Final Post: My Relationship with Technology

Society's Relationship With Technology

I dare to make the generalization that technology has been beneficial for society. Because truly, it has. Without the immense technological advancements of the past decades, our world would look completely different from what it is today. 

It was fascinating to watch the FUTURAMA Ride at the 1964/65 NY World's Fair. The event illustrated the hopes that people in this decade had for the future, some of which have been attained, some of which have not. Chronologically ordered from the ride itself, we as a society, have walked on the moon, monitor space through satellites and stations, study ice cores, forecast weather months in advance and all across the world, deep sea exploration, mineral mining, extensive highway systems, residents in the mountains.

 There is a long list of hope from this era that we have built, and then expanded upon even more, to be where we are today. We have improved many technologies to increase our country's quality of life and grasp on our world. 

And now I offer a rebuttal.

This ride focused on how we will utilize our environment to create these incredible technological inventions and this futuristic life. We have achieved space exploration, extensive sea exploration as well as studying ice cores. However, what the FUTURAMA ride did not predict was the consequences of this environmental exploration. In the past decades, issues like deforestation, pollution, and global warming have overshadowed the advancement of the technology used to wreak such havoc on our environment. It was a good intention, and arguably necessary, for our society to complete the goals of the 60s. Good intentions lead to unintended consequences, and our world today is filled with the unintended consequences of rapid technological development. 

I noticed that the internet was not on the FUTURAMA's list of future endeavors, nor was technology like laptops or iPhones. It is ironic that our everyday devices were not even fathomable inventions 60 years ago. And now, these inventions have become one of the most controversial aspects of modern society. The internet has completely revolutionized our work force and education world. Communication today looks completely different than it did during the World Fair, in both negative and positive ways. Our phones have both united our world, and further polarized it.

The Mad World video demonstrates the devastatingly negative aspects of the internet and social media. Over the past decade, society has become addicted to social media. Our generation is especially unable to survive without a screen in hand. 
To me, it feels as though we have lost the simplicity of good intention-based technology progress, and turned it into an unstoppable force of a completely digitalized world.

My Relationship With Technology

My relationship with technology reflects the themes of the last paragraph. I consult a variety of technology forms on a daily basis. All of my schoolwork revolves around a screen and the internet. This pattern continues with my professional and social lives. I am constantly checking social media, texting with friends, updating assignments on Google Docs and Blackboard, and trying to get over 500 LinkedIn connections. Safe to say, I would not have a life without the technology I use.

Unfortunately, this means that I spend a lot of time on the internet and social media. I went ahead and checked my daily screen time within the last week, which was almost abysmal. I had spent about 3 hours daily on social media, whether that be TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, etc. My total daily usage with 8 hours, which feels like I spend the entire day glued to my phone or computer. Many of these hours are spent doing productive things for classes and work, but many of them are also spent scrolling through social media posts.

This is both disheartening, and enlightening because of the necessity of an extensive online presence. I feel that sometimes I worry more about my social media reputation than I do my in person reputation, because the latter seems to matter less and less in today's society. 

EOTO2 Reaction: Propaganda

While watching the second round of EOTO presentations in this class, I was most fascinated by the topic of propaganda. Defined as the "information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view," by the Oxford dictionary. Propaganda comes in all different shapes and sizes, and can be posters, videos, radio broadcasts, movies, live speakers, etc. It was used heavily during World War II on both sides, but negatively used for the Nazi Party to further their political agenda during the 1930s and 1940s. The Nazis utilized this form of persuasion to manipulate Germany into an anti-Semitic climate. 

The Reich Ministriy of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was established by Hitler in 1933. This institution was founded with the purpose of pushing a multitude of propaganda, portraying Jewish people in a negative light and thereby persuading the German population to stand behind the Nazis. Many posters were produced with the intent of showing Jewish people as conspiracists, like the one below. 

The Nazi party also used other media categories than just print to further their agenda, like film. In 1944, Germans at home had begun to wonder why vulnerable people like Jewish veterans, the elderly, and children were being moved for labor. A film depicting the Theresienstadt camp was released from the Nazis, showing the public what the Jewish campus were like. This may have been one of the most influential pieces of propaganda created by the Nazis, which came out during a period of "international awareness" as the world came to realize the atrocities that were being committed. In the video, we see a Jewish audience watching an orchestral performance. The video was also published right after the Red Cross was permitted to view the Theresienstadt camp, where the actual camp was hidden and fake niceties were on display. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No5771-C7ws

While these are extreme detrimental examples of propaganda, the media also has a positive history. Uncle Sam's poster quote "I want you for U.S. Army" and Rosie the Riveter's "We Can Do It!" are both very famous cases of uplifting propaganda, used to increase patriotism during WWII and aid in the war effort. 

The Rosie poster has transformed from propaganda to a popular feminist image. Originally, the Rosie the Riveter movement was created to encourage women of the 1930s and 40s to enter the workforce while their husbands and sons were off at war. These women stepped into roles as factory workers, army office clerks, nurses, mechanics, and some were even on the frontlines. Rosie's poster was revived in the 1980s to promote feminism and female empowerment. 

Propaganda still has heavy influence today, and is used by countries like Russia to further political agendas and promote tolerance within those nations. Latin countries who have fought against communist regimes in the past, like Cuba, also used propaganda, on both sides. We may even see an increase in propagandistic advertisements with the new age of AI.