View From the Phlipside

These are the scripts from my weekly media commentary program on WRFA-LP Jamestown

My name is Jay Phillippi and I've spent my life in and around the media. TV, Radio, the movies and more. I love 'em and I hate em' and I always have an opinion. Call this the view from the Phlipside

One of the saddest commentaries on the human condition is our inability to just get along. There is a deeply rooted push to wall ourselves off from folks who are different, to try and stay with others as much like as ourselves as possible. The world wide web seemed to offer the first step in tearing down those walls. It was a hope that we could set aside some, maybe even most, of our prejudices if we could deal with one another only in the virtual realm.

Sadly it seems it may not work here either.

I know that one online community where I was a member for a long time couldn't do it. Our particular politics drove one group to demand and receive their own personal neighborhood. It was a very sad moment for me. I worry when we demand our rights to a personal ghetto.

A new survey by the folks at Nielsen Claritas shows that it's happening in a lot of places just by default. Their survey of social networking sites showed that each neighborhood had its own distinctive personality. The survey indicates folks on MySpace tend to be a more blue collar/middle class group than the folks on Facebook. Residents in both of those neighborhoods tend to be more downscale than users of Twitter and LinkIn, a social network aimed primarily at business contacts. Bloggers and users of Twitter and LinkedIn are also more likely to be Facebook users, be from urban settings and be economically upscale (well two out of three for me isn't bad).

So does this mean the traditional social divides will inevitably be repeated in the virtual world? Yes and no I think. Certainly to start out we will be with the folks who make us comfortable. I left MySpace because I found a lot of the material and approach there to be excessively juvenile. Facebook has its juvy, silly side as well but I felt like I have much better control over it. What will fight against the hardening of the old system in the new world is how much easier it is to wander into a different "neighborhood" and look around. The worst that might happen, in most places at least, is that you'll get flamed by the inhabitants. This ability to explore, to experience and to meet and greet in a largely safe environment clearly encourages folks to go beyond their comfort zone even if only by a little bit. Slowly expanding our comfort zones may be the best approach to the problem.

If the social media can help us learn that the stranger in our midst is in fact a fellow human being very much more like us than we thought than that may make up for its other shortcomings.

Call that the view from the Phlipside

Facebook is ticking me off

Is it just me or has FB been doing a lot of "site maintenance" of late? Seems about every third day I have trouble getting on the site for at least a while because of it. Today I've been locked out for several hours.

The level of annoyance this causes in me probably shows that I spend too much time on FB!

So far a pretty good day. Biked into the office and I'll bike home again. About 42 miles round trip. Final training runs for the Labor Day Loop the Lake ride for Episcopal Community Services. Basically the same ride I'm doing today but all in one shot. My personal record is currently 4 hours for the entire ride. Given that I currently clock the first half of the ride in only 90 minutes I'm thinking I'm about to take a big chunk out of that time. Even with a rest stop and the fact that I'll slow down in the final quarter of the run I'm figuring that I should do this easily in 3 hours 30 minutes to 3:45. We'll see.

In the meantime can FB get their maintenance done? Yeesh.

Peace

Resource Review - That's Not Cool.com

That's Not Cool.com
OverallSeems like every time we turn around there's some new concern for our youth. As they spend more time on places like Facebook and MySpace plus time texting and sharing photos there are more pressures coming to bear on them. Cyberstalking, pressure to take and share nude photos, even controlling issues like someone texting or emailing them constantly are growing problems. Well the folks at the Ad Council, The Family Violence Prevention Fund and The Office On Violence Against Women have come together to create a really good AND really cool website.

What's It About Using video, cool graphics and common sense they create a very approachable way of talking about some potentially scary topics. I can see this being used from Middle school on up. Plus they have a section where youth can discuss the issues online, links to resources if trouble gets really serious, and even youth created videos on the subject.

In their words:
Your cell phone, IM, and social networks are all a digital extension of who you are. When someone you're with pressures you or disrespects you in those places, that's not cool.

Thatsnotcool.com is attempting to raise awareness about digital dating abuse and stop it before it gets worse. Sponsored and co-created by the Family Violence Prevention Fund, the Office on Violence Against Women and the Ad Council, the site is designed to address new and complicated problems between teens who are dating or hooking up—problems like constant and controlling texting, pressuring for nude pictures, and breaking into someone's e-mail or social networking page.

Reservations Actually not many. I'd love to have some resources for a more in-depth discussion after the kids have taken a look at this. I didn't see a lot of ways for the adults in these young people's live could hook in to help. I'd also be concerned that some of the callout cards might escalate a bad situation.

Recommendation It may be a real eye opener for adults to cruise through and see the kinds of things that some young people are doing out there on the digital frontier. It may seem harmless but it's not. A photo that was supposed to be for "someone special" very quickly can end up on the world wide web and things get ugly at that point.

I can give this resource a very strong recommendation. I'll have a link to it on the youth ministry website in the near future.

Peace