Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Self-control
On October 18th, my eyes were opened to computer addiction by watching a video called, “Digital Nation” by Rachel Dretzin. In this documentary a mother started to notice how computers and cell phones were taking over her families life. With her son on a laptop and only in jr. high, and her husband on his laptop for work, and her twins playing a game on her iphone, Dretzin got an intriguing idea that started her reasoning for the makings of this document with her husband. One idea that was expressed through out this video was that multitasking was becoming more common. According to philosophy, the human brain can only think and process one thing at a time. People are now trying to prove this theory wrong. College students at a 4 year university argued that they are excellent multitask. They are always texting, face book chatting, emailing, writing essays, and studying all at the same time. Scientist did an experiment to prove them wrong. The study was to compare people to see how super multitask and people before the time of super multitasking differ. The test was to see who can separate numbers and letters faster. Shockingly to the multitask, they scored lower than the other people. Also, another observation Dretzin made was she observed people in Korea. In Korea, computers and lights are everywhere. When people walk the streets, there’s always signs attracting them and there is also places called “ PC bombs”. A PC bomb is a place where people can have access to gaming programs for not a lot of money at any time of the day. To my surprise, people have actually died in these “PC bombs” due to lack of food and water. After having such sever problems with computer addiction, there is now rehab centers for this concessive habit. The centers basically help people find other ways to spend there days and try to reduce there compulsion. To help these problems in the future, Korea have made elementary schools start teaching there kids that computers can be dangerous. They explain to the children that the privilege should not be abused at a very young age in hope that none of them will ever have the problems people have today with computers. Another idea that touched base in this video was the addiction and reasoning for video games in America. Now a days, computer games have been taking over peoples lives. The game World of War craft is one of many addictive games. Some people even quit there jobs to escape from the real world. Dretzin showed how computers aren’t a terrible invention, but as a civilization we need to find a balance of when to turn them off.
Although I agree with most of Dretzin’s ideas, I don’t fully agree with her conclusion of the computer being an addiction. I see it as a way to express self control. In my past, I used to sit on face book and be on there for hours on end until I came to my senses and realized that it honestly had no affect on my life. I still find myself killing time on that wed site but then after a certain period of time, I think to myself, “ do I really care?” and “ Why am I wasting my time?” The definition of addiction can vary because it is all based around ones self control.
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I agree with this theory of people wasting their time on websites and chat sites because people will go onto the web when they have nothing else to do and sit on it all day. I personally have had days when all i do is sit on facebook all day, then at the end of the day i will wonder why i didnt do anything since it was decent weather in Bellingham for once. I fully agree that internet use is not a massive addiction,i think there are aspects of the internet that have a hold over people though. Like the video games we saw in "digital nation", i feel horrible for those kids because they dont do anything and there parents didnt stop them when they could have. when i was younger my parents would limit all of our time on the computer so we would get outside and do stuff and it has carried through my life with me now.
ReplyDeleteDretzin figured, through her studies, that people now a day are multitasking on a high level and becoming addicted to use of the computer for video games and virtual lives. I agree that computers are a way to express self control, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people today believe that computers are just an addiction. Using computers can be addicting if you don't control the amount you use it and how long you use it on a day-to-day basis. Dretzin concluded that computers are becoming an addiction to a great mass of the people in the world around us. I don't think she took aspect of those who have self control. If she had, her study might have ended with a different result. But if your going on the computer to waste time, I think that can become an addiction because there is nothing better to do with your time. If you feel you are wasting your time, find other ways of killing time. Then, there is less of a chance to become addicted. Self control is a great aspect to as how computers can be useful but not addicting.
ReplyDeleteIn this response the author is giving the reader a summary of the video "Digital Nation". The author goes through the keypoints throughout the video (the ides touched in the video) and then towards the end of the response, the author puts in their own response to the opinions and such and compares them to the opinions made by the directors of this documentary. The author agrees and disagrees with the opinion made by a director. The opinion was the computer being an addiction. The author agrees with most of the directors ideas but not 100 percent with the idea of it being an addiction. The author thinks it is a way of expressing self control. The authors theory of it being a way to express self control rather than an addiction to the computer is extremely useful because it sheds light on the difficult problem of addiction. If the person that is using the computer knows that it is just their own mind not having the control not the computer, then it will give a person an ease and it gives themselves a method of how to work on the self control instead of acting and being helpless with the computers' persuading ways.
ReplyDelete@Tristan
ReplyDeleteWith your idea of your parents limiting you, I have had the same experiences. I guess it helps that we live in Bellingham and have so many options like skiing, snowboarding, enjoying downtown, playing sports and many more activies. I hate to blame the parents in this situation but I think its the only excuse the kids in the video have to blame is computer which were most likey provided to them by there parents. I believe that that is mainly the reason why myself and lots of other people dont have this addiction like they describe on digital nation. It seems to me that its harder for us to understand the problem in much depth because we've only heard about the issue, not actually had to live with it.
@ TypicalJane
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree with your point about self control, I also agree with Drezdin that technology can be an addiction. Controlling how much once goes on the computer is one thing, but in a world where everything is about the new technology, and having to have the hottest new cell phone, ipod, or laptop on the market, it's hard to resist the shiny new packages and the hope to have something more to do during the day. When you take yourself away from your computer, wondering, "Why do I even care?", do you still take yourself away from the other technology around you? From cell phones, the tv, ipods, etc? I think that although you may take the time to realize that spending a day staring at a computer screen is a waste of time, consider all the time away from the computer screen that you're looking at a cell phone, tv, or ipod screen.