My Two partners were Carol and Elivs. I'll start off with carols first.
I really enjoyed reading 10-14 of Carol's blogs. i found them to be very insightful and very well developed, better then mine i would say (LOL) For her latest blog she choose to read the longer excerpt which was a mix of the two shorter ones but with a little more information and i thought her last paragraph was really intresting because she started to ask her own questions which were "I mean sure video games can help stimulate mental skills, but what about ipods? Phones? What's the good in that?"
She also says she thinks that one side will never truley win & i think thats a good thought because asking myself that question now i agree.
I also enjoyed reading her self experiment because its intresting to see how another teenager would go about this and she chose to cut down on her digital time by replacing her digital time with something more "useful" like reading a book on the train instead of listening to her ipod and putting her phone down to help her mother instead which i thought was nice because in my own self experiment i tried then same things. she also tried cutting out compleltly her digital stuff at the time she does it the most and found it didnt work for her...same for me as well.
I think that all of Carol's post are realy good, she knows how to expand and explain her self in a clear understanding way
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Second Text
I read the two small excerpts about Video Games and Television.
The main arguments in the Video Game Excerpts were that the video games are filling gaps in our minds that reading books cant fill. that only a small portion of our brains are being used when we read and when we play video games we are exercising our brains, our motor skills and eye-hand coordination. the reading said that "Reading is under stimulating" so maybe playing video games really isnt that bad. the video games have you thinking through out the day trying to figure out what you did wrong when you put it down but books dont.
The main argument for the Television one was that they give you a story line so that you use your mind to figure it out. they leave some things out and put some parts in so that you can piece together the story and use your brain better. they dont make the story line to complicated or else noo one will watch it because they wont be able to use there minds to figure it out.
My reaction to the video game excerpt was that i agreed to a certain point because you really are being more physical but your not really learning much vocabulary but some games like call of duty give you the historical background of the story and you actually learn something.
my reaction to the television excerpt one is i agree that they set up a story line so that we can understand the basic idea only. " all you need to know is that is its a big fancy thing that explodes when wet" the main concept was that television improve's our minds.
M.T. anderson's acept of digitalization is that all the digitalization is hurting us by making us stupider and turning us into robots but the other author is saying that tv and video games are good for you that they stimulate our minds more then activities like reading
The main arguments in the Video Game Excerpts were that the video games are filling gaps in our minds that reading books cant fill. that only a small portion of our brains are being used when we read and when we play video games we are exercising our brains, our motor skills and eye-hand coordination. the reading said that "Reading is under stimulating" so maybe playing video games really isnt that bad. the video games have you thinking through out the day trying to figure out what you did wrong when you put it down but books dont.
The main argument for the Television one was that they give you a story line so that you use your mind to figure it out. they leave some things out and put some parts in so that you can piece together the story and use your brain better. they dont make the story line to complicated or else noo one will watch it because they wont be able to use there minds to figure it out.
My reaction to the video game excerpt was that i agreed to a certain point because you really are being more physical but your not really learning much vocabulary but some games like call of duty give you the historical background of the story and you actually learn something.
my reaction to the television excerpt one is i agree that they set up a story line so that we can understand the basic idea only. " all you need to know is that is its a big fancy thing that explodes when wet" the main concept was that television improve's our minds.
M.T. anderson's acept of digitalization is that all the digitalization is hurting us by making us stupider and turning us into robots but the other author is saying that tv and video games are good for you that they stimulate our minds more then activities like reading
Monday, October 19, 2009
Feed Part B. Art or Not?
We were told to consider the possibility that M.T. Anderson's book feed could be seen as a work of art. Asking our self's why he made those creative decisions? Why is Feed portrayed as a tragedy? Is feed a mirror to show us whats really going on with our self's in our own world or is feed a hammer forcing his ideas into our minds?
I personally think that Feed is a work of art in all forms, for its allegory representing us modern day teenagers. For the setting it takes place in things as simple as the language the characters use in the book.
