ENTANGLEMENTS

Introduction:
Today we are consumed with moderate pieces of digitization so much that we forget what is happening in the real world. You cannot go anywhere with out seeing someone who is using a piece of technology. People are consuming their day with a fake reality and are slowly forgetting about the one they actually live in. This fake representation of life and what is real verse what is not has become a faded line. No one goes out and takes a walk just to be outside, to get away from everything. If you take a close look everyone is connected with invisible strings that keep their devices bound to them. These strings will get more dominant where everyone will be walking around with them and be entangled. These entanglements will snare us and the funny thing about it will be that it will all seem normal, no one will know the difference between the liberty of being free and the feeling of being ensnared.

Argument 1:
Through different media, people are interpreting how to live their lives. Everyone bases what they think a good life is and how to live one with what gets portrayed in the digital and corporate worlds. Thus begin the threads, which are slowly wrapping around us. M.T. Anderson’s book Feed can be considered an allegory of our lives though he is more drastic in our relationship with technology. In the book, they have the "feed', which is a computer chip in their head on 24/7 and it is never off. After Violet gets sick she explains to Titus what she wants to do before she dies but then notices how everything she said up till then was “just the opening credits of sitcoms” (217) and that her “idea of life” comes from those sitcoms or movies that the media has put up. She recognizes how having the “feed” has caused her view of life to be how everyone else is living. Even though she tries to go against the feed and live independent of it she has fallen to its influence.
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 one. But it did not change her. Even though she was chained down with digitization she was able to loosen those ties Even today it is odd to hear that someone does not have a cell phone or an ipod/mp3 player. It is not such an impossible idea for someone to loosen the threads that have imprisoned us. Violet may not have been totally free from those chains but she was able to give herself some room in which she was able to live for herself and go against much of what was being shown to her. Today if people took the time to reflect and see that they actually spend an excessive amount of time with technology then perhaps they could see how those devices are ruling their lives and can learn to not use them as much anymore. So what if society makes it hard for anyone to be totally free? As long as someone is aware of those threads and keeps an active eye on them then the chance that they will become tighter and greater in number will decrease and you can learn to manage them.

Argument 2:
Technology has caused the real world to seem less and less important and what is important only goes as far as our mental/ personal bubbles. Nothing in the world is as important. In the 2008 release of Wall-E, the message was clear that people spend too much time with technology. Wall-E is an animated film about a robot that helps Americans see how technology has affected them. The people who live on the ship sit and do nothing but stare at the screen in front of their face. They pay no attention to the outside world. Even the older generations know nothing of what is outside of their screens. During the movie Eve was sent to earth to find signs of life. When she brought a plant back to the captain he did not know what she had brought. He had to learn from the computer what earth was and what the plant was. Having been in space for so long everyone forgot that earth existed and that there was other things outside in space. Even today most people hardly do anything active and do not go out side just to walk and stare at the sky. The most anyone would be active is to play video games and even that has you starring at a screen being passive. Though the Wii is more of an active game where it gets you moving it is still a false representation and people are falling for it, thinking they are being active when they are really just going through the motions the game wants you to play out. There are some who go for walks and runs but they also bring their ipods or phones with them as they go. It is very hard to get away from technology. Even though they are thinking its nice to be outside, they are interlinked with their digital device which creates a thin veil over their perception of the real world and even separates them from it.
In Feed everyone is always online and they do nothing but sit and stare off into space while interacting with the feed. But when the hacker messed up their systems and their feed had to be shut down, they were so lost with out it. They did not know what to do with themselves and when they got it back it was like they had regained their other half. Even toady people cannot be seen with out having at least one piece of technology on them at all times. Though 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. The people in feed had their own little bubbles in which they lived their lives not caring about anyone else or what was happening in other places. When Violet explains to Titus how she feels about learning what us happening in the world, he pays her no mind because he could careless. He does not give a second thought to anything that is not in his mental and physical bubble. Today it is much the same. People watch the news but other then that they do not seem to care about what is happening outside their mental bubble.

Argument 3:
Representational reality hollows out the meaning of reality. Technology is a false realm where too many people steal themselves. They go around with their eyes on their keyboards and ears to phones that they let everything pass them by. Technology creates a virtual world where many of the conversations lose their significance and have a sense of emptiness. “Technology takes away from the more personal aspects of daily interactions”(Carrie Li). These representations factor much out of what face- to- face conversations hold. Body language and tone are not present in online conversations and often times things are misunderstood because there are just words on a screen. A lot of how things get conveyed is not only the words themselves but also how they are presented to the person hearing them. Devices that enable online communication such as AIM, Facebook, twitter and myspace are becoming more and more common and “the more habitual” they become the more we will “find ourselves isolated from the rest of the world” (Carrie Li). Just like digitalization has made it easy for people to communicate online it has also made it easy for people to create new identities for themselves. Many of the computer games or web sites are interactive and people are able to create new versions of themselves. They can make themselves anybody they want to be, they can take away their flaws and give themselves everything they do not posses. Once your “avatar” is created people are able to go around the virtual world they choose and are able to do anything they want and get what ever they want. And when they are done or ready to go back to reality all they have to do is log off and it will be they’re waiting for them when they sign back on. They are in total control for once and this is the big appeal of these games. "Maybe the same way happiness is infectious, being disconnected is as well. You can disconnect from this world and go to another."(Yu-Xi). Many people through these online games are living fake lives and are in a twisted perception of reality. Soon it will be hard for them to distinguish which for them is the real world and which is the one that is only a representation.
Many people love their digital devices such as their computers, which allows them to keep in contact with so many people. In the song The New America by Bad Religion produced by Atlantic Records in 2000, it express the feelings a boy holds for his computer. “I love my computer” it starts and continues with verses like “I’ve never been quite so happy, the world outside is so big, but it’s safe in my domain”. The song even goes as far as explaining that the computer gives him “no identity” and that “all I need to do is click on you and we’ll be joined in the most soul-less way”. In fact this is what happens to everyone as they turn on their computers. People do not understand that there is a connection between them and their many devices. There is also an addiction in which keeps them together.

