Blog 5

I think that I could refrain from using technology for a long period of time, as long as I was with the people that I value most. The only reason I text is to text my boyfriend, who I don’t see all week long, but when I’m with him, I don’t use my phone at all. I get on Facebook for something to do, but if it didn’t exist it’s not like my life would collapse. I went on a cruise for 9 days and couldn’t use a phone or computer but I had more fun with my family then I could ever have browsing the web. Now I don’t know about the whole not showering thing. I couldn’t go without a shower for probably more than 3 days. I couldn’t stay in a cabin for a year by myself anyway. It would be too lonely. If I had to do this I would probably learn a lot about myself because I wouldn’t really have to do anything except sit there and think. I might find out how dependent I really am on our modern day technology, and I would probably find out things about myself that I never knew. Maybe I would reach self-actualization. 

Thoreau, Emerson, Lasn, and Anderson all have the same ideas and feelings about technology. Thoreau and Emerson are all about nature. Lasn believes that our society is doomed and we are all fixed on plentitude, consumerism, media, etc. Anderson kind of makes a far-fetched assumption of how close our society is to craziness. I hope that our culture and society never has computers built into people. There would be no point in going to school, having a job, or living if you weren’t trying to work towards a goal in life. I wouldn’t want to have all the information in my head already. I enjoy learning. All of these authors are trying to say is our society has changed so much in many ways, and is still changing. And they think for the worse.

Dumb Generation?

I don’t think Bauerlein’s view of our generation is accurate. He thinks that we are lazy and ignorant, and we might be, in the sense that we don’t want to learn about things that we don’t care for. However I do not think that we are that lazy. Many of us go to school, which is like a full time job in itself, and then we have regular jobs on top of that. As students we have busy lives, so what doesn’t he understand about that? I think he was just making a generalized statement about our generation because I know plenty of determined, hard-working kids. In Bauerlein’s interview, he said that kids spend less than an hour studying each week. I find that hard to believe because if that were true then a lot more people would not make it through college. I study a lot in order to do well. I do not think that our generation is dumb in any way. We are more advanced with technology and we know how to use it and take advantage of it. I think Bauerlein’s just jealous that he didn’t get to grow up in our generation where it is easier to access information, rather than look up facts in the encyclopedia all day long. And I’m sure that the next generations after our’s will continue to advance and advance and be considered even more dumb than we are. As for Miss South Carolina, she’s just an idiot and should have paid more attention in history class, but in our society if your pretty, you don’t need brains. 

Bauerlein also condones our use of social networking. Now I agree with him somewhat about Facebook. I think that some people’s Facebook/social networking usage is ridiculous. You should be able to control the amount of time that you spend on these sites. I also question what is so addicting about knowing what is going on in other people’s lives? It seems like we can’t wait to log into Facebook so that we can find out what is going on, and what everyone is doing. But why do we even care? Why are we so nosey? We should only be worried about our own business and stay out of everyone else's. I always wonder why I can’t go more than a day without logging onto Facebook, even though when I get on I’m only on for like 10 minutes at a time or else I get bored. I think that it is just a different day in age because Bauerlein probably went to dances and rollerblading as social events. We don’t do that now, we just get on the internet instead. I think as time goes on the opinion on what knowledge is important changes. In the article it said that IQ scores have been increasing. We have been getting smarter but in a different way. Our generation has a different “genre” of knowledge compared to past generations.

Facebook Addiction article: http://socialtimes.com/facebook-addiction-disorder-the-6-symptoms-of-f-a-d_b60403 

