Big Paper

Technology. An overused alternative to getting stuff done quicker without having to do much thinking or work. Not only that but it is also a way to deal with an individual’s boredom and in some way’s to make people happy. People in this world today are way to addictive to technology like Television, The World Wide Web, video games, and even miscellaneous technology such as calculators or cell phones, etc. People want to find a way to do things with out have to work hard, and this is the problem we have now. We use these pieces of technology for reason’s, in most of our cases, that make our society lazy and happy. The fact that technology is so great, The overuses of digital technology are in societies like our own because almost all aspects of our lives have become dependent on it, from social use, to physical and mental emotions, and even easier information sources.

People today don’t like the fact that they have to do a lot of work to retrieve their information. They try to find a quicker way of finding it wit out using their actual brains. Like in the book FEED, they are going in a dangerous direction of depending on the “Feed” because they use it every where they go and they never want to use their actual brains because they are too lazy to. The feed is a chip that is in the kid’s brain. It’s like having the encyclopedia, the World Wide Web, television, and video games, all in one little chip that is inserted into their brain. These teenagers use this feed way to much. They use it because they feel that it is the less work than having to actually go on the computer and having to go through all of that drama to go on a single website, when they can just go on the feed while they are doing something like going to a party. One of the kids said that they had missed the feed because of the fact that you didn’t have to do much work to get what you wanted, and the fact that everybody is super smart and they could get stuff they needed automatically. He said “I missed the feed. I don’t know when they first had feed. Like maybe, fifty or a hundred years ago. Before that, they had to use their hands and their eyes. Computers were all outside the body. They carried them around outside of them, in their hands, like if u carried your lungs in a briefcase and opened it to breathe….That’s one of the great things about feed – that you can be supersmart without ever working. Everyone is supersmart now. You can look things up automatic, like science and history, like if you want to know which battles of the Civil War George Washington fought in and shit.”(P.48). They use the feed way to much. Never want to take the time to just think things through or pick up a book to find their research. The feed puts them into a state that makes them use this source as part of their lives and unfortunately, making them depend on it to the point where it they can’t use it no more. They don’t realize that by them using this feed all the time to get their information, it one, lowers their thinking ability because they depend on the feed, and two, it make’s them very lazy. Because of the power the feed beholds on these teenagers, it shows that their depending on it more and more because of the fact that it’s a quicker reliable information source that makes them supersmart with them not having to do nothing to gain that knowledge.

In WALL-E, the inventor’s of the ship that had the humans living on there after the earth was trashed, depended on their automated systems (the screens that were abruptly in front of their face’s) to keep the obese people from seeing reality. Wall-E is a film about a robot that helps Americans see how the technology has affected them. The people that live on the ship do nothing but constantly look at the screen that is front of their face. They pay no attention to what is around them or the outside world. Even the old people that live on the ship know nothing of what is outside of their screens. During the movie when Eve was sent to earth to find signs of life, she had brought a plant back to the captain and he did not know what she had brought. He had to learn from the computer what earth was and what the plant was. Having been in space for so long everyone forgot that earth existed and that there was other stuff that was outside in the outer space. When the lady had got release from her chair by mistake, she was then able to realize reality. She had a confused look on face because she didn’t know what reality looked like, for the past years all she has seen was this screen in front of her face. When she was singled out in from the others and she was seeing many things that she never thought the ship would have, little did she know that was illegibly their “new beginning”. Those being in the chairs stuck to the screen greatly affected them physically and mentally. They being glued to technology and stuck in one spot for so long they had bone problems and they had blank expressions on their face as if they were observing something like a new born baby. The technology and digital device idea that they use on the ships to keep these people from facing reality, shows that they greatly depend on these automated technology devices because humans now a day’s zone out in technology because of the mental emotions it puts forth.

