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.

The Digital Divide

Honestly I have never heard of this concept and I had to Google the term to fully understand its meaning. I think that the digital divide is inevitably shrinking with each day because technology is becoming a way of life and those who do not adapt or evolve will be left behind economically, politically and socially.

This last presidential election saw the first time users and candidates used youtube as a platform and as a means of campaigning and I think it was awesome. Anytime you can bring important information to the common Internet user you get a great response in education and development. This use of technology proves that even politicians and advisory staff that usually is stuck in their ways is closing the digital divide and I believe that it will continue. With the economy, I believe that you have to technology savvy and you have to have an understanding to survive because you make yourself more marketable and better equipped for a wide variety of jobs.

My personal reflection and story with technology takes a long journey. My family did not get the Internet till I was 12 and I never really got into the instant messaging fad. My first cell phone was when I started driving and I admit that I viewed technology as something I would not have to face and could get around. Now, I feel that my own personal digital divide has closed and it feels good to understand technology and use it to be more efficient.

I believe that in order for America to continue to thrive in a world market and to continue its climb out of the recession, we must make technology education a priority to close the digital divide. The more you know the better.

Can't Wait For This

Oh yeah it's coming, iPhone 4G

Google Update...

So Google is updating the Android software...taking over the world one step at a time

SPAM...

I have never had any real problems with spam on my email account so this section kind of surprised me. Sure I get the On campus events and parking information regularly (actually I get them twice because I work for the school as well) and they are annoying but I avoid giving my email address out to just anybody or anything I sign up for on the Internet. Needless to say this reading was eye-opening and I think we are on the right track to stopping it.

First off, people need to be smart and careful with who they give their address too. I know that spammers can do searches and hack in and find email addresses but the same concept can be taken to bank accounts. People can steal our identity and you wouldn't just throw your pin number around right? If spam bothers you, take action. I have a separate junk email account that I have created when I sign up for things online and they want an email address. Things like ebay alerts and youtube emails that I do not care about go to my account separate from school and important stuff.

Also we shouldn't get caught up in the hype of "spammers controlling the Internet" and surf the Internet afraid. Sure its a problem, but lets not get carried away with front page story headlines. People love doomsday stories so I do not think we should worry too much. One remedy is to fight back and possibly spam the spammers. Who knows if this is possible but like anything, sometimes people only understand retaliation.

Just don't open anything you don't recognize like "you just won a million dollars."

No Thanks Dell

Apparently Dell attempted to create a smartphone but found out that their design wasn't up to par.

Open Source: Novels

So in one of my rhetoric classes we read this book Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

It was released under the Creative Commons Licensee and can be downloaded for free online

Open Source

The concept of open source is very interesting. I love the idea that information is readily available to use but there is a big issue of trust and whether or not the people creating this free content is reliable. Wikipedia for example hosts millions of posts about anything in the world but it can be edited by anyone so when researching and browsing, you have to acknowledge the lack of substantial proof in the material.

There has to be some sort of system where contributors must have some sort of expertise or a way of controlling the flow of bad content on these open source sites because without it, open source is just an easy accessible medium that exploits our laziness or apathy toward searching for the right answers.

For my J315 class I covered a lecture that an engineering professor from Rice gave about free, open source textbooks on the computer contributed by professors and experts in their fields. Connexions is a site where people can contribute, edit and put together their own course material from information provided by other people. The speaker was very adamant that this was the way of the future because it would cost students less and the ease of gathering information would be prominent.

OVerall I think that open source is the right step for a world based on technology and information if we can manage to discourage bad contributors and create some way to legitimize who contributes.

I'm Not Gonna Let Technology Keep Me Down

I have never been enslaved by technology. My family did not get the Internet till 2000. I never really had AIM. I did not get a cell phone till I was sixteen, text messaging till I was seventeen and an iPod till I was eighteen.

I spent my days at school where would come home and I would not see the inside of my house till it was time to eat. My brother and I would play basketball, street hockey and baseball with the neighborhood kids. We rode our bikes through mud and peoples yards, scraped our knees, built tree houses by taking wood from nearby construction sites. It was not till I needed technology did I use it.

Of course I thought I could write this post just by reading the titles, but I had to read them just so I could think the opposite.

I do find it scary what Brandi said about children dyeing young due to video games, but the reality never strikes me because I don't get it because that was not me. I believe that technology is what we make it and we can choose how it will make us. Inventions and advancement in technology only does not necessarilt make us dumber or more lazy becuase it only allows us to allocate our time to other tasks and away from simple problems that we have solved. The wheel, fire, written word, computers and cell phones only give us opportunities to create more and hopefully that is how we treat it.