Technology

I feel like technology has molded our society in many ways. It definitely effects our relationships. My parents talked about how they first got together and it was so different back then. Back then, my dad asked my mom out on their first date through a note, and he asked her to prom face to face. I mean most of my boyfriends that I ever had asked me out face to face but how they got to build the courage up to do that was different. In junior high, after school everyone would go home straight to their computers log onto a social networking site called Xanga, which is pretty much like this blogging site and talk to each other. Not only were we just on Xanga, we were also on instant messenger at the same time. Then Myspace evolved through 8th and 9th grade and that was popular for awhile. Then about my sophomore year of high school Facebook came about and it is used more than ever today. Another popular thing that people use are dating sites. The thing about all of these websites is that everyone isn’t who they seem. You can lie about ANYTHING on the internet. You can put anything in your about me section, and put any random girls/guys picture as your profile picture. I don’t see how anyone could fall in love over a social networking or dating website. You’re supposed to fall in love with someone as you get to know them and their personality better, as you spend more and more time with them etc., but if you live in Florida and they live in California and you never meet the person, then how do you know if that is really the person that you’re chatting with online? Even if it is the real person you will never find out how they really are through typing words to them. You have to actually hang out with them to feel any emotion in my opinion. For example, Heather and Kevin from Second Skin documentary chatted and played a virtual game together, called World of Warcraft. First of all this game makes no sense? What adult finds slaying dragons with medieval weapons interesting? If you even play this game you should get a second job or something because you have too much time on your hands. Second, how did Heather and Kevin know each others personality through how they played in a game? You can’t tell how someone is really like through this game. Slaying dragons isn’t even real, it doesn’t exist. And Heather got jealous when Kevin would flirt other virtual girl characters. That just seems a bit ridiculous when she has never even met him in her life. It’s like they’re living in a fantasy world because in the fantasy world Kevin might seem strong and mighty because he slays dragons, but when you seem him in real life he is a skinny nerd. So if anything, expressing your personality through this game makes you seem like someone you’re not. 

Consumerism Sickness

  I find the book “Culture Jam,” by Kalle Lasn very interesting. There is a lot of truths about our American culture in this book that everyone is aware of, but no one really cares about. I find myself laughing out loud at some points. For example, on page 18 the quote is, “If you look like a TV star, or a model, a desirable mate will be available to you; if you don’t, it won’t. Try telling me that living with that message your whole life hasn’t changed the way you feel about yourself.” I think the reason that I laughed at this is because it’s mean, but there’s a sense of truth behind it. You have the people in America that don’t care what they look like at all or what people say about them. Then you also have those people who need the latest fashions to feel like they fit in, and those are the people who care what the whole world thinks about them. You have to find a happy medium and be comfortable with yourself. When I read the first paragraph of Noise on page 13 I sensed a feeling of disbelief. It says as follows, “In 1996, the World Health Organization declared noise to be a significant health problem, one that causes psychological changes in sleep, blood pressure, and digestion. It’s now understood that noise doesn’t have to be loud to do damage.” After reading that quote I remember saying to myself, really?. I agree with Lasn with what he says on the bottom of page 9 and top of page 10. To shorten it up, Lasn basically says that writer, Jim Windolf’s point is that “Americans are turning into annoyingly self-absorbed hypochondriacs. Our pain is valid, and if we think we are sick, we are.” People will do anything to get attention. It just seems like in today’s society people make excuses, and will blame anything for their bad health habits. For instance, Supersize Me, a documentary about the world’s largest fast food corporation known as McDonald’s is blamed for the obesity epidemic spreading across America. It’s the people’s own fault for choosing McDonald’s to eat at. If you eat it like once a month then you are not going to get fat. On the other hand, if you have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, than you should expect to gain weight and not blame the restaurant itself. All it’s about is making the right choices. Some say that the media forces and influences people to eat at fast food places like McDonald’s. A quote from page 19 of the book that backs this up is, “Every day, an estimated 12 billion display ads, 3 million radio commercials, and more than 200,000 TV commercials are dumped into North America’s collective unconscious.” I feel like commercials do influence our decisions, but you should know when enough is enough and tune out the commercials, or not watch as much TV. Netflix is another alternative to public television because there are no commercials. Also if the media is negatively affecting our culture, and they know it, then why don’t they do something about it? But they won’t do anything about it because the money is all they care about. Everyone desires money so they can buy all of the things that they want. We as Americans are said to be a consumer driven culture. We buy new things, we sell the old ones or throw them away. On page 11 of the book there is a quote that describes our culture. It says this, “ More than anything else, it is our meditated, consumption driven culture that’s making us sick. So it sounds like consumerism is to blame for everyone being crazy, or maybe it’s just us. On page 6 of the book there is a short passage that wraps this all up & this is what it says; “To “ecopsychologist” Theodore Rosak, our rampant, oblivious consumption at the expense of the planet is, simply, a sickness-- one no less harmful than the disorders catalogued in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV), the encyclopedia of modern psychiatric complaint.” This was interesting to me because I’m a psych major and I learned about the DSM in my psych class last year. Anyway I think this quote is saying that consumerism is a sickness, just like one that you would find in the DSM.

This link is very interesting. It deals with McDonalds.

http://www.toonpool.com/cartoons/Over-Consumption..._5434