Okay so these first two people I actually know, I guess for the next two people I'll try to find someone on the street if its possible.
Paige (Girl on the Right) 1.What inspires your style? I don't know if my style is inspired, I do however like to watch people and see what girls and guys are wearing, and kind of smash everything together. I'm an occasional magazine flipper, so I suppose that helps. Plus I love looking at street fashion websites from places all around the world. I guess my style is inspired by the world. 2. Do you think your cool? Haha, yes I suppose my style is cool, everyday I try to reinvent myself with the things I can find in my closet. I think it's cool that I don't have to look the same everyday and I never really lose who I am.
Yeah I find that true for many girls.
3. Do you think others think your cool? Or do you think your setting off a cool vibe that you want to? I do tend to get compliments about my style, from friends and strangers, so I guess people do find it cool. I suppose it's rare to find someone who doesn't really fit into the mold that society has set for them.
4.What is the social scene like at your school? high school, whatever? There really isn't a social scene at my high school. Every one pretty much knows and talks to everyone no matter what they look like or what they're into, seems most people in my school can find a common ground. There are of course the few kids that all look the same that stick together but what school doesn't have that?
5.Whats the typical cool person? A typical "cool" person is that one person that no matter what day it is or what the weather is like they look picture perfect every day and without effort. They never try too hard.
Wander What is your style inspired by? Or who i guess? I don't know. I guess by like friends and stuff. When you hang out with the same people a lot and you get a long with them and you kind of start dressing and talking like them. I hang out with a bunch of people that have the same style as me so I guess thats where my style kind of gets inspired from.
Do you think your cool? Yeah I think im okay, I mean to my friends I am pretty cool. I get along with everyone well. Im not like the coolest guy in the world but yah im okay. Im not uncool because I guess if I was I wouldn't have any friends, you wouldn't be my friends and no one would wanna talk to me. haha
Whats the social scene like at pace? I don't know, its college so its chill. I mean you don't really know every single person so its not like every ones is super friendly with each other saying hi all the time across the halls. I mean I know a couple of people from class and they don't really have the same style as me they are still my friends and think im pretty cool despite our differences in clothing and like interests.
SO Alicia and I went to find people to take pictures of and interview together. The first chick I found we both though was cool. She looked kind of like Lady Gaga who is really cool. She wore leather leggings, combat looking boots, a septum piercing, and deep blue eyeliner. Unfortunately and crappy quality from Alicia's camera did not show it. What is your idea of cool? Umm..New York Or What is your idea of the typical cool person? I don't know what she exactly said word for word but it was something like: Someone like David Bowie and Lady Gaga. Someone who doesn't give a shit or doesn't care what people think and who is fearless.
A Acquaintance I bumped into. His name is Cloud. So what is your typical idea of a cool person? I don't really like the idea of cool. Like uhhh.... Like you don't like categorizing people? No not categorizing, I think categorizing is fine because everyone does it whether they realize it or not. I guess I am saying is that I might do 'cool', at least I am aware of them and aware of this whole cool idea as to people who don't.
Part 1 Maxiel's Story: This sounds like at least one person per class. This in my personal opinion would be someone who is totally not cool and really annoying. I guess to some people it could be seem as cool, I do not see how but maybe its he "badass" kind of perception of it. Being cool maybe means to be able to have attitude and be publicly dramatic if that makes sense. I noticed a little attraction part of it to. Being able to be attracted to the opposite sex, or same sex, or being able to be opposite to other human beings makes a person cool. This depends on what type of people you are wanting to attract makes a person cool
Conor's Story: I enjoyed your short story I liked that it was in the point of view of a narratorr. I like that the whole thing was just pure dialogue. This characters is kind of a big ass hole but I guess in some cases this can be seen as cool. Making fun of someone for the extent of making your self look clever and funny. Like the class clown. I have seen this many times in class before. The main character seems more like a "want to be cool" person and the girl seems to be percieved as a cool person for sticking up with no fear.
Alicia: SOOOOOOO....this is your perspective on the "dream guy" LMAO interesting interesting....sounds a lot different then what I figured the dream guy might be. But besides that your story was really enjoyable to read. I can see that all those billion hours of journalism classes somewhat pay off although its not quite the same thing. It seems that the typical cool guy to you is also kind of the typical "nice guy". He has a more subtle coolness, being away from the mainstream teenager activities like mating rituals and doing drugs, etc. Someone who has big dreams and goals about the future rather then focusing on the "in" of teenage lifestyle in the present. Cool cool. So since if this is your dream guy which is most obviously is *cough*, your might want to rethink your piorities to be able to attract a guy with these "cool" traits since that is one of the patterns i noticed of being "cool". Nate no likes party girls.... LOVE YOU! :) hehe Oh by the way thanks for commenting on my story.
Jacob: This was a really nice story, very subtle which is kind of like my story and a few others I have seen. I feel even though you didnt' speak about his clothing or his fancy doodats and junk, the car is a pretty big idea of what to have in order to be cool. Being able to own fancy expensive things is cool but only if you work hard and earn in. Being spoiled is seen as uncool for the most part but it seems hardwork and determination is seen as cool, espeically if it gets you expensive things. I really liked this story, it took a different setting then most people's story's who wrote about teenagers at school. Your was at a car dealership which is pretty random but cool. :)
Mathew: Matt you are truly an amazing creative writer. Maybe script writer? Its like all the good meaty parts to a sandwich... I think? I don't really know Im a vegetarian but you know what I mean. Writing it in a script form really got my attention. There was no fancy cheesy descriptions, those can get really boring to read. Ok well first I think you really showed the idea of a "want to be" cool person. The girl shows me the sexual pattern to coolness. Being sexual and/or sexually attractive can be found as cool. Someone who is able to offer sex is cool but at the same time a someone who offers too much sex is seen as uncool. A slut. So this brings me the idea of what is just enough sex? What is just the right amount of sexual attractivness to give out the people to be seen as cool, not prude or a slut? There is also a materialistic aspect of coolness. You have to wear clean clothing if not expensive clothing already. Being able to spent a lot of money and show off that you get whatever you want is seen as cool to many teenagers. Although at times if you show off too much you can be seen as coincided or spoiled. Again, WHAT IS JUST ENOUGH? Again great story :) It was really cool. Gave me a lot of ideas.
Part 2
So when reading these stories I noticed a couple of general aspects of what makes someone "authentically cool" and "trying to appear cool". So far I have gotten attitude, self image (like a style or clothing), and sexuality or sexual attractiveness. Both are used in both authentically cool people in everyone's stories and trying to appear cool people. So first I will squeeze out where I notice these things in the stories or characters of the people who are perceived as authentically cool.
