This Thursday's discussion is on technology and whatever it is that it's doing to us as individuals and a society. Apparently no one can figure it out -- a slew of recent headlines on it all pose questions about whether it's making us stupid, lonely, crazy, smart, or even turning us into a different species. A few readings are below. Read what you like, and come ready to talk about your personal experiences and observations of the ongoing digital revolution.
READINGS:
Is Facebook making us lonely?
Is Google making us stupid?
Is the Internet making us crazy?
Will our kids be a different species?
Get smarter (A response to Is Google making us stupid)
Your brain on computers
Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project
(Browse for research on how Americans use technology)
QUESTIONS:
-What are the implications of the media explosion going forward? How is it changing our society? How is this good, and how is it not? How will it change people, particularly the rising generation? How will it affect the interplay between generations? Do older generations still have wisdom to impart?
-In the same way a hammer or a hoe became an extension of man’s arm, electronic technology has become the extension of man’s brain (consider the computational abilities of Microsoft Excel). Most people would agree it is possible to overuse media for entertainment – but what about for productivity, or communication, or information?
-Should we worry about media addiction? (see netaddiction.com to take a diagnostic test; see also wikipedia’s discussion of Internet addiction disorder) Taken from another angle, Neil Postman argued that certain kinds of media are the equivalent of the drug “soma” from Huxley’s Brave New World. Is this true?
-How will the digital divide (the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all, especially among different socio-economic classes) contribute to issues of class or even race in America? The world? Will developing countries get left behind, or will they be able to catch up by skipping certain infrastructures like landlines and jumping straight to wireless technology?
-How has technology made you smarter? dumber? more lonely? less lonely? less stressed? more stressed? What other effects has it had on you?
-In the same way a hammer or a hoe became an extension of man’s arm, electronic technology has become the extension of man’s brain (consider the computational abilities of Microsoft Excel). Most people would agree it is possible to overuse media for entertainment – but what about for productivity, or communication, or information?
-Should we worry about media addiction? (see netaddiction.com to take a diagnostic test; see also wikipedia’s discussion of Internet addiction disorder) Taken from another angle, Neil Postman argued that certain kinds of media are the equivalent of the drug “soma” from Huxley’s Brave New World. Is this true?
-How will the digital divide (the gap between people with effective access to digital and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all, especially among different socio-economic classes) contribute to issues of class or even race in America? The world? Will developing countries get left behind, or will they be able to catch up by skipping certain infrastructures like landlines and jumping straight to wireless technology?
-How has technology made you smarter? dumber? more lonely? less lonely? less stressed? more stressed? What other effects has it had on you?
-Has anyone in this group ever successfully completed a media fast? What are the pros/cons?
-Parents: Do you monitor your kids' media consumption? How do you make decisions about "screentime?"
Comments
Post a Comment