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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Taking over our minds.


From The Shallows by Nicholas Carr and the discussions we’ve talked about in class, I like the point that examines how we truly don’t read books or blogs or much of anything completely but mostly just skim it. I definitely agree and can say that I myself do this. It almost seems to be a waste of time to read every word of something when you can skim it and get the gist of it. I remember in the lower grades it was required because you would be tested on specific questions in a book but not as much now.  To some extent it saves time, and perhaps you do get the general idea of the context, but how can you be sure you get other underlying ideas if you don’t fully read everything? In my sociology class we watched a Youtube clip of an advertisement for a car. In the clip I think it really expresses Carr’s points. One girl is talking about her parents and how they don’t have many Facebook friends and she has hundreds. Her parents are out living life while she just sits around inside buried in her computer yet she thinks their life is “lame and pathetic”.  When the commercial first starts the girl says “She says I read an article online, well I skimmed the article” Then she says how she has so many friends, and that is “living” then she gets distracted by a picture of a puppy.
This commercial I think is a good example of what’s already here and what’s to come. That soon reading will become uncommon, as opposed to skimming and looking over, and our attention will often be interrupted by anything else on the internet.  Lastly, in my opinion, not Facebook specifically, but a lot of social networking sites, are becoming the norm. So instead of having 6 or 7 friends you hang out with and go do things with which would be called living, actively doing something.  I think its more likely that with my generation and the generations to come “living” will be how many friends you have on a website, how many people “liked” your status or picture. Which brings me to my last point, where in the beginning chapters about losing our brain, and the technology taking us over.  It is because we allow it to, becoming so engulfed with a virtual life rather than our actual physical life. It’s very strange and hard to grasp at first. You slowly see things, like this commercial which is a stretch but never the less a good and fair example of what as already happening and what’s to come.
By,
Allison Saffie


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpeoRIvnxfk

4 comments:

  1. Allison, I agree that we are beginning to skim more and more, as well as directing our attention to the internet for more things. But I took a minute and noticed that realistically, as a society we are far more busy than we were before. For example, many years back people weren't running from class, to work, to the gym, to some sort of club meeting, to appointments and so on and so forth. But now we are. Our life styles are continuously getting more hectic. So maybe the internet could be helping us? Maybe for some who simply don't have the time to sit down and read everything anymore, they can now adapt to skimming. And for others who can find the time to read a book, well, I believe that if they really want to read something, they will.

    And I also saw that commercial, I thought that was a really good example for your post.

    - Michelle Krupnik

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  2. You make me think of an article I just read about how people care so much about their profile pictures on facebook they have them photshopped about 40% of college aged girls have them photoshopped. It's crazy. All about liking a picture. Your right.
    Kelsey Coughlin

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  4. Michelle, I do agree with you society has changed. Still, to some extent, I feel we "miss" some important things when we lead such a fast paced life style. The Internet helps us for certain; this book has just made me wonder about the disadvantages it has taught us as well!

    Kelsey, its funny to hear another girl agree with these Facebook problems. So many girls I know look different on Facebook compared to when I see them in school. It’s really crazy, in a scary way but part of growing up. I think Facebook pictures have become a problem with high school and college age kids!
    Allison Saffie

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