Firstly attitude to those who are seen as authentically cool come in a couple of ways. One of which is a subtle kind of attitude, someone who doesn't seem to care about what people think. "They are there own person" kind of vibe that everyone might say. They are mysterious and keep to themselves, they are the only one that knows what they are thinking or doing. The Archetype for these sort of mysterious and subtle characters can be categorized as The Mystic. Playing the role of the oh so mysterious character that everyone just wants to know what they are thinking of. These characters are seen in a lot of stupid cheesy love movies/ stories. One of which is book/movie Twilight. The dumbest porno like, sexist book ever written. I read the first few chapters of the first book and threw it out, the main character was some vampire guy who the female main character falls in love with was perceived as the Mystic. So mysterious and "sexy" where the girl could not stop but think about his mysterious attitude and why he was so quite and hardly ever spoke. Making the girl play the role of beautiful damsel in distress. (The whole series is about a bunch of guys who are all like vampires and werewolfs and such and they try to fight and win the love of a some girl who's horny or something where there is a bunch of scene describing their desires for each other...Sexist and STUPID. It makes women look weak and helpless and men all horny rapist pigs..again, STUPID.)
Another attitude or Archetype that is seen as really authentically cool is The Optimist (or whatever archetype you can call the optimistic person). This person is cool because of their optimistic view of life and their future. They are have "good" in their hearts and only want to seek adventure or life outside their daily routines. This is seen in Alicia or Jacob's story. Both guys in the character see goals in their future and stay optimistic and are appreciative but no other character relates. For example in Alicia's Story, "Nate sat and sighed, took out his notebook to a clean page that had not yet been touched with notes or doodles. He outlined the corner of his notebooks with the faces of strangers he hoped to meet in exotic places in countries far from here, places where you adjust to a new culture and appreciate the natural beauty of the world." This character no one seems to understand his views about life, he has bigger dreams and goals he wants to accomplish and is tired of the characters around him. He is the typical nice guy who just wants to experience new and better things and although life around him seems "empty" to him he still stays positive.
These are the two attitudes that I have noticed that some of the authentically cool characters have so far. The attitudes shown in the "fake" cool characters are like outspoken and obnoxiously vociferous characters. Those who put down other characters or disrupts to get lots of attention. I got this idea from Conor's story. The asshole type character who disrupts class, is loud and attracts attention by finding drawing attention to other characters, making fun of their personality or type of clothing. "He was wearing moccasins today. "Hey Daisy." He sat there and took his notes. "Yo sitting bull" He finally looked up, "Yo hole." I laughed a little, "Where did you find the buffalo to make the shoe man?'" If you read the whole story this character starts off disrupting class, makes fun of the character's shoes. By doing this it draws attention and may make others laugh but in reality it is seen as "fake coolness". It is seen as pathetic of pick on others because we learn that people put down others to bring up their own moral or confidence which is "uncool".
The next idea is image, as in how a person tries to show off their personal style with materialistic items or clothing. Just like sex the characters who seem to have a lot of expensive materialistic items or clothes are seen as uncool or trying to hard to be cool. Although those who have "just enough", who are always dressed nice and have interesting clean clothing but not too much to attract jealous attention amount others are seen as cool. Just like sex, what is exactly enough materialistic items to make someone just the right amount of cool? Like in Mathew's story the girl talks about how her outfits are over a thousand dollars makes her uncool. She is seen as spoiled and bratty which is uncool.
This leads to the next idea of sexual attractiveness or sexual openness. At most times being sexually attractive to other human beings can be based on the self image a person tries to show to others. In doing so its like when animals want to attract the right partner for mating, humans dress certain ways to attract specific partners as well. Being seen as "cool" increases your chances of obtaining a partner to do sex with. Unless you already have a partner to do sex with then your not cool since your "available" (only apply this to some people). I got this idea a lot from Mathew's story again. The girl in the story dresses not only in expensive clothing but revealing clothing as well which attracts her boyfriend to do sex. "Im wearing at least a thousand dollar outfit, everyone I know loves me, and my boyfriend wants to screw the hell out of me." says the female main character of the story. Since she was able to attract her boyfriend it makes her cool but she is seen as "fake cool" because of how overly sexual she is or openly sexual she is.
The fact that she would "open her legs" as people call it to just about anyone makes her a "slut" but yet people also see people who never do sexy as uncool because of how prude they are,at least for females this is true. Thus bringing up the question once again of what is just enough to make you cool? Its like filling up a cup, there is only one way to do it, if you fill it up too much you overflow it and it makes a mess. If you fill it up too little there is nothing to drink. Why is it that there is either too much or too little of something in order to be uncool? And what is the "just right" in order to be cool? This is beginning to sounds like Goldilocks, the oatmeal is too hot, too too cold, but the oatmeal in between both is "just right". (I think that is how the story goes).
So I am not a very good creative writer, so here is my incredible short story of a cool kid, I guess.
She walked quick as her feet stomped from her heavy chunky boots. She took her hands out of her faux leather jacket pockets and entered the school. It was early in the morning and she had just walked into school just in time before she was declared late. She always seemed to get to school exactly as the right moment, never late, and most definitely never early. She slowly walked up to the front elevator as if gliding across the floor and mumbled "good morning" to those who actually made eye contact. She stared straight up at the numbers above the elevator rubbing the bags under her eyes gently so she wouldn't smudge her thick black eyeliner. More teenagers slowly gathered around the elevator in silence with a couple mummers, some of which was her classmates and some weren't. Some kids looked her up and down at her outfit as she always coordinated her clothing differently everyday, never wearing the same outfit. She wore a lot of dark colors too.
The wait for the elevator feels like a lifetime, everyone avoids interactions and try glancing at one another without being noticed. Sofie on the other hand just keeps staring at the elevator numbers not really caring who or what other were doing around her. The dean of the school walks up flailing his arms "Everybody walk up, walk up! No one is allowed to get on the elevator." he announcing in a nasally voice. Some of the younger kids and more shy kids disperse and begin their long journey up the mountain of stairs and some just stay waiting for the elevator.
"Sofie, you have to walk up." The dean says as he stands behind the now smaller crowd still waiting for the elevator.
"Why? What ever happened to senior privileges?"
"Just walk..." he sighed, not wanting to single her out as he knew she was one of the very few students who received high marks and wasn't one of the students that caused a significant amount of trouble.
She just faces back to the elevator as if she had never spoken to the dean at all, just then the elevator door opens and everyone begins to stumble inside as if it was a subway cart. She pushes through everyone up to the elevator buttons and pulls out the elevator key that has been copied around the school which only a handful of students have. She uses to elevator key to turn on the elevator and presses 7. Some kids in the elevator begin to have conversations, some joke, some laugh, some make fun, some mumble. Throwing the keys back into her black studded bag she puts her hands back in her jacket pocket and stares at a space on the wall and attempts to drown out the voices of people around her as one of her classmates takes notice of her gravitas and uncaring attitude and said "hey."
