast Network) This introduction is what made me listen to their podcast Land of the Giants Dating Dating Game .  Online communication has changed so much of our world, but it has profoundly changed dating. Online communication facilitated my relationship with my boyfriend. We met each other online, and many of my peers met their significant others online too. Meeting in this way creates a tension free need. If you have never met the person IRL you can ghost them with no repercussions, but it is also a way to socially integrate with them before ever having met them. You can vet them on social med...

Social media is here, and here to stay. I often wonder the long term impacts of social media. I would argue that there are many obvious positive things that come from the usage of social media. However, there are many drawbacks from using social media. Something major happened on Social media in the year 2020. The modern civil rights movement took the social media world by storm. The murder of George Floyd spread like wildfire across all platforms and reached billions of people. This is something that has never happened before. Due to unheard of audience these things reached it sparked massive protests in almost all major cities in the United States.  Blackout Tuesday    was a day in 2020 where millions of people took to social media to show their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.  Social media is changing the documentation of history. I believe this because almost everyone has a platform with an audience. History can be defined as many different...

Tan Republic has two locations in Corvallis. They both share the same social media accounts and the website is the website for all locations. The website is very well organized. Many links to promotions, different locations, rewards, locations and other things. The first thing on the website is a video with it’s specials in a text box. In the middle, is a link to find your closest location. At the end of the home page is a form to fill out to join their news letter and “text club”.  The website is easy to navigate and well organized. Information is well balanced with images. I enjoyed that they provided pictures of specific tanning beds and spray tan machines.  Tan Republic posts frequently on Instagram. They share promotions and deals that they are having. The cohesiveness and aesthetic needs some work. There overall feed does not go together. If I were to manage their Instagram, I would continue posting regularly, sharing promotions, but I would establish a color scheme, and...

According to Prensky there are many categories people fall into for their usage of online things. I would say I, in particular, fall into the category of evaluating. I am particularly active on Instagram and Tike Tok. On these platforms, whether you admit it or not are constantly evaluating peoples lives. In example, you are evaluating the outfit they are wearing, where they went in vacation or who they are hanging out with. We self assign ourselves as “followers” to evaluate the quality of peoples lives. We provide our approval by providing a ‘like”, or a comment.  However, Paul Kirscenery refuted some of Prenskys ideals. He argues that Prenskys “problems” that he has pointed out aren’t’ t really problems. He stated “A non-solution for a non-existing problem?” He explained that once the natives become the teachers the problem is going to go away anyways.  XO, Lauren Alexis