Tuesday, December 14, 2010
"My Favorite Tweets (a Social Network Song)" by World Wide Wadio
A YouTube video I recently found called “My Favorite Tweets (a Social Network Song)” has a humorous take on social networking. Through high quality animation and well-written lyrics to the tune of the classic Sound of Music song, the song sums up what sites like Facebook and Twitter have done to us. It believes that useless quizzes (Which classic polka song are you? How flatulent is your cat?) and time-consuming games (“FarmVille and Fish Life and Mafia Wars”) are just useless and are distracting us from doing more important and productive things. The deep and serious voices proclaim that we are “Sharing and commenting, poking and liking/ Even while showering, even while hiking/ Having no message won't stand in our way/ We tweet to say we have nothing to say” which reveals how ridiculous our society’s obsession with social networking is becoming or already is. The video ends with someone removing us from their friends for posting so much useless material. Although all of a minute and twenty-six seconds escalates to that mouse clicking the “Remove from Friends” button, a question still remains: How much is social networking affecting our lives beyond the screen? Also, when will it end and how far will we let it go?
(I originally made a comment on the "Launch" post.)
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I could really connect to this post. New portable technology has made it possible for us to be surrounded by technology at every moment. This has made our lives very impersonal. In this video, people are shown 'pretending' that they are part of a meeting while really they are on their phones social networking. Also, people are simply broadcasting their lives over the internet, telling people even that they have 'nothing to say.' This shows the increasing impersonality that technology is causing.
ReplyDeleteScary as it is, this video revealed many truths about what social networking has done to us. We use our phones EVERYWHERE and can never focus on just one task at a time. Even when there's nothing else to do on the internet, it's common that one would post a status update only to mention that they have nothing to post about, which is pretty lame, and obnoxious if you think about it. The part at 1:15 is the most ironic and important message of this video: "We really miss our friends". Although we are constantly social networking, are we really being social?
ReplyDeleteThis is great! I love how these people juxtaposed a classic song with a modern topic. In the Sound of Music, there were no computers and blackberries. It was old-fashioned face to face conversation and enjoying moments while being physically together. This may seem simple yet it is these key points of the movie which have made it such a well-known classic. However, now with the invention of social networking sites, these type of interactions with no distractions have almost become obsolete which is represented fully by how facebook and twitter have invaded and changed such a classic song. Ironically, Facebook and twitter are rapidly disrupting our social interactions.
ReplyDeleteThis video is perfect for evidencing the way our devices unnecessarily take control of our lives. We're tweeting, texting and blogging when we really shouldn't be: in meetings, while exercising, while crossing the street (I can think of a few more). It's like Mr. Gutherman said that past students facebook IM him saying that they're bored in class when they really shouldn't be on facebook at all then. To use the terms of the video, we've become "social media whores"; we've got nothing to say but we're gonna find something to broadcast to the world anyway. Who really wants to see tweets about what you had for dinner, or what your schedule is for the day? No one.
ReplyDeleteThis video accurately describes many daily situations. For example, many people update their statuses or tweet that they are "bored", or as the video says, "I have nothing to say". I'm constantly wondering why people feel the need to share this with others. Also, I found the part about using a phone in the shower amusing, because I actually know many people that have their phones right next to them while showering. As a society today, people don't take a break. We are constantly connected and always networking. Many of us can't unplug from our online lives. One can only wonder if it's going to get worse.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this video has a light-hearted, and fun melody, one must truly listen to the words and absorb the images to realize that it is mocking us. What I fear, is that many people today would simply listen to it on a superficial level, and miss the main points. Since I listened carefully, this video had an effect on me. It accurately depicted the impersonality that is resulting from increased technology. Also, it highlights how dependent, or rather addicted we have become to such devices. The line "pretending to be part of this meeting" really hit the nail on the head and further demonstrated this idea.
ReplyDeleteThis video made me laugh and cringe at the same time, and that takes skill! The line that stuck with me the most was that our incessant updating "pisses off our brain." This remark appears quite simple, our brain wants too learn, problem-solve, just concentrate instead of posting insignificant pictures online or tweet about trivial matters, however most facebook users and tweeters get pleasure from their typing. Our brian wants reality while our culture wants simulations of reality and we as individuals are stuck in the middle!
ReplyDeleteThis video effectively gives a fun and classical tune to draw people in to a current issue that is spreading. Our constant need to update, be connected,and praised,online. One line that stood out to me was the "pretending to be in a meeting. We dissociate the idea of business with farmville and other light hearted applications, but this is not accurate. The internet has driven everybody's nature to procrastinate. This video really hit the message home of where our productivity is going as a society, I loved the last line where it stated "we miss our friends". It made me realize that while facebook has connected us, it has made things less personal. When was the last time you got a real invitation rather then just one on facebook?