Being cool has always been a weird topic for me. I know I have had my days of trying to be the "cool" kid in school. Even now I have a certain image of cool that I try to portray, whether I realize it or not. But there is a difference between popularity and being cool. I think being cool is based on people's interest and what intrigues people. Firstly it starts from different groups and or different types of cool. For example from different "cliques" is what it can be better known for. In school, in Andy's class for example people rave and think 50 cent and his rap/singing or whatever you call it is cool as everyone sings along, "heeyyy disss maa sonngg". And me on the other hand, I roll my eyes and sigh "oh god, turn this crap off". From a group of kids that I can probably be seen as normal, some friends outside of school that can better relate to each other we have our own perspectives of what is cool. My boyfriend and I find certain things cooler then other, we find rap music such as Jay-Z and mainstream rap music really annoying and "uncool" and we find music like Japanese pop, jazz, scremo cool. When that type of music spontaneously pops out of know where thats when we are the ones going "heyy thiss maa song". Well maybe not in that type of slang.
There is a really broad range of stuff a person can find cool in a certain perspective. This is where I wonder where people develop a certain liking and interest for certain things to find "cool". One cause could be how a person is raised, what kind of neighborhood a person is raised in, or what type of people a people surrounds a person while they are growing up. This may not always be true but from my view and experiences i think it is unless otherwise proven wrong. For example I was raised part of my childhood in Hong Kong and part of my childhood in New York. From around 2 years old till 10 I was raised around in a dominantly chinese based culture just like every other chinese child around me that was my friend. Although I had my dad who was kind of an "outsider", everyone would call him the "whiteman" in chinese and call me "whitegirl" even though I probably look dominantly chinese. In Hong Kong I was taught that white people were "bad" people, basically they were uncool in the chinese culture. And being white it made me "uncool". And no matter how much I would try to fit into the chinese culture I could not, I was too chubby (since everyone in my chinese is super skinny as most chinese people are), or too tan, didn't speak enough chinese. And even when I try to listen and watch chinese television it was not really white I enjoyed or found cool myself. I put up a mask to cover myself, a mask to show people that I am cool and that I can fit in too.
When I moved to New York I figured I would finally fit in more since New York was such a diverse place full of mixtures of culture and ethnicities. When making friends in elementary school although I felt more comfortable with my ethnicity then I am in Hong Kong I was still look down upon. It is so interesting to me how everyone here calls me "mad asian" or the "chinese girl" yet everyone in Hong Kong calls me "white girl". So thinking that my ethnicity would finally be accepted what wrong as I was criticized by my other ethnicity of being chinese. I was younger at this point, maybe around 11 years old so i figured if I could not be accepted for being Caucasian nor being chinese then what raise is dominantly accepted where I live? So like in Hong Kong I tried to put up a mask and a fake image in a chinese based culture, when I first came to New York I realized that the dominate raise was the Spanish people and Black people. My friends in elementary school and the dominate ethnicity in my elementary school was Spanish and Black. So like many kids I put up a new image of what was expected to be cool by the dominate percentage of kids my age. I tried to "talk" spanish or black which is what they seem to call it which is basically slang. This again brings up the experience I had with someone who said "yo you talk like a white person". So without blabbing on basically this idea shows that where you are raised and the types of people you are influenced by plays a big role on what you find cool. People try to be cool by setting up an image for themselves that would fit in.
Although fitting in to what is mostly seen as common always works it still may not make you stand out or be seen as "ooo that person is cool". This is where an attention aspect in involved. Being cool is kind of like a cry for attention, and although wanting to follow what is mainstream or popular people do not want to fit in too much or else they would not be noticed. Growing a little older right now, although I fit in with kids I hang out with outside of school I am seen as pretty cool, within my friends I am pretty high up on the cool rank since I fit in. In school I think I am in the middle on the cool rank, mainly because to people in school I can be seen as unusual but not too unusual where I am looked down upon as being uncool. Although I put up an image of being a "different" person in school I still put up a mask not too different but not too common so that I can try to portray an image of what I would think people would think is "cool" of me. Sounds pathetic but it is true, and although I cannot say this for every person to be correct it can probably be correctly assumed.
I think my art project is probably a failed attempt at a hammer, so basically I think it is just a mirror. It is mirroring our digital life. It shows how digitization is used as a mask to cover up our real happiness and covers our ability to be able to interact and think properly. I think I did pretty decent for a sketch this thorough in just one week. To me, one week is way too short to crap out a art project if I want to make it good and deep. The detail in the middle took me most of the week, the rest of it I did just to get done basically. My inspiration for this sketch was the movie Metropolis, I had a whole different sketch planned out before but as I sketched it turned a little in a different directions. There are some little aspects of the movie that are still on my art piece such as the divided sides and the weird and mysterious half with mushroom that may seem more pleasant than the side where everyone looks alike and wears smiley face masks.
To quickly explain a little about my art project: Obviously the band in the middle in pretty self explanatory as all the digital technological devices and spread out in the middle dividing the two worlds. It is just a digital representation of the digital devices that we use. Game Cube, Ipods, Xbox, Television, Computers, Iphone, etc. On the bottom of the page I drew all the people who almost look identical. They wear smiley face masks which kind of represents their false happiness in their digital lives. They are drawn upside down so that their smiley faces would look kind of like they are frowning. This little part of my art basically is also saying how no matter how much we think or try to be different, and no matter how much we say things like "oh yeah, no I don't let my kids watch a lot of television" or whether we admit we are addicted to digital stimulation or not we are still all alike. We are sucked into to all the digital brainwash. The lines on the arms kind of gives a feel as if they were not humans, maybe puppets. Also the strings/lines is like a link to the other half of the sketch with all the mysterious mythical looking people in a mushroom looking world. They seem to look peaceful with the mushrooms and flowers growing on the other side. This part basically shows how we may think our world may be or how disoriented we may be dispite the fact that some people think that our lifestyles are perfectly line. Usually I like doing art that makes people create their own thoughts and click on their own imaginations to what they think my art is. I guess my summary is basically a couple examples of what one person may perceive my sketch to be saying or being a mirror of.
Intro... In our present generation digitization is a big part of our daily lives as teenagers as well as adults. Digital technology has been used so excessively that it is no longer just a part of our lives, just a digital device but a lifestyle. It surrounds a lot of our lifestyles and the way we live, interact, spend our time, etc. Technology never leaves our side, I know for myself it never leaves my side as I always have my cell phone with me, others may always have their ipods with them, laptops, whatever is portable. Many people have come to think that digitization is like something that releases endorphins, relaxes us, bring us happiness but looking beyond the screens of our televisions sets and computers and looking at the bigger picture I realized that our use of technology for happiness is false and the affects of this can be extremely harmful to our society as well as ourselves. Digitization is the cause of our ignorance and makes us oblivious to what is really going on such as brainwash, destruction of the environment, our health, our emotions. Addiction to digitization is leading us deeper into the direction of ignorance and a lot of this can be caused by our need to conform to society.