I think that Feed was portrayed as a tragedy because its point was to show the negative side that digitalization has had on modern day teenagers today. it would be wrong to make it into a story book ending because i think this book was meant to show us what we have been to blind to notice. Bert Brecht once said "Art is not a Mirror with which to reflect the World. It is a Hammer with which to shape it." i think this book was meant to be a mirror and not a hammer. a mirror being the reflection of who we are in the digital world, allowing us to see what we have really become.
I also think the setting that M.T. Anderson puts the characters in is art as well because it reflects the kind of world we live in today. everyone in feed begins to develope lesions on the bodies, representing how the enviroment effects our bodies because we are hurting the enviroment so its doing the same back to us.
To be honest idont think the book was sucessful in getting people to understand the real point but i think he was sucsessful in making his idea intoa really good story. I remember andy telling us in class that when this book first came out people were asking what this book symbolized & thats what i mean by it wasent sucessful in getting people to understand. & also that when M.T. anderson told them what it symbolized that people were a little shocked.
i dont think il be able to make mine as artful as his but il sure try.
I personally think that Feed is a work of art in all forms, for its allegory representing us modern day teenagers. For the setting it takes place in things as simple as the language the characters use in the book.
I think that Feed was portrayed as a tragedy because its point was to show the negative side that digitalization has had on modern day teenagers today. it would be wrong to make it into a story book ending because i think this book was meant to show us what we have been to blind to notice. Bert Brecht once said "Art is not a Mirror with which to reflect the World. It is a Hammer with which to shape it." i think this book was meant to be a mirror and not a hammer. a mirror being the reflection of who we are in the digital world, allowing us to see what we have really become.
I also think the setting that M.T. Anderson puts the characters in is art as well because it reflects the kind of world we live in today. everyone in feed begins to develope lesions on the bodies, representing how the enviroment effects our bodies because we are hurting the enviroment so its doing the same back to us.
To be honest idont think the book was sucessful in getting people to understand the real point but i think he was sucsessful in making his idea intoa really good story. I remember andy telling us in class that when this book first came out people were asking what this book symbolized & thats what i mean by it wasent sucessful in getting people to understand. & also that when M.T. anderson told them what it symbolized that people were a little shocked.
i dont think il be able to make mine as artful as his but il sure try.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Feed A Compare & Contrast
I just finished reading Feed and might I say what a sad ending.
There are alot of comparisons from feed to the world us teenagers live in today. I see alot of similarities in the characters in feed and us present day teenagers. The main character Violet is different because her feed wasent implanted unti she was seven years old. Her mind had already matured so her brain was incapable of letting the feed adapt her mind so she is able to speak with her mouth. She prefers to speak with her mouth instead of e-chatting through the feed. this is very similar to teenagers today with our computers and cell phones. We are capable of speaking with our mouths but we choose to text message and aim each other instead. We have the need for an instant connection onstead of waiting till the next time we see each other to talk.
Also because violet is different she is able to use a pen to write, read and knows what life is like without the feed, she is not satisfied with the feed so she has no need for it. Us teenagers arent to the point where we cant read and write because we can but if we called our technoligy today "the feed" then we are satisfied with our own feed because we cant get enough of it. I know that my hand writing would probably be neater if my fingers werent texting so much or typing on the computer and actually using the muscels in my hands to write.
In the feed computers and TV's are directly connected to there brains when there really little. We dont have any kind of technoligy like that but habits like that start when were young children. We get used to watching tv all the time that when its taken away from us we become upset. This can connect to the pop up adds the come up in the brains from the feed. We have pop up adds as well. When we watch tv we have about five minutes of commercials, selling us products and other items.
As I said before us teenagers have the need for instant connection and for things to happen fast because were to inpantient to wait. So we have created another language for ourselfs called abbreviation. the teenagers in the feed abbreviate everything in there E-chatting. We do the same in texting and aim so that our messagers come across faster letting us do and say momre things at once.
