Homework #22, Final Draft

Introduction:
Without even walking out the door, you can have the world at your fingertips. Can you imagine how convenient that would be? Oh wait, we already live in a world that is like that. There are many reasons that people like digital technology. It might be the fact we can always control it, or that it is always at our disposal, or that it delivers such a realistic sense of reality. In actuality, I think technology is a bridge that is faulty. Technology is so time-consuming, and it takes away from doing the things in life that we can actually get joy out of. Instead of spending so much time texting, or on the computer, we should spend more time outdoors, on walks, and in nature. People should worry more about real issues instead of how late someone is to text them back. Although technology can be helpful in many ways, it is very important to be able to put it aside and get in touch with creative and more personal pursuits.

Argument I a, It Is Dependable:
Technology is a useful tool for helping people stay in touch with each other. Even before cell phones, technology has been useful in times of urgency: “The best moment of having it [the beeper] was when Ra (my baby sitter) paged me after the first bomb in the world trade center. You were one and you guys were there right before it went off so I was so glad to hear from her!” My mom was discussing how useful beepers were on February 26th, 1993, after the World Trade Center Bombing happened because she was really worried about my babysitter and I. Since my babysitter had paged her, my mom knew that we were all right. I read an article speaking about when the first beeper had came out, and it discussed how newly weds, elderly people, and school kids now had beepers as well as plumbers and doctors. There was a couple that said how they bought beepers because the woman was pregnant and she said, "Our game plan is that I would call the beeper number wherever I am and he would know it's the time."(A New Role for Beepers: Keep Families in Touch) Without the beeper, this woman would not have been able to contact her husband while he was away working on a trip for business. Back then beepers really helped as a link between people, because wherever you are you could call someone’s beeper and they would know that they had to find a phone and call the person who had called their beeper.

Argument I b:
More so today, people depend on their cell phones in case of an emergency, as well as to check if everyone is okay. My mom worries about my little brother and I if we have not texted her after school to tell her where we are going to be. I can admit that I feel weird every time I do not have my cell phone in my pocket, and that I almost always have my cell phone on my person. During the cell phone ban in 2006, there were a lot of worried and angry parents freaking out at the idea of their children traveling without cell phones. “Cell phones are the urban parent’s umbilical cord, the lifeline connecting them to children on buses, emerging from subways, crisscrossing boroughs and traipsing through unknown neighborhood, the Times reports.”(Please leave a message). This shows the dependence parents and children have on cell phones. It says how cell phones are compared to something natural that we need in order to live basically. A baby cannot get information and nutrients from its mother, if there was no such thing as an umbilical cord. Today cell phones are like a lifeline, and a great tool for parents to know where their children are.

Argument II Interview, Technology Is Good:
Jace and I interviewed a group of kids who said that they are on forms of digital technology ten hours daily. Out of the ten hours, they said that only two hour are productively spent. "We're more dependent on them," one of the kids admitted. There was a very earnest little girl that said that they "need the computer [for things like] Google. [They] use Facebook, in their spare time. FB is a good thing, for keeping in touch with family” the same little girl talked about keeping in touch with her aunts and cousins etc on facebook. A lot of kids are constantly on the computer, using facebook, and playing video games. This little girl honestly felt like facebook is a good thing, because you can keep in touch with your family, which I agree with yet I think that they are on forms of technology too many hours of the day. These kids were explaining to Jace and I how they can keep in touch with people, they use google to look things up for homework, that they watch television: both trashy and the discovery channel. Even though the computer may be useful, it is good to use forms of technology in moderation, and to try and do something useful instead of wasting so much time on the computer.

Argument III: Control:
One of the things that is so enjoyable about technology is that we can control it completely: “All I have to do is click on you and we’ll be joined in the most soul-less way and we’ll never ever ruin each other’s day cuz when I’m through I just click and you just go away.” (I Love My Computer by Bad Religion) People like things that they can have complete control over. You can send texts on your phone when you want to, and you can close websites on your computer whenever you feel like it. This person is not thinking about another individual’s needs, he was saying how useful it is that when he does not want to put up with the computer anymore he just clicks on a button and it disappears. The singer says that they will be connected in a “soul-less way” showing how artificial the relationship between the computer and its operator is. In this song he also says, “I love my computer, you never ask for more, you can be a princess or you can be my whore.” This is showing how computers can be whatever you want them to be; they can be clean and polite, or they can be used to do your dirty work. It is useful to have a machine like the computer to do homework on, or to look at whatever crazy things people feel like looking at on the computer.