ReplyDeleteThis video is a humorous slap in the face of what our generation has come to. Although this song may bring laughs to how clever or cute it is, there is nothing funny about living and breathing in a social networking system. We are constantly attached, dependent and addicted to technology. And I think part of the reason why we devote most of our lives to technology is that we feel the need to be up to date on everything-no one wants the be the one who is clueless about what is happening. I think one of the most important lines of this song is: "having no message won't stand in our way". This truly shows how addicted we are; nothing will stop us. We are so caught up in this media frenzy, that we have trained our fingers to update twitter or check facebook involuntarily.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with what Abby said about the end of the video. Do you know how absurd it is to remove a friend? I've only ever see it happen when a lot of nonsense occurred, like breaking up with a boyfriend. Even known facebook stalkers are deleted from friends lists. The fact that the video ended with removing a friend is extremely powerful because of this, and gives hope: while the rest of the world may be consumed by the networking zeitgeist, there is at least one person who removes friends for posting useless material. That person is someone who cares about sensibility, and gives the video a happy ending: corporations haven't brainwashed us all!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this video. I think my favorite line was at the beginning when it said that they were using all these sites "While both pretending we're part of this meeting." This just sums up how all this technology disconnects us from real life. People can no longer just enjoy their time with another person in real life. Instead, they have to accompany this with the use of their phones texting people, and now, since so many people have smart phones, going onto the internet, specifically social networking sites. I also likes the line later on when it said "Having no message won't stand in our way/We'll tweet to say we have nothing to say." This summed up the part I hate most about all these social networking sites--the statuses that mean nothing. People think that other people care about all these little things that go on in their lives. The fact is that this is just not the case. What is the point of telling the world that you have nothing to say, or that you are going to the bathroom, or that you are watching tv, or that you are sleeping. It really doesn't make sense. People have become so obsessed with sites like Facebook and Twitter that they feel the need to look at it all the time, and provide other people with things to read and look at.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part was when they go we tweet to say we have nothing to say; how ironic is that?
ReplyDeleteThis video reminds me of a family I saw at the diner a couple of weeks ago. This lady and her husband were sitting at the table waiting for the food and both of them were glued to their blackberries. What's worse was that their kids (who were around 7 and 11ish) were playing with their iphones. That has got to be one of the saddest moments. What happened to the values where going out to eat was strictly a social event? We're spending our time in a virtual world so much that we're not living in reality.
I think this song is humorous but it's also kind of foretelling a grave future for our generation. We're so obsessed with checking our Facebooks that we begin to devalue what's really important in the world around us. If someone is your best friend, you shouldn't have to add them to your top friends yet you should go do something with them. We're living in a virtual world and it's problematic because as we become more and more connected on the computer, we become more and more disconnected in the real world. We're checking out of our actual living and breathing lives in favor of status updates and postings on friends' walls. Is it worth it?
ReplyDeleteSeveral people have already mentioned the virtual world factor however I would like to add a piece to it. By saying in the video that they are facebooking or tweeting or whatever while in a meeting they are using this virtual world as an escape. It is no wonder they are saying they're bored. Let's face it - meetings ARE boring most of the time. It provides an easy escape from the dreary reality and lets them be free of their working form and enter a cyber world where they can be who they want. So why not draw attention to the fact that you are suddenly a different person even if you have to do so by saying you're bored? By degrading the reality this way you only boost the status of the virtual, reinforcing your use of the technology. Furthermore, addressing Sara's point about the family in the diner, those children are now being raised on technology. What we view as being rude and antisocial is now to them simply a way of life. They would probably view us as being old fashioned and technologically slow.
ReplyDeleteThis satirical video really spoke a lot about technologies effect on our minds. When we do all of this social networking, it seems as if we are in another world and not in our own reality. One line of this video that really stood out to me was "we tweet to say we have nothing to say." This is representing how social networks are consuming our minds and how we don't even have a private thought. The truth is no one cares you have nothing to say. If you don't have anything to say the right thing would be to log off. The thing is though, that people can't pull away. Once they are online it can be impossible for them to get off. This video is a perfect scenario of media taking over our lives to a point where we have no 'real life' or 'real friends.' Our lives would be revolved around twitter and if that day were to come, our only friends would be the media.
ReplyDelete-Nicole Talbi
I agree with all the comments above about how dependent and reliant we are on technology. A few people have commented saying that we use technology to escape reality. However, what really is 21st century reality?
ReplyDeleteNicole T. said, "it seems as if we are in another world and not in our own reality". Ten years ago, when cell phones were first coming out, I would definitely agree. However today, I feel like the only way to stay in touch with reality and those around you is by using a technological devise. Our over-use of technology has twisted what was once a clear definition of "reality" into an unanswerable question.
I think that it is amusing that even though we are all alarmed by the effect that the internet has on the amount of trivial information is forced down our throats, we had to access this song through Youtube, which was even mentioned negatively in the video. It seems as if all this new technology and oversharing have effectively integrated themselves into our lives, and it is becoming increasingly hard to extricate ourselves from them and just realize what is going on.
ReplyDeleteThis was the funniest video but the sad thing it's so true--we are all internet whores. We are all so distracted by Facebook, youtube, and now twitter, that we're not even part of what's in front of us. Oddly, that seems to be acceptable to everyone because we all do it. We are consumed by cyberspace and don't realize that our living, breathing, friends are becoming irrelavent to us sitting right next to us. So we don't care directly about our friends just their profile or their Twitter account. How marginalizing--literally!
ReplyDelete