Technology: Partner or Menace?

It is amazing how technology has changed our lives, just about everything we use IS technology. We work with technology, study with technology, communicate with technology, and even bathe with technology. The video above shows how a university offers online courses for students. Boasting 24/7 access as well as instructors on stand by near a telephone, the university is able to cater to students despite not having a face-to-face interaction with them. Not just universities, even loved ones are never too far away to converse with handphones or web cams. Long distance relationships have moved out of the deviant category with the use of technology. The saying that "face-to-face interaction is the best method" is slowly being forgotten as more people are draw into the possibilities of technology.

Technology could also be seen from another perspective. With the increasing usage of social network sites, communication on the web could also become dangerous. There could be anonymous users who mean to harm others, trusting the internet with personal information and bank accounts could also lead to disaster with the increase of hackers. Just as the internet is a powerful tool to us, it could also be a powerful tool for those who mean to harm others. Putting that with the power of communication could lead to disaster for us.

There is also the issue of over reliance on technology for our needs. For example, some of us feel safer talking through the internet and thus, become antisocial in reality. Also, with the various social networking sites increasing in popularity, we find ourselves spending more and more time online. What if all this did not exist, no more social networking sites and handphones, if the internet did not exist. Would we be able to continue working and living without technology? Would communication be more effective without technology?

My personal view on this is that technology is a requirement, we may still be able to communicate and live without it, but everything would be less effective. Humans and technology are meant to be a synergy, where the combined ability is greater than the sum of the parts. Then again, proper usage of technology is just as important, because improper usage could lead to miscommunication or making things worse.

What are your views?

Media, True or Flase?

The video above shows an intepretation of how the mass media can affect people. It begins with a "doll head" that tries to arrange it's face to match the beautiful one shown on the screen. As soon as the doll head finishes matching the beautiful face on the screen, an even more beautiful face appears on the screen as the screen starts moving further away from the doll head, despite this, the doll head extends itself to follow the screen. The video ends with the doll head over extending itself and destroying the mechanism holding it up. This video raises the question of how much we believe the media. Do we believe what they show or tell us to be real? How would we know if the face shown on the television is just a photoshopped picture?

It could also be that belief in the media that we consume is something rooted into us since our youth. Studies show that mass media takes up a large portion of our lives, we're exposed to 8 hours of media per day on average. The over exposure to media could work very much like an agenda setting function, where contiunous mention or flashes of the same thing on a television screen or a radio could lead to belief that what is said or shown is true. That however, is just the beginning. If the media was to tell us that a meteor is heading towards the earth with an impact that could decimate the entire world population, how many of us would actually believe it?

As one of those who consume 8 hours of media a day, I can honestly say that i may believe what the media tells me is true. It is more of a Knee-jerk reaction than anything else, when i was just a little younger than i am now, I believed everything written in my History textbook thinking that it cannot be wrong since it's an academic text. Until i found out straight from my history teacher himself that history can be fabricated, and that it has already been altered into several different versions.

Could it be that the Magic bullet theory of media having a strong influence on the general populace is true?
Many of the things we currently believe may also be a fabrication of the media, so how do we actually confirm that what we know is right? Do we ask our friends and family?

What are your views?