Social networking as a concept has rolled like a tsunami through the blabosphere, but with little analysis of its context and purposes.
This is another example, like “digital natives,” of a concept which has a deceptive obviousness to it. On reflection, it’s actually complex and slippery. Is social here a term which refers to polite and superficial interaction? Or is it meant to bring in the sinister underbelly of human relations, like “social diseases” as a euphemism for sexually transmitted infections?
I actually feel more like an authentic digital native, despite my senior citizen status, than most teenyboppers, since I was using the net when it was a new and exciting space for open inquiry and authentic communication, before the commercial onslaught. Kids who grew up with the net as a sphere for marketing often know nothing of its real uses for knowledge enhancement and creative publication.
Social networking as a concept has rolled like a tsunami through the blabosphere, but with little analysis of its context and purposes.
This is another example, like “digital natives,” of a concept which has a deceptive obviousness to it. On reflection, it’s actually complex and slippery. Is social here a term which refers to polite and superficial interaction? Or is it meant to bring in the sinister underbelly of human relations, like “social diseases” as a euphemism for sexually transmitted infections?
I actually feel more like an authentic digital native, despite my senior citizen status, than most teenyboppers, since I was using the net when it was a new and exciting space for open inquiry and authentic communication, before the commercial onslaught. Kids who grew up with the net as a sphere for marketing often know nothing of its real uses for knowledge enhancement and creative publication.