Argument IV: It suits us:
The synthetic things in life suit us so comfortably that we sometimes forget how fake they may be: “Pants fit our body, digital representation is like pants for the mind. Almost like perfume smells like something, but is not really what it smells like. It is made out of chemicals.”(Andy Snyder, in class). Machines that we use today are all made to seem like reality. They fill the gap, from being all alone to being able to get what we feel like is a sense of connection with another person. There are some machines like computers where when they speak out loud to you, you can program them to talk how you want them to sound. You can give them a female voice, a male voice, or a really robot sounding voice. Even looking at the blogger homepage you can see that it says “Flexible. Unlimited flexibility to personalize your blog with themes, gadgets, and more.”(Blogger) For text messaging as well as things on the computer you can personalize them. You can pick what kind of color and font you want to send in a text message. You can do the same thing in computer documents, and for example you can decorate your background and font of blogger. As well as personalizing the screens of phones and computers, you can also personalize the outside of these devices. There are some kinds of stickers specially made to decorate your phone; like little gems. There are also many stickers for the back of laptops that you can use, and plenty of accessories that you can buy for you phone and/ or computer. There are lots of different ipod cases, phone cases, and computer cases that you can purchase. Everything is meant to seem so personal-to show how the owner wants to be portrayed- yet in reality a lot of us have the same backgrounds on blogger, and the same fonts and layouts.

Argument I, Counter Argument(s): The Black out:
There are some cases of emergency, such as the black out on August 14, 2003, where you cannot depend on your cell phone: “Think of it as five thousand people trying to get through your front door at once. It's going to be slow," (Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T Wireless). During the black out, everyone was in a state of panic, trying to call each other. So many calls were going through that the cell phone networks were really slow. As the quote implies, having five thousand people trying to get through your front door at once would be impossible. The phone networks were overwhelmed with the numbers of calls bouncing about, and wireless phones were not very reliable during the blackout. I know from my own experiences as well how the black out must of made people feel. Electricity had gone out (obviously since it’s called the black out), I remember the night of the black out my family all slept in the living room because my little brother and I were too scared to go up to our rooms, and we had to have lots of candles burning for light. Stores were panicking because all of their frozen foods were thawing; I remember getting free ice cream from the store across from my house because they couldn’t keep them frozen anymore and they didn’t want to waste the ice cream. The people in the apartment building across the street from my house were panicking, because the elevator wasn’t working, so a lot of people came by my house to make conversation with my family. In a way we all stuck together as humans and everyone did everything they could to help each other. I know during the black out my mom gave some people candles and matches so that they could see in the building across the street. I remember someone across the street from me panicking because their dogs were on a very high floor in the building, and the elevator was down. There was a lot of panic because people in subways had to evacuate when the black out happened. I remember someone I knew had to walk in the train tunnels to get out, which I was very worried about. Although having a cell phone and other electronic devices can be very helpful, the black out is a good example of how there may be times where electronic devices cannot help us.

Argument II The Benefits of Gardening:
Gardening can actually be good for you: “The theory is that the bacteria works by activating brain cells to release more serotonin. Guess where this bacteria can be found in great abundance? The answer is in dirt. Soil. That black stuff right under your feet! This may be the scientific answer to why gardening lifts your spirits and promotes a sense of calm and peacefulness. When you dig with your hands in the dirt, you are coming into contact with this non-harmful bacteria, among many others. Of course, it's also good exercise, you feel good about producing something worthwhile, and you're out in the fresh air and sunshine, so there may be a combination of factors at work.” (The Healing Garden). There was a time where gardeners knew that gardening made you “feel better, happier and more content”, yet until recently there hadn’t been any scientific reasoning why gardening made you feel better. Scientists found out that when you are digging in the dirt though, there is a kind of bacteria that you come in contact with which makes you feel better. People who suffer from depression have low serotonin levels, so gardening is recommended as being therapeutic. Laughing is also recommended, because it releases endorphins and serotonin. Which is another way of saying that “happy feel good medicine” is released into your body, which actually helps you heal. My mom and I try to garden every year, and I know that when we do, it makes us feel better. When I garden I feel peaceful, and happy, as well as grateful that I can garden. Instead of being angry and yelling at video games all day, I recommend trying to be out in nature, or to garden.

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Argument III: Interviews:
-With my friend Alice
Before, when we interviewed strangers and friends I asked my friend Alice if she preferred hanging out with real people, or text messaging. And she said:
“REAL PEOPLE. I don’t even like talking on the phone that much.” I really wanted to do a follow-up interview on her for this paper but she was too busy when I asked her if I could interview her.

-With Francesca L:
Me, Hannah: “Do you prefer texting or hanging out with real people flesh and blood people?”
Francesca: “I prefer hanging out.”
Hannah: “Can you give me some reasons why hanging out with real people is better than texting please?”
Francesca: “I prefer hanging out with real people because being in the company of actual people gives you a real sense of companionship. You’ve got another human being who is willing to spend time with you- it makes you feel like people actually care about you. Texting is nice, but there’s no emotion in it. I don’t think you can get to know people through texting.”