Addiction/Socializing It has been made pretty clear that we are addicted to technology; many of us do not know the extent that we are addicted. Before this digitization unit I knew I was addicted to digitization, but didn't know to what extent or what kind of negative affects it was having on myself and others. Thus causing myself not to care. From what I know all teenagers are as addicted as I am. I cannot say that I am only addicted to one digital device because if I use all the technological devices at least once a day I am addicted to digitization. I do know for a fact that I become more zoned out on certain digital devices then others, the cause of this can be our lack or realization of ourselves and other people. For example is the television. As a young child I was not able to watch an excessive amount of television as true "American" children. It was not until a later age in my childhood I started to discover the fake pleasure of watching television. From reading other people's blogs it was noticed that although we are all addicted to digitization, everyone is addicted to different device a certain amount more. For example I spent way more time being distracted by the television then Yazmin P is since all her attention goes to her cell phone. Both of which effects our ability to socialize with people in person. She made it clear in her blog that she spends a lot of time out of her day being distracted by her texting. In her video she ignores a lot of what her mother is telling her because she is so distracted which has to be a big part of families falling apart. Even though we are different in which ever technology we are sucked into more with both experiences we have the same effect. One of which is disembodiment (when you are not in sink or realize what you think your body is really doing). Being distracted from reality and spending so much time on digitization takes away from our ability to want to interact and improve charisma or social skill. It distracts us from certain daily routines. This could be a really good reason why I am so socially awkward and I have trouble holding a good conversation with someone I am not super comfortable with.
Another example is my brother, although a smart and funny guy he never expresses this fact as he is so addicted to his digital pleasure of his computer/ video games (Warcrafts). He would literally spend his WHOLE day sitting in front of the computer and would not get up from staring at the screen unless it was to use the bathroom or to get something to eat. This made the rest of my family and I never really get to know his inner emotions or what kind of personality he really has. I never was able to have a brother/sister sibling relationship as his relationship with his computer was more pleasurable it seems. If only he would realize and step away from what was causing his loved ones to miss him he could have been able to notice the people around him and his environment as well. These are examples of how little parts of our society fall apart; it starts with one person crumbling family social interactions. If only we would work on making friends instead of being friends with our digital device we can realize one real happiness of life which is the love of friends and families. And yet people are so dependent on technology that we are unable to stay even a few hours without digital stimulation. Even a littlest time without digital stimulation it then causes most people to become anxious, uncomfortable, feeling naked as if there was some article of clothing they are missing from our bodies. A good way to think of this is with people's cell phones. Most teenagers and even adults in our generation would not leave the house without their cell phones.
(Nomophobia- fear of being without cell phones *please wait for the commercial crap to finish*)
Brainwash/Marketing Digitalization does not only take away from our social skills but are all just brainwashing devices. I watch a lot of television, and when thinking of television it is filled with a bunch of commercials every minute. It makes it seem as if television devices are just away for companies to brainwash their products to you through your sense of vision. According to the article by Sarah Johnson, Average Person Watches 43 Ads each day it states that "According to Thinkbox, this means 2.45 billion ads are watched daily with a single person watching 43 ads each day." That is even WAY more then the population of people in the United States which is around 308 million. With all these different marketing made by digital media is raises questions about thing like privacy and how we do not realize how we can be effecting our health and rather spend it wasting our day being brainwashed by advertisements. We do not really notice how much advertisements we see, as if since it is there it is now a part of our daily lives along with digitization. Even when we are checking our emails which are supposedly private locked by a password, when sending emails, there are advertisements that pop up from highlighting certain words on an email. This makes me wonder how private our internet and cell phones really are.
A great example that mirrors this is the book Feed by MT Anderson. Feed is about a teenager boy living in the future, although this book may seem to be about the technology of the future it is actually a allegory of the present. In Feed everyone has microscopic digital chips implanted into their brains, these chips basically act as every kind of digital device we have in our present day such as cell phone, aim, shopping online, television, etc. The main character Titus dates a girl name Violet who does not come one with her Feed (digital chip) till she was in a later age, thus causing her downfall for her need to fit in with her friends and their addiction to their feeds. In the book Violet goes shopping with Titus and realized how the Feed is programmed to market anything that seems of interest in your mind. This is like a mirror of our experiences with digital marketing through our internet and televisions as well. Every minute and every second there heads are poured with a bunch of advertisements for mostly useless items; this is like a mirror of a small part of the negative experiences we have with digitization.
Conformity Along with marketing brainwash strategies, digital technology, especially digital media affects the way many teenagers emotions towards self image. Most teenagers have the need to conform to whatever digital media shows that is the new “in” style, trend, items, etc. And most of the times of which teenagers want to conform they do not really know in detail why they are conforming or even what exactly is the point or the facts of their conformity. This can be seen from any teenager in our society. Just look around and there is always someone conforming to society’s norms one way or another. For example is the updating of digital devices. Every time a new trendy cell phone is invented with different all types of different abilities most teenagers and even adults feel the need to buy the new trendy cell phone or ipod devices. Even if their later dated digital devices are still working perfectly well. What reason is there to keep getting new fancy digital devices when their later version of the digital device (even when it is not super old and is just one year old) is perfectly still able to work? This is most likely because of a person’s need to fit into a popular image with friends and society by conforming with new trends.
As well the need to conform to the newest digital devices, visual image seems to be a significant part of many people’s live as well. This mainly is effected by digital media like the television. Women are portrayed as skinny, tall, the typical “American beauty” girl. Men are portrayed as tall, strong, masculine, and fit. This causing ignorance and superficiality among society. What people wear is a significant affect of digitization as well; most people constantly change their hair styles according to what is updated as trendy from what we see on television and on the internet. We constantly change what we wear as well, one day people are wearing high top sneakers and the next day people are wearing boots with heels, this is caused from trends set from our addiction of digital devices. The fact that people are able to keep updated on the changing trends. Most of which people do not really realize the reason they are wearing these trends or where these clothes are even made from. This is portrayed in another perspective in the book Feed by MT Anderson. A group of kids are informed by their feeds (digital devices equivalent to our digital devices) that riot gear is the new trend. Thus causing all of the main character’s friends to dress up in ripped up clothing which is their portrayal of riot gear. What makes them ignorant is the fact that they do not quite know what riots even are. They have a need to conform so quickly into what is the new trend even if they do not even know the reasons or how ridiculous their image is.
