Hey guys!
I'm in the middle of the fourth chapter in AOTD and this chapter has opened my eyes a bit.
Postman gives an example of the Douglas- Lincoln debates, stating that crowds of people would, literally, just sit there and listen. Now, I'm not sure about you, but I can't stick to one show for more than 20 minutes because I'm either browsing the guide, paying attention to something else or just uninterested. I wouldn't be able to sit down for more than one hour, let alone the seven hours needed for one person to go, the opponents response, and then the rebuttal, and that's not including the times where the audience would throw in sarcastic/encouraging comments and the applauding. That's seems almost impossible. And I think that's such a sad thing. Don't you? Being unable to actually pay attention and give someone, or something, that attention fully. Is that what technology has done to our brains? Given us short attention spans? Has it handicapped us? I think it has, because we can get to anything easily, quickly, and efficiently. Everything is right at our fingertips. Like, neglecting feeling the pages of a book. We've got Nooks and iPads and Tablets. We don't get the journey of riding our bikes to the library. I haven't been to a library since the last day of school looking for these books we were assigned and even before that I haven't been to one since maybe the fifth grade. But, hey, I have the excuse of trying, right? Probably not.
-BabyLika F.
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Art Project
Monday, June 30, 2014
Then and Now
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True. Just like some of the speeches in Mrs. Kjorness' class last year about a certain historical person, I could not fully focus. And reducing the time we spend on technology would be difficult because we let it become a huge part in our lives.
ReplyDeleteI understand and agree fully. For example, I'm watching Tarzan right now or I should I say I started watching Tarzan 20 minutes ago then got up 5 minutes later to check my email and then went to another computer to scroll through Instagram and now Tarzan is just playing in the background. It's really a tragic thing that we can't just focus on something. I do too think that our reliance on technology has played a huge role in out lack of focus. Most of us wish that we could pay attention longer but then never fulfill it because to NOT use technology every 5 seconds would be "too hard".
ReplyDeleteI agree that technology has handicapped us. I cannot even simply watch television without going on my phone and texting, going on Twitter, or liking pictures on Instagram. Everything has become so easy for us. For example, we dread and complain about writing research papers and having to read stuff on the Internet yet everything is so simple to find. Imagine even just fifty years ago where you had to go to the library to find your information and actually put in some work for it. Now everything is at our command simply at our fingertips. Is it possible that technology is making us lazy and idle? At times, our brains are somewhat inactive and we don't have to put much effort into everything.
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ReplyDeleteI completely agree. Our generation is so dependent on technology simplifying everything for us. We neglect our ability to wonder and our desires to learn. If we don't understand something, "Google it" they say. If technology wasn't dominating us right now, we would be absorbing ourselves in everything that books benefit us with: knowledge, understanding, perspective, insight, facts, everything positively effective. That being said, our dependency on technology and how quickly we are able to access what we "need" makes us impatient when we're expected to take in, learn, and apply things when we don't have technology at our fingertips. We become uninterested and our attention span is shortened.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this very much. Right now, I am on vacation sitting in an open courtyard in my hotel attempting to do my summer homework. My mind is running wild with the thought of what I am missing on twitter and all the games I could be playing instead of doing all of this work. All teenagers, including myself, can not do one single activity without getting distracted by all the technology we have surrounding us. Many kids spend hours upon hours playing with their phones, watching things on Netflix or just watching TV. They isolate themselves from the outside world. If everyone just stopped using technology for just a little, they would be able to see the real world and all the amazing things they could do in it.
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