HW 4- First comments

To Sandy G.

After reading your post I realized that technology is much more around us than what I thought.
It is a great post and I really got something from it. You are very clear and I understand your point of view on Americans using technology.

From your post I understand that as a civilized human being it is inevitable to avoid the use of technology. Because of its current availability it is very easy to be consumed by it. Digital music, twitter, facebook, texting, etc. are awfully attracting, specially to young people. Therefore we choose to substitute any type of real interaction or physical activity with all this fascinating technology. It is categorized in such way because of the mayor improvements that have been done throughout the years. As a result it is now harder to distinguish the difference between reality and the virtual world. As we continue to progress technologically we continue to lose ourselves into it by drifting away from reality.

When you said "I also notice that in video games, as time has progresses the graphics for gaming becomes better and better, looking more realistic. "Good graphics," generally, are supposed to look real " It reminds me of my own experience with video games during my childhood. For example, I used to play the sims when I was little. It was a very fascinating game because I saw it as the "life" I did not have. Although the graphics were not that good compared to the ones in the sims 3, which came out recently, I still considered it as real. And even now with better graphics I can experience the same thing I did before. Which brings me back to one of your main points, which is, that as society develops technologically we continue to forget what was real before and what it is real now.

I agree with your point of view on the use of this technology. However, if you are making a point demonstrating that what you are saying is valid and represents society, then I suggest you to use additional information from a book or a reliable site that supports your ideas. This would not only expand your perspective but it would also represent that your idea is a reasonable concept on what we are currently experiencing. You could also consider adding examples of how your life is affected by using this technology. For example, you mentioned facebook and twitter, then you could add how you personally feel about them despite if they are identified as wrong. And also what are the advantages and disadvantages of using these communication methods based on your own experience.

Based on your post, I mainly realized that going against technology would only cause me not to be able to adapt to the current society. This is because we identify society as a technological society. It is indeed easier to choose the use of technology. However as you said it is not the best choice. I consider technology as one of the worst and greatest inventions of all times. I do find great advantages as well as disadvantages. But in my opinion, reasonable speaking this development is becoming out of control. We will not stop using technology. We cannot stop using technology. We do not have enough motivation to stop; and as an answer to your question "what can be done to avoid a totally technological society?" My answer would be "no much"

I really want to thank you for writing this post. It did not only make me think about certain things I did not consider before, but I learnt more about you. If you do add something to your current post, I would like to read it.

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To Brittani C.

This 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.

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To Brendan S.
I really liked you first post! I liked how you started with a question regarding facebook. It sounds to me like if you were complaining about facebook throughout most of your post which shows your voice and a clear idea on what your opinion is about it.

Facebook has resulted to be a HIT in our society. Not only our generation but as well as the previous one. It apparently is one of the most addicting sites. The reason of why it has become in such way might be because people interpret facebook as a method of escaping from their own reality and hiding behind a virtual profile which shows a better image of themselves. Because this actually tends to work it causes people to feel more good about themselves. Based on your post, I can tell that your main idea of digitalzation is facebook. This might be because you have experienced many types of situations while using facebook. Such as people lying about themselves in their profiles, or people behaving in a different way compared to real life, etc. This can lead a person to feel frustrated about such a site, and therefore not see the advantages or the purpose of it.

This reminds me of one of my posts from last year. I specifically talked about facebook and I share a very similar idea to yours. This is what I wrote: "Another example from popular culture is facebook. In my opinion facebook has a great impact on the youth today. It is found as a way of communication between one another, and it is perfect for those who cannot talk face to face.This communicating method suppresses reality even more. Due to the practical way of hypocrite self-expression, facebooks helps the youth on avoiding reality. For example, countless hours are invested into checking messages or sending messages, so that the level of cyber popularity increases. Most people urge to be recognized in some way, therefore facebook exists to save their day. After all, the Internet is classified as the life of many. I personally do not have facebook, so I would not know the satisfaction it can bring. I cannot help to assume that it would be a total waste of time, but if folk messages are communicating methods to reduce life time on facebook, then I assume that it is "bad".
Today I do have a facebook account and I do get on it time to time. Because i only spend approximately 5 minutes on it everyday I still do not know why people are you fond of it. I am aware of some of the advantages, but I do still consider facebook as a waste of time.

To improve your post I would recommend you to be more open to this big idea of digitalzation. I am aware that facebook has impacted your life, but how about other sites or other devices under this category. You could add other people's opinions on this topic, like your parent's or your teacher's. What do you think of your own generation being so involved with this technology? And what do you think about the previous generation enforcing it even more everyday by upgrading it? You can brainstorm different ideas that would make you think more about the big picture and expand your knowledge regarding the general idea of this technological society.

Although I am not entirely against facebook I too do not understand why people choose to sit around for hours checking other people's profile or their own. I do agree that people use it to hide their true self in order to feel more comfortable about life in general.
After reading your post I began to consider more about the people who is really "attached" to this site. I am personally worried about them, but I do not see how it is any different from myself. I also spend many hours on the computer even though I am not using facebook. Either way we are wasting time and it is not helping us develop in any way. I need to seriously reconsider my schedule on the computer.

Thank you for writing this post. I enjoyed reading it and I hope you do add to it.