Reflecting on the ELife

As the semester draws to a close I can't help but reflect on our class. When I signed on to the class I didn't really know what to expect. I needed one more communication credit and it seemed like an interesting topic... it was relevant to my life, I thought. Well, I was right! This was a challenging, fun and thought-provoking class that has direct relevance to my life now and in the future.
It helped me to really to understand how we use media and about the real digitial divide. This is not just a physical divide, but a social one.
I was also able to examine the role of new media in political discourse and life.
The Internet and new technologies has changed the way they operate. This has become very clear with the Obama campaign and administration.
I'd like to take a few moments to reflect on the way I live an eLife. Before I never gave it much thought and never really saw the negatives, but now I can weight both sides.
I have a Blackberry and I honestly can say I feel incomplete without it. I don't think that's good, but I need it to text, listen to messages, make phone calls, google, twitter, facebook, etc.
The smart phone keeps me connected to the world in a way a regular phone can only dream of.
I spend considerable time each week on my laptop many hours on the Internet.
These hours are spend working on homework, reading the news, googling, wikipediaing, youtubing, facebooking, shopping, planning trips, etc. I spend about 10-15 hours a week on the Internet. I think that's too much.
I probably have not spent a day without using a computer, Internet or Blackberry since... I don't know... maybe since late December.
I have become aware of all the privacy concerns we face as we basically publish our lives... googling your name can be telling as well. When doing so I not only find myself, but I find a famous sculpture and a fugitive.
Online identities will probably become more important as the Internet increasingly becomes more ubiquitous in our lives.
It will be fascinating to see how the Internet and technologies continue to evolve in the next ten and twenty years as we begin to have children ourselves.
How will technology shape their lives? How ubiquitous will it be? How will we protect their privacy?
These are the questions we need to address now!