Digitalization is always advancing but the population is starting to get lethargic by using the digital devices. Where as in the past, most people would have to work and spend their time walking all over the land to get the information that is available today. There are automobiles and the internet that people can access to, which can help them find the location that they want or need, making it easier. As the digitalization progresses faster, people have started to forget the old ways where we spend time and strength to make what’s going to happen. We are brainwashed by digital representational devices to replace slower past models for quicker and more efficient versions.
Laziness and Disembodiment:
Digital representational devices have replaced the old ways of doing a lot of the activities and leading people to use less and becoming lazy. Using instant messengers such as Aim, Skype, and MSN to communicate are wonderful programs that allow people to speak to each other without being with together with each other. However, that prevents the words that people wish to speak to be spoke as truthfully and with feelings as possible. The messenger programs are similar to walls, or "mediums" (Yu Xi) that allow people to not face the problems or what their instant reactions would be if they are talking with that person face to face. For example, through using a messenger, I can not be absolute sure if there was anything wrong with the person that I am chatting with. And even if they do have something wrong, that person can tell me that there is nothing Comparing to that, if I am with that person and talking to s/he, I can detect if there might be something wrong from her/his mood and facial expressions.
The digital lets ourselves to do what we want; but this lets us to suppress our feelings if we want to or that we say what we are thinking but the person on the other side can end up interpreting differently. Using those digital may avoid us trouble but it can end up with additional trouble if we say words differently than what we are blocking. A lot of the teens say different statements unlike what they are actually thinking because maybe they do not want to face the truth. I think it is better to pass through these mediums that we have and show more honesty out into the world, rather than hiding. We use the digital to hurry the conversation but it is a better choice 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.
Digital is also distracting us from improving our social skills. People have their laptops or computer and they don’t even have to step out of their home and are already connecting to the site. However, internet is making us lazy, and it is distracting us from our reality. The sites “keep people from doing what they’re supposed to do and have ultimately replaced face-to-face socializing’. Not having face-to-face interaction is a huge loss for our social skills” (Technology is making us lazy). In the past, without having many of the digital already produced out, people would be talking to people directly rather than using a medium. Technology is replacing socializing into isolation with the virtual world as well as showing how people do not like to do extra work.
Digital representational devices are isolating people physically in their room, creating a sense of idleness around them and making our bodies weaker. In the videos that Andy Synder’s classes have created where a camera is set in front of the student to record how they are expressing as they are sitting in front of their camera. One point that I notice in a lot of their videos are the inactive actions and their faces shown as bored expressions. This shows how a lot of the teens, in this example, that even though we may be enjoying it in the inside, it may not show it on the outside. To use a computer, one must sit on a chair and looked at the screen constantly to get the information that one needs. When using a computer, people can detach themselves from the physical world, making their outward appearance to be different from what they are really doing. The programs and functions in the computer have filled the enjoyment into their mind, but due to the period of isolating disembodying from their bodies; their bodies have led to inactivity, making them weaker. In the past, even when computers and other technologies have started producing, a lot of the peoples’ works are still needed to be done with their strength and hands. However, now that the technology equipments have progress, many people’s physical activities have decreased. This suggested that, digital life can give us entertainment in our mind but it slowly destroys our bodies.
Television is much more fun to watch than reading a book. Our minds are very bored right now and it is just the right time to watch television. We use the remote controller, then sit down on the couch, turn on the television and change to a channel where we can watch a show that is interesting. We sit there for the whole show, thinking that it is funny but I don’t think a lot of us do actually get up from their seat to do something else. To stretch themselves before they numb their body parts. In a lot of the shows, people would sit in front of their televisions all day and do nothing but stared at the screen. We could have done something else but they don’t which I think the reason is being that our laziness has build and chose not to do it. We do not wish to do extra work. Sometimes we want to be distracted from the reality and are comfortable in front of the television. However, television makes us dumber because not a lot of us think about the meaning behind the shows (if the director did intend on putting any). “Television is the biggest brainwash, I will say” Bao Lin said, when I asked her about why people sit in front of the television and not do any other things. We watch television because we are mesmerized with what’s on the screen, causing us to not move our bodies. Similar to sitting in front of a computer, we start losing our physical build because not a lot of us exercise when watching television. Our minds have been led to “sit and relax” than “work hard”.
