Blog 5

When I was first thinking of my critical question I wanted to do something about technology. I first thought of technology in our society and how it was advancing our culture. I soon realized that there were too many pieces of technology to fit into this scale so myself and Nicole decided to make my critical question more  straight forward. My newly revised critical question is: How has the technological advance of smart phones diminished our social skills within the United States? This critical question has changed from my old one because it is much more in depth then my old one. I enjoy learning about what smart phones have helper/hurt American society. 

The group I plan on studying for this project is the Greek students at UNL. I chose the Greek students because they are constantly on their phones and always have something going on. I plan on interviewing people I have met over the last year, and asking them what their thoughts on the smart phone and how the think it is beneficial/harmful. I think that this is a good group to study because they constantly have people texting them day in and day out about what is going on with their sorority/ frat. I chose this group of people because I grew up with friends who are now in the Greek community. In high school they were always on their phones, but now since college they have been even more attracted to them. There is applications that the smart phones now have designed for larger groups of people to communicate in a group text. This allows the entire sorority/frat know what is going on at all times. Not only do the Greeks play a major role in college life, but they are also a huge  society across the nation. 

I plan on studying this society by reaching out to the people I have and have not met from the Greek life , and asking them questions about their smart phone usage. I would like to ask them how long they spend of their smart phones per day, and how have they used their time beneficially/ harmfully. I think that since the Greek life is known for their crazy parties that they need some way to communicate what's going on between different areas. I  also would like to figure out how social they are in large groups or how attached they are to the phones. I believe that the Greek life across the United States is one of the main sources of being a technological based system. I believe this because of what I have seen first hand through my friends and siblings.

Studying this group of people will help answer my critical question by showing me how much kids my age use technology as a form of communication over face-to-face interactions. This will show me how the world is becoming more technological advanced, and more and more people communicate through their smart phones. I know that I'm only studying a small group of people,but I feel that studying this specific group will give me a better understanding of what affects does smart phones have on future generations. 

I will study specifically on how much people in the Greek life use their phone. I will ask them questions about how many hours they spend on their phone, how much data they use, and what the main reasons why they use a smart phone. These few questions will let me become aware of how they abuse/appreciate their devices. 

My relationship to the Greek life is very deep. I have most of my best friends from high school in frats and sororities,and also my family were all apart of the Greek system. Throughout my freshman year of college I befriended multiple people in the Greek life, and have become very close to them. I believe the Greek life is much like a sports team with the bonds they grow over the four years in college. They learn how to overcome diversity just as every other strong groups do in society. I think that not only is the Greek life nation wide, but also they are welcoming over others. I personally have been asked to join a fraternity numerous of times because of the relationships I have formed, but I was not allowed to because of my commitment to football. 

The four questions I would ask my ethnography group would be:
How often do you use your smart phone?
Do you prefer to communicate over the phone or face-to-face?
How do you use your phone beneficially?
In what ways to you take advantage of your smart phone?

My first observations are just how often are the Greeks on their smart phones, and what are they using them for. I would also notice how often they are on them when they are in a small group not socializing with the people around them, but with the people on their phones. 

The things I will be looking for in my observations are when and where are they using their smart phones, how are they using them, and what benefits do they get out of them. 

I will be using my computer to record the information I am observing/ seeing. I will ask them questions about their usage and how its beneficial/distracting. I will see what their main usages are and what their main distractions are. I will record the difference between male and female,and I will also see what is the most popular thing to use your smart phone for each sex.