Artifact 3: Who I Am as a Writer/Thinker

For artifact three, I chose my third essay entitled, The Ethics of Living in an Online World. The assignment was to take the phrase "The Ethics of Living..." and fill in the blank. Since I struggled with the structure of the essay, however, I feel I did a good job of portraying who I am as a writer. The structure of the piece and how the tale is delivered is a common trait of a great writer. I went from telling a childhood narrative, which was the first thing I wrote, to connecting it to the prompt. I believe I succeeded at making a coherent piece from where I started.

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Living in an online world, in my opinion, requires an examination of how ethics affect how we, as people, use the internet. According to Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, ethics are defined as “moral principles that control or influence a person’s behavior” (Oxford). This relates to the online world, specifically, social media and the normalization of the smartphone. Both of these technologies, as well as how people use them, have moral implications. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries says that morals are the “standard or principles of good behavior” (Oxford). I believe that social media and phones revolves around this definition. Their primary purpose is to connect people together and for them to exchange new information. Now, what people choose to do on their phones is an example of free will since they have the right to express what they believe is right or wrong and what their followers should or should not see. With the addition of smartphones and social media into the world, I feel like there is a lesson is to cherish the present moment and not follow the crowd, and this is an idea I feel like I am still learning every day.

As I reflect, I realize that being on the internet has become a part of my identity. On the one hand, it allows individuals to communicate with others from all over the world, learn new things, and participate in new forms of entertainment. On the other hand, there is a sense of ambiguity because people can put on a mask. On Instagram, for example, a person might share an image of their favorite moments for others to see and comment on, which is something I do regularly. This takes away from living in the moment and promotes the idea that you must look at what others are posting and generate similar content for your own page.

Most individuals born in the early 2000s, like me, have grown up in a world where the internet is already a part of people's everyday lives. Now, the internet is more accessible than ever with a smartphone since you can use it nearly anywhere in the world. As my generation got older, popular apps like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter began to gain traction, which was evident in the hallways of my middle school in sixth grade. At this time, I just moved from Arkansas to Florida. I was having a hard time with the transition of moving to a new school. I wanted to make connections with my colleagues, and the way to do that was through my phone.

I will never forget the day when I believed that I truly needed a phone. Never before have I seen so many children walking down the hallway with their heads bowed, gaze fixed on the rectangular black machine we call a smartphone. As soon as I walked into the classroom, three phones were simultaneously shoved into my face.

"Did you get a chance to read this?" One girl shouted in my face.

"Take a look at what she wrote!" He demanded.

"This meme is hilarious, look." She busted out laughing.

"Oh, right…you don't have a smartphone." They all said in unison.

When I was in sixth grade, I was the only one who didn't have one. My friends were often showing me other elements of the internet, such as memes, YouTube videos, and games, and I wanted to be like them. I wanted to be a part of it, so I would frequently ask about the apps they were using. "What is Instagram?" What is the purpose of musical.ly? "Can you show me how to play Minecraft?" I felt like I was truly missing out. Then, my mom called me... on my flip phone.

I got home that day and spoke with my family. I was constantly begging and pleading for this device that everyone had their hands on. In order to get it, my mother said that I needed to work hard and continue to do well in school. Once I did that, she said I would be able to get a smartphone, and the next year, in seventh grade, I had the opportunity to prove myself. I was having trouble with mathematics, but I improved my grades and was given a phone as a reward. I did everything those kids told me to do as soon as I got it, and I felt empty.

During this experience, I thought I was missing out on what was being put out into the world in reality, I was not missing out on anything. I believe this part of the reason that now I often rely on my phone to communicate with people rather than talking to them face to face. It is way easier for me to initiate discussions in an online space. I have more time to construct what I want to say through text messaging. Since I followed the crowd at such a young age, I believe that this has led to me become somewhat addicted to the smartphone and using it as somewhat of a crutch. This situation relates to ethics because peer pressure is an example of an unethical behavior that can damage people.

The main lesson that I am still trying to learn is that being in an online world is somewhat of a double-edged sword to tread lightly on. This is because you can learn a lot, enjoy a lot, yet also can get hurt a lot since the consequences of being online excessively can cause social and psychological effects. The Department of Public Health from Greece, Marianna Diomidous, wrote in the National Library of Medicine, that things like lack of relationships with friends and family, a loss of interest in everyday life, and a disregard for academics are just some examples of what it can cause.

I tend to get very anxious talking to people so I usually ask to get their social media to speak there more often. I constantly try to remind myself that life is not found behind a phone screen, it's found by living in your experiences in the present instead of watching it through a screen. Even in real-life conversations, I tend to bring up things I saw on the internet instead of focusing on the present.

With all of these technological advancements integrated into the world, we, as a society, never looked back. Since then, living in an online world has become the norm. People are trying to maintain connections no matter the medium. Although, for me, I want to make the effort to speak to people in real life. I will strive to move beyond my comfort zone and continue to work on it.

Works Cited

Diomidous, Marianna. “Social and Psychological Effects of the Internet Use.” AIM: Journal of the Society for Medical Informatics of Bosnia & Herzegovina, AVICENA, D.o.o., Sarajevo, Feb. 2016, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4789623/#:~:text=The%20excessive%2 0use%20of%20Internet,of%20the%20quality%20of%20life.

“Ethics.” Oxford Advanced American Dictionary, 2022, https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/ethic.

“Moral.” Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 2022, https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/moral_2?q=morals.