Digital On, and the old ways goes Poof:
Digital representational devices have lessened each generation writing skills and language skills. I think it is also the big corporations and media’s fault because they have created these digital and brainwashing us with lovely ads to show how useful it is when it is only causing our most basic skills to decline. In school, we need to write essays with effort that the grammar and spellings are correct. Even though we are still using our pencils and pens, we are starting to change into using keyboard and mouse to do our writing. We are using keyboards to 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. Technology has already become a part of our body parts.
This connects to Feed, where it is an allegory about modern teenagers whose minds have been taken over by the media and the digital. The Feed, a transmitter that has been placed in their brain was a very good entertainment device for them; they can chat with others on the Feed and no more need to use your fingers to type, you can just order your supplies and needs from your Feed. The teenagers basically have the Feed to do everything for them (with money and power). If they need to write, the Feed would get write for them. However, as I read on, the teenagers are not doing the tasks, like writing, themselves, but the Feed are. They are turning dumb because the Feed that is doing all the work for them. They are being consumed by the Feed and it seems they are more of the guinea pigs for a huge experiment (for the big corporations and the media) than they controlling Feed. The teenagers in the book does not need to fix everything on the paper they would write unlike the past where the people have to memorize more of the grammar and vocabularies. This suggests how our traditional ways of writing have declined to be replaced by digital devices.
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. We are being lazy for not writing the actual word and that we want to get through the conversation faster since we have to wait for their responses then write our responses. Unlike texting, when talking with each other face to face, words just poured out faster. Texting are changing what the school is trying to teach us, which is to write sophisticatedly and professionally. Our manners in talking has lessened as well 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. This causes our behavior and standing in the society to change because the adults are losing trust on the younger. Now, to prove ourselves, we need to work harder or the future for the younger generations wouldn't be great.
Brainwashed by Digital Efficiency:
Like in Wall-E, we are being controlled and brainwashed by the digital representational digital. In Wall-E, Earth has become a trash land and machines were built to fix the mess, which was the Wall-Es. 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 were 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 thus 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 now 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.
Internet is faster than reading through a book. People want to get the information fast and through internet, resource is convenient. However, reading in a library, one can’t use a find button and search for what they want or Google. Websites such as Google and yahoo has enormous amount of information that other people in the world has contributed it. A lot of us, especially the teenagers go to Google to find the information because it saves time. Internet 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. Therefore, people want their lives to be easier and resourceful by using the digital available to them. However, what happens when a digital breaks down. For example in Feed, a bunch of teenagers were hacked and got their Feed taken off: “We were frightened and kept touching our heads. Suddenly, our heads felt really empty” (46). Their heads felt empty because the Feed is their brain, and it is not their own brain. Once a digital break, we freezes and then feels restless because we don’t have it with us. We won’t be able to go online and this imply how without digital entertainment, we cannot figure out what to do. Technologies break easily suggesting that efficiency is not always the best.
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 are better rather than having us see the actual merchandise. 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. Similar to Titus in the end, “I ordered pair after pair [of pants]. I was ordering them as quick as I could” (293). This quote shows when our minds are in a not calm state, we tend to do, for example like Titus and other times, just ordering it to waste their money but that helps profit the big corporations. Sometimes, people cannot decide whether they should order it because technology and behind its back is media; is manipulating our mind to buy it. For rich people like Titus, they don't really care about what they are buying but only think about whether it is cool or not. Digital helps us to become efficient in buying or trading objects with each other but it is controlling our point of view. This shows how digital persuades us with proficiency as well as in dominating what we can do.
Connections:
People keep abandoning the old ways and doings and goes forth to replace with the newer and cooler things that we are blinded of how influenced we are from the digital. One day we will be like Wall-E for the Earth would be pile up with many rusted objects and guilt of throwing the old things away. Plus we would not realize it until many generations later and be super fat like the people in Wall-E.
