The good part about the web is you can be connected to what's going on in the world, your community, the media and well as your group of friends. when I log on to A.O.L the first thing that pops up is the news. It shows you the highlights in the news for that day and i feel like thats a very good thing is keeping me connected to the rest of the world. It can also keep me very connected to my small group of friends because of the social networks like myspace and facebook .
The bad part can be that people just stay on the web or in front of the T.V all day and don't make time for anything else, they let the web and T.V take over there lives. I find it a little wried that people can get so addicted to the web or T.V and even video games and that leads me back to my question what about it makes people so addicted?
To Brittani C.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good first post. I really identified your voice, and your personal perspective on technology is understandable.
After reading your post I become more interested about the answer you are looking for. It is unknown what keeps a person so interested about technology. Based on your experience a person can spend a large number of hours infront of a computer or a TV screen. Although the reason is unkown you are still aware that someone can become addicted to virtual social networks, such as facebook or myspace. In your post you also identify the advantages and disadvantages of using the internet based on your personal experience. But are these advantages enough to explain the countless hours our society chooses to invest into this technology?
Your idea of "People spending so many hours a day watching T.V and web surfing" reminds me of the conversation we had in History class. We discussed how people chose to replace real activities or real conversations with the virtual world. To explain this choices we gave our own reasoning based on the positive side of using this technology. And with the purpose of continuing the discussion, I asked the following question to our small group: "Do you regret spending so many hours infront of the computer?" I do not specifically recall your answer to this question, but I do however remember what Esther said. She said that she did regret losing about five years of her life on that, which connects back to your idea of how there is something that keeps people so attached to this other world. The discussion we had was a just mere example of your point, and a demonstration of how other people experience a very similar situation like yours.
I agree with you about the advantages and disadvantages of using the internet. It is possible to be aware of what is going on around the world by using the internet as well as keeping contact with people around the world. However, the negative side of it is the time invested into it. As a reader of your post I identified these ideas. However, as a reader I would like to see more outside information from other people's perspectives or from the internet itself to support your ideas. I can relate myself to you because you speak only about your personal experience. But how about the society's perspective on the internet? Or how do you interpret what the previous generation says about our generation's choices regarding the internet? I think that adding more of this information would help you expand your knowledge of how society deals with this technology. I recommend using Andy's guiding questions or thoughts on the assigment instructions to help you cover most of the ideas that are currently being discussed in this unit.
Your post made me reconsider the time I choose to invest on my computer everyday. It would not hurt me to replace that time doing something more effective. I am aware that I will not have a second opportunity on living my youth and your post just convinced me even more that I have been doing the wrong choices. I became even more aware about the fact that there is people like me or worse with this way of life, and this caused to feel even more uncomfortable. I ceratinly do not enjoy it as I used to, but I doubt that I will reduce my time on the computer considerably. It is rather difficult killing bad habits.
Thank you so much about your post. It made me rethink my current actions and I might as well make a significant change in my life regarding my time using the internet, phone, TV, etc. If this actually happens then be happy because you contributed to this change by doing your homework.
Hey Brit (can I call you that?),
ReplyDeleteI actually really enjoyed reading this post. You are to the point and identified issues I had never really considered myself. You definitely asked the million dollar question of "why people keep coming back for more?" But you also did a great job at answering your own question; "its an addiction".
Its obvious you kept a common theme throughout your post that all this digital technology is nothing but an addicting habit people can't seem to shake. Its become a necessity instead of a luxury and that's why its so difficult to give it up, no matter what time of the day you use it.
Your propose some obvious benefits of the internet that reminded me of the benefits discussed in class, but i liked when you mentioned the t.v. and computer consuming so much of our time that it practically takes over our days. There has been countless times when I said to myself I'd only go on facebook for 10 minutes and then 2 hours later I'm still logged in.
But what about the bigger picture? How do you think all these hours we dedicate to looking at a screen could possibly damage us in the future? What would have happened to mankind if the internet wasn't created and we didn't have software to store all this information?
Overall you did a really good job and I can't wait to read what else you have to say about future topics :)
brittani
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post. I think it was great how one aspect of the digital age like social networking can be both good and bad. You expressed how it can be addictive and keep you from doing other things, which is bad, but also keeps you connected which is good.
I like your recurring message that it's addictive, we know it's addictive we see what it is doing to us and yet we can't stop. Your question why do we keep coming back? Is something I myself want answered. I really like and agree with you when you say that it takes over us and prevents from doing the most simple tasks like eating. I sometimes see the addiction in myself. I can remember various times when i chose to stay home and watch television instead of going outside and experiencing real life.
Much of you're post reminds me of some of the things said in class and adds on to some questions that need to be answered.
If you were to add on to this i think that you should try and give your own interpretation of why we are just so addicted. Also where do you see this addiction leading us? Does the bad outweigh the good or vise-versa?
Your post has been good for me it helps me think of specific times in my life this has happened and how I would be different without this take over of digitalization. Could I survive in a previous time where there was to digital life.
hope your next blog post is just as good
Evan