Remediation and Heartache...and Sex and the City

The Breakup Post-it Note says
"I'm sorry. I can't. Don't hate me."

In the third chapter of Ilana Gershon's book, The Breakup 2.0, Gershon disusses different people's different media ideologies when it comes to breaking up and how Facebook (and other media) plays a part. She points out how people find breakups over texts to be scandalous. The jury is still out on phone breakups, and face-to-face breakups seem to be the preferred mode of breaking up. But what about a post-it note breakup?

The main character in Sex and the City, Carrie, gets broken up with via a post-it note left on her computer. The YouTube clip I posted is of her and her friends talking about it. (They are talking about talk...metalanguage.) Carrie even brings along the post-it to show her friends. These four women are shocked that the medium of a post-it note seemed to be an acceptable form of communicating a breakup. Other "bad forms" of breaking up to them also included the phone and a doorman. The four women obviously value face-to-face breakups more. The media ideologies of these four women don't match up with the media ideologies of the man who broke up with Carrie. This also might hearken at some gender social norms of what ways of breaking up women find to be acceptable versus what men deem to be acceptable.

Gershon brings up the topic of remediation in this chapter. Carrie negotiates the breakup from post-it to a conversation with the girls to contemplating an angry phone message- all different media forms and ways of speaking. These different forms of media are cathartic to Carrie in dealing with the breakup, and the phone message seems like a form of closure.  

The Egg and The Sperm

In Martin's article "The Egg and the Sperm," she illustrates how women are seen as inferior in a more sexualized and biological way. Usually the inequalities of men and women don't have to do with their sexual organs, however she notes that people really do see women to be inferior of men because they hold the eggs and men hold the sperm. The egg is seen to be passive, as a women's eggs are there from birth and does not move, but is only activated by the man's sperm, which she notes is on a "mission".

This clip is from the movie "Look Who's Talking" in the beginning credits, which shows how the woman in the movie, Kirstie Alley, gets impregnated and is the basis of the movie. The sperm are eager, active, and strong in this clip and vigorously trying to find their way to the woman's egg, which is stable and seems to be waiting for these sperm that are full of personality.

This clip reiterates the article and how people see the sperm and the egg. The egg is seen as "feminine" because it is so passive and waits for the sperm, which demonstrates dominance, strength, and with a mission; unlike that of a woman and her eggs.

http://youtu.be/65BV5dXXxzM

The Breakup and Media Ideologies

Chapter one of The Breakup 2.0 discusses media ideologies and idioms of practice to further analyze how people use different mediums to breakup.  The author, Ilana Gershon, goes into many different case studies to show people’s beliefs, or media ideologies, on breakups through text messaging, Facebook, and e-mail.  The article from Gawker, “Breaking Up on Facebook: A User’s Guide to the Most Efficient Way to Break a Heart”, correlates well with what Gershon is saying in her book.  The article talks about how the social media world allows breaking up to be done by simply clicking a button.  The article graphs the kindness of a break-up vs. the effort put into a break up through using different mediums such as Facebook, Twitter, Productive conversation, and Sprawling conversation.  This graph correlates with Gershon using personal accounts to identify beliefs on what medium, if any, should be used during a break up.  The article also indirectly goes into informality and formality of mediums by giving the step-by-step rules to a Facebook break up, which again is based on media ideologies.  

I chose this article because I think it represents the idea of media ideologies we have been discussing throughout the semester and that Gershon further explains.  The author of this article is representing her media ideology that Facebook is the easiest and most efficient way to break up with someone.  Though the author of the Gawker article believes this, it does not necessarily mean everyone does.  As Gershon stated in chapter one, people create their own media ideologies and with some newer medias such as Facebook there is not one consensus about how it should be used yet.   

