Always connected: Affecting work and social life.

This week’s discussion surrounding the merging of work and leisure was a real eye-opener for future career aspirations with new trends expecting to be available 24/7. As the internet and mobile technologies have progressed and become more advanced, the physical space of the office and being physically present in the office is now not the only time and place you are expected to do work. Smartphones and personal laptops are an essential item to many professions involved in ‘information’ processing industry, and such constant pressures to be always connected have had many adverse affects.

Personally I find myself multitasking more and more, whether it is helping me to complete tasks more effectively or at a high standard is debatable. I find if I am doing Uni assessments, I’ll be also multitasking other things, including my social life with my laptop and phone both getting a heavy workout. I find myself producing my best work when I buckle down at the library, with minimal distractions, (no Facebook, no reception) and wonder whether working outside of the office has the same negative effect, by completing tasks at a poorer standard.

Finally, the debate over whether Facebook and this notion of being ‘always connected’ effects social interactions. In my own observations, although I am a heavy user of Facebook, I do find myself and others being detached from conversations and various situations, as more and more time is spent checking, updating and uploading on social networks via smartphones. Ted made an interesting comparison to two identical social situations happening in two different cultures. With youths in Istanbul engaging in fiery and passionate conversations, where as the Western culture is becoming more and more detached as these ‘social’ tools are starting to have an adverse effect.

But I still manage to log into Facebook as much as possible, but am becoming aware when it may be having the reverse effect to my social life, and making sure there is a time when I can disconnect and enjoy the moment at hand.

Utopias and Distopias- The war on controlling our "mindspace".

.."The world kind of works better when individuals have the right to decide what to do with their own bodies, when society isn't based on forced dependency, and when we are not killing each other in large numbers."

Most of us are aware of the control the government has on our own lives, and society as a whole. I believe Adam's views reflect my own perspective on how we analyse the internet and how it plays a "utopian" role in our lives and society as a whole. As all facets of our lives are governed or controlled in various ways, the freedom and limitless opportunities the internet once stood for are slowly beginning to fade as this "utopian" global society is being moulded to suit Government bodies.

I enjoyed reading Barlow's passionate manifesto, as it forwards this notion of the freedom each user has the right to possess through using this cyberspace, becoming a global "mind space" which unable to be controlled or governed through coercion. Although this manifesto made me question how I personally used the internet, signing away my ownership and privacy rights, and conceding to the "rules and regulations" every time I signed into my Facebook account. Are such violations of ownership the new means of governing and regulating our "mind space"?

After reading reports of hackers uniting together, to "kill" Facebook, at first I didn't know how to react. The term "hackers” has a negative connotation, as many media outlets explain the threat and dangers that hackers bring. But after reading Barlow's manifesto, I have formed a new perspective on hackers, by thinking of them as "freedom fighters" for this utopian mind space eliminating any controlling forces who seek to govern this "utopian" society.

Maybe Barlow was right after all.. "I declare the global social space we are building to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear."


Barlow, J.P. (1996) A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace [URL: https://projects.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html

New Opportunities

This week the concept of global networks was explained in greater detail, with the technological inventions which have allowed global communications to occur.

Right from the telegraph, to the telephone, radio, television and satellites, each technological development compressed time and space forming a new space for communication in this new ‘global village’. It’s a funny concept to imagine a world where communication could only happen on a local level, where messages had to be physically passed or communicated on a face-to-face level. The interesting part of the implication of global networks is the creation of new concepts such as weather reports, which were non-existent prior to such global networks, as information was not able to be communicated over large areas of space. Concepts which we now take for granted, as we have been brought up communicating on a global level, where this compression of time and space is a normative process.

What particularly interested me were the new opportunities for women in the workforce the invention of telephony brought as the new career opportunities came through switchboard operators. This was a particular interest of mine, as my Nan was accepted into the RAF, as a switchboard operator. This communication tool allowed for a social change, creating opportunities for women globally, such as my Nan in gaining a profession which came with full-time employment and training in a specialist field.

So, without being to technological deterministic, there are still implications on social issues coming from such advancements in technologies and communication networks. Some in which we take for granted on a daily basis. Next time you IM your friend on Facebook, or send an email, remember how communicating would have been like prior to such communication networks. Carrier pigeon delivery system doesn’t seem too instant..