I could not agree more with the authors point of view on older people giving up on adapting and making excuses about how stupid the technology is or how they don't need it. I work at Best Buy and this is constantly the most grueling interaction of the day. An old couple wants to buy something they are familiar with but when you explain to them technology has changed and you can do so much more than before than tune you out and say I just want what my old machine did and nothing else.
My grandparents are in Hawaii and during a visit, I tried to show them how to use Facebook because in their words " you darn kids spend too much time on those fancy phones and not enough time with us" They wanted us to keep them informed and up-to-date by visiting Hawaii as much as possible and tell them in person. I explained that with Facebook, they could see what we were up to or the latest family pictures. It is an instant way to stay on top of all the happenings of the family. They hesitated but then agree to let me show them. 30 seconds in they were done. What do you mean I need to make a username. Why do they need my name, why is it so hard to set up. I was guiding them through the process and without giving any effort, they immediately got into the mind set of this is to difficult for me so I am not even going to try.
I have to admit that I have had a couple of instances where I did not feel like adapting and it does frighten me a little that I may be becoming an old man. I have absolutely no interest in Twitter. I think it is stupid and I don't need to know your opinion every second nor do I need to see updates on what you are doing minute by minute. My friend tried to sign me up and I refused to even let her show me how it works. It is the same way with the new Facebook Timeline. I am not even going to attempt to set it up because I like the familiarity of my Facebook and it seems to daunting to set up. I like the way things are and I don't want to stray away from that.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Blog Assignment #3
I believe that in my experience with my family, I would use the displacement theory to talk about how television affects my family. I have very few free moments in my day between full-time school and work and we I do get a free chance at home, it is usually spent watching tv. The theory says that participation in one communication domain takes away from others and would be definitely say that watching tv takes away from interpersonal communication within my family.
When I am home on the weekends, my family and I communicate occasionally but most of that is disrupted with what is on the tv. We are constantly around it and it pretty much is the center piece of our entertainment. Don't get me wrong, it also brings us together because we would all probably be in separate areas if we were not watching the tv but it does make us communicate with each other a lot less than we use to.
The one thing I do not like about our tv is how it is used by the government and media to basically try to put fear into the citizens. Every commercial for a news station is designed to put fear into your mind and make you tune in to see what is out to get you. It is ridiculous how much violence and scare tactics are used in order to try and grab ratings. Michael Moore spoke to this in one of his documentaries when he should a normal news day in Canada that was pleasant and had no stories to try and drive fear into people's minds. He also showed a correlation between the news and media being pleasant and the number of violent acts with firearms. Maybe if our media stopped this tactic, you would see a decrease in violent crimes.
The future of technology is one that I am fearful for. I don't know if it can survive in the future if every home has a DVR. Advertising and commercials are what keep the shows on our television from leaving. When companies look at data and see that everyone is starting to skip over the commercials, what is the point in investing money for the commercials. I could see it becoming like Pandora or Hulu where they only allow a number of skips or force you to watch a commercial before moving on in the broadcast.
I also think there will be a lot more focus on internet tv. There are already many people looking for a way to ditch cable or satellite and many companies are trying to seize the opportunity. With more and more people cutting the expense out of their lives, there will need to be more inventive ways to capture people's attention online.
When I am home on the weekends, my family and I communicate occasionally but most of that is disrupted with what is on the tv. We are constantly around it and it pretty much is the center piece of our entertainment. Don't get me wrong, it also brings us together because we would all probably be in separate areas if we were not watching the tv but it does make us communicate with each other a lot less than we use to.
The one thing I do not like about our tv is how it is used by the government and media to basically try to put fear into the citizens. Every commercial for a news station is designed to put fear into your mind and make you tune in to see what is out to get you. It is ridiculous how much violence and scare tactics are used in order to try and grab ratings. Michael Moore spoke to this in one of his documentaries when he should a normal news day in Canada that was pleasant and had no stories to try and drive fear into people's minds. He also showed a correlation between the news and media being pleasant and the number of violent acts with firearms. Maybe if our media stopped this tactic, you would see a decrease in violent crimes.
The future of technology is one that I am fearful for. I don't know if it can survive in the future if every home has a DVR. Advertising and commercials are what keep the shows on our television from leaving. When companies look at data and see that everyone is starting to skip over the commercials, what is the point in investing money for the commercials. I could see it becoming like Pandora or Hulu where they only allow a number of skips or force you to watch a commercial before moving on in the broadcast.
I also think there will be a lot more focus on internet tv. There are already many people looking for a way to ditch cable or satellite and many companies are trying to seize the opportunity. With more and more people cutting the expense out of their lives, there will need to be more inventive ways to capture people's attention online.
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