Health/Environment Digitalization also effects our health and our environment. It affects our health, from my own experiences, the addiction distracts my ability to be one with nature or have a healthy exercise pattern. I do not spend as much time outside as I do inside watching television Instead of going outside and having some fresh air (well not super fresh because of the pollution but its better than staying in the stuffy in doors) sometimes I feel more obligated to play video games or watch my favorite movie/show. I do not go out and exercise, I do not take walks and since technology distracts us from hanging out with friends it takes away being able to hang out and play games or take walks with friends. With the food unit helping the way I eat, it will not do anything without some form of exercise. Thus causing people sometimes to be overweight or unhealthy. Like in the movie Walle (one of my favorites) where all the human beings live on a ship, they do not need to walk, or even make food for themselves, they live in a digitized society on a space ship causing them to be morbid obesity and even unable to even walk. Also besides from computers and television we have other types of technology like cell phones that cause radiation and cars and such that cause pollution which effects the environment we live in. "When a city builds more roads to attract tourists, the result is more traffic, not less. Even things we take for granted such as the automobile have negative effect on us. Because the automobiles cause pollution and that can surely harm us slowly." (Negative Effects Of Modern Day Technology) A mirror of this is another example from the book Feed, in the book Violet speaks with the main characters father about taking a walk in one of the only parks in their society. Upon this conversation it is found out that the park and trees were cut down to build a air factory. This is ironic since trees are one of the main sources for air. We sure have many aspects of digitization that is quite similar to the effects it has on our health, society, and environment.
Alternative/Good of Digitalization? Although most of us babble about how technology is bad for us, there are those who do not admit that they actually enjoy it. Some just go along with the rant of "television is bad for our brains!" I know I in some cases do the same which would make me a hypocrite since I watch so much television. Some of which such as Johnson who wrote the text Everything Bad is Good For You refers to the "good" and the increase of intelligence rather than the deteriorating of digitization. He states how digital stimulation is actually good for a person's mind. It helps us learn how to notice patterns and helps our problem/puzzle solving skills. As i realize and analyze this concept a little more, bringing back my idea of my brother, he was an extremely great thinking and was really smart. I try to follow in his footsteps but obviously can never match up to his level of thinking but it is good enough for my own perspective. As good thinkers and problem solvers it would be a good point of Johnson's Everything Bad is Good For You that our good thinking and patterns solving skills is the cause of our "intelligence" but for myself personally I like video games but I do not obsess over it as much. I do not play every day but when I do plan on playing video games I am pretty damn good. So it could be that Johnson's has got it all backwards, those who are good at pattern solving and thinking are good at video games, and since they are good at video games they become addicted. It makes me think that my brother’s extreme intelligence helps his ability to play video games thus giving him the confidence which caused him to be so addicted to his digital lifestyle. Although Johnson's text makes some really good points, with my own thoughts and experiences I must disagree with the whole idea of how our intelligence grows from digital stimulation.
Simple Conclusion From all the insights on our addiction to our digital lifestyles and why we are so addicted, the unraveling of the ignorance and obliviousness of our society slowing is revealed. Many people do not realize the destruction of their addictions even if they are showing a mirror such as a book like Feed or even videotaping ourselves in the process of our addictions. Sometimes seeing a reflection of our digitization problem can have some sort of affect but not enough to completely change our patterns of use with digitization. Many people would continue to keep up or even fall deeper into the hole of ignorance and stupidity if we do not realize to heal our addictive uses to digital devices.
Sources -Personal Experiences -http://www.articlesbase.com/science-articles/negative-effects-of-modern-day-technology-1106666.html -Feed/MT Anderson -Everything Bad is Good For You/Johnson -Yazmin P's blog -Sarah Johnson- http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/924735/Average-person-watches-43-ads-day/ -Disney/Walle -Ideas taken from class: Conformity discussions, addiction discussions, intelligence discussions, etc. -CBS Evening News-Nomophobia- http://www.sling.com/video/show/56850/88/Why-Mo-Rocca-Is-A-Nomophobe -Brainwash Picture-http://cartoonstock.com/ -"Fit In Soon"Pic- http://cartoonstock.com/
In our generation digitization is a big part of our daily lives as teenagers as well as adults. Digital technology has been used so excessively that it is no longer just a part of our lives, just a digital device but a lifestyle. It surrounds a lot of our lifestyles and the way we live, interact, spend our time, etc. Technology never leaves our side, I know for myself it never leaves my side as I always have my cell phone with me, other may always have their ipods with them, laptops, whatever is portable. We have come to think that digitization is like something that releases endorphins, relaxes us, bring us happiness but looking beyond the screens on our televisions and computers and looking at the bigger picture it has been realized that our use of technology for happiness is false. Digitization is the cause of our ignorance and makes us oblivious to what is really going on such as brainwash, destruction of the environment, our health, our emotions. Addiction to digitization is leading us deeper into the direction of ignorance and a lot of this can be caused by our need to conform to society.
It has been made pretty clear that we are addicted to technology; many of us do not know the extent that we are addicted. Before this digitization unit I knew I was addicted to digitization, but didn't know to what extent or what kind of negative affects it was having on myself and others. From what I know all teenagers are as addicted as I am. I cannot say that I am only addicted to one digital device because if I use all the technological devices at least once a day I am addicted to digitization but I do know for a fact that I become more zoned out be certain digital devices then others, the cause of this can be our lack or realization of ourselves and other people. For example is the television. As a young child I was not able to watch an excessive amount of television as true "American" children. It was not until a later age in my childhood I started to discover the fake pleasure of watching television. From reading other people's blogs it was noticed that although we are all addicted to digitization, everyone is addicted to different device a certain amount more. For example I spent way more time being distracted by the television then Yazmin P is since all her attention goes to her cell phone. Both of which effects our ability to socialize with people in person. She made it clear in her blog that she spends a lot of time out of her day being distracted by her texting. In her video she ignores a lot of what her mother is telling her because she is so distracted which has to be a big part of families falling apart. Even though we are different in which ever technology we are sucked into more with both experiences we have the same effect. One of which is disembodiment (when you are not in sink or realize what you think your body is really doing). Being distracted from reality and spending so much time on digitization takes away from our ability to want to interact and improve charisma or social skill. This could be a really good reason why I am so socially awkward and I have trouble holding a good conversation with someone I am not super comfortable with.
Another example is my brother, although a smart and funny guy he never expresses this fact as he is so addicted to his digital pleasure of his computer/ video games (Warcrafts). He would literally spend his WHOLE day sitting in front of the computer and would not get up from staring at the screen unless it was to use the bathroom or to get something to eat. This made the rest of my family and I never really get to know his inner emotions or what kind of personality he really has. I never was able to have a brother/sister sibling relationship as his relationship with his computer was more pleasurable it seems. If only he would realize and step away from what was causing his loved ones to miss him he could have been able to notice the people around him and his environment as well. These are examples of how little parts of our society fall apart; it starts with one person crumbling family social interactions. If only we would work on making friends instead of being friends with our digital device we can realize one real happiness of life which is the love of friends and families.
Digitalization does not only take away from our social skills but are all just brainwashing devices. I watch a lot of television, and when thinking of television it is filled with a bunch of commercials every minute. It makes it seem as if television devices are just away for companies to brainwash their products to you through your sense of vision. According to the article by Sarah Johnson, Average Person Watches 43 Ads each day it states that "According to Thinkbox, this means 2.45 billion ads are watched daily with a single person watching 43 ads each day." That is even WAY more then the population of people in the United States which is around 308 million. With all these different marketing made by digital media is raises questions about thing like privacy and how we do not realize how we can be effecting our health and rather spend it wasting our day being brainwashed by advertisements. We do not really notice how much advertisements we see, as if since it is there it is now a part of our daily lives along with digitization. Even when we are checking our emails which are supposedly private locked by a password, when sending emails, there are advertisements that pop up from highlighting certain words on an email. This makes me wonder how private our internet and cell phones really are.
