Neal Brennan: Texting

Introducing the iPhone

Smartphones have changed life in many ways because they give people access to millions of resources from one device. The fact that I can be anywhere, have a question about something, and be able to Google it on my phone has changed daily life for sure. I probably use Google at least five times a day. Also, smartphones have opened the door to social networking beyond text and email. People can update all of their friends from anywhere and because of this I think people (including myself) have lost appreciation for face to face communication.

I don't use many apps, I usually just stick with the basic social networks and music apps. One of the apps I use regularly is Instagram. It is a place to edit and share photos with friends and It's cool because instead of having a ton of pictures from your vacation, you have to be picky about which ones you share. This way, you can look back at your photos and it serves as a sort of a "best-of" snapshot timeline. I also use Pandora daily. It is a music app that plays music based on your favorite artists or genres. It plays songs by artists who are similar to the one you chose and as a result exposes you to many new artists. I would highly recommend these apps to anyone.

Honestly, I would love to imagine myself without a smartphone. I think that people have become so dependent on their phones that they are missing out on real life experiences and conversations. That being said, they are also convenient and very resourceful. Life would be harder without my smartphone because we live in such a digital age where having a smartphone is almost necessary in order to be efficient.

Introduction

Hello! My name is Haleigh Purvis and I am a sophomore Communications major. I am from Ohio and I transferred to UT in the Spring of 2013. I took this class in hopes of expanding my knowledge about the digital world and how it impacts society since it is becoming more and more prevalent in our daily lives. Judging from the first class, I am excited to get started with the projects and to be exposed to multiple types of media in the process. I can't wait to get to know everyone in the class and have an awesome semester! :)