15- Treasure Hunting

Dear Yu-xi, (this will be about your best post and all your great insights)

I agree with you that art ca be both, the mirror and the hammer in which we use to shape the world. I love your point about "But the extent to which it influences the reader or culture depends on how much it touches them. The deeper the impact, the deeper the influence." I feel like in most cases the people that read Feed do not really get the big picture and so do not pay much attention to it because they think it is irrelevant in their lives and just pass by that certain mirror and leave the hammer in its place. It also depends like what you were saying when you read the book in your life time. I would agree that younger teenagers would get the plot and all but would not capture what the book is trying to tell us.

Also when he does things that aren't that great and flawed like deleting Violet's memory's because he's trying to maintain his way of life. I feel like this is true for most of us. If something is interfering with how we live our lives and if focused on could change how we live our lives most turn away and walk in the other direction, perhaps immersing themselves more into their old lives. Just LIke how after Titus broke up with Violet, he went back together with Quendy and went head first into his old life until violets death brought him to the surface again. I agree with your view about being able to control your world here today to by going on line. Many of the computer games or web sites are interactive and your able to create your self and go around the world you choose and can do anything you want and get what ever you want. "Maybe the same way happiness is infectious, being disconnected is as well. You can disconnect from this world and go to another."

I love your interpretations of Feed and how you are able to see the connection to our lives through it. Though one thing I do have to say is that perhaps when you were reading the Whats Bad is Good For You and in some other areas you should add in about how you personally feel instead of just summarizing or giving opinions. I'm interested in knowing how Feed had effected your life and how reading Whats Bad Is Good For You, changed or did not change your view point on the subject matter.

Great reading your post, you have so many good ideas and even have the same ideas as mine but you give new evidence that I had not thought of and you provoke my thoughts.
:)


Dear Charles,

I have not really though about how people are using the computer more and the TV to get educated on certain things like what you said about the discovery channel. I agree with you that most people choose to learn off the Internet or the TV rather then reading about the stuff. Do you think this is a good thing or a bad thing? Is it proving that we have grown lazy over the years and we just want things to be "fed" to us so we do not have to do any work?

"It's just a future device that can possibly help people enjoy the nature of life and being able to explore the outside world, and at the same time be able to surf the Internet and all those stupid things with these devices at the same time." I kinda disagree with you hear. Even though the Feed helped I'm not so sure it helped anyone enjoy nature. It only gave false impressions of life and everything natural. These were only fake representations that were overshadowed by all the advertisements that different companies set up for you. Unless your arguing that after you read Feed you felt more in touch or wanted to be more in touch with nature, cause having a chip in your head or having your phone with you for most of the day does not give you enough time to (like andy said) look up at the sky once in awhile.

I agree with you that you can not start to destroy something with out first knowing what there is to be fixed. I never really thought of it that way. I only really considered if art was a hammer then they would already know but just have the hammer does not mean people know what to do with it. There does need to be art that is a mirror but I feel like there can be art that is both a mirror and a hammer. Though feed is more of a mirror and is showing you where the hammer is, it does not show us how to re-construct our lives. Knowing what is the matter and then being able to re-arrange it to make it better is important.

Great reading all your posts. I felt like I got many more good ideas and your posts also made me think. Keep on writing. :)

Hw 14- Second Text

Thinking about watching TV today is viewed in bad ways because of the fact that is a passive activity especially when compared to doing things outside like sports. Although it can be said that the things we do that we think are bad for us are actually good for us. TV can be viewed in both the good and bad light. There are smart shows and then there are shows that make you think. (sorry cant remember the exact quote and cant find it). Shows today are often about the same old stuff and often depict our lives and everyone watches them so that they can get away from their own boring lives. Though there are shows out there with complex plots that keep the viewer thinking and not just having an outer body experience with the TV. These kind of shows keep the viewer smart by having them in way interact with the TV to first of all keep up with complex plots and various threads but further more to evaluate problems going on in that set TV program.

"This is progress: more sophisticated delivery of stupidity". Today computer games, video games and hand-held games are more commonly seen with young people. These devices can be seen as making the generations more stupid because they are wasting all their time on those games. We see them as promoting violence and aggression in children because the games they play deal with guns and killing people. Its been said that readers are more active and non-readers are more passive and lately there are more and more kids who stop reading. The text also states this view point is all based on history. If it so happened that video games had arrived before books, reading would be the undermined activity. But reading all together is important and is viewed that way in society. Reading helps kids learn fundamental skills that will help in life. It can also be said that non-literary culture is helping kids develop different mental skills that are just as important as the ones being learned from reading books. Video games and other gaming devices have just been "misrepresented" and not seen through the players eyes on how it feels like to be in another world. Most of the population plays games whether it be on line or on a hand held device. Many wonder what's the point if all you do is more work and can get easily frustrated but people do it because its fun and in my opinion to get away from reality.

