Now I will admit, I am addicted to Facebook. I can always find something to do, some friend to check up on, all that good stuff. I think I have it well managed in controlling myself, because it doesn't interfere to the point where I can't function without it or get anything else done.
I think that with everything being digital though, the world is rapidly changing. People will spend hours small talking through texting and IM-ing instead of hanging out and having one in depth conversation. People also don't really get to know the other person as well with digitalization. Not only do you just know their online persona, but since you can talk to 20 people at once, you don't even remember who is who half the time and the other half you don't remember what they said anyways. The quality of relationships is not that of those who don't rely on digital media to stay in touch.
Digitalization also is eating away at the world's patience. With everything ready right now this very second, people expect everything to be done. This in turn affects people's attitude toward long term projects, losing quality in exchange for getting it done. And that is when they do get it done, when they aren't on Twitter or Myspace telling everybody that they are doing this work and had to stop just to tell them so they could get attention.
That's another thing, much of this digitalization is just a way to grab attention. People will say things online just to get people talking about them or to them or something, hoping that they take the next step and venture onto their profile page. And if somebody isn't talking to you, you can IM them. Or text. Everybody is constantly available for you to grab their attention.
That was a bit tangential, but I feel like the topic of digitalization can encompass so much and has such a large affect on the world, with its growth increasing every day, and as a result, every train of thought brings you to another track. In order to even think coherently about it, you must focus on one aspect of it to start, and hope to gain enough foothold to power through and demolish the topic, getting everything out of it. I think that digitalization can be a great thing for the world, but at the same time, it is mishandled right now and people do not know how to control themselves and be reserved with their digital interactions. Hopefully we can find a way to aid our use of digital media, but for now it is like an uncontrolled flood, killing us when it could provide fresh water for the country.
I agree with you; people have this need for attention.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it that you can control yourself, but others can't?
Facebook can be addicting but I guess for you, it is not like a drug that you can't get off of.
Why is it that you can control yourself, but others can't?
The digital world is changing the way we communicate and causing us to expect projects to be done faster.
This made me realize the significance of computers at my internship site but I don't it's a bad thing because computers are more efficient.
I have to disagree with you when you say that we don't remember what people say when we are IM-ing; the whole conversation is right there in the box so you can just scroll up if you ever forget and I think this is one of the pros of IM.
It was nice reading your blog, thanks.
Hey Henry, I really liked what you had to say! Your post was definitely enjoyable with well-construed arguments.
ReplyDeleteYour thoughts were very interesting and I agreed with most of your points - that digitalization has not only decreased the quality of our relationships with one another (trading in quality for quantity I guess?), but has also caused us to be a more short-sided people.
I also think you're spot-on when you talk about how technology could be a great tool for us, but at the moment is being "mishandled." How do you think we could change that? How can we make it so that WE are the ones using the computer instead of vis versa; as it seems to be now?
Some other things you could write about, or include in your blog, are maybe hows all this digitalization came about. How did you go from Nintendo 64 and dial-up to a Facebook "junkie" so to speak?
Your thoughts on how IMing and texting affect relationships between people around us really got me thinking - what if we didn't have those things? Would people's actions towards each other change? and if so, how much and in what ways?
Thanks for the interesting thoughts! -Michelle G.
Maggie,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that you disagree with me on the IM-ing. I like that there is room for an actual debate on the topic, which can lead to more insights.
I think that your disagreement is very helpful for me, you pointed out a nice loophole in my argument. But to be fair, I still stand by my point in that I meant it to the extent that once you leave the computer most of the conversation fades away from memory very quickly.
This thought also led to some insight on the topic of Instant Messaging, in that it has different levels for different people. BUt you saying you can just scroll and reread the conversation is one of the good points, but bad that it needs to be there and that the medium doesn't carry the conversation without this feature.
It seems like you mainly focused on the benefits of technology while mine talked about many of the negatives, balancing each other out.
I feel like the two of us could reach a common ground on a question explaining the benefits of technology.
Michelle,
I really think that you had some good ideas to expand upon what I said.
I appreciate that you suggested that I expand upon my evolution from kid playing Nintendo 64 to Facebook, I think that an in-depth study involving out age group on that topic could prove to be quiet insightful on how the internet has changed the world.
I gained from your comment the concept that computers are using us when we created them. It reminds me of a joke from Cats and Dogs where they joke that humans pick up their poop, which in turn makes me think about the place that everything has in the world.
I think that together our two ideas could lead to a discussion on how the internet has changed the common-person and their interactions with others.
I think that an interesting topic to handle together would be why everything has to be personal and for oneself, such as iPod's and P.C.'s and such.
I enjoyed reading your response. I felt that it was very well written.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that social networking is just a big project to get other people's attention.
When I read your response I got the idea that people are starting to get too dependent on the digitalization of life and how fast it works and captures our attentions.
“I am addicted to Facebook.”
If you can admit to being addicted to facebook, how can you also admit that you can function without it? Being addicted to something most usually means that the addictive substance or activity is a primary source in ones survival. If you can say that you can survive without facebook then I guess “addicted” is the wrong word to use. OR are you really denying your true addiction????? I, on the other hand, wouldn’t say that I am addicted to facebook because I can live without it. It has actually become very boring.
In addition to figuring out if you really are or are not addicted to facebook I would like for you to expand on the idea behind the statement “killing us when it could provide fresh water for the country.” How so? I know it’s a broad subject but try to elaborate on how the digitalization of life can provide us with fresh ideas that we can feed off of.
Also, I don’t quite understand the last sentence of your second paragraph “The quality of relationships is not that of those who don’t rely on digital media to stay in touch.” Yea it sounds mighty smart but all I see is a whole big mumble jumble of words. I don’t understand the statement; I don’t see the meaning that you are trying to convey towards me. To me, it sounds as if you are trying to say “the quality of a relationship is not based on people who rely on digital media to stay in touch.” Even when I reworded to have it sound more comprehensible I still can’t get the full meaning that YOU are trying to show me. I would like for you to explain/ fix this sentence in a follow-up comment or edited response.
After reading your response, I feel empowered to write more about the digital life on my own blog. I also feel a little encouraged because I finally got my ass to actually try and start doing some of the assigned work.
I hope to read more from you. Your style of writing is very enjoyable and holds my attention long enough for em to finish and keep thinking about the ideas provided -Cindy Luo
ReplyDelete(I forgot to add this part to the previous comment)