Response 8

I was walking home recently and noticed an older homeless man sitting at his usual spot. I must passed him dozens of times this year and was aware of him, but I never paid him any real attention. However, one day I saw a young man wake the homeless man and gave him something to eat. I thought this was a genuinely rare act of random kindness. I felt a little ashamed since I’ve never given that man anything more than passing observation.

When I read the Alex Andreou’s article, I was struck by the following quote: “By making the city less accepting of the human frame, we make it less welcoming to all humans. By making our environment more hostile, we become more hostile within in it.”

Modern society is increasingly becoming more individualized. The community has been replaced by the individual. It is really easy to see how people, myself included, have become blind to the plights of others. What exactly separates human beings from other animals if we ignore whole sections of the population? It makes people within the city less social by introducing these psychological barriers.

Computers have changed the people interact with each other, the way people process information, and communicate. This change is a direct result of the computer as a man made tool. Sherry Turkle salient point is this tool has stripped away a certain aspect of our human identity. It has made people more passive within their environment because they don’t fully understand computers and are unempowered by it. Humans have traditionally been the masters of their tools and not the other way around. She argues “…when people say that something is transparent, they mean that they can see how to make it work, not that they know how it works.” Due to the complexity of information technology people are ignoring important aspects of how it has shaped modern society and the role it plays. Despite the ubiquitous use of computers, there is a information technology illiteracy within most IT users. People don’t truly understand how to use this tool to make the society and themselves better. Turckle is arguing for a change in education which would make children and adults more IT literate.

But she also acknowledges a disconnect people have with using computers. She states, “For those who are lonely yet afraid of intimacy, information technology has made it possible to have the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship.” This loss of real human intimacy and connection to other people can also be seen in Alex Andreou’s article. It is easy to walk by a homeless person when listening to music or replying to a text message. One major drawback in modern society as Andreou states is “real wealth – land, water, food, fuel – has physical limitations.” Yet, modern wealth is seldom based on these ideas. It is based on the computational concept of money. People are taught to purchase ever more frivolous goods as they acquire more money. IT is here to stay, new lessons need to be taught so people can relearn what community truly means.