HW 22 - Big Paper Final Draft

Introduction

In this generation, digitalization has played a big role in our lives. Not just the teens, even adults and some seniors have been using these digital representational devices obsessively to keep up with the society’s pace. We did not only abuse these efficient devices that can make our life more convenient, we used them conventionally for everyday life as a necessity. Most of us immerse ourselves into these addicting devices, and came to the conclusion that these dead objects are the murderer of our intelligence. No doubt that we rely on these devices the most now a day, but what we don’t realize was that we are the one who can actually decide whether to use it or not. Moreover, these attitudes could form us into varies of ways such as disvaluing the precious things, blame others for our own fault, and avoid the truth behind reality. Many of us attempt to blame the digital representational devices have directed us to the trail of stupidity while the digital representational devices are the real victim that got censured.

Argument # 1

While inviting or avoiding the digital representational devices into our daily life, we only pay the center attention to the objects, not much of ourselves. In the book Feed by M.T. Anderson, he used allegory to enhance the idea that the feed (DRDs) have made us into ignorant, and it caused people to lost the ability to think. However, he did not address the real cause and effect that has turned the teenagers into ignorant. He did depicts some characters especially Titus who obsessively used the feed in his daily life. He also mentioned the habits of teenagers using these digital representational devices. But he never claimed that we, human are the one who caused ourselves to be stupid. All he stated is the feed that caused the problem.

Although he talked about how people are abusing these DRDs, and illustrates the way people are using them deeply, he did not seem to think it is our own fault. One quote from his book was “Nobody knows. The feed is tied into everything. Your body control, your emotions, your memory. Everything. Sometimes feed errors are fatal. (Anderson, 2009)” This shows that he thinks the feed is causing the dangerous in a regular digital teen, not the teen themselves. Perhaps, he does not want the readers to feel offended by his perspective. Therefore, he writes in a tone demonstrating the teens as the victim. Nevertheless, making the teen to realize their own mistakes for overusing the DRDs, it could harm them, but not telling them the roots of the problem, it forms the teens to have the attitude to blame the others. They will no longer have the tendency to be self critical about themselves for not looking for the momentum to think while there are available sources that are for them to simply search from.

Argument # 2

Additionally, from the book Everything Is Bad For You by Steven Johnson, he also writes in a perspective that only focused on the digital representational devices, but not on us. Throughout the excerpt that I read, Steven John claimed that video games, television, and Internet are actually good for us. He tried to break through the wall of how the dominant culture thinks and he argued that these things are actually making us smarter in different ways in terms of how we think. Although he did not have the tendency to blame these DRDs, he is directing his attention towards the objects, not the human. This means, when the DRD turns out to be wrong or having errors that affected us negatively, we will directly blame the devices, not ourselves for causing it.

Especially when he talks about the video games that catch our attention because there are obstacles to overcome and they are not actually having “fun”, he is saying that when people are playing games, “what you actually do in playing a game – the way your mind has to work – is radically different; it’s about finding order and meaning in the world, and making decisions that help create the order.” In other words, video games will somewhat help people to deal with problems in real life other than just having “fun”. However, these solutions may not always apply to real situations that people might face in life. If it directs the person to cause even more problems, the DRDs soon become an excuse that people will use for unable to resolve whatever they are facing. Even the video games might be able to suggest some great tips about life that people can use, people start to take these things for granted and stop pushing themselves to think.

This may seem obvious that it is the digital representational devices’ fault for assisting DRD users to form the habit of relying and using it as an excuse, but what people don’t realized is actually themselves who is leading themselves to the trail of stupidity. Steven Johnson did not blamed the DRDs for causing the problem, but he neither said it was our own fault, which it prevents the reader to reach the state of self-revelation.

Argument 3:

Furthermore, we all make excuses for our own fault and we refused to admit to the fact that our intelligence is killed by our own hands. One of the article that I read called Is Google Making Us Stupid by Nicholas Carr, it is directly blaming how now in modern days these massive sources on the Internet prevents people from reading books for a long period of time. Moreover, it shapes people’s habit to skim through lines instead of actually reading it. First of all, what is a better reason for reading books over reading researches online? The whole purpose of a book existed, is for people to read. What is the juicy part of the books are the words or quotes that the author brought to us. Therefore, this applies to articles online too.

