Semester 2: Blog II- Machine Stops Claim

     In the article, Our Media, Ourselves; “Are We headed For A Matrix?” written by Bob Mondello, states that, "Once you've felt the comfort of society, you worry about losing it. So to remind yourself of how you're connected, you gather things around. And you cling to them, not so you won't lose them, or lose what makes you you, but so you won't lose the connections they represent. The fear is of emptiness -- but of emptiness inside us, not of empty rooms." This claim can be proven to be true, because society really does fear the loss of connections. Society as a whole is so focused around the use of technology to remain connected, and relies heavily on instant messaging and Face Time, that they almost forget how to communicate in the "old-fashioned" way. There is this desire to be connected, not by personal means, but by the sake of the internet. There are sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and so on, websites that allow people from all over the world to keep connected. What happened to the good 'ol days, where kids would rock out to their CD's, even better, their cassette tapes?! Those were truly better days, when technology was not around to corrupt our virgin minds. It is almost as if society was able to get along better as a whole when we weren't stunted by technology. When people had to actually analyze and think about situations instead of turning to the online Bible, Google.
     Humans’ growth in personal connections is stunted by the lack of face-to-face interactions. Like in E.M. Forster's story, The Machine Stops, Kuno says to his mother Vashti, 'I want to see you not through the Machine,' said Kuno. ‘I have called you before, mother, but you were always busy or isolated. I have something particular to say.’ ‘What is it, dearest boy? Be quick. Why could you not send it by pneumatic post?’ This is just an example of how distant people really are from one another. Really think about it for a second because when was the last time someone wrote you a letter and sent it in the mail? It probably wasn't very recent, and that is because of society's reliance on technology. Why write someone a letter when one can send one via e-mail? Well, a hand written letter comes off as more personal, and that is where someone goes wrong, because there has become a loss of the sense of personality. It is found to be more convenient to take the easy route and electronically send a message rather than through the postal services.  The technology of today has taken our identity as humans and has absorbed us into a world of computer savvy freaks! Both these articles are focused on how corrupt society is or will be due to our obsession with having to know everything the moment it happens. Life is lived in a world where there is no privacy, because private lives are blogged about or posted on websites for the world to see. The world knows every ones every move of every day.
     There is just an overall lack of personality in this world, and it has been caused by our over corrupt vision of how life is. Society is so focused on making sure that life is easy and perfect, but the reality is that life is just getting worse for generations to come. No one will know how to function on their own without the help of some form of technology. It has already started with this generation, because every day kids are running to Google to search for their homework answers. Save the children, and try to stay old school. Get off that website, pull out those cassette tapes, watch the good classics, and relax.