When titus & Violet's feed are temporarily damaged they take some REAL time to get to know each other without the feed and find they they have a REAL connection besides the literal technological one. I think this may be the only good thing that feed and us real teenagers have in common. That we cant have a real connection withsomeone through technoligy, that we need to have real interactions to form connections. People dont fall in love with each others screen names, they fall in love with each others personal self.
Feed starts mentioning things about lesions and we can also connect to that because ithink there lesions have to do with the enviroment they live in. We may not get literal lesions but our bodies react differently to our enviroment, weather its a tumor, sickness or death. At the end of feed violet is paralyzed & a vegetable and its because the feed killed her body.
There are alot of comparisons from feed to the world us teenagers live in today. I see alot of similarities in the characters in feed and us present day teenagers. The main character Violet is different because her feed wasent implanted unti she was seven years old. Her mind had already matured so her brain was incapable of letting the feed adapt her mind so she is able to speak with her mouth. She prefers to speak with her mouth instead of e-chatting through the feed. this is very similar to teenagers today with our computers and cell phones. We are capable of speaking with our mouths but we choose to text message and aim each other instead. We have the need for an instant connection onstead of waiting till the next time we see each other to talk.
Also because violet is different she is able to use a pen to write, read and knows what life is like without the feed, she is not satisfied with the feed so she has no need for it. Us teenagers arent to the point where we cant read and write because we can but if we called our technoligy today "the feed" then we are satisfied with our own feed because we cant get enough of it. I know that my hand writing would probably be neater if my fingers werent texting so much or typing on the computer and actually using the muscels in my hands to write.
In the feed computers and TV's are directly connected to there brains when there really little. We dont have any kind of technoligy like that but habits like that start when were young children. We get used to watching tv all the time that when its taken away from us we become upset. This can connect to the pop up adds the come up in the brains from the feed. We have pop up adds as well. When we watch tv we have about five minutes of commercials, selling us products and other items.
As I said before us teenagers have the need for instant connection and for things to happen fast because were to inpantient to wait. So we have created another language for ourselfs called abbreviation. the teenagers in the feed abbreviate everything in there E-chatting. We do the same in texting and aim so that our messagers come across faster letting us do and say momre things at once.
When titus & Violet's feed are temporarily damaged they take some REAL time to get to know each other without the feed and find they they have a REAL connection besides the literal technological one. I think this may be the only good thing that feed and us real teenagers have in common. That we cant have a real connection withsomeone through technoligy, that we need to have real interactions to form connections. People dont fall in love with each others screen names, they fall in love with each others personal self.
Feed starts mentioning things about lesions and we can also connect to that because ithink there lesions have to do with the enviroment they live in. We may not get literal lesions but our bodies react differently to our enviroment, weather its a tumor, sickness or death. At the end of feed violet is paralyzed & a vegetable and its because the feed killed her body.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Self Experiment
For my self experiment i tried to cut out one Digital thing in my house that i thought i could manage without and i chose not to watch any TV and use my computer less and only use my sidekick.
when i got home i sat in my room and ate my dinner by myself becuase mymother likes to watch TV while she eats her dinner and did my science homework. instead of turning my computer on to listen to music i used my ipod instead. )saving electricity at that) there were alot of good shows that were going to coming on that day but i wasent going to die if i didnt see it so it didnt really matter to me. so instead i went into my back yard and look at my pond for a little bit. came back into my house and got on the phone and juss sat in my room just talking. nothing else. a few hours later after i was done i took a shower and went to bed. i found i was able to go to bed alot ealier and didnt get up so Bitchy the next morning. i did the same thing no tv, and i found i got to skool on time or ealier. it felt good not to be behind in my shedual.
when i got home i sat in my room and ate my dinner by myself becuase mymother likes to watch TV while she eats her dinner and did my science homework. instead of turning my computer on to listen to music i used my ipod instead. )saving electricity at that) there were alot of good shows that were going to coming on that day but i wasent going to die if i didnt see it so it didnt really matter to me. so instead i went into my back yard and look at my pond for a little bit. came back into my house and got on the phone and juss sat in my room just talking. nothing else. a few hours later after i was done i took a shower and went to bed. i found i was able to go to bed alot ealier and didnt get up so Bitchy the next morning. i did the same thing no tv, and i found i got to skool on time or ealier. it felt good not to be behind in my shedual.
