With More Technology Comes the Loss of Connectivity
As people rely more and more on technology to entertain us, provide for us and think for us, we are allowing it to do the one thing many people claim technology is actually useful for, which is connect us. Technology provides us with the quick ability to share information with a friend. We text them information regarding a movie we plan to see together. Set a time and place to meet, then sit through a 2 hour movie where no one is talking and we call that spending time together. We shop via the internet instead of actually walking into a store, touching objects and interacting with other customers and sales representatives. We order our food from a restaurant through an app, and have the food delivered. We pay on line and experience very little human interaction. We call all of this progress. But is it? Are we really moving forward when we are leaving so many people behind?
Sherry Turkle in her Ted Talk Connected, but Alone tells us that the technology we are relying so heavily on is changing the way we view our relationships. It is causing us to edit our thoughts and responses to others as we text and email each other, leaving out the nuances of relationships that make for the humanizing of us all. The little mistakes that we laugh about are no longer taking place because we have carefully worded our response to fit the scenario we are trying to control. She believes that we expect more from technology than we do from each other. How sad is that? How sad and lonely and frustrating is that thought. To believe that people would rather have our needs met from technology that gives us instant gratification than from friends and family that give us life.
This disconnect may seem like it is personal. That there are still many ways that the world connects and interacts with each other, but according to Michael Wesch this is not the case. In his article Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance he brings to light the fact that we are so disconnected that as a whole human beings are ok with only 225 people having more wealth than 2.5 billion people combined worldwide.
People have forgotten that there is a world outside of themselves. We have allowed ourselves to get sucked into the moment of now and we don't think of what is happening outside of our own little bubble. The technology we are all utilizing for so many aspects of our lives are changing the needs we have and what we find to be acceptable interactions with each other. How long will it be before we determine that a text message is better than a phone call? That a video chat is better than an in person conversation with actual touch? That we are ok as a society with quick interactions in order to save time? When will we realize that progress doesn't replace shared experiences that relationships and learning are truly built on?
Hi Jeanette, I completely agree with you about how technology has caused us to forget about others and to become more selfish as a society.
ReplyDeleteJeanette, I loved the examples you included in your first paragraph of the ways in which society "connects" us, but actually fails to do so. I think those examples really grounded the rest of your post. It helped us see the important juxtaposition between Turkle's argument, and Wesch's call to action.
ReplyDeleteJeanette! I appreciated your concise summary of the material and questions at the end. I agree with all of those questions, and would actually posture that many youths nowadays would argue that they already feel that way. They might prefer to text or have virtual friends (I know my younger cousins feel this way) because it takes out the anxiety about not filtering oneself. Great response!
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