When i go home for vacations from school to visit my parents theres always some point throughout the weekend where my mother needs help with her cell phone or computer.Whether it's figuring out how to turn the speaker phone off or find a file she saved from the internet; there's always something. She's surprisingly savvy with her new laptop but when it comes to advanced functions on her cell phone; it's hopeless. My father is the quintessential American who's all about big TV's and hot grills. He's very coherent when it comes to his IBM work laptop and has just received his first REAL smartphone and has mastered it well. He's always been the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" type and i blame his technological advancement on his younger co-workers who wanted newer technology at work to keep up with their technology at home. (i.e. their new HTC Eris')
In this new electronic age, what once was talking on the phone with a significant other or hanging out with a friend after school is now succeeded by computers, cellphones, and the internet. Instead of calling someone, we text. Instead of playing games with a friend at each other's house, we meet up on Xbox Live and play together in a virtual world. On multiple occasions, i've actually found myself leaving my friend's house to go home in order to play simultaneously with them online. The paradigm has changed from physical interaction, to virtual interaction; which is great if physical interaction is impossible, (distance or otherwise) but the virtual world often comes between personal connections that someone can make with another person that are integral to human life. This new trend of disconnection is growing fast and is often hostile. I'm sure everyone has experienced and online attack of some sort. Many people are more willing to be hostile towards each other when there is the virtual disconnect from them. Would you rather insult someone on your computer, or when they're in the room?
"Technological media are staples or natural resources, exactly as are coal and cotton and oil." As McLuhan says, we are extremely dependent on our electronic devices. The largest threat to our current world isn't nuclear war or global warming; it's a power outage. So as long as the energy flows, we're happy; God help us the day we are no longer able to check our Twitters.
My list of Technobabble:
iMac
MacBook Pro
iPhone
Canon T1i
Xbox 360
TV