Reasurch on Digitalization
i went to "google" and typed in The New York Times because they like to publish alot of articles about the biggest things happening in our world now and the article is called "Video-Game Killing Builds Visual Skills, Researchers Report" this article was about how first person shooter games improved visual skills.
the most intresting part of the article was this part (mentioning how it improves you..but in the next paragraph the reality of how it doesnt really help you at all)
''We were really surprised,'' Dr. Bavelier said, adding that as little as 10 hours of play substantially increased visual skills among novice players. ''You get better at a lot of things, not just the game,'' she said.
But Dr. Bavelier emphasized that the improved visual attention skills did not translate to reading, writing and mathematics. Nor is it clear that they lead to higher I.Q. scores, although visual attention and reaction time are important components of many standardized tests.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/29/us/video-game-killing-builds-visual-skills-researchers-report.html
The next website i went to was Wikipedia and i typed in Cell Phone Effects and it took me to there "Mobile phones and driving safety" page.
The most intresting thing i found was when they compared people who drived with there cell phones to people who drove intoxicated to see which would cause more accidents.
"Drivers in the cell-phone condition exhibited a sluggish behavior (i.e., slower reactions) which they attempted to compensate for by increasing their following distance. Drivers in the alcohol condition exhibited a more aggressive driving style, in which they followed closer, necessitating braking with greater force."
"After controlling for driving difficulty and time on task, the study concluded that cell phone drivers exhibited greater impairment than intoxicated drivers."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_and_driving_safety
The last one i did was i went to google and typed in Digitalization affects and i went to this page called "Digital library: benefit or curse?" they talk about how the demand for books is slowley increasing because there making more audio books and things like iPhone are making apps to read the same books on the phones.
"A world without books may not be realized within my generation (or ever), but the move to digitize information is increasing. As books, magazines and other publications become increasingly available on electronic devices, the need for information from libraries has been reduced, and it's not always been for the better."
the most intresting part of the article was this part (mentioning how it improves you..but in the next paragraph the reality of how it doesnt really help you at all)
''We were really surprised,'' Dr. Bavelier said, adding that as little as 10 hours of play substantially increased visual skills among novice players. ''You get better at a lot of things, not just the game,'' she said.
But Dr. Bavelier emphasized that the improved visual attention skills did not translate to reading, writing and mathematics. Nor is it clear that they lead to higher I.Q. scores, although visual attention and reaction time are important components of many standardized tests.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/29/us/video-game-killing-builds-visual-skills-researchers-report.html
The next website i went to was Wikipedia and i typed in Cell Phone Effects and it took me to there "Mobile phones and driving safety" page.
The most intresting thing i found was when they compared people who drived with there cell phones to people who drove intoxicated to see which would cause more accidents.
"Drivers in the cell-phone condition exhibited a sluggish behavior (i.e., slower reactions) which they attempted to compensate for by increasing their following distance. Drivers in the alcohol condition exhibited a more aggressive driving style, in which they followed closer, necessitating braking with greater force."
"After controlling for driving difficulty and time on task, the study concluded that cell phone drivers exhibited greater impairment than intoxicated drivers."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_phones_and_driving_safety
The last one i did was i went to google and typed in Digitalization affects and i went to this page called "Digital library: benefit or curse?" they talk about how the demand for books is slowley increasing because there making more audio books and things like iPhone are making apps to read the same books on the phones.
