Comment on Elvis Video Project HW #8

Elvis,

I liked how on your video you didnt focuse on just one part of your digital life. your on your phone texting, on your ipod and on your computer. I also liked tha fact that you seem very interested into what your doing. While listening to your ipod your bopping your head and singing along. You seem to be so into that, but then your attention gets diverted into whatever was on your computer screen, i can see the change in your face, as though you got out of that zone and oulled into another one.

I can see your point in the idea of you thinking " why have it" when speaking of all the technology. I think once we see ourselves in such a hypnoticed state we start having thoughts about what this is doing to us. I also see your point in not wanting to be into the whole digital phase sometimes, but whe are so used to it that we cant let it go. We need these things and without them i personally would get bored very easily. 

i can see that in our videos we are doing the same things, minus the computer. I connect with you saying that your sister is hooked into the digital world already. I dont know how old your sister is, but mine is 12 and shes already on aim and she even had a myspace. I remeber being 12 and still playing with dolls and the only technology i was hooked on was the t.v.Its crazy to walk by schools now and see such a difference from when we were there.

Umm when it comes to your video i think you did a pretty good job at showing us some of your digital life.Maybe you can elaborate on your feelings toward seeing yourself and how they differ or relate to actually being there,

Your video made me realize how quickly our interest can just jump from one digital device to another, but it seems so difficult to do in other occasions. Overall i enjoyed watching it. It was good.

Interviews of Mom, Stranger, and Best Friend (More will be up soon)

Interview w/ my mom:
..(Explanation of why I'm doing this...)

Me: How many hours would u say you spend on digitalization?

Mom: Not many, I'm only on my phone when I need to, such as talkin with you and your sister, or
with family.

Me: Do you think well ever go back to how it was before?

Mom: No, were going to get worse. Period.

Me: Do you see any good in it? Or any possible good in it?

Mom: There are some possible good things, such as school work being easier for you guys or me keeping in touch with my family, but what else is it helpful for?

Me: What about us as your kids? What do you think of the time we spend with our technology?

Mom: I constantly tell you guys your on you phone/ i-pod/ watching t.v. etc. too much. Sometime your on it and you guys don't even realize what's going on in your surroundings. That's not good, how will it be in the future?

Interview with Strangers:

Ask if they have time and give a real quick explanation of why your doing this) Then ask...

Me: How many hours would u say you spend on things such as your phone,ipod, internet, t.v?

Stranger #1: A lot of time! Its my whole life in this one simple device, it can't get better than that.

Me: Really? So you don't see any harm in it? You don't think ppl are too addicted?

Stranger #1: Hmm , there might be some harm and ppl might be addicted but honestly I dnt see myself without all this technology. Where would we be?

Me: Ok, so on that note, do you think well ever go back to how it was before?

Stranger #1: I hope we don't haha, its too useful.

Me: So if we dnt, and this only advances in a couple of yrs, would you want your kids to be so into this new technology?

Stranger #1: I guess I wouldn't want them to spend all there time on it, I would want them to go out and have fun as well.

Me: Do you think you do those things ?

Stranger # 1: Yea I do, mayb even with the help of the technology.

Me: Ok thank You for your time , Bye.

Stranger # 2

(Once again ask if they have time and give a real quick explanation of why your doing this) Then ask...

Me: How many hours would u say you spend on things such as your phone,ipod, internet, t.v?

Stranger #2: Well on the more practical things such as ipod and phone a lot, I don't go out with out them, there kind off part of me and my day.

Me: So without them you feel..?

Stranger #2: Lost, corny I know, but its as though somethings missing, its a part of me.

Me:I know how you feel, but don't you think that's bad?

Stranger #2: Yea It is, but its just a matter of us being soo used to it.

Me: How do you think this will be in the future?

Stranger #2: Probably the same, newer things will come out, ppl will want it and they will get it.

Me: Ok thank You for your time , Bye.

Interview w/ my best friend:

Me: So how much time do you spend using technology?

Stephanie: The whole day except when sleeping, I text I'm on aim, myspace etc.

Me: Do you think spending so much time on it makes ur life better or worse?

Stephanie: It makes it easier for sure, and I love that. Its easier meaning its faster. When it comes to making my life better, it doesn't , but its very helpful.

Me: Helpful In what ways?

Stephanie: I can keep in touch with ppl easier, friends I haven't seen in yrs, family in other places, homework is easier as well.

Me: Ok so you don't think there's anything bad about it?

Stephanie: No, maybe the fact that sometimes I'm so engrossed in it and I dnt notice anything around me, but other than that no.

Me: How do you think things will be in a couple yrs? Will we ever go back to how things were before?