A great example that mirrors this is the book Feed by MT Anderson. Feed is about a teenager boy living in the future, although this book may seem to be about the technology of the future it is actually a allegory of the present. In Feed everyone has microscopic digital chips implanted into their brains, these chips basically act as every kind of digital device we have in our present day such as cell phone, aim, shopping online, television, etc. The main character Titus dates a girl name Violet who does not come one with her Feed (digital chip) till she was in a later age, thus causing her downfall for her need to fit in with her friends and their addiction to their feeds. In the book Violet goes shopping with Titus and realized how the Feed is programmed to market anything that seems of interest in your mind. This is like a mirror of our experiences with digital marketing through our internet and televisions as well. Every minute and every second there heads are poured with a bunch of advertisements for mostly useless items; this is like a mirror of a small part of the negative experiences we have with digitization.
Along with marketing brainwash strategies, digital technology, especially digital media affects the way many teenagers emotions towards self image. Most teenagers have the need to conform to whatever digital media shows that is the new “in” style, trend, items, etc. And most of the times of which teenagers want to conform they do not really know in detail why they are conforming or even what exactly is the point or the facts of their conformity. This can be seen from any teenager in our society. Just look around and there is always someone conforming to society’s norms one way or another. For example is the updating of digital devices. Every time a new trendy cell phone is invented with different all types of different abilities most teenagers and even adults feel the need to buy the new trendy cell phone or ipod devices. Even if their later dated digital devices are still working perfectly well. What reason is there to keep getting new fancy digital devices when their later version of the digital device (even when it is not super old and is just one year old) is perfectly still able to work? This is most likely because of a person’s need to fit into a popular image with friends and society by conforming with new trends.
As well the need to conform to the newest digital devices, visual image seems to be a significant part of many people’s live as well. This mainly is effected by digital media like the television. Women are portrayed as skinny, tall, the typical “American beauty” girl. Men are portrayed as tall, strong, masculine, and fit. This causing ignorance and superficiality among society. What people wear is a significant affect of digitization as well; most people constantly change their hair styles according to what is updated as trendy from what we see on television and on the internet. We constantly change what we wear as well, one day people are wearing high top sneakers and the next day people are wearing boots with heels, this is caused from trends set from our addiction of digital devices. The fact that people are able to keep updated on the changing trends. Most of which people do not really realize the reason they are wearing these trends or where these clothes are even made from. This is portrayed in another perspective in the book Feed by MT Anderson. A group of kids are informed by their feeds (digital devices equivalent to our digital devices) that riot gear is the new trend. Thus causing all of the main character’s friends to dress up in ripped up clothing which is their portrayal of riot gear. What makes them ignorant is the fact that they do not quite know what riots even are. They have a need to conform so quickly into what is the new trend even if they do not even know the reasons or how ridiculous their image is.
Another could be the effects on our health and our environment. It affects our health, for example from my own experiences is that the addiction distracts my ability to be one with nature or have a healthy exercise pattern. Instead of going outside and having some fresh air (well not super fresh because of the pollution but its better than staying in the stuffy in doors) sometimes I feel more obligated to play video games or watch my favorite movie/show. I do not go out and exercise, I do not take walks and since technology distracts us from hanging out with friends it takes away being able to hang out and play games or take walks with friends. With the food unit helping the way I eat, it will not do anything without some form of exercise. Thus causing people sometimes to be overweight or unhealthy. Like in the movie Walle (one of my favorites) where all the human beings live on a ship, they do not need to walk, or even make food for themselves, they live in a digitized society on a space ship causing them to be morbid obesity and even unable to even walk. Also besides from computers and television we have other types of technology like cell phones that cause radiation and cars and such that cause pollution which effects the environment we live in. "When a city builds more roads to attract tourists, the result is more traffic, not less. Even things we take for granted such as the automobile have negative effect on us. Because the automobiles cause pollution and that can surely harm us slowly." (Negative Effects Of Modern Day Technology) A mirror of this is another example from the book Feed, in the book Violet speaks with the main characters father about taking a walk in one of the only parks in their society. Upon this conversation it is found out that the park and trees were cut down to build a air factory. This is ironic since trees are one of the main sources for air. We sure have many aspects of digitization that is quite similar to the effects it has on our health, society, and environment.
Although most of us babble about how technology is bad for us, there are those who do not admit that they actually enjoy it. Some just go along with the rant of "television is bad for our brains!" I know I in some cases do the same which would make me a hypocrite since I watch so much television. Some of which such as Johnson who wrote the text Everything Bad is Good For You refers to the "good" and the increase of intelligence rather than the deteriorating of digitization. He states how digital stimulation is actually good for a person's mind. It helps us learn how to notice patterns and helps our problem/puzzle solving skills. As i realize and analyze this concept a little more, bringing back my idea of my brother, he was an extremely great thinking and was really smart. I try to follow in his footsteps but obviously can never match up to his level of thinking but it is good enough for my own perspective. As good thinkers and problem solvers it would be a good point of Johnson's Everything Bad is Good For You that our good thinking and patterns solving skills is the cause of our "intelligence" but for myself personally I like video games but I do not obsess over it as much. I do not play every day but when I do plan on playing video games I am pretty damn good. So it could be that Johnson's has got it all backwards, those who are good at pattern solving and thinking are good at video games, and since they are good at video games they become addicted. It makes me think that my brother’s extreme intelligence helps his ability to play video games thus giving him the confidence which caused him to be so addicted to his digital lifestyle. Although Johnson's text makes some really good points, with my own thoughts and experiences I must disagree with the whole idea of how our intelligence grows from digital stimulation.
From all the insights on our addiction to our digital lifestyles and why we are so addicted, the unraveling of the ignorance and obliviousness of our society slowing is revealed. Many people do not realize the destruction of their addictions even if they are showing a mirror such as a book like Feed or even videotaping ourselves in the process of our addictions. Sometimes seeing a reflection of our digitization problem can have some sort of affect but not enough to completely change our patterns of use with digitization. Many people would continue to keep up or even fall deeper into the hole of ignorance and stupidity if we do not realize to heal our addictive uses to digital devices.