Connections and Significance:
In society there is an invisible quota that it is appropriate and implied that everyone has a digital device. It was odd for anyone under 10 to carry around phones or ipods 7 years ago and now you see these little kids walking around like there so cool cause they have an ipod or the latest cell phone. It is also impossible to really function with out a cell phone or computer. Most of the time work and assignments have to be typed and printed, things get posted online that people need to read, and cell phones keep people in touch especially when you miss someone and want to talk. If someone were to tell you that they did not have a cell phone or TV people would think that person was crazy. And that is exactly what most kids thought when they found out that Andy Snyder (history teacher) did not own either. Many could not even imagine what it is like to live with out a TV or cell phone. Having them in our lives as much as they are it seems like he was living with out his leg. Everyone is so intrigued by his statement and of course they think he is weird. But in society it is so rare for someone to say that they do not own one piece of technology that it has become like a second leg or arm. Andy functions very well in life. He is more connected with the “real” world then any of us. He spends his time swimming, riding his bike, going for walks, reading, doing things that do not involve technology. While many people are spending their time playing video games, watching TV, texting, going on facebook, and instant messaging. More and more people lose touch with the outside world and they become lazy and unappreciative of the world around them and what it offers. Many people have been blinded and cocooned in the world of digitalization and have grown accustomed to being wrapped tight.
People have even started texting and being on the phone while driving. Can people get anymore addicted to technology, that they need it while they should be paying 100% of their attention on the road? Not only is it occurring more often but not that many people are taking it seriously. They figure what’s the harm of doing it while they’re sitting in traffic but in truth it is never all right for anyone to be texting while driving. " 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" (Texting While Driving). Everyone who texts on the phone thinks that there’s nothing wrong with it and yet "according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, distracted drivers account for almost 80% of all crashes and 65% of Text Messaging While Driving - a Growing National Concern near-crashes in the United States."(Text Messaging) Using technology too much has become dangerous and yet knowing that there is the possibility of killing someone, people continue to text while driving. This is one of the many examples in which the threads have made it hard to function without using digital devices. If people do not learn that spending too much time with technology is dangerous then a lot of things we do will wind up involving digital representations of what life is and what it means and everything will start to lose all meaning. More and more events will happen like driving while texting and many more problems will arise from them all.


Opposing viewpoint:
Although digitalization has created these strings in which make us their puppets it can be argued that it does in fact help us. Technology has made it possible for people to communicate from two very different locations. Now if you wanted to talk to someone on the other side of the world you do not have the only option of writing them a letter. If you wanted you could video chat them, talk to them on the phone, facebook, myspace, aim and even online games have interactive applications so that you can meet new people. There are many new possibilities. And it does not just stop there. Everyday there is something new coming out and something new and better being made. The Ipod nano now has a video camera on it, the Iphone has many more applications to add to it, TVs are getting better quality and are getting bigger and skinny, DVDs have become blue ray disks and CD’s have been replaced by sites like itunes and other places where you can download music right onto your computer or music device. Everything is made better for the public and it is also made with making life easier for you.


Conclusion
People are so immersed in the digital world that they cannot live with out it. People let technology rule their life and during a black out they go all crazy cause they are not used to being without their digital counterparts. In this day and age you cannot really go out and not see technology. The strings at first are slowly starting to wrap around us so that people do not even notice them until they multiply and tighten and your left as their puppet. If anyone were to go right up to someone and start to tell them that the life style they lived was bad because they are being consumed by digitalization the person would take a step back and argue. Titus does this with Violet when he goes and starts deleting Violet's memory's because he's trying to maintain his way of life. 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. There are many forms of Violet in peoples day to day lives but it is whether they choose to pay attention or not that make them Titus who chose to ignore what was going on or the guy who would have stuck with her until the very end. There are many hammers in which we can use to reconstruct our lives and those hammers are provided to us by books like Feed and movies like Wall-E. These reflect how our lives are and show us where the threads are the loosest so that we can wiggle out of them and be free from the fake reality we are so comfortable in.

Work Cited

Anderson, M.T. Feed. Somerville, Massachusetts: Candelwich Press, 2002.

DVD, Wall-E.

rough draft

Carrie Li's blog post about initial view on digitalization

Rachel's blog post about initial views on digitalization

comments from Digging for treasure blog post - using comments from Yu-Xi's blog

Blog post texting while driving
(http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/11/14/aa.texting.while.driving/index.html)
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/237928/text_messaging_while_driving_a_growing.html