Blog #2

These readings state that people are being manipulated by new technologies. It also suggested that new technologies will interfere with a person’s memory as well as attention span. There was a fear present in Baym text, the fear of losing control and people not leaving home. These fears were founded after reading the statement “many fear that actual human connection has been irretrievably lost.” CMC, Computer-Mediated Communication, is slouching towards ordinary because of chatrooms, web boards, text messages and other social media outlets and ultimately the mobility of all the ways of communicating online.
I do feel that technology has a lot to do with the depletion of attention span. People hold their phones for dear life without looking up. I visited NYC this past Summer and people were crossing the streets looking at their phone, nearly being hit by cabs. I do not agree that people will not want to leave their house. Due to mobility of communication people are leaving their homes, they’re just not paying attention when they do.

11 thoughts on “Blog #2

  1. I am guilty of the face-to-phone-cross-the-street craziness. I don’t know what it is about not being aware of your surroundings that is so appealing. (Lol!) I think although technologies connect us to the person(s) we are communicating with at the exact moment, but they disconnect us from those around us.

    • It’s not that we are being manipulated by technology, but rather that people *fear* we might be. It’s important to make this distinction, so that you don’t slide into deterministic ways of thinking. A lot of the sweeping generalizations that are made about technology, when held up against research and empirical results, turn out not to be accurate.

    • I completely agree with you. Just a few weeks ago my family was in the living room playing Ruzzle with each other and not talking. I told my mom about it and we actually had family game night this past Sunday. Technology connects us to everyone far and pushes us away from the people who are near.

  2. I agree that technology is directly affecting our attention spans. A few weeks ago, I started paying attention to people’s phone usage in public places (I guess I was just curious and bored). If someone starts texting or checking their Facebook, nearly everyone within visual distance of them decides to check their phone as well. It has become subconscious and obsessive; if we see someone checking their phone, we just HAVE to see if we are missing out on something. My husband and I have started turning off our mobile data on date night, because it is very tempting to “quickly check that Twitter mention.” “I just wanna see what that notification is!” easily becomes several minutes of looking at mundane statuses.

  3. I aslo agree with the point of humans attention spans being dissolved due to CMC. I am persoanally more distracted becasue of my “smart phone.” It is to easy for me to click on a person’s name to call or text them than to challenge myself to remember their phone number. It also concerns me that with age the loss of mempory may happen naturally, and in my case as a frequent user of the convience of our CMC tools if the odds of memory loss will be higher for me.

    • Here’s a question for all of you – does the phone really *make* you more distracted, or do you CHOOSE to let yourself get distracted? Why don’t more people do as Clarissa does and just make the choice to turn it off? It’s important to remember that you do have agency, your phone can’t really make you look at it.

      • It’s not that the phone really makes you more distracted people just choose to make the phone a priority. People do have the choice to turn it off however, they feel that they will miss something if they do. When they go to sleep do they get up throughout the night to check the phone every two minutes?

      • I think the culmination of our technologies are changing the way we think. We are becoming conditioned to be more easily distracted and devote attention in different ways. Nicholas Carr was mentioned in the Baym reading, and his recent book “The Shallows” opens with this idea. That it feels like our neurological behavior is shifting and it becomes harder to devote attention as a symptom of our sources. This is similar to Postman’s idea that over the years society changes thought patterns to be reflective of our preferred medium. With writing, it was linear and analytical; with television, it is fragmented, disconnected bits of information. People condition themselves to think in segments, not to dwell too long on one subject, so there will be time to hear of another blip in the news of the day. (Postman, 75) I think there already are and will continue to be some fascinating psychological studies in the future that show our brains on the internet. Now, we can control our distractions to some degree, but what if our mind becomes trained into the evolution and it becomes a struggle for control?

  4. I have definitely heard of that happening where people in NYC are always looking down at their phones. With being in a huge metropolitan area like that, that is definitely dangerous because how do you know when to cross the cross walk if you are looking down at your phone? If you are in a store or something like that I can see being on your phone if you made a list on your phone or if you call home if you forgot what to buy. I think if you are trying to cross the street or driving, then the phone definitely needs to be put up.

  5. I think I am one the few people who does not get distracted by my phone. I only spend large amounts of time on my phone when I am waiting between classes or waiting in a doctors office. I find it kinda crazy that people are being so distracted by their phones that is becoming a trending issue. It seems to be more a self control issue versus a technology issue. For instance me and my girlfriend we bugged for days to go to brunch by another couple. When we got there both the girl and guy spent almost the entire time on their phones! Rude! Self Control!

  6. I agree that attention spans are depleting. My children actually do not have a good attention span because they feel that they have to have an technology device in their face or they will loose their mind.

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