Evidence: -Personal Experiences -http://www.articlesbase.com/science-articles/negative-effects-of-modern-day-technology-1106666.html -Feed/MT Anderson -Everything Bad is Good For You/Johnson -Yazmin P's blog -Sarah Johnson- http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/924735/Average-person-watches-43-ads-day/ -Disney/Walle
To Yazmin Hey YOU! :) I get the direction you are going in with your paper but it would be a good idea to generate an actually thesis instead of a question in the introduction. I had a little trouble with my thesis too so just think of the main points and arguements you have and make a thesis that would best fit with that. I really like that you really actually answer WHY you think we are so addicted and the use of your examples from Feed and other stuff. You made a small point of social acceptance and this reminds me to talk more about conformity that I did not include in my own paper. So thanks for the reminder i guess! :D I am looking forward to your "to be continued". Maybe you can include a little a little more personable in some paragraphs and more information in the others. For example how personally do you think you fit into this whole digitization for social acceptance idea. And how does the example of your growing apart relationship with your family can relate to some informal research, texts, other people's blogs, etc. And please do not end your good going paper with too many questions that can be unanswered by you, it makes it really ehhh....how you say, makes it seem like fillers for you paper. But i am sure with revisions i'll be great.
To Conor Conorrrrrrrrrrrr I give you permission for you to brag in my face since you, for the first time got you assignment due so early! Even before me! Congrats :) lol I think your rough draft is a good kick start. There could be a lot more you can add though. Your thesis and your main idea is really good, how digitization makes us act on impulse. It also makes us less patient since we have gotten so use to everything being so quick for us, fast internet, fast food, fast shopping, fast transportation, etc. You have some good evidences as well but you can write more and relate back to how your specific evidences relate back to your thesis. You can definitely add more from some informal research about this idea. Hey its only a rough draft, I'm sure you'll write way more and write your analysis of your thesis more as well. Hey the beginning of this short article thing briefly talks about how digitization makes us act fast without thinking. Maybe you can use this as evidence as well :) http://www.articlesbase.com/science-articles/negative-effects-of-modern-day-technology-1106666.html GOOD LUCK!!
In our generation digitalization is a big part of our daily lives as teenagers as well as adults. Digital technology has been used so excessively that it is no longer just a part of our lives, just a digital device but a lifestyle. It makes up a lot of our lifestyles and the way we live, interact, spend our time, etc. Technology never leaves our side, I know me it never leaves my side as I always have my cell phone with me, other may always have their ipods with them, laptops, whatever is portable. We have come to think that digitalization is like something that releases endorphins, relaxes us, bring us happiness but looking beyond the screens on our televisions and computers and looking at the bigger picture it has been realized that our use of technology for happiness is false. Digitalization is the cause of our ignorance and make us oblivious to what is really going on such as brainwash, destruction of the environment, our health, our emotions. Addiction to digitalization is leading us deeper into the direction of ignorance and a lot of this can be caused by our need to conform with society.
It has been made pretty clear that we are addicted to technology, many of us do not know the extent that we are addicted. Before this digitalization unit I knew I was addicted to digitalization, but didn't know to what extent or what kind of negative effects it was having on myself and others. From what I know all teenagers are as addicted as I am. I cannot say that I am only addicted to one digital device because if I use all the technological devices at least once a day I am addicted to digitalization but I do know for a fact that I become more zoned out be certain digital devices then others, the cause of this can be our lack or realization of ourselves and other people. For example is the television. As a young child I was not able to watch an excessive amount of television as true "American" children. It was not until a later age in my childhood I started to discover the fake pleasure of watching television. From reading other people's blogs it was noticed that although we are all addicted to digitalization, everyone is addicted to different device a certain amount more. For example I spent way more time being distracted by the television then Yazmin P is since all her attention goes to her cell phone. Both of which effects our ability to socialize with people in person. She made it clear in her blog that she spends a lot of time out of her day being distracted by her texting. In her video she ignores a lot of what her mother is telling her because she is so distracted which has to be a big part of families falling apart. Even though we are different in which ever technology we are sucked into more with both experiences we have the same effect. One of which is disembodiment (when you are not in sink or realize what you think your body is really doing). Being distracted from reality and spending so much time on digitalization takes away from our ability to want to interact and improve charisma or social skill. This could be a really good reason why I am so socially awkward and I have trouble holding a good conversation with someone I am not super comfortable with.
Another example is my brother, although a smart and funny guy he never expresses this fact as he is so addicted to his digital pleasure of his computer/ video games (warcrafts). He would literally spend his WHOLE day sitting in front of the computer and would not get up from staring at the screen unless it was to use the bathroom or to get something to eat. This made the rest of my family and I never really get to know his inner emotions or what kind of personality he really has. I never was able to have a brother/sister sibling relationship as his relationship with his computer was more pleasurable it seems. If only he would realize and step away from what was causing his loved ones to miss him he could have been able to notice the people around him and his environment as well. These are examples of how little parts of our society falls apart, it starts with one person crumbling family social interactions. If only we would work on making friends instead of being friends with our digital device we can realize one real happiness of life which is the love of friends and families.
Digitalization does not only take away from our social skills but are all just brainwashing devices. I watch a lot of television, and when thinking of television it is filled with a bunch of commercials every minute. It makes it seem as if television devices are just away for companies to brainwash their products to you through your sense of vision. According to the article by Sarah Johnson, Average Person Watches 43 Ads each day it states that "According to Thinkbox, this means 2.45 billion ads are watched daily with a single person watching 43 ads each day." That is even WAY more then the population of people in the United States which is around 308 million. With all these different marketing made by digital media is raises questions about thing like privacy and how we do not realize how we can be effecting our health and rather spend it wasting our day being brainwashed by advertisements. We do not really notice how much advertisements we see, as if since it is there it is now a part of our daily lives a long with digitilization. Even when we are checking our emails which are supposedly private locked by a password, when sending emails, there are advertisements that pop up from highlighting certain words on an email. This makes me wonder how private our internet and cell phones really are.
A great example that mirrors this is the book Feed by MT Anderson. Feed is about a teenager boy living in the future, although this book may seem to be about the technology of the future it is actually a allegory of the present. In Feed everyone has microscopic digital chips implanted into their brains, these chips basically act as every kind of digital device we have in our present day such as cell phone, aim, shopping online, television, etc. The main character Titus dates a girl name Violet who does not come one with her Feed (digital chip) till she was in a later age, thus causing her downfall for her need to fit in with her friends and their addiction to their feeds. In the book Violet goes shopping with Titus and realized how the Feed is programed to market anything that seems of interest in your mind. This is like a mirror of our experiences with digital marketing through our internet and televisions as well. Every minute and every second there heads are poured with a bunch of advertisements for mostly useless items, this is like a mirror of a small part of the negative experiences we have with digitization.