People are always played by the digital representational devices because we want to be in the new and popular group. For example, in Feed, lesions have become popular and many people have started to cut up their bodies using lesion machines. On a party, Queny came in with “her whole skin was cut up with up these artificial lesions, we were all just looking at her” (Feed 191) and “It was probably pretty pricey” (Feed 193). Similar in reality, people are going to cosmetic surgeries and such, misshaping their bodies to something that are not theirs. A phrase that we have heard a lot of times which is by having a healthy body, it means to lead a longer life. They wish to be pretty and to be in the popular crowd but to create “artificial” body parts shows how they are not treasuring their bodies as well as their money. We are working hard to raise money but now that demolishing our body to something else technology is available, many of us have lost value in our bodies.
Remember being young and running to the park and play? Well, in this age of time, people, especially little kids rather stay indoors than outdoors because kids want to play with video games and be on the computer. The people who built the parks build parks because they think children would go to play them but “today, empty parks symbolize how ‘play time’ has changed because of advances in affordable technology like home computers” (Is Technology Making Us Unhealthy?). This demonstrates how “parks” which was use to have been the kids favorite play time location has now change to staying home and playing video games. Kids have lessened their time in their outdoor activities and increased their indoor activities. I think that they find games more interesting but as well as they do not need to walk to the park and can stay home to do the entertainment. Therefore, kids are slowly overlooking what people use to spend their time with and are being influenced by the digital to become less productive.
OPV:
In the “Everything bad is good for you” excerpt, Steven Johnson said that watching television raises your emotional IQ, which helps you in reality to interpret others expressions and emotions. However, television still brainwashes us with advertisements and the shows that they have created doesn’t mean that it is real. It can be a lie, like a lot of the advertisements are if we think deeper into it. We can be watching the show to learn about expressions from the people but the people in the shows are actors for most of the genre in the entertainment world. This demonstrates how a lot of the shows that we believed in a lie created base on people who act, being directed by people who imagined.
We find more numerous sources from the internet and meet people from the different world. Internet is marvelous because we don't have to run around to find what we need. With a click and a press of a button, the page of answers we need pops up. However, many of the sources (and a lot of the primary ones) that are posted online are from books and our history. Even though I’ve been stating ideas of how technologies are replacing the physical objects and our minds, technology is starting to replace how we read our history. People use to read history from textbooks and the actual books. In “History is Elementary”, the history teacher stated that, “Thousands of people through out history have gone to great lengths to record history through newspapers, diaries, journals, saved letters, family Bibles, and oral traditions”. The “people”, the historians “have gone to great lengths to record history” but it seems that in this time, we are all concentrated in the world of digital and not the world of books or history. Even though we still read textbooks from school, the time to read the history are mostly from the internet where the text are posted and reading from books have been declining. People used the internet, as I stated before that it is efficient. However, I want to argue that we should always value what the people in the past have given to us; the books, the history, the time they’ve wasted to put these history for the future generations to read.
Significance:
Everybody wish their lives would be easier hence people tried to advance every type of technology and digital devices as fast as possible. We still learn our history but because we don’t want to waste out time, we use what’s new and cool. We remember only some details of what’s in the past because digital has replaced it with their nice images and attraction for us to follow them. Additionally we are not living our life in the moment because we are concentrated in using the digital device, rather than yourself that catches the moment. We focus on how the device should be capture but if the device is gone, we would be using our pair of eyes to capture the moment and also be in the moment (Technology is Great, but Are We Forgetting to Live?).
Long time ago, we would have been working using our physical strength but now that technology is here, they are the ones working for us. For example, in Feed, “Look at everything I got from the Feed. It’s going crazy with everything we looked at today. It’s trying to work for me” (106). Everybody is looking at everything the same because we have technology to do the work for us. It is dominating our way of thinking because of the media influences and how the word “efficiency” that always pops that, leading us to be hypnotized. Many of teens and kids do not think about it because if it is fun, it is on their good side, showing how we are easily manipulated. If people look at things differently and with more perspective, then the historical values would be saved and we would be able to think who is actually controlling who. Therefore, I think it is best to notice what we are forgetting about. What the people in the past have created for us, we should still remember about rather than throwing them away because we want “efficient” to be in our lives. Happy doesn’t always mean easy.
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 what’s in the past. We use what’s efficient to replace what's old, and we replace what’s new with what’s 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.
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Johnson, Steven. Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter. New York: Riverhead Books, 2005. p. 17-124
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