Stephanie: Things will just be getting newer and easier, I don't think we will ever go back to the ways things were.

Me: Why not?

Stephanie: It's just not possible. People like new better things. Technology just seems to make things that much better. Its soo useful.

Me: Ok thankz

Comment on Video Project

Well while recording and watching my video I realized it was supposed to seem natural, but it didn't feel that way. I recorded the video at my cousins house in her computer, (since mine still isn't working -_- )with my family having there usual convo in the back. Her computer is in the corner of her living room so I couldn't really show myself in "t.v. Watching mode" or anything else except listening to my ipod and texting.

While the digital representation really shows how I look physically doing those things I'm not really sure how that makes me feel. I guess it just makes us all seem really centered into what's going on infront of us and nothing else, such as in the video I was texting and didn't hear my cousin calling me.

I have a little sister who spends so much time wrapped into this digitalization. She's only 12 and she's very hooked, I honestly wish she wasn't. Its already taking over the younger generations lives,so I could only imagine what things will be like in a couple of years.

The contrast between what I look like on the digital representation and how I look interacting with it is something that people want to change. Its kinda the same though, except your not watching yourself, your usually watching others. I have a Wii but I have not purchased any of those games in which you can actually see yourself working out and what not. They just want to draw us in deeper and deeper, making us just keep wanting more of what's new.

Video Project- Blog Post #4

Untitled from Carol on Vimeo.

Responce to Comment -Blog Post # 3

First off thanks for commenting on my post. I appreciate the fact that you understood where I was coming from with my ideas about the negativity of digitalization, and how u related to it. As well as the fact that it made you think about wanting to just relax without thinking about anything digital.

Your idea on expanding my thoughts on how people would react to no digitalization was useful. Knowing how those around us feel about digitalization is really important and useful in order to elaborate on our ideas as well as open our minds to new thoughts.

When talking about yourself and technology you stated " It's just that I'm so use to using it, it just became a habit." A habit,we all have a bad one, one we can't break, so is digitalization the universal bad habit? Can it ever be broken? Or do we just not want it to.

While I focused on the negative, you focused on the positive of all this, but we both agreed on each others ideas. We both looked at how this is all affecting us, but both failed to talk about the cause of it all. What caused this to be a habit? What caused us to just get used to all the new digitalization.

My Comment to Elvis- Blog post #2

I thought it was it good that you decided to take a different direction with your post. Different to mine, your post tried to focus on whats the good on this topic instead of whats bad.

Your ideas on how technology can help us find cures to disease and how it actually helps us as students really opened a door in my mind. I didn't really think about what an impact it had on things such as school work, i guess i focused primarily on things such as text,and AIM , these really don't affect us in a good way. I know for sure that if it wasn't for my phone i would most likely no be able to do some hw as easily, an that skipped my head.

I think your post has the potential to help some people see the good in the bad. Just add on to your ideas, elaborate on how technology was used to help us find cures and what not, but also organize your ideas so that they flow and so we can understand what your trying to put out.Think about how the positive and negatives weigh in your life and how they affect you.

Overall your post really opened my mind into thinking about how technology can be good in our lives and how in some cases it is a necessity not only a must. Im looking forward to reading what you add any future posts.

Hw 3- 1st Blog Post

One thing we can all agree on is that the digital world has become pretty much the center of everything we do. We rely on it to do many things that in the past could have been either more difficult, easier, or maybe even the same. Nowadays everything is digital. We meet new people in websites such as, Facebook, Myspace and an endless list of more, with these we can also keep up with the people we already know. AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN, all helps us do these things as well, not only with people here, but even with people from other countries.

In a way all these new applications are very helpful to us right? But we fail to see some of the negative points to it. We are pretty much addicted to this digital lifestyle, even if we don't realize it, and what is this doing to us? Making us think that we have all the power and control of things with one simple click of a button. Making us believe that as a student of our class had said ,the world revolves around us. I've noticed that before this year i used to be on AIM and text messaging constantly. If i was bored i would lay down in my couch and just pop open my sidekick, there would be everything i needed. Now i find my self being on Aim less, I still text a lot for stupid things and what not, but i did notice that AIM can become tyring after a while. There is really no point in it, just keeping in touch with people which u can do in text. So what's the point?

It seems as though all these applications are a better version, faster version and what not of the same thing, so why do we always want it? I wonder what will happen if we stopped making the newest,better version of something? What if one day were just stuck with what we have or were forced to go back to the way people did things without all the digital need before. Would our generation in particular be able to get through it? Because as i said its a huge part of our lives, and we really aren't used to not having all these things.