From watching this video from the 1964 World’s Fair in New York to then watching this video by Julian West, it is very interesting to see just how drastically humanity’s view on technology has come to change in the age of information. I think the key word here is definitely information. At the 1964 World’s Fair, they talked about physical technologies such as new vehicles and methods of harvesting resources. Then in the Julian West video, he covers a lot of informational technologies, especially social media and other byproducts of the internet. It is very interesting to see how back in 1964 we still thought of technology as a tool. Technology was only physical contraptions you could hold in your hand to make it automate a task for you. Now, technology consists of many new intangible softwares that affect your life in ways you can’t even see. Technology has taken on a life of its own and now each and every one of us has to consider what our relationship with technology is.
My relationship with technology, like most people, is very multifaceted and complex. I love the ease of access to information and entertainment that my phone can bring me but I can also begrudgingly acknowledge that I think my phone and other pieces of technology that I own can make some tasks too easy for me sometimes. For example, I have no clue how to actually make a works cited page for the life of me because every time I have needed to make one for the last couple of years, I have gone to EasyBib.com and had it generate a works cited list for me based off of the information on my sources that I put into it. It’s not a huge skill, but I do feel bad that I have robbed myself of learning the skill of being able to format a works cited list.
I will also acknowledge that I use technology to keep me stimulated too much. Between social media, having an Airpod in my ear at all times to listen to music, and online Sudoku, I pretty much always have some distraction to fill any awkward amount of time during the day. Now I love listening to my music (I do get about a thousand and a half hours a week) but I do think that this stimulation makes it hard for me to adjust to silence or boring moments when I do not have access to my phone or laptop to distract me or give me something to do. However, this is not a completely bad thing. I think that myself, along with most of my generation, has a lot of stress on us between the increasing intensity of school and the constantly changing pressure of social interaction. Technology is a good outlet to relieve that built up stress absentmindedly and escape from dwelling on intrusive thoughts. However, I can also acknowledge that technology also definitely adds to and heightens some of the stress from these problems.
However, I do not just pull information from the internet. I also put out a ton. Much more than I care to realize most of the time. Between social media and just being lazy with my information, I know my online footprint has grown to be quite large. Luckily, I am too lazy to have accounts on every social media platform but the ones I do have I am still too lazy to update and keep track of. I really need to update and overhaul both my Instagram and LinkedIn accounts. I plan on doing this with a reel I am editing of all the different shots I have from all of the film projects that I have worked on lately. I will use this to jumpstart my LinkedIn profile where I aim to post at least once a month with some kind of significant and positive piece of information on something I worked on that month. For Instagram, I plan on keeping my current account private and keeping it for friends and family and then I will make a second one where the reel is my first post to launch the new account, which will be a public account to show off my work to potential employers and anyone else it would be beneficial for me to network with on that social media platform.
Well, that about concludes the majority of my relationship with technology that I am willing to disclose in public on the internet. As I stated, It’s definitely a give and take relationship, which is important because I need to be more mindful of what information I take from the internet and what information about me that I let it take away and give to who knows what people. It’s a scary yet exciting world out there and the Internet gives us the awesomely dangerous power to be within close contact with anyone in the world at the click of a button. This class has helped me to understand how I can regulate my information to the world and what I need to be careful of. I will be sure to keep my learning from this class in mind as I go forward in my professional life on the internet because I do not want to have that same regretful feeling of wondering where I went wrong as Julian West would have if he watched the video from the 1964 World’s fair.
