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SOCI(al media) OLOGY

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(the) mortalitybook click this #6

SOCI(al media)OLOGY

Earlier, we took a second to pause on the idea that historians of the future will have a detailed family tree of the human race.

But they’ll have much more

than that.

They’ll have access to our very thoughts.

By pouring through our posts and tweets, they’ll be able to figure out what we were thinking about politics, world events, pop culture, and that meme that ended up on all of our Facebook feeds 2 days and 34 minutes ago. Granted, some of our unique communication could be lost in translation–

–but for the most part, the future will know how we spoke, how we presented ourselves, and who we were.

themortalitybook.tumblr.com

Anthropology professor Keith Hart thinks that this new environment is

transforming what it means to be HUMAN. Hold on a second here. Are you ready for this?

Digital Anthropology not only studies the digital imprints we make, but consequently studies the

CONNECTED imprints we make.

If it weren’t for social media, Digital Anthropology probably wouldn’t have much of a leg to stand on. And if you think about it, social media wouldn’t exist if weren’t for the way we, well, interact: our constant need to share things, to be connected.

This is the same kind of psychology that separated us into tribes millions of years ago.

We want to be part of the group. It makes us feel safe– and worthy.

themortalitybook.tumblr.com

It used to be that we dictated our devices, but soon they may overthrow us. As we simultaneously create this environment and function inside of it, it stands to reason that our behaviors (and maybe even our biology) will adapt and evolve to it, too. “We are living through the first stages of a world revolution as profound, in my view, as the invention of agriculture.”

-Keith So if Keith is right, this is huge. And “huge” means

“CONSEQUENCES”… …Keep scrolling.

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images brentdanley. “flickr-2205021283-original.jpg.” Fotopedia. fotonauts

inc, 25 Nov 2009. Web. 22 Apr 2012. <http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-2205021283>.