We can see from the archival data that 55.93% of status updates archived were given some kind of attention. The average of all the comments and “likings” for each status update was 1.96. This means that the majority of status updates are given a significant amount of overt attention.
From the survey results we can conclude that 1. at least 29 people saw my status with the survey posted on it and 2. the majority of people claim to both attend to other’s status updates and have others attend to theirs.
It is extremely important to note that my data can only look at overt examples of attention paid. It can be assumed that not every person who reads a status comments on it or “likes” it. This means that the people who are paying attention to the status updates are significantly more than those overt expressions of attention paid that I archived.
We can infer from this data that while people do indeed think that others are paying attention to them, this is not an error in judgment or perception on their parts. Indeed people are paying attention. My hypothesis was wrong because status updates can only be an example of the spotlight effect if people think others are paying attention to them more than they actually are, when in fact, according to my research, people are paying attention.
Originally I looked at those who updated their status with constant personal information with distain. I had thought they were clearly victims of the spotlight effect and had equated them with a gross sense of self importance. What I learned from the research project is in two parts.
1. We all possess the tendency to exert the spotlight effect, even myself. After reading the research, it is clear that if the average person succumbs to such a phenomenon I can no longer hold myself above that standard or else I have fallen prey to a similar form of egocentrism that I had labeled the status updaters.
2. After doing this project it is clear that facebook status updates are NOT an example of the spotlight effect as I had presumed. The spotlight effect dictates that people think others are paying more attention to them than they actually are. It is clear that status updates are a sign that people think others are paying attention. But what we see from my research is that people are paying attention! Instead of judging those who update their statuses constantly, instead I should be looking at those who are reading these statuses.
Reflection on the digital civic engagement:
The future of the digital civic engagement will have many different effects on society. The future society will improve significantly with the ease of information access. Isolation, at lease on a technological level will be difficult. People will be able to keep in touch with those far away or from the distant past. Relationships will be formed, strengthened, and kept. Things like online dating and friend sites will greatly enhance our ability to get to know people.
On the other hand, all of these things will be purely technological, perhaps making us vulnerable to a dependence on technology for all of our relationships. Will this be detrimental to our “real life” relationships? In terms of this research, it is already apparent that we act significantly different on the internet in terms of self-disclosure. Will this affect how we act with our in person relationships. Perhaps in the long term after so many years of status updating to strangers online, we will begin to be more and more comfortable with self-disclosing in real life.
The research that I conducted can contribute to the knowledge about the digital society by illuminating the attention given to people online. It is important to know that what you are putting online be it status updates, photos, information about yourself, ect is being looked at by people. No longer can I or a reader of this researcher think that people aren’t paying attention. This speaks volumes to the privacy issues surrounding what we disclose online. We must assume that if we put it out there, people will see it.
To be a digital citizen means to partake in the world within the internet. Any facebook user is undeniably a part of this digital society and should consider themselves a citizen. Preferably, this citizenship is not your only one. As we move to a more and more technological world, it becomes easier and easier, to retreat into a solely technological world. It is important for you to have a real life world outside of your computer.
