Two questions about new technology and our life.
1.Interpersonal relationship
From the video shown in class, the newly emerging machine is changing our way of thinking and interacting with others constantly and it exerts great influence on our daily life. People start to focus on their mobile phones at any time. Meanwhile, social media makes it more convenient for people to interact with friends. Does social media alienate interpersonal relationship or strengthen it? How do you think about it?
From the video shown in class, the newly emerging machine is changing our way of thinking and interacting with others constantly and it exerts great influence on our daily life. People start to focus on their mobile phones at any time. Meanwhile, social media makes it more convenient for people to interact with friends. Does social media alienate interpersonal relationship or strengthen it? How do you think about it?
This question matters to me because my best friend tells me that she find it is more difficult to have a conversation with an old friend face to face than chatting online, however, I hold opposite opinion. So I am curious about others perspectives of this question.
2.Way of thinking
When it comes to an information explosion era, people seem to suffer from problems such as information filter bubble and fragmented reading. Do we need to adapt to this new way of receiving information and develop new skills to integrate fragmented information? Or do we need to refine this new technology to make it helpful to develop critical thinking?
This question matters to me since I find it is difficult to gather and integrate useful information online.
When it comes to an information explosion era, people seem to suffer from problems such as information filter bubble and fragmented reading. Do we need to adapt to this new way of receiving information and develop new skills to integrate fragmented information? Or do we need to refine this new technology to make it helpful to develop critical thinking?
This question matters to me since I find it is difficult to gather and integrate useful information online.
Hi Muyun,
ReplyDeleteFrom my point of view, I always believe that every age has its own "culture". We often say that we are in the "digital age", and we leave those "old" or "traditional" ages far behind. I don't think that's a bad thing, because the society needs new things and it needs to move on. I'm not saying that we should forget all those traditions and culture from the previous ages. What I'm thinking is that innovating based on the steps we've taken could make more possibilities for people nowadays. So from my perspective, chatting online or face to face, they are just two different choices. Technologies make it possible for people to chat online, in other words, it gives people a second choice for communication.
Agree with your point! But still, focusing more on social media may affect our daily life. There is a prevalent picture that depicts a situation that young family members are texting and looking through social media platforms when they are having reunion feast together. It seems that younger generation is changing their way of communicating, and I am favor of your point that we should treat them as two different choices and combine the advantages together.
DeleteHi Muyun,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some very interesting points. I often hear that people are concerned that social media could potentially alienate interpersonal relationships. In my opinion I feel that social media makes it easier to connect and re-connect with people who you may otherwise not cross paths with. In this way I think there are greater opportunities to "relate" to diverse groups of people. But I can also see the other perspective - I think sometimes social media can create a "back burner" situation, in that you may feel that your friends are always there, but you don't feel a need to have deep interpersonal interactions because they are "there" and accessible if you ever want to reach out to them. This can create a scenario where someone may not feel inclined to interact on a regular basis. But in general I feel that social media has made it easier for me to connect and reconnect with friends.
Your second question is also very interesting. Regarding fragmented reading, it reminds me of my high school English teacher who said he wasn't in favor of speed reading (where you learn to read very fast) because he personally enjoys the slow pace of reading a book and story. I'm curious how reading for leisure will be impacted as our minds and habits adjust to reading online.
Your points are also very impressive ! Your view of reconnecting people reminds me of my grandmother's excitement after she got contact with her middle school classmates on Wechat. They haven't got information from each other for several years. It is actually very beneficial.
DeleteAlso, I totally agree that "back burner" situation makes us lack of in-depth interaction with some friends.As for the reading problem, I suppose there are fewer people reading for leisure now since we are surrounded by online audiovisual materials all time!
Hi Muyun,
ReplyDeleteYour first question reminds me that now there are many interesting activities related to "getting far away from you phone". Such as do not bring your phone when you and your friends hang out, try to not use your phone when you are reading, etc. Of course that smartphones make our life more convenient, but sometimes staying away from a smartphone can give you higher life quality.
Use your technology, but do not let technology use you.
Biying Zhong.
It is a wise idea to control our use of technology as you said! When I used smartphones for the first time, I had a period of time addicting to it and looking through useless information continuously. It is very necessary to control ourselves and put the technology in right position~
Delete