Advanced Technology is Indistinguishable From Magic
How has our lives been influenced and affected by the Web 2.0? I believe it has a balance of positives and negatives that it has to offer. Such as, positives it has to offer - easily accessible, supplements learning and has sites I love to browse. This also leads me to the negatives that it poses such as it is distracting, time consuming and we get into a spiral of scrolling these sites. After watching The Social Dilemma on Netflix, it proved to me that my thoughts are accurate.
The Social Dilemma on Netflix highlights many negatives that the social web presents in this day and age and how “scary” it is becoming. They stated that initially "there were meaningful systemic changes, that were positive around the world.” However, they were naive about the flip side. Meaning, they did not understand the potential that the web had and what it would transform into. We have shifted from the information age to the disinformation age. Where information we are getting, is typically from the web and is not always accurate as it change dependant upon where you live and sites you typically enjoy.
As I watched this documentary I made a positive and negative chart. My negatives outweighed my positives, which was highlighted within it.
“There are only two industries that call their customers ‘users’” illegal drugs and software” (Edward Tufte).
It is clear that these positives and negatives clearly impact our daily lives. This has affects schools and society in many ways such as:
Distractions: It has created distractions in person and professionally lives, where people are so consumed and fixated on their devices, they forget that there is a world around them
Loneliness: Being so immersed into social media, people start wishing they were different, wishing they had a different life, etc. They get into a rabbit hole that never ends and get a feeling of loneliness. This also relates to the distractions as people forget that there are still others around them, wanting to support them.
Incapable of healing itself, no truth: Every emotion, you are drawn to your device and the algorithm is tailored to you. You will see/hear things that make it impossible for you to move on and heal through your life experiences.
Involved even if you are not involved: Even if you are not on your device as much as another person, or you do not have a device, you are still involved in some way. Technology is every where and we are at a point where we cannot escape it. There will only be more of it coming.
Affecting our family lives at home: Taking away from socialization time and spending quality time together. Even when quality time is shared, there might be a need where someone feels it needs to be documented. Like how the mom locked the phones away for supper, the kids strictly thought about their phones and they did not know how to have a conversation. This lead to one of the kids breaking their phone out, to see what they were missing after only a couple of minutes.
Hours and hours on technology: People are not realizing the hours spent on their technology that is taking away valuable time from other aspects of their lives.
Depression and admissions to hospitals increases as people become more independent and involved with technology.
Controlling us more than we are controlling them. As they stated, “its confusing because its simultaneous utopia and dystopia.”
“If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product."
I really appreciated this document as it lays thing straight out for you and does not beat around the truth, which is something we all need to hear and understand. I support technology and I really do appreciate all the benefits it has to offer. I do think however, it is still important to be aware of the other side (the negatives) and find ways of moving forward in society and ensuring our relationships are still strong, without always leaning on technology. Fundamentally, technology isn’t going in a good direction and we need to change it. We have to get there, as discussed in the documentary.
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