HW #16 Big Paper 1 Outline

Thesis: Digital representative devices are losing the traditionalism that we have and brainwashing us with the word "efficiency".

Arguments: (The Bad)

DRD has replaced our old ways and filling us to use less, making us lazier.

Using instant messengers such as aim, skype, msn to communicate is good but it prevents us to speak the words that we want to say as truthfully and with feelings. The messengers are like walls, "mediums" (Yu Xi) that allow us to not face the problems or what our instant reactions would be if we were talking with that person face to face. I can tell that person that there is nothing wrong even though there is and the person would think there isn't. Comparing to that, if I am with that person and talking to s/he, she can detect there might be something wrong from my mood and facial expressions. The digital lets ourselves do what we want; suppressing our feelings if we want to or saying what we think but the person would end up interpreting wrong. Using those digital may avoid us trouble but it can end up with more trouble if we say things that we are blocking. So I think it is best to talk with that person in reality and facing those problems because there are more interactions and communications with gestures, expressions and the feelings from our voices.

DRDs are also isolating ourselves physically in our room. We surf the web, looking at the things other people have experienced and put it as one of our experiences and knowledge. It is efficient to surf on the web to get all the information and it is faster and less expensive than travelling there to find it ourselves.

DRD has lessen each generations writing skills and language skills.

In school, we need to write essays with the grammar and spellings that are correct. Even though we are still using our pencils and pens, we are changing that to using the keyboard and mouse to do our writing. We type because we think it is faster and programs such as Microsoft Word help us lessen our work by providing us the dictionary and spell checking. This connects to Feed because the teenagers have the Feed to do all the things for them. If they need to write, the Feed would get it for them. The teenagers are not doing this themselves, they are turning dumb because it is the Feed that is doing all the work for them. They are being consumed by the Feed and I think they are more of objects for an experiment than they controlling Feed. We don't need to fix everything that we write unlike the past where they have to memorize more of the grammar and vocabularies. Then texting came out, and others such as blogs, we can shorten the words of how we write them. For example, "what" can be turned into "wat" and "lol",and "rofl". This connects to how Feed is because the teenagers there would say "shit", "brag", "mal", and other slang words rather than the actual words. In a way I think it is because we want to get through the conversation faster because we have to wait for their responses then write our responses. Unlike talking with each other face to face, words just pour out faster than the texting machine can go. This makes us lose what the school is trying to teach us, to write sophisticated and be a professional. Our manners in talking has lessen because of the way we learn from each other (depends who we are learning it from); and when popular sayings come, we begin to say it, which replaces what is actually the appropriate way to say it. I think because of that, our behavior and our standing in the society has changed because the adults are not trusting the younger ones with how our language skills and writing skills are going toward. Now, to prove ourselves, we need to work harder or the future for the younger generations wouldn't be great.

Like in Wall-E, we are being controlled and brainwashed by the DRDs.

In Wall-E, Earth has become a trash land and machines that were build, Wall-E were made to clean up the mess. But all the humans have boarded on a spaceship where even though a human pilot is piloting it, actually, it is a robot that is doing all the work. The humans on the ship was drawn as fat people who are always sitting on the chair. Even though there is a pool and a gym, no one noticed it because the technology has everything in front of them so they do not need to move around. This connects to how we are, in reality because we have all the information that we needed from the computer and we sit there, let them find it and we have it. We are walking less because there are automobiles to bring us there and if robots were built and everybody has them, I think it will be like Wall-E. In the past, we walk almost everyday to get information and we are living shorter because we are not exercising as much as we would in the past. We have to work to get everything and build it by our hands. Now that we have technology to do it for us, we just need to sit back. I think the trash land in Wall-E are connected to real life because we are becoming trash as well since we are not using the resources, or having any big solutions to fix it.
In Feed, the Feed is the one brainwashing us because whenever they want or think about something, the Feed ads pops up, and tells them which one is a good product. But think about it, we build the Feed but now it is the Feed that is controlling us. The technology is telling us which is better rather than us seeing the actual thing. We order it online, expecting that it will be great but once we get it and used it, we start getting bored. Like shopping for food, I would see my mom look over the vegetables and fruits for a long time before deciding. She will walk here and there, wondering what would be good. But in Feed, we are not physically there to look at the product, and with the comparing price and functions button, we can see which is better than which. Like Titus in the end, he was buying random things or of the same color pants in a fast speed, which made me think how our minds are just helping with the big corporations. For rich people like Titus, they don't really care about what they are buying rather than thinking whether it is cool or not. But since I am poor, I think its better to take longer time to buy so I can fully understand what I am buying.

Conclusion:

We are being "ignorant" (Andy S.) and we are just looking at the things on the surface and what's in front of us. We looked forward to the future but we have forgotten whats in the past. We use whats efficient to replace what's old, and we replace whats new with whats boring. These digital representative devices that we use let us forget a lot of our past, pushes us to use our lives to go faster, convenient and...efficient.