Entry 2: New Media and College Sports
In modern America, college sports is as connected to the culture as baseball, apple pie, and McDonald's. As a result, coverage and support for the hundreds of teams across the nation can often get as prominent as the major professional sports if not bigger. Obviously, with the age of new media catching on, this means that college sports has also fallen under the umbrella of this new technology. New media is commonly described as information which can be instantaneous, easily edited by the public, and available anywhere there is an internet connection. With this, it can mean that coverage for the big teams and athletes can be as intimate and up-to-date as possible.
Of course, with the ability for almost anyone to contribute to new media, there is a distinct double-edged sword popping up. The benefit of having information spread instantaneously can be that feedback can be just as quick, but with fast spreading of information also comes the fast spreading of mis-information. A good analogy on this would be like saying that information is like butter, but in the rush to obtain and spread it some people may grab the mayonnaise (aka mis-information) instead and spread it like butter before realizing their mistake. As a result, more than it seems that corrections are being made to news and stories about college athletics. As well, since anybody can access and contribute to new media, this gives the personnel on the college teams more access to their fan base. Sometimes this can be good as it gives players and coaches a chance to communicate more directly with their fans. Other times, it can backfire, as some of them may end up commenting or posting a status that could reflect badly on not only them, but the team as well, especially since new media has no filter so to speak. Conversely, with the ability for fans to connect with their teams more than ever, it can mean that many more unsavory posts about said teams can be spread more easily as well.
In conclusion, new media is a great tool for college sports, both for the personnel and the fans, but they need to better learn how to control the information input and output going forward to continue the success it currently has.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Entry 1: Technology Deprivation.
This weekend, we were assigned to participate in a technology deprivation experiment (hence the title). For the experiment, we were to forgo using social media, email, the internet, and any messaging services for a period of 24 hours before slowly integrating them back into our daily lives. Being part of a generation that has had the benefit of enjoying all these features for most of our conscious lives, this task was clearly going to go as well as trying to lose weight while eating nothing but Big Macs and not exercising.
Starting 3 hours:
For the first three hours, I did pretty well since I could still call peeps, and I had the Red Sox game to watch on TV to numb my senses, after the game (Sox won 9-8 WOOHOO!), reality has sunken in since I could not go online to check the box score, nor could I go check the box scores of other teams to check my fantasy team (ARRGHH). With nothing else to do, I decided that I might as well shower and go to sleep since I couldn't browse online and I had no real desire to watch the highlights.
The Next Morning:
Progress was going surprisingly well since I planned to hang out with my friend all day before attending his little brother's Bar Mitzvah. Unfortunately, we both have a tendency of going onto our phones during dull times, and guess who couldn't use his phone to satiate his boredom (on a side note, HOW THE HECK DID I SURVIVE WITHOUT A PHONE WITH INTERNET??!!).
The Afternoon:
Still no phone meant bored out of my skull, although my friend tried to satiate it by trying to show me funny stuff he found online (MUST RESIST!). While waiting around his house, I figured I might as well watch TV and take a nap, which worked out quite well since I got refreshed if anything else. By the time we're ready to leave, 24 hours have passed, I HAVE SUCCEEDED. Alas, fate decided to screw me over by making me wait an extra hour and a half since the Bar Mitzvah took place at 5, THE EXACT SAME TIME THE RESTRICTIONS LIFT!!! Regardless, it's nice to see a boy ceremoniously become a man, so I couldn't exactly say it was a bad reason not to pop the phone up again the check the web for just a little longer.
The Night: At last, I can access the internet, 24 hours of tension released in one go as I can finally check my stats, as well as update my fantasy team, so it's all good. My inability to check email, social media, or text doesn't bother me as much as my lack of internet, since I have the ability to call in a worst case scenario anyways, and I was spending all day socializing, so Facebook and Twitter didn't end up being too busy anyways. At least if anything else, my ability to release all the internet tension that had built up meant I could relax more and party my night away.
Conclusion: Seeing that access to the internet for me is like water to a fish, I felt like a fish just gasping around until I finally could get it back. On the upside though, I can proudly say I survived the challenge, albeit with a little more mental wear than before (but at least I can now remember how elementary school me survived without internet access).
This weekend, we were assigned to participate in a technology deprivation experiment (hence the title). For the experiment, we were to forgo using social media, email, the internet, and any messaging services for a period of 24 hours before slowly integrating them back into our daily lives. Being part of a generation that has had the benefit of enjoying all these features for most of our conscious lives, this task was clearly going to go as well as trying to lose weight while eating nothing but Big Macs and not exercising.
Starting 3 hours:
For the first three hours, I did pretty well since I could still call peeps, and I had the Red Sox game to watch on TV to numb my senses, after the game (Sox won 9-8 WOOHOO!), reality has sunken in since I could not go online to check the box score, nor could I go check the box scores of other teams to check my fantasy team (ARRGHH). With nothing else to do, I decided that I might as well shower and go to sleep since I couldn't browse online and I had no real desire to watch the highlights.
The Next Morning:
Progress was going surprisingly well since I planned to hang out with my friend all day before attending his little brother's Bar Mitzvah. Unfortunately, we both have a tendency of going onto our phones during dull times, and guess who couldn't use his phone to satiate his boredom (on a side note, HOW THE HECK DID I SURVIVE WITHOUT A PHONE WITH INTERNET??!!).
The Afternoon:
Still no phone meant bored out of my skull, although my friend tried to satiate it by trying to show me funny stuff he found online (MUST RESIST!). While waiting around his house, I figured I might as well watch TV and take a nap, which worked out quite well since I got refreshed if anything else. By the time we're ready to leave, 24 hours have passed, I HAVE SUCCEEDED. Alas, fate decided to screw me over by making me wait an extra hour and a half since the Bar Mitzvah took place at 5, THE EXACT SAME TIME THE RESTRICTIONS LIFT!!! Regardless, it's nice to see a boy ceremoniously become a man, so I couldn't exactly say it was a bad reason not to pop the phone up again the check the web for just a little longer.
The Night: At last, I can access the internet, 24 hours of tension released in one go as I can finally check my stats, as well as update my fantasy team, so it's all good. My inability to check email, social media, or text doesn't bother me as much as my lack of internet, since I have the ability to call in a worst case scenario anyways, and I was spending all day socializing, so Facebook and Twitter didn't end up being too busy anyways. At least if anything else, my ability to release all the internet tension that had built up meant I could relax more and party my night away.
Conclusion: Seeing that access to the internet for me is like water to a fish, I felt like a fish just gasping around until I finally could get it back. On the upside though, I can proudly say I survived the challenge, albeit with a little more mental wear than before (but at least I can now remember how elementary school me survived without internet access).
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