Reaction: As a user of technology, I completely agree with this argument in the fact that it is truly addicting and i could not operate many days without my cell phone. I think a cell phone is necessary to keep in touch with people but the internet is not always needed. I have recently become so annoyed by the obsession every person has with facebook and always want to see what everyone else is doing. I can't deny that I wasn't like that at once but I noticed that it is a bad epidemic that we can't live independently. It is nice to be able to stay in touch with friends but I really feel that facebook should be shut down for a month to see how people react. It may never happen but perhaps this can perfect our personal relationships and social skills that people may be forgetting. As long as everyone continues to use facebook and chats, the harder it will be for people to detach themselves from these networks. Technology will only grow on from this point in time but a better approach at how one consumes their time while using this will be needed for everyone. There are ways to benefit from technology but we have reached a whole new obsession level.
Tying it in: This article ties into Carr's "Is Google Making us Stupid?" in many ways. Carr talks about how many people will now search google rather than visiting a library and researching several different books for class paper. In general, we have become lazy. Children now do not read freely and use technology instead. It is now more common for children to play hours of video games with their friends indoors rather than playing sports or exploring the outdoors on a beautiful spring day. Carr also talks about how all these sources of technology make us distracted. Tara Parker-Pope agrees when she says how people will neglect housework to make more time on the internet. When someone tries to do a simple task such as writing a paper on Word without anything else up on your computer, they cannot resist opening up iTunes or going on Facebook and that hour task has become several hours. We may enjoy things such as high-speed internet and are very use to but in terms of efficiency, people alone can no longer do simple tasks at a fast pace. This generation needs to be tested and perhaps be put back into the time of caveman to see life without technology. We have been poisoned with all these unnecessary applications to the point that we cannot live without them.
Deana, I like how you proposed the plan of shutting down facebook for some time. I was off the site for nearly a year and most people seemed to forget my existence just because they no longer knew what I was doing. I was no longer invited to parties or kept in the loop. I remember joining the facebook world again and everyone asking, "Where were you?" That annoyed me because it was almost as if these people forgot they had my number or other ways to contact me. I think there should be at least a week where people go back to the old-fashioned ways and interact on a more personal level.
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