Comments on: Why don’t young people blog?

By: kevin Z

kevin Z — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:22:18 +0000

ZOMG!! Where did you find that picture of me!?

I have a similar folder on facebook as Dr. Becca called ‘Social’ Scientists. But its not that bad strangely. The way I look at it is if you can’t handle having a drunk work for you, I probably don’t WANT the job then. Hence, I’m still poor…

By: What’s the matter with young science bloggers? « Homologous Legs

What’s the matter with young science bloggers? « Homologous Legs — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:40:03 +0000

[...] Arikia Millikan thinks that the reason that young people don’t blog is due to visibility and they don’t want to have a blog on the Internet that could affect their chances of landing a job in the future. [...]

By: Arikia

Arikia — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:35:51 +0000

I don’t think the quote was meant to be taken literally. I think it was just meant to illustrate that in 20 years, there will be such an abundance of personal information out there about everyone that one would need to make a great effort in order to have little.

By: FrauTech

FrauTech — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:09:40 +0000

Oh I also think that quote about looking with suspicion upon those who DON’T have drunken photos is crap. Most facebook users don’t have embarassing/get-you-fired type photos on their pages. Maybe it will be more acceptable in the way that doing drugs in the 60s was more acceptable than it is for today’s youth or early trouble with the law for drugs or protesting might be overlooked then in a way it wouldn’t for today’s users. However, there were also plenty of “responsible” people in the 60s who weren’t hippies and weren’t out there protesting and using drugs every second of the day. Nobody looks down on them with derision.

By: FrauTech

FrauTech — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 20:05:10 +0000

I suspect the quick reward isn’t there for blogging so it’s not as common. Social/networking requires little to no effort and results in immediate gratification. Science is not “cool”. I don’t think college kids care/are worried about how future employers will view them and don’t factor that into their facebook exploits OR possible blogging. People who were on the internet when it was first getting started and were building all those horrible flash pages are probably more likely to see an appeal in a blog that “kids” nowadays with their tweets, texts and facebooks wouldn’t. It’s a strange dichotomy where they come out of college being extremely “internet-literate” and yet unable to get by on basic use of MS Office programs. As social networking sites and the interet became more accessible to the average user, basic computer use being less of a required skill to access these things.

By: Arikia

Arikia — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:17:25 +0000

PS: That’s an awesome name for a facebook album. If I was spending people’s tax dollars right now I would totally use that.

By: Arikia

Arikia — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:16:05 +0000

Point taken about the small overlap, but in my experience, it’s sometimes difficult to have duality online. I’ve been gradually swayed by the Internet studies that suggest people’s online personas tend to mirror their IRL ones. That said, science is not anyone’s whole life. I think it’s the aspect of having to write about the science without being able to write about the other compelling stuff in life is deterring. I throw lots of things into the pot with this blog, but I don’t post that frequently, partially because the stuff I want to write about most at any given point in time isn’t appropriate.

Writers want to write. It’s just my suspicion that the negative emotions related to posting things on the Web bleeds over from the facebook to the blogosphere. I know I pause and panic while my cursor hovers over the publish button, and then I close my eyes and push it.

By: Dr Becca

Dr Becca — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:34:32 +0000

My grad school debauchery is on facebook, in an album called “your tax dollars at work.” That is more than enough debauchery…no need to bring college into the picture.

Also, what John said about job security.

Finally, I’m not sure if I see how the visibility issues one might have on something like facebook would translate to something like writing a science blog. If you’re presumably writing about cool sciencey things, I’d guess the overlap with embarrassing/job-threatening material would be pretty small. I mean, maybe if you’re blogging about touchy subjects like abortion or animal rights or creationism…but even then, there are plenty of people who do that and still have jobs. It takes a certain amount of focus and dedication to maintain a blog, and I think most college and high school students just might not have the drive to get those things to the necessary level.

By: Arikia

Arikia — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:31:37 +0000

OMG! Commie!!!!!!!!!

By: Angela

Angela — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:22:16 +0000

Great, according to Bora, I guess I’ll be suspicious in 20 years since I’ve never been drunk. I can’t even finish one glass of wine, never mind be drunk.