Generation Me

Because the internet is seemingly becoming ingrained in our lives, it is easy to think that it is dominating us, with these issues of privacy and control.  But we must realize that we are the ones allowing it to happen.  Facebook doesn't force you to post pictures of your babies and pets in funny little outfits. We are the ones utilizing Google and constantly searching for things we do not know. And let's be honest, when we want something, we want it now.  Google's search suggestion feature, which has now turned into automatic searching is all about immediacy. Our immediacy. This is how Americans work. We are a culture built on time, and the idea that time is so meaningful and cannot be wasted.  God forbid the webpage takes more than 5 seconds to load, we freak out and get upset because it is taking so long.  Yes, Google is adding fuel to the fire by feeding into this need by developing their media to work faster and plug in popular searches, but that's what a business does.  They need to take advantage of what people need in order to be successful.  And luckily for them, they can also take advantage of advertising because of the insane usage of the site.  In "How Google Dominates Us", Gleick stated, "The perfect search engine, as Sergey and Larry imagine it, reads your mind and produces the answer you want. The perfect advertising engine does the same: it shows you the ads you want. Anything else wastes your attention, the advertiser’s money, and the world’s bandwidth."  This statement solely captures the essence of how a business built on the internet works.

And there is an overwhelming amount of businesses and companies attempting to make their mark on the world by using the internet.  This led to trademarking names and building webpages with unique domains, but clearly this would lead to trouble.  As Boyd notes in her blog "A Customer Service Nightmare: Resolving Trademark and Personal Reputation in a Limited Name Space", she had to battle a company who managed to convince the domain host to give up her name to them.  "Zephoria" is the online identity she built for herself, in being called by the name, but essentially developing it as a self-brand for the work she does.  Because it was not "trademarked", it was still her right to use and own.  Unfortunately for the company, it was already claimed.  Just as if they were fighting over the same e-mail address, first come, first serve.  People are forgetting that a decade ago, the internet was practically barren compared to the stuff floating around now since anyone and everyone can create content.  The way the internet is working now clearly proves we need regulation, as with other bills that attempted being passed.  This is literally another world separate from the offline, which must be treated as such.