Facebook Freedom

Facebook recently vowed to uphold freedom of speech by allowing groups denying the Holocaust to exist (except for in cities where that denial is considered a criminal offense). Is Facebook too lenient? Should there be limitations? This story reminded me of Sam's last report on online bullying - how much is too much online? It's an interesting read.

White House Tweet

The White House has officially linked itself to the major social networking sites: Facebook, Twitter and MySpace! Read more about how this availability is allowing more citizens to voice their opinions and commentary about the president.

These Days, High-Tech Options Can Short-Circuit a Romance.

Can a texter love a Twitterer? Can star-crossed lovers overcome wire-crossed gadgets? Can these relationships be saved?

...

Each form of communication has its own followers and rules, which means dating today is a law of inverse proportions: As ways to communicate increase, the chances you will date someone who speaks your technological language decrease.

Very interesting article on today's Washington Post about how technology affects romantic relationships.

'Wolverine' Piracy

This article from CNN discuses the recently leaked movie 'Wolverine,' and how millions of people have already downloaded it. In this tough economy, people seem to be more apt to download illegally.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/05/01/wolverine.movie.piracy/index.html

Eerie early 20th century "versions" of social networks, i.e. Facebook!

Check out this eerie piece from the NYT today, that has a company uncovering early 1900s articles that seem to talk of early versions of Facebook, Twitter, and other similar social networking techniques--way before we ever got onto FB, MySpace and the like.

Social Networks

Here's an funny Facebook status update from one of my "friends" (yes, one of those with whom I haven't talked for a while):

Blogs, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, AIM, G-Chat - if you think about it, we have enough personal networking distractions to keep us completely occupied every minute of every day at work. If only we got paid for it...

It reminded me of last class' presentations!

And here's LinkedIn, to those who want to know more. See Wikipedia's entry on LinkedIn here.

Meditation

Philosophy of yoga is one of the classes I'm taking this semester. A few weeks ago, the professor was elaborating about one of the main goals or concepts in yoga: that of withdrawing from the outside world and looking inside yourself. In meditation, this concept is embodied in occurrences such as when a tree crashes down beside a meditating yogi and s/he doesn't even notice it. 

Someone raised their hand. 

"Why... would you want to do that?"

Everyone laughed and some of the more yoga-inclined scoffed. 

But the question was a great illustration of our modern mindset. The idea of withdrawing from the outside world completely is a scary thing for people in our generation. We are constantly connected, logged in, online. Twitter might as well be a GPS if you're going to tell everyone where you are every 30 minutes. Losing your cell phone=social quarantine/death!

When did we become so wrapped up in virtual reality? Some may argue that it's a great distraction from real reality, which is even worse. To me, this is sad. I was hit particularly hard by this sentence in one of the readings: "Media technologies do not bring great things to life, they simply shift the venue where you have to go to feel alive." Wow. I certainly do not want to have to be dependent on technology and virtual reality to feel alive. 

In terms of feeling overstimulated or not being aware that I'm "speeding up" or slowing down or whatever point they were trying to make, I AM AWARE that I'm overstimulated. Like I said in class, my iPhone controls my life. It does make me feel irritated, stressed and overwhelmed. There's always a text message, missed phone call, e-mail, twitter update, or facebook message that I'm missing out on. I feel a sense of relief and empowerment when I leave it in my car at the gym. 

But I can still participate in these so-called "slow activities." I spent hours over spring break digging in the dirt and building sand castles with my three-year-old niece. I hadn't been that concentrated and content in awhile. Maybe it's just that we have so much more access and choice of the things we LIKE, so that when we are forced to read a boring article or book, we know of all the millions of other things to read at our fingertips and become picky. 

I think maybe there is much truth but some exaggeration to the attention span article. I certainly still enjoy being with friends without videos (wtf?), riding the bus without checking e-mail or my messages (though I often do...and listen to music 99.9 percent of the time). I also grew up in the country with no cable television and no video games. What the heck did I do before we got the Internet? Well, I read books and played pretend. Aren't those some sort of other reality as well? 

Technology Overload

When talking about our generation's inability to slow down and our lack of attention span, I think it is a fair argument but you must remember that we are only responding to the changing society and culture. IF we slow down we felt left behind, that simple. Sure it would be nice to spend all day walking around asking questions and enjoying nature but it is an unattainable goal in this society because we always have to stay ahead and always have to be informed about technology in order to achieve greatness and succeed.

The one aspect of technology taking over our lives that bothers me is the constant presence of ear buds and iPods everywhere. Don't get me wrong, I love music more than anybody. My ultimate dream is to be a touring musician but I do feel that we block out the world and we block out chances to experience beauty when we spend all our in our own world. The very limited time I get to walk between classes is time I like to enjoy nature and relax because I realistically won't get that time anywhere else. We have to realize that staying with technology and widening our understanding is essential but we should also make it out own priority to expand our minds with other stimuli.

