http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/babies-go-live-online/story-e6frf7l6-1225935673046
e6frf7l6-1225935673046 (accessed 07/10/2010)
This news article attracted my attention as it plays on notions of the cyborg and of parental control and internet policing, all of which have been discussed in our lectures, workshops, blogs and tutorials. The article is about parents giving their unborn babies identities in cyberspace, reflecting on both the dangerous and liberating effects of this. Parents post their ultrasounds on Facebook as profile pictures and create photo albums showcasing their babies. “More than 70 per cent of all mothers surveyed said their prime motivation for posting images of their babies on the net was to share them with family and friends”. As beneficial as this may be, privacy settings need to be adjusted so that the pictures are not accessable to the whole online world. The article provides statistics to reinforce this rapidly growing trend. “7 per cent of babies have their own email address” and “about 4 per cent of newborns have their own social networking profile sites such as Facebook.” This reflects the notion of parental control through monitoring their childs’ activities on the net. If babies are born into a world of Facebook they are learning nothing different, and FB becomes an everyday space. Their profile is a representation of themselves from birth, which legitimises it under a false context. The article reinforces the notion of individuals transgressing into cyborgs. In a tutorial we have talked about our first experiences with computers or Facebook. This made me think how in years to come university students will not remember a time when they did not have a Facebook account. I think that parents need to take an active role in sharing baby photos online in a safe spectrum. In my opinion they should not be creating Facebook acounts for babies who cannot yet speak for themselves. Teenagers are ‘internet saavy’ as it is. Is it really necessarily for young children to be as aware of this social medium? The connection and involvement in technology from birth inhibits the joy of outside play and activities. Facebook access from a young age could further diminish the line between real and virtual worlds.
The source is valid and up-to-date as it was published on the 7th of October this year. It has been published in the Herald Sun newspaper which is distributed in Melbourne and Victoria. The artticle has also been published on the Herald Sun website so it is accessable to a much wider audience. The newspaper is targetted to the average Australian working family. Readers wouldn't primarily be of a high intellectual level as the article is written in simple colloquial language. The newspaper doesn't include primarily opinion pieces, it simply covers day-to-day news. The author Greg Thom is a technology writer for the Herald Sun and has published other articles in the paper about 3D IMAX films, the video game Halo and flight simulators. Although the article is not deemed as scholarly the author specialises in keeping up to date with technological trends. Thom adopts a factual and straight to the point writing style. He provides statistics and does not delve into his own personal opinions. There are two pictures, one of a mother and her baby, the other of an ultrasound as a Facebook profile picture. This works well to contruct the idea that what happens in real life also happens in cyberspace. A downside to this news story is doesn't have links to references or any further information on the author. The statistics are sufficient but the mention of 'recent studies' doesn't include any background information to what these studies are about. It also doesn't fully make use of authority figures which emphasises the article as not being scholary. It is not very detailed either and lacks depth in the real impact of this epidemic.
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