Being Healthy in a Online World?

As our society increases our dependence on technology, in the work place and in society, people are ignoring their bodies more and more. This denial of the body, in our creation of the self in an online society, is dangerous. We are dually created. We are both body and mind. To dismiss one, because of our increased dependence on technology is simply unhealthy.

On facebook...

I have never really contemplated my rejection of facebook in such a thorough manner. The question has been raised as to whether or not I purposely reject facebook because I do not want to put on a performance or create myself via a social networking site. Of course, on some level, I do not feel the need to introduce myself or "reintroduce" myself to people via the web. On the other hand, I tend to be a more private and non-technical person. I'm also not sure there is much information about myself or about my status that I would feel the need to share with others on a day to day basis. I find that my relationships with people have always flourished best when I am face-to-face, and I believe my relationship with the world is nurtured when I am in the world. For this reason, I spend little time using communicative technology.
With all of that said...some of the games seem like they may be fun.

Becoming One with Technology

http://www.artsandopinion.com/2006_v5_n3/volume_images/cell%20phone-2.jpg

In a remediated world...

In a remediated world, writing changes and adjusts. Writing becomes more accessible and utilized for variable purposes, such as blogs, websites, and communication. Writing becomes increasingly public, and the rules of “standardized writing,” are constantly challenged. Writing becomes public and often attached to visual representations such as art, photographs, or videos. Writing becomes increasingly political and words may create broader social implications.

Uploading a Photograph

Hmmm...

After watching the ID channel...

As technology becomes increasingly immediate, humans become increasingly dependent on technology for lived experience. By becoming part of the computer realm, people have become part of a very personal, yet contrived, community. And in doing so, these same people have given themselves to an online network that is, in some ways, uncontrollable and unpredictable. At the same time, peoples' online lives are tracked and traceable, and their past is forever archived somewhere. If society continues to become more and more immersed in a technological world, we may find ourselves living in a created place where we are constantly monitored. Or maybe we are already there.

GPS doesn't just help you find your way...it helps people find you.

Our secrets are embedded in our computer. Just watch an investigation unfold: detectives are able to find a suspect's emails, conversations, deleted documents, text messages, contacts, and online searches, and much more, just by confiscating a computer.

Discovering an Ideal Escape

Because the computer relies on repeated commands to function, and at times may not respond appropriately or timely to the commands, it becomes difficult to visualize the objects on the computer screen as “real.” Rather, as Bolter and Grusin note, computers are “too obviously mediated” (33). In this way, computers have been unable to hide the presence of their medium.
The desire to hide the medium is a desire to make real something that is not. People’s attempts to create three dimensional computer realms, where an individual feels part of the technology, represents human’s desire to control and create their reality. If humans can forget about the medium, and become part of the technology they use, they can very much escape reality into their created reality.

Of course, for some, this would be ideal.

English the next Philosophy

I was interested by Selber's comment about how English departments may marginalize themselves if they do not embrace and teach technology. If English departments do not embrace technology and how technology has contributed to changing interpretations of communication and education, English studies will become more and more irrelevant and unimportant in our fast paced society. Like philosophy, English studies will become solely the study of past thinkers and writers. Technology has created a new importance for English departments, but if English studies shun technology, they will become less and less important.

Future World

The Future

Future technology offers increased knowledge, but a threat to peoples' privacy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvdGggusRYU&feature=player_embedded

A New Found Ability to Choose Ignorance

The Internet should be celebrated because it provides important information to countless people everyday. Because of the Internet, issues concerning poverty, genocide, rape, abuse, ect..., have become increasingly publicized. However, if you do not log on to a specific website, some issues remain hidden. Now, more than ever, people choose whether or not they want to pay attention to particular issues by choosing which websites they visit, and which ones they do not.

Is tuning out an option?

In Diane Adam's most recent post, she commented on people's increasing dependence on the Internet for financial assistance, communication, and creation. She then questioned whether or not, in such a technologically connected world, tuning out is an option. I believe that technology has provided people with an increased ability to tune out the world. By simply turning off the computer, phone, or blackberry, one can easily tune out the world. Technology has provided people with the choice to "tune in" if and when they want to.

Faigley discusses two revolutions occurring simultaneously: an economic revolution where the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen, and a technological revolution that provides increased access to new information. Faigley suggests that these revolutions are connected, as the rich continue to have the money to purchase Internet connections, and thus have more access to fresh information. Selfe provides her reader with statistics supporting Faigley's assertion. I found myself astonished by the fact that not only has our society become more and more economically separated, but because of technology and the Internet, individuals' access to knowledge has become even more associated with wealth. Furthermore, as employers continuously demand employees who have "knowledge of computers and the internet," it seems that technology has created a new problem for lower class citizens who are searching for opportunities.

Do we know where we are going?

Certainly, the Internet has awarded individuals the access to information, which they may not have been able to easily locate before; it has provided people with a forum to voice their opinions, to create themselves, and in some cases, it has allowed people to recreate their lived reality. But, while technology may be celebrated because of how it has opened the doors to a new world of communication, construction, and exploration, technology has equally opened the doors to a dangerous world of misinformation and miscommunication. The most fundamental danger that the Internet poses may be that people's ability to recreate themselves and their reality ultimately diminishes their realized and lived experiences. Relatively, student's absorption into a technological academic world may sacrifice their experience as students. Technology cannot recreate the academy and provide a connected, personal, and interpersonal experience where ideas are not merely transmitted through perfectly chosen words, but through expressions, eye-contact, and tone.

I'm on

Blogging attempt 1.