What I really need

I found this reading to be very powerful. Sometimes when I am moving so fast, trying to text on my phone, using a computer, or doing something else connected to technology I feel like I am not thinking. I realized this morning after leaving my boyfriend apartment that I had left the most important thing there, my mp3 player. Here I am trying to get in shape and I don't have my mp3 player to distract me from the calories that need to be burned and the physical progress that must be made. Instead of running without the player, I will push back everything I have to do today, and make time to hop on the 983 or 982 and get back to his place to grab my music. It's weird. At times I think I'm behind, and I read those articles and I think, "that's not me." I don't have an I Phone, or any of the products on the top ten must haves list. But when I think about how I rely on certain devices to function I realize it is me. If I don't have the internet for at least an hour or thirty minuets of the day I feel odd. The reality is things are changing in our lifetime. Technology has grown to be an important entity within society. While it is very important, it's all about balance. I agree that relationships need face to face interaction to stay stable. As much as I use the internet, I still don't talk to my friend over Facebook, IM, or e-mail. The only thing we rely on is the phone. I think that it depends on how into it you really are. At the end of the day, I know I could live without an mp3 player, but not without music. I know I could live without a cell phone but not without a constant way of communicating with people. These are just the devices that have been created to make the simplest human needs more tangible, with a little extra laziness mixed in.

Facebook Changes

Learn more about Facebook's privacy and user control.

Technology is not to blame for everything!

After reading about the "Incredible Shrinking Attention Span," I was really frustrated. I am so tired of all of these articles being so alarmist! Yes there is now more technology than in the past. Yes, your attention can easily be all over the place. Does that mean that it is impossible to NOT have that problem? No. You can choose whether or not you are bombarded by technology. You have the choice whether or not you need to have the TV on while you're writing a paper, checking Twitter while trying to study for a test, or checking email while sending a text message. I don't think that just because these technologies exist means that it is completely impossible for us to concentrate.

I was especially bothered by the part mentioning road rage, and our generation not being able to slow down. While sometimes I agree that some of us are way too on the go go go all the time, I don't think we have issues such as road rage simply because we are lucky enough to be living in an increasingly technological age. I will admit, I definitely suffer from a serious case of road rage. But I get annoyed with slow drivers in the fast lane, people who don't use their blinkers, and people who cut me off not because I don't have time for it or that I'm too rushed. I get annoyed with them because it's ANNOYING. Most of the time it's common courtesy. Or common sense. It's the same reasons I get annoyed with loud talkers in a quiet lecture hall while I'm trying to listen or waiters being obviously rude while I'm out to dinner. It just isn't right. But I do not for one second think it's okay to blame almost every problem on the ubiquity of technology.

Like so many issues we have discussed in this class, each and every person has a choice to do what they want to do, use technology the way they want to (or don't want to). It's up to you.

I want more and I want it now.

DeGrandpre's readings made me reflect upon technology's implications over our society, especially over our children. What will it be like 100 years from now? Will engineers still be trying to develop a faster video game, something even more interactive than Wii (and perhaps Wii's sucessors)? Will ALL, and I mean ALL, newspapers be online-only? (Well, not necessarily online, but delivered in some interactive fashion.) Will hardcopies of books only exist in some sort of "antique" bookstores and libraries? Will libraries exist at all? I'm not sure what the answer to these questions is but, if DeGrandpre's assumptions are right, and I think they are, then the answer would be "yes."

"Another all-too-popular solution is to simply plug in more stimulating activities at school and home," says DeGrandpre. I was at a party the other day, where there were lots of young kids playing around adults. A "bored" 3-year-old started to become grumpy and complainy, when her mother took a portable DVD player and made the girl watch a movie (I think it was Madagascar). I must admit that it worked: the little girl was quiet and entertained for quite a while (so that all the adults could talk). Is that right, though? How about giving the little girl a piece of paper and crayons, or even an age-appropriate book, to help develop her cognitive abilities? "That's too much work," some parents would argue. Parents try to accomodate their young kids to a distracted way of life rather than trying to reduce their distraction by unplugging them, says DeGrandpre. I totally agree with him, because that's what I have seen lately.

Our habituation to all this stimulation makes the unplugged world to fail to grab our attention, and, as a result, people have constant need for an "optimal level of stimulation," DeGrandpre argues. No longer it is enough for many people to read the hardcopy of a newspaper, they need a video to go with it, I would add to DeGrandpre's "no longer" list. Although DeGrandpre wrote Digitopia a few years ago, his principles totally apply today. People's hunger for even more stimulation never stops. What's coming after Wii, Playstation 3 and games like Second Life? I'm sure there will be something new to satisfy people's "inflated need for speed." Wii's "wow factor" will soon be over, and users will want more out a video game.