Article:

http://gawker.com/5521299/breaking-up-on-facebook-a-users-guide-to-the-most-efficient-way-to-break-a-heart

When I was searching youtube for videos on breaking up through different mediums or how Facebook plays into a relationship I came across a video where Facebook is used during a wedding ceremony.  During the video the groom updates his Facebook relationship status from “Engaged” to “Married”.  The man officiating the wedding then says “If it’s official on Facebook it’s official in my book”.  Though this is opposite from breaking up I still chose to share it because I think it represents an idea Gershon has about Facebook.  When Gershon is talking about people breaking up through Facebook she talks about “Facebook official” and how some people don’t believe a relationship has ended until it is “Facebook official”.  This video again shows different media ideologies.  Though the couple most likely did this out of humor, they are still changing their Facebook status at their wedding ceremony, which is probably uncommon to most, but it was their belief of how it should be done.  In summary, I chose this video to touch on Gershon’s “Facebook official” point as well as to show another different media ideology. 

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYhZsPBnTKk

Breaking up on Facebook

In chapter 2 of The Breakup 2.0, Ilana Gershon discusses how media ideologies affect the ways in which individuals find it appropriate to initiate a breakup, as well as how learning to use a medium is heavily weighted in social expectations. The beginning of the chapters resonates with Jones and Schieffelin’s article in reference to generational gaps. The man Gershon interviewed, Herb, began texting because of a love interest; the way in which he texts forms with the development of his relationship. Closing the generational gap, he also uses text messages to stay in contact in a more fluid way.

When using social media (such as Facebook) creators have an implied user in mind, which may or may not match those individuals actually creating profiles and using them to virtually network with others. Gershon concentrates on how Facebook affects relationships and the mitigation of relationship statuses. Facebook creators implied that users would create a profile with information for public access and many different types of relationships (friends, romantic, professional, etc).

“When analyzing how the structures of Facebook affect romantic relationships, I have to discuss the social interactions and expectations that people bring to Facebook. Facebook might refract these expectations, encouraging people to focus on one aspect of the information that their lovers are presenting to different audiences (which includes them, but typically is not exclusively aimed toward them)”(90).

However, in her interviews it appears as though Facebook complicates romantic relationships. One of Gershon’s interviewees even began feeling as if she was not the implied user, which in turn created usability issues with the social media platform. The other significant impact relationship status had on people is how to navigate a breakup. Often, there was tension between having one’s status displayed and transitioning from “in a relationship” to “single”. The controversy between those in a relationship developed out of different media ideologies; whether it was really necessary to solidify a relationship on Facebook. Whether one was trying to avoid confrontation with others or proactively inform people with a “barrage of questions” (as Gershon states) was unavoidable. The circulation of information is much more publicly accessible, and does not require the active exchange of information.

The YouTube clip I provided represents the way our generation’s media ideologies about Facebook affect relationships. As Gershon states, based on tagged pictures and posts there is a tremendous amount of assumptions made with minimal insight and contextual knowledge of the situation. These assumptions often lead to confrontation that may, or may not occur without the existence of Facebook. In summary, innovative media platforms are changing and shaping how information is accessed, interpreted, and displayed.

Facebook Breakup: 

http://www.youtube.com/watchv=qTwwuIn9inE&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL6C475F52DF5DA422

"I DK my BFF Jill"

The article by Jones and Schieffelin touches upon two important dicussions of language. We first see the context of cell phone use as a generational gap, one where younger generations are using this technology to communicate to one another in a constant way. Cell phone use is portrayed as the preferred method of communication among young individuals. The article analyzes the popular AT&T commercial from 2008 showing a young girl and her mom arguing over the daughter's cell phone usage, using the popularized initialisms in a verbal conversation. The young girl is fluent in this initialism language, while the mom struggles to keep up. This exasperation the mom experiences in this encounter is reminiscent of the analysis in the article "adults' anxieties about what young people are doing with and to language" (1052). The article indicates that this manipulation of language by a group in this way of utilizing initialisms is known as speech play and is in fact a highly stylized and sophisticated way to reconstruct language, creating new meanings and emphasis.

