Status message commentary from one of my students (VM).
VM at 12:50pm April 26
Twitter and Facebook updates are like disembodied accountability…
DK at 12:53pm April 26
hmmm… interesting… explain…
VM at 2:56pm April 26
normally people around you keep you accountable for your actions but there are with you. Present.
But with twitter and facebook updates you post what your doing at the moment and people comment on it. there are not present disembodied so to speak.
you can always not post something that your are doing but when you get in the habit of posting all the time it turns into a form of accountability. People become transparent on the internet. So hence where all this came from.
Just thinking about the connection between people and technology and what the internet has done to the human condition. That’s all.
Both sides have there pluses and negatives. But nothing should replace nor nothing can replace face to face communication. I’m still thinking on the subject though…
not sure the full implications of either and how they effect each other.
CT at 3:40pm April 26
But at the same time, people may not actually put on their statuses what they are feeling. They may post something else in order to keep what they are feeling/slash going through a secret. Therefore, what people are holding them accountable for may be irrelevant.
If people truly want to hide themselves, they will, whether in person or online. It is true that some people are transparent online or in person, but not all. What you are saying, Vinnie, may be true for a vast majority of people, but not all. Definitely not all.
DK at 3:49pm April 26
There’s actually a phrase coined for this… ambient presence. The sense that you are in contact with people because of continual micro-updates even if you aren’t physically there. A text message here, a twitter update there, a changed FB status now and again… all serve to build a fuller picture of a person than you might get otherwise. It’s like adding pieces to a puzzle to get the big picture. Is it an accurate picture? Perhaps, perhaps not. But it is definitely interesting to think about 