People in our society love the fact that you can social network. It’s one of the reasons why we’re dangerously dependent on our Iphone’s and iPods to do the job. In order for them to get through their day, they must be social networking or using the cool web browser on their digital devices because it makes them feel joyful. During one of the class periods we had with Andy, we had to give a survey to different strangers about how they feel about technology and how much they use technology. When we were giving the interviews we had heard a lot of different answers. When I asked how much do they depend on the internet and their Iphone’s, most of the grown adult’s said that if they didn’t have their phones they probably wouldn’t know what to do at their job’s and that they would be late for almost everything and forget about things. When I asked one guy named Mark this question he said “Who doesn’t need their Iphone. I love all the cool applications and internet browser you are able to have on it. Some times people aren’t around the internet or a company phone and the Iphone has all of it in one. You can play games while searching the internet, texting, and at the same time listen to your music. Now how you like them apples. (Laughing)”. When said “who doesn’t need their Iphone in this city” I thought about that and then when I seen people on their Iphone’s, it did look like they needed their Iphone’s as if it was the only valuable thing they have. People in our society need some kind of digital device that can handle their big need and concur their mental emotions. Not only that but so many people also depend on their MP4 players. People in the street felt that their Ipod’s were their life. For some people, they said that they couldn’t even leave the house without they’re Ipod’s. When I asked a young teenage girl named Shauna walking by 7/11 I asked her “How much do you depend on your Ipod and why?” And she thought about it and said “My Ipod is my life; there have been times where I would grab my Ipod before I even think about grabbing my keys or my wallet. It’s just that I need my music because it keeps me happy and it blocks out the negative thoughts and stuff that go on in my life. So I do depend on my Ipod A lot A lot A lot. It sounds crazy but yeah.” It’s just plan and simple that people need these digital devices in order for them to stay happy. Because of the individual’s having the gift of having a Digital device that has internet cell phone and music in it, it proves our society is becoming more dependent on this type of technology due to the fact that it Fulfills our needs mental, physical, and social being.

Being that my friend’s are also hooked on it technology, I noticed that my close friend Kiana is being very dependent on technology to keep her happy and interested in life. Kiana is a girl that was in one of my classes. At times I would look her and see that she would have this focused face. As I thought she was doing her work, I realized that she was on her phone. I thought to my self “Why can’t she just wait till the end of the day or lunch to go on her phone and text and stuff” But then I realized that this is what the teens today have problems today. She was so hooked and dependent on her phone to keep her focused and happy that she didn’t want to do her work. Even when kid’s go on college trips, they you would think they are their to look at the college and see what they think about it. But kid’s, such like Kiana still have the tendency to use technology because they are so hooked on it. When Kiana went to her sister’s college she had recorded a minute or so of herself, and what she does on her time, not caring about anything else that’s important. She states that she when she was there, all she was doing was IMing on the computer and texting on her Blackberry. She didn’t even know what was going on in the back of her because all she was interested, and the only thing she depended her to fulfill her happiness is the web surfing and IMing she was doing on the internet and her Blackberry. “In the video you can observe that I am not really engaged or apart of what they were doing.... I am more so concentrated on texting and IMing people from my blackberry… While watching it my video I noticed that I seemed very dead and zoned out while texting on my cell phone. Although I was engaging in interesting conversation with friends via text message”(Kiana’s video blog post) She was able to analyze her own self and know that what she was doing made it seem to other people that she was very attached to her phone and the internet. She depends on these digital devices, not because it’s reduces her work, but because it makes her happy. People do want make’s them happy. But this particular case doesn’t only concern Kiana; it’s everybody in our society. For some strange reason the offer’s that technology give us, seem to have made us more dependent on it. Because Kiana was so hooked on her phone and internet where she couldn’t even leave that part out of a College trip, shows that her she depended on the digital devices to keep her mental emotions and needs happy and interested.

People usually depend digital devices like video games or television as a scapegoat to facing reality because it betters their mental and physical emotions by relaxing their body and minds. Because television is so popular in our society, from the Reality Television show’s, to sports games, to shows like The Tyra Banks show, it puts people in a physical and mental state that makes them want to forget about every thing that is going on. Like my father, he work’s 2 job’s. He works all night and all day most of the week and is on 24 hour call which means they call at any time and he has to show, no matter what time. And on his day off he mostly watches the Jets game and on Monday night he watches other football games. He escapes reality by watching football to relieve his hard working that he has done throughout the week. When I asked him why he had watched Television so much, especially football he said “Chuck you should know me by now. I work two jobs. I manage a club and I am a super of a building. And when I watch football its like I am in a whole new world. It’s like me actually being at the stadium. I didn’t by this 62” flat screen and this HD cable box for nothing. I spend a lot of money on these things because I love the way it makes me feel. I take work off my mind, it takes my phone going off all the time of my mind, and it just lets me relax.” He doesn’t like having work on his mind when it isn’t the time a place for it. But reality is he must because he has to constantly do stuff at his club and he is always on 24-hour call at his maintenance job. But he uses football and other Television shows to make him get away from all of that and relieve his body from all of the commotion. Because he watches Football when he is on call most of the time, proves that people would try to turn towards the Television unit to escape and run from the stressful reality that some people live.