Similarly, when DeGrandpre talks about our ever-lasting need for speed, something came to my mind right away: people are always complaining about their internet connection. Have you all realized that? It doesn't matter how fast it is -- people will always complain and want a faster one. Back in Brazil, where my house's broadband internet connection wasn't as fast as the connection we have on the UT campus, I used to complain a lot. Now that I'm here and have a pretty fast internet connection, I still find myself complaining at times. Isn't that funny? Does this happen to you as well?

"The more sensory addicted you become, the more you find that the unplugged world doesn't go fast enough or seem interesting enough," says DeGrandpre. There has to be a "half way through," in my opinion. Kids need to be exposed to fast computers and good graphics, but they should also appreciate and know the value of activities such as drawing, listening to music without the videoclip, and reading a book. As we discussed in one of our previous classes, because there is no end for the development of technology, I think it will be up to parents to stimulate children's interest in the unplugged world. This doesn't mean that I don't appreciate technology and that I think that kids have to keep a distance from it. I know it may sound a bit contradictory. I'm only defending that parents try to promote kids interest in the unplugged world as well.

My Own "Incredible Shrinking Attention Span"

As I sit writing this blog, I am surrounded by way too much technology. My concentration is all over the place. One of my roommates is straightening her hair, "Something About Mary" is on TV, my phone is signaling a text message, and I am on Facebook. Now how in the world am I supposed to concentrate when all of that is going on? I basically don't. I believe this is why it takes me two times if not three times as long to finish a specific task. Yes, it is true in my mind that women can multitask and men really can't, but I think I am succumbing to "The Incredible Shrinking Attention Span," as each day goes by.

I fit into a lot of the categories described in the article. I think it helped me understand where I sometimes get my road rage from. Now, I am not proud of this side of me that appears when I am either frustrated with bicyclists or people who drive too slow. I think people, including myself, should not be in such a rush all of the time. We need to take it slow and enjoy what we are doing for what it actually is.

With that being said, technology is constantly in the fast lane. It is hard to avoid it and most of the time inevitable. But, I believe that if we try our hardest to concentrate on a specific task at hand attention spans will grow.

The Digital Age

I used to be an avid gamer before grad school. Now, I intend to go back to my roots. Not wanting to waste any time, I started my hunt for the ultimate gaming PC. I've been eying this Alienware desktop for the past two years and realized that there's nothing in the market that can beat it. And much as I hate to admit it, I don't need it. Why? Because it is almost good enough to send something into orbit! In fact, there is STILL no game that requires such high computing power. So in effect, most times, it is a shame to be gaming on this masterpiece. Sigh.

The point I'm trying to make here is: in this consumer driven market, why are some companies making products we have no use for at the moment?

In our quest to possess the best our money can buy, are deals and other promotions so important that we buy something we have no need for? In that way, I subscribe to Degrandpre's opinion that "faster computers and better graphics will never be enough to satisfy our technological urges."

And when it comes to this technology, there is always a dichotomy when it comes to people reaping its benefits, yet saying that there is an inherent evil in it all. With increased technological urges, I do agree that there are a lot more distractions now than ever before, but saying that it is the root cause of psychological problems, stress, etc is a little far fetched, in my opinion. Anything in moderation, surely is not a bad thing!

If you ask me, I don’t think that the shortened attention span is completely a digital phenomenon. Magazines and other visual media have long used infographics and pretty pictures to take the focus away from, than complement the text. And need I start talking about television?

Man has evolved with time and so has his responsibilities. So PDAs, mobile phones and other such devices are crammed with as much technology as possible because there is a demand for it. The very fact that devices such as the iPhones exist, is a testimony to the fact that people want to do a lot more in as limited time as possible. And since technology allows people to get as much work done in as little time as possible, I don’t see why there is such an argument as shrinking attention span and digital media.

In his book Digitopia, Richard Degrandpre, talks about a generation that is allowing the digital media to completely take over their lives. So much so that it is hard for them to do anything for a long period. I personally take offense to the generalization that we are a generation who won’t be content to sit through a three-hour epic or read an 800-page book. All this technology has only helped, if not increase our productivity. And since there is an inherent human need for hobbies and other interests, time gained can surely be invested in sleep, if not be put to use for productive work.

Linda Stone’s podcast podcast explores the last two decades of information technology and our ability to deal with and manage our daily lives together with new breakthroughs.

Sprint's What's Happening Commercial

I love this commercial! I feel like it is very applicable to our class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YhWNiRRblY

Craig Ferguson on blogs and newspapers

Bloggers are like boobies. You have to look really close to see which ones are fake.

Here's the link: http://www.cbs.com/late_late_show/video/video.php?cid=1015767262&pid=ol30iWeZfgSkQVCJL5o3pa3KPvq2qRdp&play=true&cc=3

Girls and Tech

I found this clip on youtube from sxsw. It's very short, but it's discussing girls and technology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O7W1jCjYZU