The main goal of reading either from books or from the sources through Googling is to learn and to expand our perspective about the world and ourselves. Either it is from the book or through a screen; it will be exactly the same. What it actually matters are our habit of reading the texts. While Nicholas Carr blamed Google for making us stupid, what it really causing the problem is people’s own habit of reading not the object itself. “Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged”. This quote reveals how Carr believes reading texts on the Internet could distract people from focusing on reading, which it lowers people’s ability to interpret and make rich connections.

This is a perfect example of how human did not realize their own mistakes but blame the DRDs for causing it. If the reading is well interested enough whether it is from a real book or through the internet, there is no such thing that book is better than the sources on the internet because one has more distractions. Reading a book definitely has the possibility of having distractions from the environment also. By using the DRDs or not using it, we often view ourselves as the victims of the matter, and have the tendency to blame for causing the effects.

Argument #4

When we are blaming the digital representational devices are making us into ignorance, we don’t realize they are just objects that made out of human hands and it caused no harm, we are really the one who is in control. In Feed, the teenagers rely on feed to do everything for them, and therefore they do not think. They take what has been offer for granted and they do not learn how to manage things for themselves. Because feed solves all the difficulties and make their life easier, they get lazier to think for themselves and allow it to completely dominant their life. It is not the feed that caused them to be stupid, it is the way they rely on the DRDs that caused them to be ignorance, which it shows they did not realized their own mistakes and to just to blame.

If they have more self awareness like Violet, one of the characters in the book who realized feed has dominant her life, they will have more self critical. “Everything I think of when I think of really living, living to the full – all my ideas are just the opening credits of sitcoms. See what I mean? My idea of life, it’s what happens when they’re rolling the credits. My god. What am I, without the feed? It’s all from the feed credits. My idea of real life.” If the teenagers think as Violet, being more self-critical, they will realize their own true mistakes that they are the one who opens the door for letting the feed to dominant their life. Although in the book, the teenagers did not blame the feed yet, but it is obvious that they are ignorance. It is expected that they will not realized their mistakes because they do not even know how to think.

As a result of this phenomenon, we can predict that these teenagers will blame the feed in their future when it becomes a problem for them. Because they do not realized they have the actual “control” over what to do, they just keep relying on these digital representation devices to solve their difficulties. But what they don’t realize is that these DRDs are unable to solve their problems for overusing the devices, and the only way to get out of the obstacle is to think for their own. Since they let feed to dominant their life, the way they sees it is the feed that is controlling them, not themselves controlling the feed.

Argument #5

During the interview that I have with the pass by on the street, around 30 years old, male, he realized it is not the digital representational devices’ fault, but human. He claimed that, “people do not know how to use it and they just filled it with crap”. This shows that we as human are the one who is really in control over the DRDs, not the other way around. When he said “do not know how to use it”, he meant that people do not know the true meaning of the DRDs’ existence, and they just take everything for granted. If people learn and really use it effectively, soon they will realize the DRD could actually assist them to be smarter instead of leading them to the trail of stupidity. It is because many people do not know “how to use it”; they do not know how to manage using the DRDs, and starts to rely on it. If people realized they should not rely or let the DRDs to completely dominant their lives, they will soon realize they are the one who is controlling the objects to help them. Just as the person that I interview said, the DRDs are actually “a great source to look for information” if people know how to use it.

Argument #6:

Similar to the book Feed, a song by a band named Bad Religion called “21st Century Boy” who also blamed the digital representational devices is the cause of people being ignorance. This song basically talks about how the DRDs have dominant people’s lives and they no longer know how to read, and it just make people getting stupider. Lines like “I don’t know how to read but I got a lot of toys”, it really shows how most people do not realized the fact that these “toys” do not have legs or hands that controls us in certain ways. What it is really causing it, is the way we consume to these “toys” and used it obsessively to allow it to take over our lives even identity. Another line like “I don’t want it, the things you’re offering me, symbolized bar code, quick ID”, it shows that people do not realize that they have the right to choose whether to take the “offer” or not. All they know is that the DRDs have dominant and replace their identity, but do not know they can actually change that. While people are blaming the digital devices, they do not realize they are the ones, who are in control, not the objects that caused no harm.