People often depend on video games to keep them from facing reality. People tend to do the things they want to do rather than handling their responsibility. Like one of my friends named Kareem. He is a video gamer and he often decides to play video games, rather then face the fact that he has homework and other busy errands to do. He uses video games as a scapegoat for not doing what he is supposed to do. He is the type of person that often puts his mental and physicals needs in front of what he has to do. When I was at his house around the middle of October, he was on the video games while his school books where right next to him. And as I was observing, he would pick up his notebook, write a little, and then go back to the video game. It was like he was going back and fourth to reality and to his scapegoat. After He kept on doing it I finally asked him “Why do you keep going back and fourth from the game to your homework” and he said “Because this homework is pissing me off, and the game is helping me relax and calm down.” The game was making him leave reality. He didn’t want to deal with what was going on in the real world so what he did instead was go to the game to help him relieve some stress and help him calm down. Like in this preteen culture article its states that video games are “very compelling with increasing complexity, so a child becomes more facile, yet wants to know more and apply new skills." While wanting to improve their game isn't a problem in itself, it becomes one if video games are "taking a youngster away too much from other activities,"(preteen article). Kids are so dependent on games because it’s addictive and people would use it, like in Kareem’s case, use it to get away from reality. Kareem runs from facing reality by playing video games, and he tends to find this is the only thing he can depend on to that.

Not only in our time period did people depend on digital devices for many reasons like information sources. In our society in the 20th century, we use computers all the time. We use them to look up data, information, web pages, etc. Not only in the 20th century did they do that. They also did that back in the 70’s and the 80’s. I found on this one website on 1980’s technology. It talks about how the computers were starting to be used by a lot of people and how it had become popular when they came out with personal computers. It talks about how they used the internet to get web pages, send emails, and to get information, just like we do today. It states “Through the internet users can access electronic mail and send files, and access web pages. The internet in the 1980’s was a new tool that people began using and today it is used by everyone who has a computer.” Technology was only dependent in our time period. Even back then they used it to get what they needed jus like us. Even though people today abuse the fact that we have technology to deal with emotions and needs, it is in fact significant that we have it. If we didn’t have technology, it would take much longer to get the information that we have now. If we didn’t have it, wouldn’t be able to look at things deeper than what they would be. Like on ESPN, back then they didn’t have halftime shows where you can look at a play-by-play in a 3-D angle. Back then they were only able to look at 2-D pictures. Even being able to type a paper on word, rather than having to write it, or being able to use a power point presentation instead of a poster board. Us having this advanced or even simple technology gives us an alternative way of doing things quicker and finding things out quicker.

Most of the people in our society depend on the gift of technology to keep themselves happy and complete. But for some people it isn’t that much the same. Some people feel that to keep them complete and happy they just need to be around their family, and if not that just being able to be around their friends and having a good time. And other people said that love makes them happy. In the Seattle times, in the Business and Technology section a women does her own little interview asking the question to her family “Does technology make you happy?” When she asked her young daughter does Technology make her happy she said “No. I take it for granted — like breathing. It just is…I'm unhappy when it doesn't work ... when my cell phone battery's dead and when the Internet's not working." Some people feel different about technology because of the very bad flaws it comes with rather than the good ones. And because of these bad flaws it forces them to question the trust on whether they can depend on these digital gadgets or not. Some people just take advantage of the fact that it is a helpful source of fulfilling needs, while other feel that just living life is another possibility.

Throughout all of this you can see that people depend on their digital devices to complete their essential for getting homework done, communicating with friends and looking up stuff. Based on WALL-E, Feed, People’s interview’s answers, and others idea’s, you can clearly see that people depend on their digital devices to make them happy and to keep their mental and physical states positive. Whether the digital device helps them be happy, or Get info in the less amount of work, or even as a scapegoat, Technology is being overused in our culture because it’s in almost all parts of our lives whether it be for social use, information sources, or to help mental and physical emotions.

WORK CITED
1980 technology
http://spxtech.tripod.com/id3.html

Video Game Addiction http://www.theparentreport.com/resources/ages/preteen/kids_culture/130.html

I ask does technology make you happy
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003675350_ptgett21.html

WALL-E film

Interviews and surveys

Feed

Classmates Blogpost