Opinion of the article

People are limited in life communication and conversation; their contact more virtual than real. in the past people would have  meeting with friends, met each other after school or after work, in the libraries. You all would have conversations  and more real communication with the possibility to hug and to console their friends if they were upset. Today people communicate with each other by chatting, “facebooking”, or through the cell phones that’s why they don’t have real communications. According to the statistic, “in 2008 year 139.29 million Smartphones were sold worldwide; according to the forecast, approximately 1.1 billion phones will be sold worldwide in 2015.” (www.statista.com)   Moreover, people are addicted to the Internet and to the innovative contraptions. I know many people from different ages who became “gamers” that means fanatics of computer games. For example, my cusion , who is 22 years old, spends almost 12 hours a day by playing in computer games. Statistics shows that “on average in 2005 year every American spent 78 hours by playing computer games; in 2005 year 81 percent of Americans had internet access.” (www.statista.com) Other people who are addicted to the Internet spend almost all day chatting, searching for “important” information, and watching videos on YouTube. These people I see every day at college who, instead of studying, “hang out” on the Internet. Today’s generation can’t imagine their life without cell phones, the Internet, or computer games because for most people it has became an addiction.

 According to the article in the New York Times “Is the Era of the Motorcycle Over?” by Frederick Seidel, scientific development has modified the society and has changed not only technologies, but also interests of people. So, today’s society has many innovations that in one way make life easier and more convenient, but there are also negative aspect which shows that people became limited in live communication and addicted to innovative contraptions.

How it connects to the course

 Because we have been talking so much about change in the work place I was thinking it was inportant to know why this change is happing and how . Scientific development, which has occurred in technological changes, has many positive aspects such as making today’s life more convenient and easier than before. For example :  The innovations such as the Internet “open a window to the world”. Today people can find out what’s happening in the world without leaving home by “googling” on the Internet, meet friends by connecting to the Skype, etc.

 Also , cell phones give an opportunity to avoid futile waiting, to be in touch with others, and to be aware any time if something happens with relatives or friends.   These instances show that today’s generation has many things that our parents didn’t have, so many devices and gadgets that make life easy and more convenient.

According to an article in the New York Times “Is the Era of the Motorcycle Over?” by Frederick Seidel, November 5, 2011, the enjoyable thing such as riding motorcycle was replaced by electronic devices such as iPad, iPhone, MacBook, etc. Motorcycle sales were reduced; especially sport motorcycles became less buying, “Young riders were not buying motorcycles of any kind, and especially, it seems, not sport bikes.” ; the new generation became more passive and are more interested in staying home and playing computer games or “going” on the Internet, “Jeff Nash, a gentleman and one of the great Ducati racebike tuners in America, and a racer himself, deplores the passivity of the young who would rather be home with their iPads playing computer games than astride the red-meat lightning of an 1198 Superbike blazing down a Texas highway making that unmistakable growling deep Ducati sound.”   After reading this article I started to think about how technical progress influenced on  today’s society and in the work place .

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/opinion/sunday/is-the-iphone-replacing-the-motorcycle.html?_r=1&src=recg

My opinion of this article

 I have several opinions about this article :

 

"Facebook takes your privacy seriously. We'll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges." 

 After reviewing the policy information on facebooks web cite , they inform you in fine print that they still owns your information ounces you have deleted your account.  I also believe that they want to be the only ones making money from your information that is posted and uploaded to there cite.  I personally  closed my account a while back and have no regrets doing so. However, the more that employers dictate employment conditions, etc, applicant’s will probably fail to be short listed for a vacancy in the future should they not have a FB account!

So this is what I would tell an employer that wants my facebook password, would you like the password to my debit account also , read my diary , and spend a week with me while on vacation and have access to my alarm code at my house . You want to employ me and pay me to work for you, so of course I will allow you total access into my work life and personal life. I wouldn't work for anyone who asked for anything private. A job isn't worth that much ! 

How it connects to the course

After having several conversations in class about how social media is changing the way people communicate in the work place. I found this article very useful to add to our discussion. The article is talking about changes that are happening because of social media being used in the work place. Facebook takes your privacy seriously. Facebook wants to take action to protect the privacy and security of their users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges.

Facebook Privacy News Article

Facebook has hit out at the practice of employers asking for access to the accounts of their staff and potential hires.

The social network's chief privacy officer Erin Egan called the practice "distressing" and threatened legal action against companies that violate its users' privacy.

"If you are a Facebook user, you should never have to share your password, let anyone access your account, or do anything that might jeopardize the security of your account or violate the privacy of your friends," she wrote on a blogpost Friday.

Egan warned that employers who do ask for access could be setting themselves up for problems that they are not anticipating. "For example, if an employer sees on Facebook that someone is a member of a protected group (eg over a certain age, etc) that employer may open themselves up to claims of discrimination if they don't hire that person," she wrote. Employers also face liabilities if they do not handle the private information properly, Egan said.

"Facebook takes your privacy seriously. We'll take action to protect the privacy and security of our users, whether by engaging policymakers or, where appropriate, by initiating legal action, including by shutting down applications that abuse their privileges," she wrote.

The statement comes after Senator Richard Blumenthal pledged to outlaw the practice. This week the Connecticut Democrat and former state attorney general told Politico that these type of requests amount to an "unreasonable invasion of privacy".

"I am very deeply troubled by the practices that seem to be spreading voraciously around the country," Blumenthal said.

The backlash follows a series of reports that employers are increasingly asking job applicants and current workers for access to their social media and email accounts in order to check up on their online behaviour.

Maryland Department of Corrections, for example, was recently condemned by the American Civil Liberties Union for demanding that a prospective hire turn over his Facebook password during an interview.

The ACLU called the policy "a frightening and illegal invasion of privacy".