Being "digital" as Andy put it, has evolved from being a dream for the future to a desire to a want to a need. In a matter of years you can do everything that you would normally do outside, inside. Who needs to walk 10 blocks to the post office?, just click send, who needs to bike to the gym? just plug up your wii. Are we to look at all this new technology as a blessing or a burden?
That's what makes it tricky, if you say "I like digital things" you automatically get meshed in with the 'dumb generation' and if you say "I don't like digital things" you get called a neanderthal. Needless to say that most teens are sucked, tugged, pulled and pushed in to using technology to the point where we become overly dependant on the tiny piece of plastic with a shiny screen. I will admit that there are many hours,days,weeks and months wasted away in front of screens. But there are many days,hours,weeks and months wasted in school,restaurants,and mindless family gatherings.
Its not very surprising to me that most people are accustomed to a digital lifestyle because its one of the major things that get marketed year long and like everything else that has an ad, people convince themselves that they need it. Why do we need all this? Is it a waste of money?
Advancement. I think that we ignore the fact that most of our lives revolve tiny screens because this whole theory of "the future" and "whats to come" has been deeply drilled in to our heads. We think that this is what we have to do because we are heading towards the future of computer chips and away from the past of clunky materials. If we erase whats coming i.e ipods, plasma TVs & touch screens do we have to revert back to the 60's? I think that the thought of rewinding time scares us so we keep dreaming up ideas, keep spending money, keep plugging in because what else is there to do?
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Jacara,
ReplyDeleteYour last paragraph seems to suggest that a portion of the impetus (force behind) digitalization is a fear of lack of progress which would reveal an emptiness or meaninglessness. Very interesting.
Please expand that point and others.
While reading your post, I pictured you saying it (as if you were telling me instead of me reading it). I love how you write exactly how you talk. It made the read that much more enjoyable. From the very beginning, you had me wanting more. Also, the metaphor you used in your first paragraph, ‘straddling the fence’, was refreshing to hear.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your first and second paragraphs. Talking to a screen is much easier to talk to than face to face and I much rather prefer texting over phone calls. You can get straight to the point and it doesn’t seem rude whereas if you’re on the phone and you start off with the question – the person you’re asking the question to probably won’t appreciate the call. The two sentences about re-reading the book A Clockwork Orange, were very random. I’m not too sure why you mentioned it.
In your third paragraph about the VMA’s and twitter, I thought you used a great example but I want to know why you think people feel the need to even ‘tweet?’ about such things. Do they just want to be listened to, are they doing it to fit in (building some kind of image), etc.
In your fourth paragraph, you mentioned how you think we are really connected to computers, your evidence being that we do our hw on this website. I want to argue that this is based merely on a matter of convenience. Think about it, if we weren’t using the internet for our homework – we probably wouldn’t learn much from it. If we handed in our homework, we wouldn’t be able to read each others and be able to develop better ideas. We would have just done the homework and that would have been that. With blogger, I’m able to read all my classmates work and even people from other classes. I can think deeper about what it is we’re talking about.
I thought your last paragraph was the best. I’ve read quite a number of blogs contemplating whose is interesting enough to comment on and whose blog do I have the most to say about, and none of them had the argument of auto tuning artists voices. Very interesting perspective. It’s true how artists don’t even have to be talented anymore – they can just have their voice tuned with technology.
I agree with Andy, I think you should expand more about why you think we’re so afraid of going backwards- we go forwards. Why wouldn’t we just stay with the present? What would cause us to actually move backwards?
I don’t think we’d move backwards- probably just stay the same. If we already have all this technology how could we lose it?
Anyways, I really love the way you write. Your use of metaphors. The language you use – I feel is very appropriate for this topic. Your tone of a strong opinion. I look forward to reading further updates. Adiosss!
hi jacaraara!
ReplyDeletethis is a great post, and i like that you kept adding more and more when you got more ideas. it's like a post in progress. that shows yuo have intracate thinking patterns.
i think your thesis is that we have evolved to become overly depedent on technology becuase we feel pressured to go in a certain direction. we fear that if we halt the progress then we will revert back to a primitive state and lose status.
this connects to moore's law which states that computer chips will double in power every 2 years. some poeple think this is a naturaly occuring law but others think it's a clever business strategy. moore's law would prove your point because it would show that manufacturers are stepping up the technolgy in order to maintain an image and also to make profit.
it would be intersting to hear you elaborate on what exactly you think would happen if we were to hit the brakes on technology. could you project 3 scenarios: going back to a more "amish" way of life, stopping where we are, and develping technology even further. i want to know what you think because i'm not sure what would happen in those cases.
i wonder how happy i would be if i kept all my appliances for the rest of my life and didn't upgrade them. i could probaby be very happy but i wonder if i would feel the pressure you are describing?
write more and keep expanding your thoughts!
hug! -ian
I'm not sure if anyone thinks about this but really everything is a big circle when it comes to technology. No matter how many different types of phones there are, a phone is still a phone. The numbers are the same the purpose for the phone is pretty much the same. So why you ask do we buy more of the same old crap?
ReplyDeleteBecause, we think we need it of course. It's simple, if one has the knowledge that there is something new and "better" then your mind automatically disregards that you basically have the same piece of plastic already.
You are scared of going back, you feel like you're in the past if you don't upgrade. If don't update your sidekick you feel old. Get it? I just figured this thought out completely just now as I wrote this post.
So even if you do have a piece of modern technology, and something else comes out what you have is old, what you have is in the past so we continue to need more.
Now, if there were to be a complete halt in technology, yes the world would continue to spin on its axis, yes your text inbox will still be full and yes your ipod will still charge at night. But people will wonder what's next. We are already in this pattern of getting something new when something gets "old".
So if nothing came out people might panic. I actually think that people will have more of an appreciation for what you already have and you won't mindlessly buy the same thing over and over again just because it has a new name.
Oh, and one more thing I was trying to get all my ideas out and forgot to thank you guys for leaving me the comments. Sam, I love your comments they make me feel smart cause I have to think deeper about what to say. Ian I love the questions that you asked they helped to further develop my points!
ReplyDeleteBut I really would like to know what would happen if there was a halt in technology too.