What I Learned From This Class

When I started this class, I had never written an online blog entry. It was interesting to be able to communicate online in a different way than I have before. I think that I will continue with an online blog, just maybe not in a weekly format.
The first blog post about online abstinence was the most interesting. I thought it would have been harder to live without the Internet for 24 hours. During this period I did household chores that I had been neglecting. I found other ways to get my news during the day including reading the newspaper and watching television.
During week 2, I watched the Brad Paisley music video. I see how it could be easy for a person to create a new identity because they are not happy with who they are. You can create an identity that is totally different from the one that is portrayed in public.
Thinking about what I reveal on Facebook has given me a new perspective on things I can reveal, and things I should keep private. I never post very many pictures or information so I haven’t been worried about it. Sometimes I will post something, but then I feel the possibility that someone will see it is so small that it doesn’t matter much.
Writing a letter to someone was a good change of pace from the usual typing on a keyboard and staring at a screen. The though one must put into a written letter makes it become more of a chore than an email, but one that is much more worthwhile after it is completed.
Joining an Internet community was something I was not particularly looking forward too, but it turned out to be better than I expected. With an online group I was able to ‘listen’ to many points of view about the same topics. This was good because it gave me a broader perspective about how to deal with something I had in common with the person based on our handicap. This is something that I will continue with in the future since it was very beneficial.
Interviewing people about their Internet usage was not something I would have thought of doing in the past. I initially felt funny having to interview them, but found they each had things in common. They all only liked to correspond with people they had known previously which I have in common as well. I was surprised my grandma still likes to do her day to day banking at the branch down the street instead of checking balances online.
Week 7 was definitely the most challenging of the blog posts for me. I hadn’t really come to a conclusion on which problems would have been solved easier sans cyberspace. I guess I feel I don’t get into many situations like that so that is why it was so difficult.
Overall this was a very fun class and I had the chance to communicate in some differing ways, some of which I had never done, and others it seemed I had put in the back of my mind long ago, not knowing when they would be used again.