It was said that books already have a set plan in motion and why would anyone want to be bound by it, having to follow the path someone else has laid for you. I do agree that books are like this but it can also be said about any other thing we do like watching TV and playing video games. In video games there is only a set level of levels to win and only a set road to get to the designated goal. Same with TV, the plot is already written and with it the carefully drawn ending but the viewer has to watch every step every character has to make before coming to that pre-assigned ending. Most of our life in my opinion things are already laid out for us and it is our choice to decide what path we will take. And this decision also shows us who we are, gives us more insight into who we really are rather then that of what we show to others.

I felt like in Feed the author had a very negative view on digitization. That is was "destroying" us and was bring the end to our downfall. It did not give very much light to how it was a good thing in peoples lives. Though the author of What's bad is good for you, had the same view that non-digital "media"/ culture was better although did talk about how digitalization was on par with non-digital culture. Both expressed negative view although the other did admit that some things digital are actually good for us. Although in our world today you can not really live with out digitalization and so those opinions of it are bound to surface with the extended use of it.

Feed B

Tobin uses an allegory in Feed to show the parallels between Titus' life and our own. The reader can better connect with their own lives through learning about Titus' life and world where there is an overwhelming use of technology, to the point where they have the "feed" connected to themselves in their heads. This can be seen as a drastic view on how our lives are now and how they might turn out. I also feel that how the book ended was somewhat for the readers benefit. We get to finish the allegory for our selves, we put in our own opinions and views to finish the story because it could really go anyway.

I feel like many people are very similar to Titus and if the book had ended happy, the message would not have been the same. Titus would not have noticed his mistakes in life and would have learned nothing new about himself and the world he lives in. Violet was the one who taught him all this and because of her death he was able to accept the world and didn't continue to live his life the way he did before. If she had lived I feel like he would have gone on living the way everyone else lived would not have gotten a view on how life can really be.

"Art is not a Mirror with which to reflect the World. It is a Hammer with which to shape it." I feel like this quote is so true. Art is something that helps us shape our world. Though I feel like Feed is more of a mirror and perhaps somewhat of a hammer. Feed only showed us our own lives and did not really come up with any solutions to how we live our lives. But i feel that through that mirror readers will have the option of creating a hammer and using it to help redefine their lives and people around them. I would feel like I might want my art to do both. Not just mirror our world but to also help define it or help people shape their own lives. Though i do feel like mirror art is always the easiest, its easy to say what's wrong with something but an entirely different matter to have the courage to change it. Although with Feed, as a mirror is not all that bad because many people do not even notice how they are living their lives. Sometimes people need to understand what's wrong in their lives in order to change it.

Feed A- Parallel

While reading the book there can be many connections to our lives and where they are heading within the text. The biggest connection that I see is how everyone is living with technology and they hardly go a moment with out being connected to the Internet or on the phone. Though I do believe that the book is a little exaggerated when it describes peoples relationship with technology. For example in the book, they have the "feed' on 24/7 and it is never off. But when the hacker messed up their systems, they were so lost with out the feed. They didnt know what to do with themselves and when they got it back it was like they had regained their other half. I feel that if today since people do not have technology physically and mentally connected with them that if there were to be a black out or they lost their digital devices it would not be the end of the world. This is because we are still connected with the outside world, even though it is very little. 

Growing up with technology has made the younger generations more lazy and perhaps not all together stupid but close to it. In the book though Violet, is the only one who sees how the feed is effecting everyone and she is the only one that cares about the world outside of the feed and their own little bubbles. She express her opinions to Titus and says " Because of the Feed, we're raising a nation of idiots" (feed, 113). Though after expressing her views and opinions everyone thinks she is crazy and weird for having different opinions. In National Wildlife magazine it talks about the new oxford dictionary for children. It has been brought to light that the "new dictionary no longer defines more then 30 nature words, including 'dandelion,' 'otter,' 'acorn' and 'beaver'. In their place are words such as 'mp3 player', 'blog' and 'cut and paste'". Even today children are learning more about the digital world rather then the natural world. The magazine argues that if these words are kept out of the dictionary and the kids never learn these words then it will be harder for them to connect to the planet and will not see any point to care for it.

