Do you remember the last time you did not text or just get in touch with someone using your phone? Without even knowing you, I am fairly confident the answer to that is no. This is because our society, especially generation z, is so focused and addicted to social media and the small rectangular device that is attached to us. We cannot go a day without updating our social media circles. We have an urge to post and share almost everything we are doing, but the real question is why? Why are we like this? Is this healthy?
According to an article on ScienceDirect they state that “ambient awareness refers to the awareness social media users develop of their online network in result of being constantly exposed to social information.” What this is saying is that the idea of ambient awareness, is the awareness we have when using applications like Facebook and Twitter. The best way to summarize it is to say that ambient awareness is the technological way of picking up on body language. By communicating through updates on snapchat or a picture on instagram, it is easy for an audience to see what is going on in that persons’ life.
The issue with ambient awareness is that most people are not their true selves on social media applications. People try to put them best selves forward, often causing their followers to get a false read on them. By not being exactly who you say you are it causes an issue in ambient awareness because you are picking up on the wrong signals, and ultimately getting the wrong information about someone. For the most part, and from what I know from being an avid social media user, is that it is easy to pick up on when people are lying. Although I normally try and see who is editing their faces, bodies, etc. it is still my way of identifying false ambient awareness and everyone has their own way of doing that.
Although the “false identity” creates an issue in the world of social media, there are many benefits that come from this idea of ambient awareness. For example, one of the greatest things about social media is that it is the best way to keep in touch with friends in family quickly, easily, and reliably. In my experience, both my grandmothers know how to work their phones and for the most part instagram. Because they are able to follow me and see what I am up too, they are able to pick up and be aware of things going on in my life. They are picking up on the smiles I have, the places I am, and the people I am with. A journal article titled Ambient Awareness to Strengthen the Family Social Network of Older Adults states that, “Situated displays that provide SNS services can assist the integration of older adults to their social network and contribute to enhance asymmetric relations between the older adult and younger relatives.” This is confirming the idea that social media is bringing people closer together through ambient awareness and the ability to keep track of each others lives.
I want to analyze and talk about this tweet in itself and also how Donald Trump is constantly analyzed in the social media world. To begin, just by looking at Donald Trump’s twitter (using ambient awareness) one is able to get information about who he is as a person by never even meeting him. If one were to scroll through his twitter page it is easy to see that he is very opinionated and self-centered (sorry if you disagree), but he clearly has a mind of his own. I feel that I can completely read his personality and understand him through his social media.
Although that same idea can be applied to anyone, I wanted to focus on Trump because he is probably, at least in America, one of the most talked about people on social media. However, in this specific tweet he talks about how easy it is for people to follow what the media does and how influenced we can be by it. Although it is overwhelming to think about the amount of people who are addicted and controlled by the screens of their phones, through tools and ideas like ambient awareness it brings the world of social media to a more interconnected and focused personal network.
Work Cited:
Leonardi, Paul M., and Samantha R. Meyer. “Social Media as Social Lubricant: How Ambient Awareness Eases Knowledge Transfer.” American Behavioral Scientist 59, no. 1 (January 2015): 10–34. doi:10.1177/0002764214540509.
Cornejo, R., Tentori, M. & Favela, J. Comput Supported Coop Work (2013) 22: 309. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-012-9166-2
Levordashka, Ana, and Sonja Utz. “Ambient Awareness: From Random Noise to Digital Closeness in Online Social Networks.” ScienceDirect 60 (July 2016): 147-54. doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f.
Jaymi Zimmerman Abroad 