Technology has a mind of its own and we have to respect it. I have seen iRobot (no thanks).

The Telephone

Honestly I hate talking on the telephone. I don't know why but I dread having conversations on the phone and this can be with anybody. I am usually as un-willing to call up a department store to see what time it is as I am to call a buddy to see if he wants to go grab lunch however there are certain people that talking on the phone comes natural with.

I always get awkward pauses or silences and I hate when I have talked for a good twenty seconds and the response is "I didn't hear a word of that can you repeat it." There is something unnatural about it. You never sound the same on the phone as you do in person and on the phone I can't read body language to get a read of the conversation or on how things are going. Its a lot easier to lie on the telephone.

It is funny in relationships because I have always noticed that women enjoy the phone more than guys do and for women, the phone is a form of control. "Call me when you get there," seems to always come up and in good relationships girls call just to call with no real purpose. Maybe thats my biggest beef with the phone. I want conversations to be fast and with a purpose. Just give me the basic facts and we can talk when we see each other. That is the best part about text messaging. That and you can plan out and think about your conversations before you blurt out something stupid.

I agree with the point that when phone conversations are comfortable and great the relationship is great. The relationship I am in now, we have easy phone conversations and there is no real pressure. You know it though when you get the "Okay so...," moments on the phone and usually it pans out in the relationship. I guess for now we are going to remain slaves to the cell phones, Blackberry's, Iphones, whatever. Next time you have a free moment, look around campus and see how many people walk to class with the phone in their hand.

Another thing -- when will the world run out of phone numbers. Math is not my strongest subject so possible never, but it seems we are heading that way...

Cell Phones Continue to Progress

Rumors are speculating a couple new iPhone products.  One is an upgraded 3G iPhone and the other is a cheaper iPhone

What Makes the Economy Go Round...or Crash

A New Perspective to Business brought about a very interesting point and theme of attention being the most vital part of the economy and I tend to agree.  With the overload of information available to us, it is almost impossible for an individual to decide what is worthy and pay attention to what needs to be consumed.  

As  a leader of a business, one must pay attention to detail and focus on the markets and their employees.  In my foundations management class we are talking about how effective managers personalize themselves with their employees and get to know each employees strengths and weaknesses and utilize those to the greater purpose of the business.    

I was blown away that a Sunday edition of The New York Times contains more information than all written material to a person in the fifteenth century.  We are spoiled and therefore we take advantage of the overload of information and do not take notice.  

I know at  my job at the Recreational Sports Center on campus, I like it when my boss takes notice of me and takes notice of what I have done.  It is vital to survival in the business world and hopefully we slow down enough to pay attention and fix what we see is wrong and praise what is right.  

Roots of Revolution

I faced a huge tragedy the other night.  I was sitting in my living room watching a youtube video for a Spanish assignment and the unthinkable thing happened; I lost Internet.  It was tragic.  For a mere three minutes I felt I was lost and unconnected not only from a video I was watching for an assignment, but from every question out there.  Luckily all I had to do was reset the router, but the feeling was alien and quite surprising.  Life without the Internet is hard because I felt aloof from technology or from communication.

Now to the reading....

It is amazing how much technology has come since the invention of the telephone.  Now, we can make calls without thinking, connect to the Internet and access our email on our cell phones all while listening to the built-in mp3 player.  Technology is amazing.  One interesting effect it has is the de-personalization in the workforce and the shrinking effect it has on the number of people that have to present at one time.  Now you can have conference calls with people halfway around the world and can work from your home due to technology.  

I think the future of the cell phone is quite interesting for journalists due to the shrinking size of the newspaper industry and readership.  I think journalism will soon go to cell phone distribution for the tech-savy and not tech-savy.    

Don't disrupt the natural evolution of technology

I can see how people are making the assumption that Google and the Internet are allowing us to be lazy and somehow incapable of separating quality information from garbage, but I disagree.

In this information age, although information is easier to access and find in a matter of seconds because of search engines, quality researchers and writers have to find the truth and decipher what information is credible. By arguing that Google is dumbing us down, or stunting out intellectual minds from research, you are disrupting the natural evolution of technology and information. If anything, the easy access to information should be helping students create new ideas for future work and where the Internet can take us in the future. By not allowing students to use these resources, you are not allowing them to find out for themselves what information is credible and essentially you are taking steps back in technology.

Great minds and great writers are able to use all of these resources and pick and choose what information is credible and what information has a substantial amount of worth in papers, research, etc. What should come from the overload of information is a new system or database that only allows professors or respected minds to contribute.