The essay “Into the electronic millennium” is a cynical observation of an author named Sven Birkerts, towards the electronic era of 21st century. Author’s overall intent of the essay is to put forth an awareness with a pinch of bias on the electronic damage to the society. He makes many assertions to argue his points which are some what valid even today, some of them which capture quick attention are: “The electronic media are invisible in process, but omnipresent in product” (Birkerts), “the only way that we can understand what is happening- what has already happened- is by the way of serve and unnatural dissociation of sensibility” (Birkerts). With all these impressive protestations, author is trying to make his readers ponder about the topic, as he says, “ To get the grip on the dimensions of the change, you must force yourself to imagine -deeply and in non-televisual terms- what the world …show more content…
For example he exaggerates when he claims that, “The numbers of distance and time no longer mean what they used to mean” (Birkerts). This statement of his can also be taken in a very positive way because in today’s world there are no restrictions for anyone while traveling from one place to another in less time as it is a basic need nowadays. As transportation has become a very important part of our lives today and so his claim would be an understatement for the electronic world. When the author quotes Robert Calabrese’s argument, “They know no other way and we’re simply capitalizing on that to enhance learning” (Birkerts), he connects this example of his with the idea of “they know no other way” by claiming, “Calabrese’s observation on the preconditioning of the whole generation of students (they know no other way…”) opens a whole other can of educational worms. But with this claim he leaves the predictive positivity of electronic education
Media, the plural form of medium, describes various ways in which we communicate in society. A phone call, email, radio, computer, news on TV, etc. are all forms of media. In our society today, the media plays a significantly large role in influencing society negatively, twisting one’s perspective of the truth. In author Brooke Gladstone’s, The Influencing Machine, she discusses how media is looked at as an “influencing machine,” that’s controlling the mind of its viewers. Throughout the reading, Gladstone guides her readers through perceptions of media and how it influences them to get readers to understand the truth about media and the manipulation behind it.
The topic of technology and our society has become a very controversial subject today. Many people believe that technology is an essential component of our modern world, helping us to improve communication from farther distances as well as giving us easy access to important information. On the other hand, there is the opinion that too much technology is affecting social interactions and our basic development. “Technology…is a queer thing, it brings you great gifts with one hand, and stabs you in the back with the other.” (Carrie Snow.) The CBC Documentary “Are We Digital Dummies” displayed the pros and cons when it comes to modern technology that we use in the western world everyday.
Through out the essay “books a dying art”, the author developed the thesis extremely well, so the reader could grasp the meaning of the essay. First, the thesis opens the introduction; it’s stated every clearly (par1), that every other day people says that books are dying, it compares with new technology. In similar manner, when television was invented people thought that the radio will diminished. The body of the essay consist nine paragraphs. The first paragraph of the body talks about people thinks “disappearance of books”(par2). As well as in our society no one reads book any more. In the second paragraph of the body, people are confused in “clouded direction of culture” (par3). Furthermore, the co-operations want to buy publishers because the books are becoming more interesting; also, books are coming in different languages. Mainly, the society has change, many years the books weren’t traveling anywhere, today for instant books are found everywhere they are moving. For example, books are moving into hotel, motel, etc. Later in the paragraph the author Proulx talks about “electronic highway”(par6) is taking over the world. Although computers are taking over but people are not going to “sit down and read a novel on a twitchy little screen”(par6). In addiction, the books are the identification of the man & women “not software”. In my view, today in our society books are not disappearance; computer will never take over the books. In order to understand the thesis and the topic of an essay the text has to have some structure.
In 500 B.C. the abacus was first used by the Babylonians as an aid to simple arithmetic. In 1623 Wihelm Schickard (1592 - 1635) invented a "Calculating Clock". This mechanical machine could add and subtract up to 6 digit numbers, and warned of an overflow by ringing a bell. J. H. Mueller comes up with the idea of the "difference engine", in 1786. This calculator could tabulate values of a polynomial. Muellers attempt to raise funds fails and the project was forgotten. Scheutz and his son Edward produced a 3rd order difference engine with a printer in 1843 and their government agreed to fund their next project.
The number of revolutions in the last 3 decades has increased, and seems to keep increasing. Civil unrest and protests brought many victims including civil and political figures throughout the world. In the era where technology is at the peak of its success, especially in communication technologies, mankind suffers from lack of communication. Problem is not caused by the technology itself, the problem is in human nature. I will continue with an analogy. Man invented the knife, which is very useful tool in our daily lives. The problem occurs when one thinks about the purposes that knife could be used. Story repeats itself with Newspapers and News Media. Technology improved the speed and the size that news can reach anywhere in couple of seconds. In a few seconds we can reach our friend at the other pole of the globe and receive pictures and live videos in response. We can send information, receive it and even create it in the artificial world. Life has become easier with technology. We can control our cell phones with voice command and reserve a table in the closest restaurant for dinner. Technology is everywhere in our lives, but if we think for a second the purposes we could use them for then the danger begins. In this short essay I will be talking about the struggle of mankind for freedom and the stages it went through. There are 3 parts to my paper. In the first part I will discuss the birth of World Wide Web and how the purpose of it went through changes. In the second part, I will be talking about birth of newspapers in the Web, precisely how it developed into an intermediate body that transfers information to people. Ultimately, I will discuss the Ukrainian revolution and the role of the news media in it and ho...
