Nicholas Carr: “Our ways of thinking, perceiving, and acting, we now know, are not entirely determined by our genes. Nor are they entirely determined by our childhood experiences. We change them through the way we live-and, as Nietzsche sensed, through the tools we use.”
Literally
The way we think, and act is in relation to our brain. According to Carr, experiments in brains with animals and humans tell us that we are subject to adapting. The world thought we were only able to develop the cells in our brain during childhood but that was disproved. Experiences can influence our foundation of cells and cause a change in our mental state. As we pick up technology those tools have a lasting effect on our brain.
Intellectually
The control of our bodies is influenced by our brain. As technology advances, we see a shift in our brains influence. Being around technology is like being around a microwave. Waiting for the rot to take hold in our minds and cause us to go back to the basics and learn again. Since we understand that the brain can adapt to recent changes, we should surround ourselves in a good environment to nurture it.
Emotionally
Time is limited in this world, and we have experienced a growth in our development throughout the years. If we continue to move forward without adequate knowledge to surround ourselves with the appropriate and necessary environment, we place ourselves in an endless loop to recuperate that knowledge we once had and move forward over and over. This all starts in the brain, and we must struggle with ourselves to build a needed structure. In short, we should protect ourselves from the wrong tools so we can be untroubled.
Connect
Marshall McLuhan explains the notion of technology being an extension to control us. McLuhan reveals our change, “The restructuring of human work and association was shaped by the technique of fragmentation that is the essence of machine technology.” Our brain is affected by the tools we use. Being cocooned around technology reveals a state of decay to our brain. Only with the constant influence of literature can we hope to fight back against these machines.
Sherry Turkle: “But it is true that our tools carry the message that they are beyond our understanding. It is possible that in daily life, epistemic opacity can lead to passivity.”
Literally
The advancement of computers has evolved into a technology that we do not understand the meaning behind them. Without fully grasping the power that these technologies hold will lead to a mindless existence. We use a computer, but we do not know how it works. The harsh reality is thinking that we know everything is a flaw in our everyday lives.
Intellectually
We need to ask questions to better understand how integral computers are in our lives and keep questioning these subtle changes that people ask for but do not know the consequences. Without the barriers in our minds the knowledge we hold will start to seep out like honey. The first step to protecting ourselves from this oppressive life is to notice the effect these tools are used.
Emotionally
I feel a bit of clarity in knowing the hidden power of things around us that we do not give a second thought about. The disconnect in our minds is becoming clearer as we dig deeper into understanding the message beyond these tools. Technology is a crutch for our minds that attaches to us through our emotions. It does get scary when you think about these tools feeding on your emotions to keep you in place. Fear is just another motivator being used against you in your head. With more technologies being used you have a greater fight to protect yourself.
Connect
In Winner’s piece explains, “The issue has to do with ways in which choices about technology have important consequences for the form and quality of human associations.” Acknowledging that tools control us is the first step to guide us so that we can harness technology instead of being consumed by it. Our daily life is leading us to be complacent when using technology, it is affecting us in a negative way. The standards we once had require less, which leads to adults with less frame to the reality of technology. Building a new culture so the use of technology is safer, and it does not morph our minds. We should be astute to the information technology brings with every advancement, so we do not fall into a knowledge pit of consequences.
Gregory Ulmer: “The point is not to harness video to writing, the way writing was harnessed to voice at the beginnings of the era of logocentrism, but to intervene in the apparatus of literacy on behalf of video.”
Literally
Video should not be taken control using words, just as words were used to express culture without artifacts. The method video is made using form and style, is the framework that tells us something more. Science and knowledge that comes from video needs to be explored in our society. We need to be taught video-based literacy that uses pictures and images.
Intellectually
We should not take video for granted and intervene with the wrong methods to impose on it. The presence of the video is somewhat new when we think about how old the human language is. As a reader we must take a different approach to video because this is an unfamiliar territory. If we start informing the masses through early education of the theory behind video, we can see a faster development for it.
Emotionally
Video takes shape and forms a transparent interaction that is an engaging force to help us. We would be blind not to see video literacy in an educational form that should be taught. The sensation of not feeling full comes to mind when thinking about this. With a transparent picture of the surroundings, we would be aware of this discourse. The influence video has today can be developed into something more if we take the time to intervene.
Connect
Video can alter our minds by creating a false impression of reality. According to Postman, “We need to know in what ways it is altering our conception of learning, and how, in conjunction with television, it undermines the old idea of school.” To get ahead of this problem we can focus on what Ulmer insists should happen. Teaching literacy on video to the masses. The changes we see in ourselves from constantly looking at moving pictures of false reality are detrimental to our health. A new practice of literacy should be born from the new age of video.
Nice.