blog #9

Valkenburg, and Peter Jochen. P. M., et. al., Adolescents' Identity Experiments on the Internet:
Consequences for Social Competence and Self-Concept Unity. Communication Research v. 35 no. 2 (April 2008) p. 208-31

Patti M. Valkenburg and Jochen Peter, both graduates with a PhD from Amsterdam School of Communications Research, teamed together to write this article, focusing primarily on the effects of media contents and technology with the development of children and young adults. The type of audience most likely to be interested in this article, are those just as interested in the research of how technology, primarily social networking, affects our young society today. Keywords the authors used for this article were: Internet, chat, social skills, loneliness, and self-concept clarity. These keywords make it easy to relate to my topic of research because I’m doing just that; showing how the Internet affects social skills, and therefore could cause things such as loneliness and self-concept clarity issues.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Couch, Danielle, and Pranee Liamputtong. "Online Dating and Mating: The Use of the Internet to Meet Sexual Partners." Qualitative Health Research 18 (2008): 268-79.

Danielle Couch, a postgraduate student at the School of Public Health, and Pranee Liamputtong, also at the school of Public Health, both researched the use of the Internet to meet sexual partners. They researched the process in which some people go about meeting their sexual partner through the way that they participate with online programs using such things as the webcam, email, and chat to engage in conversation, and meet one another. This article relates well with my research topic in the sense that I’m trying to figure out if the idea of developing a relationship from Internet resources is negative, or if it could actually prove as useful and successful.

________________________________________________________________________________________________


Levy, David. Love and Sex with Robots. New York: HarperCollins, 2007.

As an internationally known artificial intelligence expert and the International computer games association, David Levy seems to represent…something not offensive. Stereotypically, his audience is not widely known for their social skills. As his subject involves future intercourse with robots, this stereotype may hold true. Levy graduated from Acadia University in 1972 and received his masters in English from Queens University in 1979. The author’s audience is targeted at anyone who has an interest in technology in general, or specifically robots. The demand of Levy audience is the curiosity in just how far technology can go. Author David Levy is primarily trying to address the things that technology brings us to today, showing how absurd the new ideas that people create are. A main argument that Levy makes is that what we may have imagined never happening, could happen a lot sooner than we think, or could already be happening right before our eyes. For example in briefly describing what the book is about, Levy states: “Love, marriage, and sex with robots? Not in a million years? Maybe a whole lot sooner.”

Just the term, “Robot-human sexual intercourse” is a controversial issue. It’s no question sex in society has been a constantly changing argument, for centuries views have differed and changed by public opinion. But even in today’s society where sex seems to be a little less taboo, (even if no one wants to admit it but advertisements can publicly resemble at pin up poster) it’s unclear how people will react to sexual relations with inanimate objects. Considering the openness of the subject, it’s hard to tell if the author is “cropping out” certain topics. It’s possible that these robots might turn on their masters or become some sort of undercover device for the government. A threat to privacy could be eminent, but that’s the risk you run with dating a computer. The idea of being able to have a real relationship with a robot in and of itself, is interesting; thinking that someone can have real feelings for an object hardly considered anything but programmed. I think Levy’s main purpose in talking about this issue, is to make us aware of how technology is literally changing the world. This source could prove as very useful in terms of our final research papers, because it not only helps us to see the different affects technology has on us in just this aspect, but it opened our eyes showing us that it can relate to more topics than just our own.


From these three out of my six sources, I have hardly had to alter my original research topic at all. Although all three are very different articles, explaining very different topics and situations, each tie into my research topic in the sense that technology GREATLY changes our everyday life. Whether it changes our lives in the sense that it's our personal life, like relationships, and skills, such as those that could develop differently because of social networking through the Internet, or whether it be something as broad as how robots could one day "take over the world." Overall, research so far has opened my eyes to just how many ways I can take my views and opinions on my topic.