Another could be the effects on our health and our environment. It effects our health, for example from my own experiences is that the addiction distracts my ability to be one with nature or have a healthy exercise pattern. Instead of going outside and having some fresh air (well not super fresh because of the pollution but its better then staying in the stuffy in doors)sometimes I feel more obligated to play video games or watch my favorite movie/show. I do not go out and exercise, I do not take walks and since technology distracts us from hanging out with friends it takes away being able to hang out and play games or take walks with friends. With the food unit helping the way I eat, it will not do anything without some form of exercise. Thus causing people sometimes to be overweight or unhealthy. Like in the movie Walle (one of my favorites) where all the human beings live on a ship, they do not need to walk, or even make food for themselves, they live in a digitilized society on a space ship causing them to be morbidly obeist and even unable to even walk. Also besides from computers and television we have other types of technology like cell phones that cause radiation and cars and such that cause pollution which effects the environment we live in. "When a city builds more roads to attract tourists, the result is more traffic, not less. Even things we take for granted such as the automobile have negative effect on us. Because the automobiles cause pollution and that can surely harm us slowly." (Negative Effects Of Modern Day Technology) A mirror of this is another example from the book Feed, in the book Violet speaks with the main characters father about taking a walk in one of the only parks in their society. Upon this conversation it is found out that the park and trees were cut down to build a air factory. This is ironic since trees are one of the main sources for air, its almost like killing cows to breed more cows to kill for food. We may not have air factories...yet but we sure have many aspects of digitilization that is quite similar to the effects it has on our health, society, and environment.
Although most of us babble about how technology is bad for us, there are those who do not admit that they actually enjoy it. Some just go along with the rant of "television is bad for our brains!" I know I in some cases do the same which would make me a hypocrite since I watch so much television. Some of which such as Johnson who wrote the text Everything Bad is Good For You refers to the "good" and the increase of intelligence rather then the deteriorating of digitization. He states how digital stimulation is actually good for a person's mind. It helps us learn how to notice patterns and helps our problem/puzzle solving skills. As i realize and analyze this concept a little more, bringing back my idea of my brother, he was an extremely great thinking and was really smart. I try to follow in his footsteps but obviously can never match up to his level of thinking but it is good enough for my own perspective. As good thinkers and problem solvers it would be a good point of Johnson's Everything Bad is Good For You that our good thinking and patterns solving skills is the cause of our "intelligence" but for myself personally I like video games but I do not obsess over it as much. I do not play every day but when I do plan on playing video games I am pretty damn good. So it could be that Johnson's has got it all backwards, those who are good at pattern solving and thinking are good at video games, and since they are good at video games they become addicted. It makes me think that my brothers extreme intelligence helps his ability to play video games thus giving him the confidence which caused him to be so addicted to his digital lifestyle. Although Johnson's text makes some really good points, with my own thoughts and experiences I must disagree with the whole idea of how our intelligence grows from digital stimulation.
Where I got my ideas/evidence so far. -Personal Stuff http://www.articlesbase.com/science-articles/negative-effects-of-modern-day-technology-1106666.html -Feed/MT Anderson -Everything Bad is Good For You -Yazmin P's blog -Sarah Johnson- http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/924735/Average-person-watches-43-ads-day/
To Conor Hey Conor, I think that your at a good direction at the momment and your examples are pretty good from the book and the movie and your own examples. Maybe you should include a little about your own insights and opinions of how these examples connect back to your thesis. Or also how it may effect your life on a daily bases. In the end you these examples to see if your theory is correct or true. I think with more thought and drafts it will turn out pretty well. Im looking forwards to what you will write. :)
To Yazmin From reading your outline it seems as if your thesis is leaning towards the big "why" question. Reasons for our addictions to digitalization. I think you have some good ideas from your own personal experiences but you should definitely use some ideas from discussions and especially stuff from class or homework such as the book Feed. Your are such a good reader that I am sure you were able to point out things in the book that would definitely be great examples. Such as the teenagers addictions to their feeds in the book. I used your as an example in my outline (and will probably use you as a small example in my paper) as we are both addicted to different types of digital device. How does that relate to your somewhat thesis? You are probably having the same problem as I am of choosing "the positives" or "the negatives to technology". From reading your blog and thinking it over I am going more towards the negatives side. The literature by that Johnson guy tries to make a point about the special skills we are able to gain from technology but I realized that maybe it is those skills that help us use our technology so well. Maybe you can use my idea to help you broaden yours as well. Your a smart girl (when you want to be) and I am sure you will be able to catch up soon. Good Luck :)
Technology is a significant part of most teenager's lives. I know it is a big part of mine as it never leaves me, even when I am outside hanging out with friends. Based of many different point of views and ideas from class, as a teenager it is obvious that to some degree we are all addicted to the use to technology. We do not ever realized the negative effects or the positives apparently. Throughout this unit i was able to gain insights from help from different texts and discussions. I gained insights on how we are addicted and/or why and if it is destroying us or good for us.
My addiction to technology is basically the same as every other teenager. Although it was made clear from reading other peopl'es blogs that everyone has a different connection to each different digital device to a certain extent. For example I spent way more time being distracted by the television then for may Yazmin P is since all her attention goes to her cell phone. She made it clear in her blog that she spends way more time being distracted by texting on her cell phone. Although whether we are different in whatever technology we are sucked into with both experiences the same effect such as disembodiment (when your body is not in sink with what you may think your body is doing), being distracted from reality, and wasting time out of the day. Some other things that were established that are the negatives of technology personally on me is the lack of ability to communicate or improve social skills since I am kind of socially awkward, the idea of not being one with nature, being brainwashed by advertisements every second, how we are oblivious while things around us is falling apart like our environment, and our health. All are things that are negatively effected by our addiction to technology.
More on the negatives of our digital lives can be viewed from MT Anderson's point of view from his book Feed. From his point of view/allegory he portrays our technology technology from this device called the Feed. A tiny chip implanted in everyone's head in the story. There are many parts in the story that is a allegory and example of how our digital lives are destroying us as people and as a society. Some examples in the book include: the terrorist's message, Violet's conversation with the main character's father about killing the environment, shopping/ the feed is a brainwashing marketing device, and the idea of how ignorant we can be and teenager's need to conform to what seems popular or what is common. All of which are a mirror reflecting our daily lives in our digital lives.
After looking at the negatives of digitization with insights from my own experiences and MT Anderson's we then looked a little at the positives of digitization from Johnson's point of view from the excerpt Everything Bad is Good for You. From reading this some ideas/ main points from the most interesting part of this excerpt is how we are taught from digitilizationg or more specifically video games to notice patterns and improve our thinking and problem solving abilities. Also physically it improves our hand-eye coordination. After reading this i tried to take those points and reflect them on myself. I was kind of iffy on this idea. I play a lot of video games as well sometimes. lately I have been playing a PC game known as The Sims 3 which is a game where you create avatars or people and create families and control their lives by creating aspirations for them and families and goals and fulfilling them. I think this game is needed to be played with lots of patients. From Johnson's idea I would think that Sims 3 is one of the reasons I am able to teach myself to be patient and by unlocking aspirations and goals by playing out/ solving each avatar's "wants" it unlocks my ability to notice patterns in the game and being able to teach myself to be patient. Although is it the fact that I am a patient and good at noticing patterns in the first place is what helps me play this game so well??