"A world without books may not be realized within my generation (or ever), but the move to digitize information is increasing. As books, magazines and other publications become increasingly available on electronic devices, the need for information from libraries has been reduced, and it's not always been for the better."
Friends Interview
The last peeople we had to interview were our own friends. i interviewed my Friends jenise and Jessica
Me and Jenise were texting each other one day and we started talking about digitalization and i said to her, it makes it really hard to live without digital stuff because we need things like 911 to call for help and advances in medicine but we take advantage of the fact tnat while we may need those important things we dont really need those onther things, jenise said "i could have waited till monday to tell you this, i didnt have to text you, and cant you go a day without it"..my responce was NO lol. jenise"s point being that we dont need it so why do we have it.
The next perosn i Interviewed was my Friend Jessica, i asked her how would she feel if i told her she could save 400 dollars month is she took out all her digital stuff. she said " that would be great but its never going to happen because i need to stay in contact with people all the time, i update my facebook all the time and i check my mail all the time, im an adult i need stuff like that, you teenagers dont really need that until you have real important things to worry about"
I didnt agree with her, i have important things too, to look after but sence ive been brainwashed by digitalization ofcorse i wuld say that lol
Me and Jenise were texting each other one day and we started talking about digitalization and i said to her, it makes it really hard to live without digital stuff because we need things like 911 to call for help and advances in medicine but we take advantage of the fact tnat while we may need those important things we dont really need those onther things, jenise said "i could have waited till monday to tell you this, i didnt have to text you, and cant you go a day without it"..my responce was NO lol. jenise"s point being that we dont need it so why do we have it.
The next perosn i Interviewed was my Friend Jessica, i asked her how would she feel if i told her she could save 400 dollars month is she took out all her digital stuff. she said " that would be great but its never going to happen because i need to stay in contact with people all the time, i update my facebook all the time and i check my mail all the time, im an adult i need stuff like that, you teenagers dont really need that until you have real important things to worry about"
I didnt agree with her, i have important things too, to look after but sence ive been brainwashed by digitalization ofcorse i wuld say that lol
Stranger Interwiew
Our task was to interview people on the street and ask them what they thought about digitalization and ask question we thought would get a good responce, not just typical answers everyone gives.
The first person i interviewed was a woman named Jennifer. I asked her how would she feel if i took her cell phone away from her for 24 hours. she told me " i would feel very disconnected from my world. its hard enough having to keep up with todays technoligy that without it simplifying life for me i wouldnt be able to function. i would be stressed as well."
I think that was an honest answer, a little typical but atleats she admited to it.
The next person i interviewed was a Man named Chris. I asked him did he think we are humans living in a technilogical world or the technoligy is living with us, in other words do we control technoligy or does technoligy control us. He said " thats a good question, i think that the technoligy controls us, we seam to be updating it as frequently as possible but the results is our minds change to adapt to the new technoligy. new genertaion teenagers arent adapting to the living enviroment anymore there adapting to the new technoligy because it controls everyone."
I thought his answers were really good, not regurgitated.
The first person i interviewed was a woman named Jennifer. I asked her how would she feel if i took her cell phone away from her for 24 hours. she told me " i would feel very disconnected from my world. its hard enough having to keep up with todays technoligy that without it simplifying life for me i wouldnt be able to function. i would be stressed as well."
I think that was an honest answer, a little typical but atleats she admited to it.
The next person i interviewed was a Man named Chris. I asked him did he think we are humans living in a technilogical world or the technoligy is living with us, in other words do we control technoligy or does technoligy control us. He said " thats a good question, i think that the technoligy controls us, we seam to be updating it as frequently as possible but the results is our minds change to adapt to the new technoligy. new genertaion teenagers arent adapting to the living enviroment anymore there adapting to the new technoligy because it controls everyone."
I thought his answers were really good, not regurgitated.
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