Getting the feed later on in her life then everyone else helped Violet understand the world. This also made her less perceptible to the feed and the corporations trying to control them, "They're also waiting to make you want things. Everything we've grown up with- the stories on the feed, the games, all that- it's all streamlining our personalities so we're easier to sell to" (feed, 97). Even today this goes on and no one catches it. Everyday we are "attacked" with ads and posters for new consumer products and after seeing it a lot people get it into their minds that it is what they want and they must have it. This also goes for what the stars do. If some famous person goes walking around with an ipod or a specific clothing line, soon everyone will want to be like them because "its cool" and its what the famous people are doing. "They try to figure out who you are, and to make you conform to one of their types for easy marketing" (feed, 97). Even though Violet says this she has a feed herself. She gave into the corporate media and got a feed, her dad even gave her one because he felt that since everyone had one, he did not want her to be left out of the times. Society made it hard for anyone to live with out a feed and her father cracked and bought her on. But it did not change her. Even today it is odd to hear that someone does not have a cell phone or an ipod/mp3 player. 

Experiment with Digitalization

Ok, so right off the bat I would like to say that the experiment I had implemented did not go according to plan. I was going to go on my computer only for home work and once I was done I would get off and do other things that were not digital. But most things in life never go as we plan. For starters by the end of the night I had spent the whole time on the computer instead of just for a little while. I had like 6 conversations going on on aim and since i have an old version they each had separate box's. So all the box's on top of my screen were all school related since I was having trouble with the physics home work. I had 3 people helping me and one person asking for my help. Then the two box's on the bottom of my screen were all personal non school related topics. So for the most part I was overwhelmed with IMs going off everywhere and going from box to box. In all of this I got very few things done. I only managed to finish my English paper because I had started before all the chaos began. After that i got half way though my science and had some mixed thoughts and feelings about the things being said on the bottom of the screen. All in all, after I finally signed off cause I had enough, It was really quiet. I also had a headache form all the things that were going on at once. Kinda like 6 people talking to you at once and you have to sit and get to each one of them, the only problem was once you answered one person and were moving on to the next, that person just responded back to you. At the end I decided to lay down and listen to some music so I could get all the thoughts into coherent images and understandings. So for my experiment of only going on the computer for homework, it turned out to be the biggest use of aim I have ever had in collaboration with doing my homework.

texting while driving

The one thing that bothers me recently is when people text when they are driving. Its like they can not go without being on their phone or not talking with people for the duration of their ride in the car. This has caused many problems because people text while driving they are not paying attention to the road and have caused many accidents.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32551351/
This article discusses the problems of texting while driving but also that perhaps the messages they are sending out are way to graphic. That perhaps some of the videos are showing images that are unnecessary or are to much, like they are exaggerated to prove a point. These videos are not being viewed in America and to see them on you tube, you have to be over 18 but instead are being showed in Whales. "Currently, 17 states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books that ban texting while driving, and it appears the issue is soon to get even more government attention." Though some law makers are worried that these laws may not be taken seriously for some time.

I feel like it is peoples right to know how the use of texting while driving can be detrimental to themselves and everyone around them. I feel that videos that show the outcomes of such behaviors should be shown to the public because maybe more people would take it seriously if they could see first hand what happens when people text while driving.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/11/14/aa.texting.while.driving/index.html
Text messaging while driving is becoming a more serious problem. Not only is it occurring more often but not that many people are taking it seriously. They figure whats the harm of doing it while I'm sitting in traffic but in truth it is never alright for anyone to be texting while driving. "with 37 percent of people age 18 to 27 saying they text message while driving". While "In 17 states including the District of Columbia, young or inexperienced drivers are banned from using cell phones, even using a hands-free kit, with emergency calls exempted".

I feel like more people should take this problem more seriusly and that more rules and regulations shoud be put up. Why just restrict unexperinced or young drivers? Who says that grwonups are not going to mae the same mistakes as those who are younger? I feel like only a certain amount of people would actually tell the truth in surveys that ask if people text while they drive.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/237928/text_messaging_while_driving_a_growing.html
"According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, distracted drivers account for almost 80% of all crashes and 65% ofText Messaging While Driving - a Growing National Concern near-crashes in the United States." The article talks about many studies and is only focusing on teens. I feel like they could have gone more in depth with the problem and not only giving statistics.

I feel like the media is only paying attention to the Teens that drive. I do believe that is possible that Teens are the lead cause but that does not mean other people that are older wont be doing the same thing. Just because they might think that because they are older they think they are more experinced but that just gives them a big head and then they wont be realy paying attention to what they are doing.