Susan Orlean "The American Man, Age Ten"

Susan Orlean writes a story about a young boy named Collin Duffy. She talks about the way that young kids think compared to the way that we believe they do. She realizes that kids are happy with the way that they live and they do not need to know more then they already do. All kids want is for nothing in there life to change. When I read this I realized it was completely true because when I think about my life, sometimes I wish I could be a kid forever. Being young is easy and there is no stress involved. Young kids can just be happy and smile because that is really all that they know how to do.

Social Networking

Samantha Cupingood wants to go to the moon (11:40 a.m.)

What is the attraction of so many teens to Facebook or Myspace sites? Many kids think that if they involve themselves in the social networks they can gain friends and share who they are. People post their pictures; update their status, and communicate with their friends. This way of living is one that I don’t agree with. Many teens that use these sites, in my mind, are taking the easy way out of communicating with people in the real world. If people start using technology in everyday survival they are going to forget how to survive in reality. In today’s technology, people learn about each other because of pictures on their sites and comments that they read, or things that they post about themselves. I feel as though people don’t even try to get to know people by simply sitting down and having a conversation anymore. The internet is diminishing society as we use to know it. I know that when I would use Myspace, people I didn’t know, only heard of, would add me and start a conversation. I hated meeting people on the internet I believe that it makes a person sound pathetic. If you want to meet people then go out to events and be outgoing and talk to people that you don’t know. I think that everyone should go back to meeting people the old fashion way because otherwise I think that people are becoming fake because they don’t allow people to find out who they are, they tell people who they are.

Peggy Orenstein "The Way We Live Now: Growing Up on Facebook"

In the New York Times, Piggy Orenstein, talks about the group of older people who have created a new society from their world of yesterday. Adults have created facebook so that they can add old friends from the past and bring up the good memories. She talks about how this gives adults the ability to create a new idea about how their past really was and could resolve many problems they might be having. Facebook is now affecting many adults because they all want the ability to bring up friends they haven't talked to in many years.

Hal Niedzviecki "Facebook in a Crowd"

Hal Niedzviekci writes his story about how he lost all of his friends and had hoped to gain a lot of new friends by creating a party on Facebook. By doing this he is trying to create a new society and instead of doing it the old fashion way he is using technology. He believes that he did good because he has a lot of friends on facebook, however when he invited all of them to the party no one showed up except for his new friend, Paula. I think that it is sad that people have to go online to make new friends instead of being able to go out to parties or places and having to communicate with people.

Zoe Sandvig "Staring Down Facebook"

In the Washington Times an article was written by Zoe Sandvig about college students and their experiences with Facebook. One student that was discussed was Mr. Ross. Mr. Ross use to have a facebook and then he realized he might have better study skills if he deleted his social networking and focused more on old fashion note taking. A bunch of college students decided to get together and create a facebook "fast." The students needed to realize the affect that technology is having on their lives and how technology has created a new society.

Virginia Heffernan "The Medium: Being There"

Virgina Heffernan, from the New York Times, wrote an article about her experiences with facebook and people's experiences she knew. The society that she talks about is that of facebook and the way that they have created a new way of life. She writes a lot about how now checking peoples facebook status updates has become a thing of everyday life. The norm's about this article consist of people constantly updating their status but not always about what they are doing but what they felt. People also add random people that they don't know but only know some of their friends.

Karen Goldberg Goff "Social Networking Benefits Validated"

Karen Goldberg Goff wrote about kids on Myspace and their parents who are trying to protect them. The article talks about the fact that Goff believes teens need to have myspace and facebook because it will keep them up to date with the rest of society. Students use social networking to connect with other students, but this has its positive and negative points. She believes that students still need rules on the internet because they are not sure of what not to post, but instead of parents restricting them from online networking they should show them what not to post.