Mind Control on the Internet

I agree with all three articles to an extent. I do not like being unconsciously controlled  or directed while online. If we are using the WORLD wide web, I don't understand why certain third parties are restricting or delaying access to this full world wide web. The first two articles show how certain results are being filtered out by some algorithms when we search in an attempt to gear the results to out "liking". I dislike not knowing what the omitted results has in store for me. This mind control is unfair.
The last article is about how it is better to stay with like minded peers rather than weak ties. I agree with this as far as people are concerned, but not the internet and search results. We search for something because we lack the knowledge of that topic, so it is not right for our results to be skewed and altered to be something that an algorithm thinks we want to see.

Obama's Campaign

Obama's 2008 campaign was well planned and apparently greatly executed (since he won!). He incorporated almost every possible social network tool into his campaign. He really made himself known in the internet world and especially to the youth. By using  these platforms to campaign he basically forced himself into the lives of the youth. When we change the channel from any political activity its gone as soon as we press the button. But when you are on Facebook and you keep seeing that your friends have liked Obama's fan page, it brings some curiosity, or better yet interest about who he is. Social networks was how I found out Obama was running for president, so I think he did a fantastic job with implication of social networks  on his campaign.

Growing Up Online

PBS's presentation Growing up online was intensely accurate. The generation gap is absolutely widening and the internet is of great help. Based on the teenagers around me, my siblings and cousins, I agree with majority of the presentation. The presentation touched on two topics that stood out to me: schoolwork online and social networks.
Using the internet to do your schoolwork is a great advantage (I'm doing it now!), but it can also be a students demise. A boy in the video said he never reads the books he is assigned he just uses spark notes. If a student does this for every course subject in highschol, they will never learn. They may pass the grade but they will not actually learn the material.
Social networking is like the greatest thing ever when used in moderation, and in most cases, when used with supervision. The presentation showed two girls who used social networks one who took on an online persona and another who joined an online community dedicated to eating disorders. In both instances things turned bad.  The first girl became very provocative and thrived for the male attention she was receiving online. The second girl became envious of other members of the community whose disorders were becoming worse. If the two were supervised these situations would have probably been prevented.
 The internet isn't going anywhere, and neither are we. The internet is full of good and bad stuff, its our responsibility to know how to use it in moderation.
~B.G~