Final Blog

 Final Blog

When looking at how technology is entangled in my life, I find that there is no aspect without it. Growing up, I have never lived in a setting where technology did not surround me. In some senses, no one has. The difference between technology in the past including the printing press, typewriter, and countless others, technology now has shifted from being an asset to our days to the central focus.

Throughout the course of this semester, I have done a lot of self-reflection on how much technology rules my life. The Mad World Remix of Moby Video (Are You Lost In The World Like Me) represents society today in a dark and frightening light. Society today is constantly glued to screens causing them to miss what is truly important in life. There are clips in the video that show how people record and idolize the wrong things while missing others. It is contradictory to think about since we are so busy looking at other people's lives through our phones, but at the same time trying to capture everything around us through the camera lens.

When I think about our relationship with technology, it feels extremely codependent. We as humans rely on having a phone glued to us at all times for all information. At one point, technology was dependent on us too. For updates, information, and more. But now we are in a time where we are so consumed by technology that it has taken the power. Shoshana Zuboff said it best in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: "We thought we were searching Google, but Google was searching us.”. The digital footprints being left behind without knowledge is something that is not only frightening, but unethical. Throughout this semester fellow students, including myself, have said many times how while we do not think that what is happening regarding privacy and surveillance is right, it is just ‘how things are now’. This had been a belief of mine up until this year.

After learning about what is really going on and the potential consequences, I know that I am responsible for taking control of my privacy. The video MAN showed us precisely the risk that comes with being so consumed with oneself. This is a dramatized example but gives light to what is really happening in the world.

Overall, I do believe that technology is a positive part of my life and those around me. We are able to access any information we could ever dream of. We are able to connect with people all across the world in seconds. What we have to remember is that technology is not everything. We were humans before technology took over and functioned perfectly fine. There is power in knowing that we do not need technology to survive and that technology needs us on the contrary to continue. The challenge is, will we harness this power, or allow technology to continue to take over?