Not only is a generational gap recognized in this analyzation of cell phone language use, but gender gaps are also discussed in an important way. Not only is it a younger generation in general that utilizes this initialism language while texting and in live conversation, but more specifically girls. Gendered social norms tell us that there are expected ways of speaking for both males and females and both sexes further propagate these norms through their speaking and behavior within these constructs. The YouTube video "Sh*t Girls Say" is a further example of this gendered social norm as a male comedian dresses up as a woman and uses both verbal and non-verbal stereotypical ways that women speak to parody their behavior. They satarize topics relevant in female to female communication varying from sleep, technology use, food, etc. I found this parody particularly relevant and have become more aware in my everyday life of how much I fit within this mold of female gendered social norms. I also feel that the further we propagate these norms knowingly, the more they will persist within our society as we recognize this behavior and conciously continue it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-yLGIH7W9Y

Autistic Culture Online

 Davidson’s article focuses on how the autistic community communicates effectively via the Internet. Though the autistic community is the center of the article, Davidson focuses on how a community can connect with each other based on their differences. For example, Davidson suggests, “that ‘autistic language games’ might be seen as emerging from partially shared experiential background and ‘identity’—that is, self-identification with a place on the spectrum” (794). The autistic community communicates well on the Internet because instant message communication is very straightforward and leaves little room for emotions. Instant messaging is an ideal way for the autistic community to participate in a common way of communication without feeling secluded.

Identifying with others who are from similar backgrounds is not an isolated concept. For centuries, people often identify with other members of their religion, ethnicity, handy cap and/or social class. Often times, people will join support groups because it brings comfort to be around others from a similar background.

For my example, I wanted to take a look at the “Shit Cyclists Say” YouTube video. This video portrays how the cycling community identifies with each other through a common interest. From the coffee bar to the road, the cyclist is clearly always asking the opinion of another cyclists. The video always pinpoints the three places cyclists communicate: over coffee, on a ride or at the bike shop. I like this video because it is a great representation of how people can bond over a common interest. 

Mobile phones and Mipoho's prophecy

I chose a PBS article that that discusses how Australian educators are teaching short message service (SMS). Students are learning how to practice with abbreviations common to text messaging. One point that is important from the article is made by Professor John Frow, “English has literary languages of different kinds, it’s got professional jargon, it’s got sub-cultural languages, it’s got dialects…thinking about SMS is actually a way of thinking about English, standard English and about the way it works, the way it’s different from other languages…” The article argues that SMS should be taught in order to teach students the range of language that exists in English. They are teaching this particular form to get students to think about other languages and how SMS can be used to link and move between languages.

I chose this PBS article because it relates to the article by Janet McIntosh. In the town of Malindi, young people use code-switching. When they code-switch, English is the language that is typically abbreviated. English is the language that is always subject to manipulation. Youth in Malindi use abbreviations with English rather than Kiswahili or Kiigiriama. These English abbreviations or SMS are similar to those being taught to the Australian students.  English is the language that can be used to violate rules. Just as the PBS article discusses, English can be used this way because it is different from other languages and can be manipulated in many different ways. The PBS article discusses the global spread of English. Because of this global spread, English is now mixed in with other languages, like Kiswahili and Kigiriama.  A response to the article discusses this new advancement in technology and how we must adapt new skills (learning and using SMS) in order to communicate with one another. 

I believe this article on the teaching of SMS shows how language is a speech play. Similar to the article, “Talking Text and Talking Back: “MY BFF JILL” from Boob Tube to YouTube,” texting and using SMS allows for creative expression and knowledge rather than language decay. The teachers teaching the SMS curriculum have the ideology that SMS should be taught and used by students to enhance their literary skills. However, other people have different ideologies, and think that SMS is keeping students from learning proper English and is not acceptable to teach. In my opinion the PBS article is saying that the use of English SMS is important for everyone. It is important for everyone to learn in order to understand one another. In code-switching, the youth in Malindi show the importance of SMS in English because that is what they use collectively in texts. Only abbreviations are made in English, therefore they must have a collective knowledge on how to use it.http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/2006/10/do_students_need_to_learn_text.html