HW 4 - Comments

Comment 1: Hey Henry, I really liked what you had to say! Your post was definitely enjoyable with well-construed arguments.

Your thoughts were very interesting and I agreed with most of your points - that digitalization has not only decreased the quality of our relationships with one another (trading in quality for quantity I guess?), but has also caused us to be a more short-sided people.

I also think you're spot-on when you talk about how technology could be a great tool for us, but at the moment is being "mishandled." How do you think we could change that? How can we make it so that WE are the ones using the computer instead of vis versa; as it seems to be now?

Some other things you could write about, or include in your blog, are maybe hows all this digitalization came about. How did you go from Nintendo 64 and dial-up to a Facebook "junkie" so to speak?

Your thoughts on how IMing and texting affect our relationships between people around us really got me thinking - what if we didn't have those things? Would people's actions towards each other change? and if so, how much and in what ways?

Thanks for the interesting thoughts! -Michelle G.

Comment 2: Hmmm, what an original viewpoint Maggie! This is the first time I've seen just how much energy we use for all this digitilaization be pointed out.

I thought it was cool how you reminded us that all these things we use to communicate or entertain us are really just electronic signals, and that they are not in fact "real."

One idea that I think had A LOT of validity to it was that things like "lol," "lmao" or any other kind of short-hand is just sort of a filler...I think these "fillers" might becoming more common as we talk more, but seem to have less to say - something Henry also talked about - how conversations have lost "depth."

The way you point out both sides of your opinion is great - how things like AIM and Facebook are artificial, but can still come in handy - this can make it difficult to tell where you stand though. Are you for or against digitalization? Which side of the argument weighs heavier on you?

The way you said, computers and T.V.s have started to "suck" the life out of us was really intense, it got me thinking about my own habits of web-surfing and cable watching. Are these things sucking the life out of, not just me, but my family and friends as well?? Is this "addiction" to electronics just an American thing, or is it everywhere technology seems infest itself? Has technology gone from helpful to hurtful, and become almost parasitic?

You really got me thinking Maggie - very interesting stuff!
-Michelle G.

A MySpace Generation.

Our grandparents had radio, our parents had television - we have the internet (and everything else...)

As each generation gets more and more technologically advanced, (we moved from rotary phones and telegrams to texting and instant messaging) things that most people hadn't even dreamed of only 50 years ago, have now taken over our culture.

Things like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have all become a normal parts of our daily lives. Is this a good thing or a bad thing though? How is it affecting the way we interact with each other? Social networking sites are pretty much the same things, just different vehicles to staying "connected" at all times. It seems people have traded out walks in the park for staying indoors to surf on the web. Leaving, it appears, the world outside slowly being traded in for the world of the web. Maybe the internet is just the modern version of what television was in the 50s and the next generation will come out something more interactive with even less effort than what we use today. Does all of this technology come with huge tax onto our environment, society and culture though?

I think one cultural effect of internet over-use that can be seen in society today is a more narcissistic outlook on life. It's all about us. Can you blame our generation for being self-important though? I think this has come about because most of our spare time ends up being spent working on MYSpace, posting pictures of yourself on FACEbook and putting music on your Ipod or Iphone, downloaded from your Imac - and of course, not to mention, while your doing all that can update your "followers" (because everyone needs a couple stalkers?) on twitter, about everything you do, every second you do it - not that twitter posts are usually very interesting because most people are tweeting about the same thing - you, your "status," or websites that are in-fact devoted, to yourself (and pfft. Who wants to read that garbage? No one. Especially if it's not your twitter, talking about you...)