No internet? Unthinkable.

On Thursday I spent all day working on a paper. For some reason I saved this paper onto the “N” drive instead of into My Documents. Anyway, Thursday was the day most of campus lost electricity. I, living in Hillside, didn’t lose electricity but we did lose our internet connection.. and most importantly.. the N drive (which I still don’t have on my room computer by the way, good thing it works in the library). I was very flustered for awhile and was wondering how I was going to finish the paper, which I had already gotten an extension for in the first place. So instead of doing some other homework, that I didn’t necessarily really need the internet for, I just complained a lot.

Then yesterday I was talking to my friends about how it’s annoying that some things like YouTube and the Itunes Store, don’t work well with Titan net, and how I can’t even begin to access them when I’m at home because of having Dial Up. Then we started talking about Dial Up and how awful it would be if this college had it. I’m pretty sure that would not work well. This brought us to, what if we didn’t have the internet at all? What would we do?

This is just another thing that showed me how much we rely on this modern technology. I really cannot imagine not having it, especially at college. It’s pretty much unthinkable.

CMC- not everywhere

The statistic in the reading that over half the worlds population has never made a phone call so therefore, well over half have never engaged in CMC, shocked me. I guess, most of the time and for some aspects of life, especially modern technology, we are just so into our own worlds that we just don’t think about others lives, especially when they are across the world. The world is so big. It is hard for me to imagine people lives in my own city, much less the state, much less our country, much less the continent, and the whole world…well I think you know what I mean.
Here we are, discussing how much we rely on CMC, and how hard it is when we don’t have it, when more than half of the people in the world have never even come close to experiencing any form of CMC. I just think it’s crazy.
I wonder if these people in other countries know what they’re missing, this “privilege” we have in CMC. But then CMC isn’t always the best thing. It has caused many problems, whether it is an online predator, online bullying, people getting fired for the things found out about them through blogging or personal websites, or just the lack of FtF communication because of always using some form of CMC.
I have never known a life without CMC, so I don’t really know how these people are feeling or how they experience life. Most of them might not even know what they are missing out on. They are probably just trying to live life to the best of their ability, just like we are, but obviously in different ways. There is life without CMC. It’s hard for me to imagine.
This blog is very rambling, so sorry for that. It’s just that I never actually really thought about many of these topics that we have been discussing until I started taking this class, and now CMC, and how much we rely on it has become so much more evident.

Online Class.

Although I enjoyed having a little more nap time by not having to go to class at 10:30, I'm pretty sure I enjoy a typical classroom setting more than online class. Although it was nice being able to work at my own pace, I still left everything until the last minute. Also I have trouble reading and understanding things when I read them on a computer screen...as ridiculous as that may sound.
Also when having a discussion about these sorts of topics, I prefer FtF communication over a message board, because obviously it is a much faster form of communication. There is no need to open a ton of different boxes with peoples opinions and then reply to them. Also I find it easier to discuss CMC topics in a class FtF setting. I had troubles writing responses to peoples responses.
However, I can see how online classes can be beneficial to those who are too busy to go to class everyday. They still learn new things and are able to advance their career. Also, all of the information you need to learn and have learned is right at your fingertips, on the computer screen.