Connection & Significance

If people keep making the mistakes and refused to realize it is their own fault, soon this will become an even more dangerous phenomenon than obsessively using the digital representational devices. As we all see now a day in this society, the way people value things are definitely insane. Everybody carry their cell phones with them even when they are in the park or hanging with their friends. Additionally, student texting in class is another image that people can often see now a day. This show how people starts to value things differently. While they could have enjoyed the beautiful day and the great surroundings they are at, they rather spend time on staring at the screen. People no longer learn how to appreciate and starts to take things for granted. Moreover, people will start to train themselves with the habit relying on the others to do the things for them. If everybody tempt to think of the idea that “somebody is going to do it”, then nobody will contribute to the society and this will no longer be digital corrupted, but also socially corrupted.

Not only that people will stop taking responsibilities for the others and themselves, they will start to avoid reality sooner or later. Since now a day the digital representation devices are getting more advances for people to use, many people no longer live in the actual reality. They could blame the DRDs for making them stupid, and they could simply rely on these devices to do the work. But if they keep refusing to face the reality, the reality will soon deal with them. They did not only prevent themselves from the guilt for leading themselves to the trail of stupidity, they also start to train themselves to live in a world that alienates them from the reality. Many of us might think we will be able to run away from our mistakes and just keep live their lives ignoring the problems. But if people keep echoing the same actions in everyday life and form into a habit, this will become an endless chain that people can keep on blaming the others for making their own mistakes.

Opposing View Point

Another way of looking at this is that it is not really the human’s fault. We are not the "murderer of our own intelligence" and it is the "dead objects' fault". The world needs to improve, and that requires experiments. Therefore, when these products are being made accidentally, and it works conveniently, why not using it? This also means when it breaks or it affects us negatively, it is the DRDs’ fault even though we invented it. Because we are just “trying” it as an experiment to make the world a better place, and the DRDs are simply coincident inventions. We do have to keep the world running, and even though the DRDs might be harming us in some ways, there always should be solution for the problem. We do realized we are the one who is in control, but these DRDs do have a lot of power over us because we need to use them and rely on it most of the time in order to make everything more efficient and faster.

In addition, people did focus on the way they used the digital representational devices and they are aware of the issue. People do realize their mistakes, but not fully to a point that is powerful enough to make a change. Many times people do recognize their own mistakes especially when most of us have learned and discussed about this digital unit in the class, but why they are still not strong enough to change us? It is not that we do not know it is our fault, including myself while writing this paper, but why I am keep making the same mistakes? This reflects that there are people who are aware of this issue and it definitely leads to another issue to talk about why people making the same mistake even they do realize it. My theory about this further issue was that it is just the way of living, and most people do not want to dig for more problems when they are comfortable of being who they are at the period of time. When it actually comes by them, people could make a change as quick as a blink of the eye.

Lastly, I do like Andy L.’s comment about “you can't really put blame on someone being stupid”. For my paper, I think I did not draw the line between being “stupid for not knowing it” and “blame” clearly. When I write the paper, I did not really think about this point. But I do agree with Andy that there are people who are simply ignorant and they are not blaming, they just don’t know what is going on. There is definitely a difference between someone who knows their mistakes and blames the others and someone who completely don’t realize their mistakes. Thus, I think I could have clarified more specific on the targets that I am focusing on in this paper. It is definitely not the ones who do not know their mistakes’ fault for blaming, but the ones who do know but blame the others.

Conclusion

As the digital generation keeps going on and on, people did not only refuse to realize their own mistakes, they are blaming the digital representational devices as the murder of their intelligence. This is not only a reflection of people's bad attitude towards refusing to take their own responsibilities; it also shows how people avoid reality in these days. If this continuously happen and people do not admit their own mistakes, they will soon be the murderer of their own wisdom. It is as blaming your own child for causing such inconvenient when you actually decided to have them.

Work Cited:

Bad Religon. “21st Century Digital Boy”. Against the Grain. Westbeach Recorders, Hollywoord, California, 1990.

“Google Is Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr. The Atlantic. July/August 2008.

M.T. Anderson. Feed. United States: Miramax Books. 2002

Steven Johnson. Everything Bad Is Good For You. Riverhead. 2005