Technopoly Part 1

Technopoly by Neil Postman is an interesting book on the effect technology has on the world. My first reaction was this book is almost as old as I am, and while reading it, I had to remember that this book came before all the technological advances I have seen in the past twenty years. Even though Neil Postman wrote this book in 1992 he has the right idea, "Technology, in sum, is both friend and enemy." I think the same thought is still correct for the technology we have encountered in the 18 years after he wrote this book. In the first chapter he divides people into two categories, the Technophiles, people who see only the good technology is going to do, and the people who see only the harm in what technology is going to do and do not think it will be of any benefit. I think that most people fall in between these two categories, because I think there are both pros and cons to new technology. I liked the story he tells about Thamus, where Theuth invents writing and Thamus thinks that it will destroy people's memory and wisdom. I had honestly never thought about this, but the technology of writing does alter the way people think especially when you can use writing as a crutch for memory
Postman goes on to describe the three different types of cultures that exist in the world, tool-using cultures, technocracies and technopolies. Tool-using cultures have some technology but it does not dominate the culture, technocracies have and use technology and it competes with the current culture, and technopolies are where technology dominates the culture. Again, this book was written almost twenty years ago, at which time Postman says that America is the only technopoly in existence. I think at this time though, there are many places that have technopolies, and its becoming harder and harder to find tool-using cultures. Technology has dominated the world, even children in Africa are getting laptops to use, which opens up a whole new world for them. It seems to me, as if the entire world is now a technopoly because, with the invention of web 2.0 and cellphones, we are connected to each other in ways we never have been able to connect.
I think so far, this book is trying to tell us that technology can be a dangerous thing, because it results in an information overload. With this immense amount of information, we are apt to believe things that we may not have believed centuries ago. Postman says, "In the Middle Ages, people believed in the authority of their religion, no matter what. Today we believe in the authority of our science, no matter what." pg.58 When you really think about it, you are inclined to believe lots of things with the technological age we live in, because there is so much that is possible and so much we don't understand even with the information that we blindly believe. To give an example, my father who is in his fifties just got a GPS for his car this past Christmas. He has NO idea how this little thing can tell him where to go, or help him when he makes a wrong turn but he does not question it's directions in the slightest. He blindly believes in this thing that he can not understand how it works. This mentality leads to a world of possibilities in people's minds today. It's almost as if we believe that anything is possible. Centuries ago, when these vast technologies were not available, people did not believe things that they did not understand, for example, it took a long time for people to realize the world was not flat. Unlike us today though, when they heard this idea of the world being a sphere they thought it was blasphemous and would not hear anything of the sort. This technology and information has really changed our culture and how we all think about the world. I still think there are pros and cons to the technology but I accept it and as many others are, I embrace it.

TFLN

I went to the Texts From Last Night presentation last Friday night and was surprised at what I found; two average twenty-somethings who basically fell into this fame. They didn't seem very excited to be at Rutgers, or to be presenting on this topic of how they started it all. They also seemed like they didn't know why they were here exactly. It definitely proved though, that a simple, stupid idea, of sharing drunk text messages with friends could actually turn into a million dollar business. That is what amazes me more than anything. There wasn't some genius idea that hit them, it was just something stupid that they enjoyed doing got picked up by people on the internet and it turned into something huge. I think it also goes to show what the internet is capable of. The more hits this tiny blog got the more popular it became and because it got so many hits it became what it is now. Now this site, which originally was only viewed by a few friends of Ben and Lauren, is viewed by people ranging from high school students to senior citizens who get a laugh. Technology is really something incredible that can turn nobodies into some-bodies for a while. I don't think they realize that their fame will end eventually and they will go back to being nobodies. Lauren said she quit law school for this, but really in the end, this will die out too just as any new fad does. It was unfortunate that they were not the savvy and smart people I had expected them to be. All in all I thought it was a good experience going, because it showed me how its the small little ideas that can turn into big things.

First Post

So this is my first time making a blog since I was in high school and made a xanga. I must say, it was very easy to make this one especially since I already had a gmail account. I'm still trying to figure things out on here, like how to make it look a little cooler than it does now. Blogger seems to have a lot more features than my xanga did, but that was about 6 or 7 years ago. It is amazing how technology changes over time and how things become so much more common. When I was in high school, people had xangas and some different blog accounts but they were so much more private than they are now. Now there is twitter where your blog posts can be sent immediately to people's phones. Technology has brought people closer together but to be honest I do feel that it can be a bit much at times. I do not have a twitter and I wouldn't want to have one because I personally feel it's not necessary for me to share every moment of my life with people who are following me. The same goes for the reverse, I don't think I'd want posts sent to my phone telling me exactly what all my friends are doing at every second. Although I am a huge user of facebook, I find twitter to be a little too much. At least when I go on facebook, I am not forced to read everyones status updates, as I would if I had a post sent to my phone. I definitely think this technology has it's pros and cons.

I have monitored my technology usage during the past few days, and I am not surprised by the results. I check my e-mail, and facebook every morning when I wake up, and every time I come home from a class. I don't have email on my phone, so for me it is a necessity to check it throughout the day. The facebook though, I must admit is pretty bad, I often have it on for hours while I sit in my room and study. I guess I just feel that if I don't have it up, or if I don't check it I am missing out on a link to the outside world. I must admit that I used to be even worse, and I would bring my laptop to class just to keep checking my facebook, but now that I have gotten older I have gotten a little better. The same goes for my cell phone. Although I am still attached to it at almost every moment of the day, I do not worry about missing a call or text as much as I used to. I have begun to realize that it is not the end of the world if I don't text someone back in the next minute after the text was received. I was actually telling a good friend of mine the other day, that back in freshman year I wouldn't even put my phone down when I was out somewhere, that I wanted to make sure I responded to every text or call immediately. I am glad I have tried to ease my reliance from technology a bit, but I do feel that the younger generation is becoming more and more attached to it. I think because when I was a kid we didn't have all these social networking sites, or even cell phones as much, that I am able to cope without it more easily. These kids though that are 8 years old and already are texting constantly, I feel will be attached to it forever.

Some other reasons that I have been on the internet in the past few days have been to check information on my classes, check my bank account statements, listen to music, and get directions. The internet really has great information and does make things so much more convenient. I am excited to have created this blog and maybe this will inspire me to make a personal one, although if I did it would probably be pretty private since I don't find it necessary that everyone in cyberspace knows every detail of my life.

Looking forward to an exciting semester.