Chapter 2 and Herrin (2004) points out how people fear new technology use and harm that it will cause. People feel that it will diminish intelligence, cause problems in marriages and corrupt our kids. As discussed in chapter 2 every new technology comes with its drawbacks. According to Baym, “when medias are new, most popular messages about them are deterministic” (page 24). Some of the fear that develops is due to the reactions of other people. People tend to take the opinion of the majority in order to fit in instead of standing on or establishing their point of view. The major fear that people have is change and many people do not like change therefore technology cause resistance.
Baym points out many fears of technology and states that “it will re-create political and cultural communities in cyberspace; it will bring pornographers, stalkers, and credit-card scammers into our homes, corrupting our kids and ransacking our privacy” (page 28). She also states that technology would allow people to lie about their name, age and other things which would increase problems.
Technology has brought the fear of lack of privacy and the force of conformant. Herring says that CMC tends to “slouch toward the ordinary” which is so true because new things began as socially unacceptable and expensive but through time it become the norm and people cannot live without it. It has been confirmed today that communication between one another is over and the use of advance technology has increase. People hardly talk with one another face to face. Technology has taken over and now controls some people every move.
To add to your point about conforming to new technology, do you think that human beings conform to new technology or technology conforms to how we use it? Do you think that all new technologies necessarily have staying power? One invention that comes to mind is the segway. I grant it’s not a CMC, but I remember a time when some thought it would change the way we move. I think today we would it agree that it hasn’t. It would be interesting to try and make a list of CMC-related technologies that we remember from years ago that did not end up integrating themselves into our everyday lives.
I think a little of both human being conform to new technology and it conforms us. We conform to it because everyone want what is new and many act like they cannot live without it and it conform to us because companies develop new technology based on what people want. New technology has the possibilitity of staying power however more than likely it will be lost just like previous technology.
You focus a lot on the fears that are discussed in the readings, but what about the hopes? What do people envision as positive about the role of technology?
People have hope that technology will help to decrease the racism. There is hope that technology will create connectivity and make it more easier to meet people as well as make things faster.
I think to say that technology controls some people’s every move is to give too much credit to the technology, and not enough to the person. If I need a cup of coffee away from home, then I might check Yelp, Urbanspoon or Google to help me find a suitable place to get coffee, even to check out the menu or read what other customers I have to say. However, its not the CMC or ITCs that motivate me to get up and get the coffee. It can be easy to get caught up in this line of thinking that we are controlled by our access to the internet with the mass adoption of smartphones into our everyday lives, we are almost always connected to the internet in some way. However, I don’t see the majority of people replacing all of their in person interactions with CMC anytime soon.
I agree that it is a lot to say technology controls people every move and the person has a part in the way technology affect them. However, technology has taken control of some people mind which has caused them to make decisions based off of technology or at least the use of technology.
Hello,
When I started reading your Blog, I thought that I am reading mine. We have a lot of points on common;except as Dr. Markman said, you did not mention any hopes. Well, for me I am a positive person, so I always have hope. Even though there was more fears in the readings but there was some hopes in the textbook. Some of these hopes are that the new Tech. creat human connectivity, it makes ourlives much easier and faster, entertain us, and have new relationships . The new people you meet they will like you for your character not for how you look like or your skin color.
I agree we do have a lot in common.
I must admit that the influx of technology can be concerning at times. Like you stated, technology has become a way of life for some people. Technology is pretty much everywhere nowadays. While it has its advantages, risks abound almost everywhere now. For example, a blackout would have only been a minor inconvenience a few years ago. However, now it would be a major threat to everyday life in most places. This scenario must be taken into consideration.
I think it would be hard to live without technology at this point for many of us. I see so many bad things associated with technology, but also so many good ones as well. For example, that football player from Notre Dame who got duped into thinking that his “girlfriend” had passed away. The girl was not even real, it was some other person, I believe it was a man who created this fake person. Why? I do not know. However, it was so easy to lie about who you really were, and worst of all, this football player was not a child, so it can happen to anyone. Although, that was a horrible thing that happened to him, many other people go on dating sites and find the love of their lives. They end up getting married, and maybe they would have never met if it was not for technology.
I agree with your point that CMC tools have over taken and track every move that we make. I remember a story about the I-Phone when users were not aware that every click and motion was uploaded to a data base. The reaction was terrible, however, there are millions of people still purchasing and utilizing the latest version with a sense of “fear” if they do not keep up!
It goes to show that the power of CMC lowers an individuals standard to what is private and what is not. We are all being watched by “Big Brother.”
Good point you raised in your response.