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Viewpoint
Happy Google Year!
1/3/2007
“MySpace splinters as teens head for niche sites. New services that control profiles across multiple social networking sites begin to take off.”
Expect more stories about MySpace exposes. The following is a good example. But it’s mainstream now. Take a look below, to “More Risky Behavior” and check out some of the places those kids are splintering off to!
Personal D'esn’t Mean Private, Necessarily
Maybe it will influence some students’ behavior, one or two are cited in the article, but the notion that something that feels private in cyberspace, really isn’t, has yet to soak into most young people’s heads.
Granted, there is a huge pleasure in putting yourself all out there on a blog or your MySpace site that is very seductive. But all you have to do is think about the ways your life is compartmentalized and realize that there are drawbacks. That is, unless you have yet to reach your 25 th birthday and maybe your life is only becoming compartmentalized beyond the basics of “What my parents know” and “What my parents don’t know.”
More Risky Behavior by Students
We can always count on this, eh? Even as parents and school administrators warn them about the consequences of places like MySpace, students turn to alternatives like Stickam.com, which offer unmoderated, unfiltered, live broadcasts from webcams.
As one researcher says, “It’s a ‘race to the bottom’ in terms of offering young people a chance to do what they want.”
The Rapprochement of the Physical with the Virtual
But it’s not all bad, maybe.
After the plethora of stories about smashed windows, vases, elbows, and Wii controllers, comes the stories of young people addicted to the physical movement that is how you can choose to engage the games, especially the tennis game.
Now, throw “Dance, Dance, Revolution” in the mix.
Put them together – and throw in the concept of “spinning classes” from the gym, and you have the intriguing concept of video games merging with personal exercise technology that might counteract the current “weakling” stage of modern young people. We may not see the products in 2007, but we will certainly hear the ideas and read the stories.
The downside: liability issues. When you start making claims about improving health, etc., then your lawyers get antsy.
Even here at SCUP where, except for one or two of the more technical adept staffers, everyone has been PC for a decade, six of the last seven laptop replacements in our cycle went from PC to Apple.
Whether it’s the iPod “halo” effect, the dual operating systems potential, or the “cool” factor, it seems that IT staffers’ lives are going to continue to have to deal with multiple operating systems and platforms.
One thing I can guarantee: you will find at least one person in your work life in 2007 who, more than a little, resembles “Stanley,” the clueless manager in this story.
If only there was some way they could be kept away from popular stories about IT, eh?
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