The three most influential communication technologies in my life have been the Internet, my cell phone, and television. These three technologies have all changed my life, both for better and for worse. The internet is by far the most influential communication technology in my life, because it is so convenient! I always use the internet to do research, find out the answer to a question, read the news, and much more! I use the internet daily for both enjoyment, and homework! The internet is always being updated with the latest news from around the world, and gives us the opportunity to email one another which makes it the perfect tool for communication! Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter allow us to keep in contact with our friends and family with ease, which is also a great benefit of the internet! The negative side of the internet, is that depending on which websites you use, you can easily find information that is untrue! There are many sites that cannot be trusted for truthful information all the time, such as Wikipedia.org, since anyone can edit it. The internet can also pose a distraction from getting work done, with social media like Facebook, twitter, etc. Social media sites have a negative connotation for regularly distracting high school and college students from homework.
The second most influential communication technology in my life, has been my cell phone. With my cell phone, I am able to stay in constant contact with my friends and family, and they can always get in contact with me no matter where I am, or they are. Whether through text messaging or phone calls, cell phones allow us to stay in contact with anyone we choose 24 hours a day. Also, with newer smartphones, we can use the cellphone as a computer as well, and search the internet on the go! The negative for cell phones can seem quite obvious. The 24 hour potential contact ability allows for us to be constantly texting or calling, and it distracts us from the real world. Issues like texting while driving have taken far too many lives, and now, issues like texting and walking have become such a problem that cities such as London have put up padding on street poles to prevent injuries of people not paying attention while walking! We just cant seem to put the phones down for even a short period of time!
The third most influential communication technology in my life has been the television. The television has been influential in my life because before the internet, and even now sometimes, I use the T.V to watch the news and learn whats happening in the world. Also, with channels such as History and Discovery Channel, I have watched shows that have actually taught me a lot about past events, or upcoming technologies! The negative side of the television brings up the issue of distraction again! As a child, while doing my homework the T.V was always such a big distraction, that my mother told me it had to be turned off during homework! Another negative about T.V is that, there are certain programs that kids may watch that are extremely violent or pornographic, and could then lead to them thinking that it is okay.
The similarities between myself and the students in the video, are that, as the one girl mentioned, "her phone is like her third hand." I can relate to that because I don't go anywhere without it! I also agree with the student who said that his laptop is "a bare necessity." I definitely consider my laptop to be a necessity for homework and learning! I can also relate to the student who talked about using twitter to follow MC Hammer and other famous celebrities. What I do see as the biggest difference from myself and the students in the video, is that a few talked about video games and music production. Personally I do not play video games that often, and although I use my iPod a lot to listen to music, I do not find either of them to be "influential." Although the students may use technologies in a different way, for the most part, a big similarity is the technologies that we use, for example using a computer to make music vs. to do homework. Communication technologies have affected each of us in our daily lives, and continue to do so regularly.
Chris, i completely agree with the cell phone comment. I felt like i related to that the most! I didn't even think the television as that influential, but after you mentioned it, it made me pretty envious that i didn't think of it! Great post!
ReplyDeleteI think that the television is a great way to stay informed about what is going on in the world. The television can at times be the epicenter for our culture. At the same time, it can be a distraction as you said. However, I feel that one of the biggest issues with the television is that it is a one-way form of communication. Just like you claim we need to be active in trying to find the truth values on the internet, I think we also need to be critical consumers while we watch television too. The television can often change our mindsets and make us more passive individuals. Do not get me wrong, I enjoy television; however, I think there are also some pretty big dangers due to its huge power. I like how you mentioned that the internet is changing the way that we receive information and interact with the world, but I like also that you mention that the cellphone is changing the way we interact with the world too. From my observations, I noticed that the internet becoming easily accessible from a mobile device shows that communication technologies are becoming so consolidated. Sure, this may be a convenience, but there could probably be implications for this kind of consolidation in the future. I really also like that you talked about your technologies have impacted the way that we learn new information. At the same time, there are just many implications. However, the question seems to really become: how can we as users on the internet try to enforce higher standards for content on the internet without sacrificing the democratic nature of the internet?
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