Thompson, B. John (1995) “Self and Experience in a Mediated World”, The Media and Modernity : A Social Theory of the Media, Stanford University Press, Stanford, pp.209-219.
Today we live in a world where everything is practically automatic. We can refer to today’s society as the “technologically civilized” society. There’s been a drastic change from the older days till now. As an example, in the past people had to wash and dry dirty dishes by hand, or write a letter to get in contact with someone. Nowadays, we can push a simple button to start the dishwasher, or give that certain someone a phone call or send an email. Technology can provide the benefit of giving us a simpler, stress-free life or it can become a misfortune we face everyday. Unfortunately, today technology has overcome our lives and we have become too dependent on it.
... interactive techniques. The people who take advantage of the newest technological devices would be a part of the society that is emerging from the trend of technological determinism. Student and faculties of schools would like to see the integration of technology in institutions for better interaction and many other possibilities for better learning experiences. Other studies have proven that the direct influence of using technology allows others to imitate the use of technology which advances the popularity of electronics in society. My thesis was shown to be unique because it states that technological determinism is certainly one of the defining trends that impact the constant changes in society. Future implications on this trend would include that the use of technology is not inferior to our growth, it allows the future to be shaped into a more advanced society.
The technology nowadays has an influence on our lives, it has affected everything in it. When this technological revolution started, we didn't expect that it would affect our emotions, and our feelings. All we expected is that technology would develop our ability to have easier life and control nature. But what really happened is that the technology started to be part of us that we can't live without. The Internet is one of the technologies which appeared in our lives, and now it is dominating our lives. The Internet is replacing many things in our lives : Email has replaced the postal services , E-shopping (e.g., ebay) is replacing regular shopping, and now you can arrange your dates and relationships on the Internet.
Thousands of years ago calculations were done using people’s fingers and pebbles that were found just lying around. Technology has transformed so much that today the most complicated computations are done within seconds. Human dependency on computers is increasing everyday. Just think how hard it would be to live a week without a computer. We owe the advancements of computers and other such electronic devices to the intelligence of men of the past.
The standard 21 year old adults have exchanged 250 thousand emails, spent 5 thousand hours video gaming and 10 thousand hours using their mobile devices (Lei, 2009). When people hear the word technology, they think of microwaves, televisions, cars, NASA, different types and transportation and more. For all that, technology has occurred long ahead these discoveries. Technology is an arguable matter amongst people. .In the old days, people lived an extremely simple life without technology. They used candles to light their houses and lanterns at the dark to travel, they used fire to cook and used newspapers and mail to share news. On the other hand, technology has seized an important place in our society. People are living in a stage of progressive technology. They are using all natural reserves applicable for making their lives better and easier. The society cannot picture life without electricity since it allows them to live through their everyday life. This paper argues that technology positively impacts people’s lives.
The influence of the electronic devices, multimedia and computers are the things that dealt with our daily life. Especially the internet that is now giving more importance to each and every one, by giving the newest outstanding media that surely will give the outmost future ahead of us. (Temmel)
Rosen, senior editor if New Atlantis, on her essay published in Wilson Quarterly in autumn 2009 “In the Beginning Was the Word,” points out how digital technology, especially in communication and entertainment, affects negatively on our lives socially and cognitively. She believes that although technology might appear as sign of our progress as humans, it is withdrawing us from the core literature. Rosen explains th...
From classroom activities to space flight and everything in between, computers are a vital part of daily life. Everything we do and every aspect of our life is affected by modern technology like the computers. Computers let us dissect any sort of data. Computers makes us reflect, hence we develop. Because of computers and the Internet, we can talk with individuals from diverse nations, and even see them via webcam. Computers have their weaknesses like they have a negative effect on individuals' health. One of the risky parts of any machine is the screen. Computers make individuals dependent. Computers are hampering individuals' improvement in regular life. We don't read printed books any longer, since we can listen and read on the web. We invest more of a chance talking online than talking face to face. Overuse of machines has numerous negative impacts, for example, creating physical/behavioral sicknesses, harming family connections and diminishing scholarly study.
Hence, any debate of the future becoming digital must take into consideration the reaction of the media to the technological innovations of the world, from the Personal Computers (PC) to the smallest Smartphone. Although mass media has increased with technological innovations, what driv...