-With my brother Kyle:
Hannah: “You hang out with a lot of people, and you also really like technology. Can you give me some reasons why being with real people is better than text messaging?”
Kyle: “Umm. Because you can punch them if you get mad? I don’t know. Because you can see how they react to things you say. You can see if they actually get mad. If they were going to cry, and they texted you like ‘oh I’m okay’ then you wouldn’t know.”

-With my Dad, Stuart interviewing him in the car:
Hannah: “Do you prefer hanging with people in person, or text messaging?”
Dad: “It depends what my need is. If I need a quick answer I send a text. But if I want more detail, if I want more opinions then I’ll either phone call them or if I need more involvement or emotional then I would prefer to see them rather than text them. It depends who the person is. If it is a romantic issue then I prefer to see them. You can’t kiss a phone.”
Hannah: “Okay so, you have a country house upstate. Can you give me a few reasons why getting out of the city is good?”
Dad: “Yeah. I put my own needs before any of my client’s needs in the country. I put my own needs first. Rather than in the city it’s all business. Just sky, it’s good to see the sky, and the day and the night and the bugs.”
Hannah: “Dad, you garden. Can you tell me some good things about gardening?”
Dad: “You get to design, you get some exercise, and you often get something to eat that you’ve grown for yourself. And you have a totally different involvement from business work. There are all kinds of things I guess. You get to really see where food comes from. And you get to slow down-you can just choose to alter your pace. Put some choice back into your life.”
Hannah: “Is there anything you would like to add about how being with a person is better than text messaging?”
Dad: “Well, you see many more things hanging out with people. You can see their eyes, and their expressions. You can feel that they’re alive; you can hear the sounds of their voice. You can see what shoes they’re wearing. You can eat with them.”
Hannah: “You can have a better relationship with them right?”
Dad: “A much deeper connection that’s for sure. If you’re arguing with them it might not be better. But it’s defiantly deeper. Texting is all together less personal, which I think it what it’s supposed to be.”

Stranger Jace and I interviewed:
We asked one of the strangers we interviewed if he thought technology was making us smarter or ‘dumber’, and he said: “There are both sides to it. You feel disconnected. Like now you can do things like interviews online, and you never know who you're talking to. Don't have any sense at all. It's making us more disconnected, yet making society faster. Facebook is useful for keeping in touch with people. Social intelligence is dropping. Everything in moderation is okay.”
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For this argument, I conducted it the way you would conduct a science experiment, with lots of different trials. I wanted to use a set number of people –in this case five- to see how answers would vary. I interviewed two of my friends, my little brother, my dad, and I used the interview from when Jace and I had interviewed strangers. Alice and Francesca both said that they prefer hanging out with real people. My dad, for when he was thinking about people that he cares about, said that he also prefers hanging out with real people. Every interview above says how technology makes us disconnected, and that it does not give a real sense of how people are. Francesca had a really good point, that people want to hang out with you, and that you can build a strong connection that way. My brother Kyle and my dad discussed how you can see people’s emotions when you are with them, you can have eye contact with them, you can see what they’re wearing, and how they’re feeling. While if you are on the computer or text messaging, the person could be lying about how they feel, or you might not know if the person really feels like texting or IMing you back. While technology can be very useful in some ways, it can be a disadvantage in others. In order to develop a healthy connection with someone though, human contact must be made; it cannot just be through some form of machine.

Conclusion:
There are definitely many wonderful things that technology can give us. Cell phones make us feel safer because we always have a connection with people through the devices. There is some kind of satisfaction to having something like the computer that you can control whenever you want to, without having to worry about the computer’s needs since it isn’t a person. Even better than that, we can personalize the devices, like websites to show our unique individuality. In reality though, there are times where we think we are all so different, but we may really all fit it. Instead of being on the computer and on video games, people should spend times in nature more often. Instead of text messaging people, think about how nice it is to spend the day with another individual, who cares about you and wants to see you. While digital technology can be very useful, try to get some fresh air, and do something that does not involve the many electronic devices that surround us.

References:
- A New Role for Beepers: Keep Families in Touch: http://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/07/news/a-new-role-for-beepers-keep-families-in-touch.html
-Quote about phones being like umbilical cords, From Gotham Gazette, Please leave a message: http://www.gothamgazette.com/blogs/wonkster/2006/04/27/please-leave-a-message/
- I Love My Computer by Bad Religion, lyrics:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/badreligion/ilovemycomputer.html
-Homepage of Blogger: https://www.blogger.com/start
- Wireless gets blacked out too: http://money.cnn.com/2003/08/15/technology/landlines/index.htm
-The Healing Garden Natural Cure Revealed for Depression, Anxiety, OCD, Low Serotonin: http://vegetablegardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_healing_garden#ixzz0WJqKI7YU
-Interviews