Reading L. Winner’s “Do Artifacts have Politics”, I stepped
back with numerous ideas and perspectives in my head on the subject.
Considering I never thought of artifacts possessing or even creating politics,
my mind was full of new concepts. Living and growing up in America, however, I
am not surprised by some of the aspects in this piece. I felt like I should
have been shocked by the text mentioning the acts of Robert Moses. I was not.
It just led me into a deeper train of thought.
We live in a society where different people have different
advantages and disadvantages from each other. That is an unavoidable
characteristic of this country. However,
like Moses, I believe that people take advantage of our freedom to develop and
prosper to subtly hinder others. The wide array of technology is a perfect
example. Even if companies like Apple are not intending on undermining people
who cannot afford their products, they most likely are.
Furthermore, technologies, in my perspective, do create
politics. From my own experience, I know what it is like to not own an iPhone
or not knowing how to work twitter. This made me feel like an infant at age 16.
I felt out of the loop with my friends, excluded, and sometimes even
uneducated. They might have well just said "you can't sit with us!" Looking back on it now, I do
not even think my friends noticed they were doing it though. Technologies silently
make those utilizing the devices discriminate against those who are not. I also
can see how any technologies can begin to separate individuals. This is can
also happen unknowingly. One can just become so close knit with their gadgets
and start to think that technology is more important than human interaction. I
definitely view the discrimination and separation as unintentional, but that
goes to show just how much power and authority technology can have over us.
ITV posted an article about a couple who seemed to be more
in love with technology than with each other. The article raises the question,
“have we become slaves to our screen?” This is not politics, it is madness! We
all live life day-to-day and not even notice how much we succumb to everything
technology has to offer. Sure, technology is a great asset to the world’s
growth, but if we are saying that technology is enslaving us now, what is going
to happen in the future? It is not like we all want to be a technology slave.
We just let it happen without even knowing or thinking about it.
I completely agree with your point about how technology silently separates us. Its understood that we're all the same, and no 'phone owner' is better than another, but now iPhone has its own messaging system and only people with iPhones can join in. I remember when I didn't have a smart phone, it was like everyone was invited to a party and I couldnt get a ride.
ReplyDeleteThe article was interesting to say that we are slaves to our technology, I don't think we're slaves, I just think it is habitual acts.
Thanks for your feedback, Elle! I did not even think about iMessages. Great point. Now that I do have an iPhone, I get OCD about when I receive "green messages" from people without iPhones. So there is an example of me silently separating myself from others! I do agree with you about the habitual acts. However, thinking about the concept of slavery, I feel as though slaves went through their routines and eventually it became habitual to them. This is a completely drastic comparison, but it is definitely something to think about.
ReplyDeleteBethany, I also completely agree with you and Elle about how technology separates us. I also came late to getting a smart phone and a twitter account so I too felt left out. Elle makes a great point with the iMessaging system. It is exclusive.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Elle in that slave might be too strong of a word because we do have some agency as shown to us addicts in the media fast. However it is a highly habitual aspect of our lives at this point.