Cyborgology and Digital Dualism

I found this article on the Cyborgology blog, called "Sherry Turkle's Chronic Digital Dualism Problem" by David Banks.

In it he critiques Turkle's opinion piece, "The Flight From Conversation" in the New York Times Sunday Review.

While Turkle laments the loss of conversation from the social interactions of young people, Banks argues that the medium is not so much the cause of the loss as it is an as yet unmanaged augmentation to our social milieu. 

"This is where the distinction between digital dualism and augmented reality become essential. The digital dualist perspective says no: there is something in the technology that enables/causes antisocial behavior and we must overcome this false consciousness by actively refusing to use our devices. The augmented reality perspective demands that we look at root causes. That might lead us to the same ends: no texting at the dinner table, leave your smartphone at home at least once a week, but it also lets us consider other problems. Maybe your kids are on Facebook because you live in a suburb where you can’t meet another human without driving a car. It also forces us to think of the big picture- I will gladly live in a world where Cape Cod tourists are distracted by Facebook updates if it means disadvantaged groups have tools to reach out and organize across geographic boundaries. Let the rich be alone together, the rest of us will find something to talk about. "

 I think Banks has more in common with Turkle's position than he lets on. Digital Dualism is a label he has thrust upon her, and then makes a distinction that is not so much a distinction (to me) as another augmentation. As the cartoon above illustrates. We often attribute characteristics to others that we are unaware of in ourselves. The reality is that often we are very similar even to those we find most unlike us.

Three Days of Love

One of the things I love about the internet is when people organize something that capitalizes on the common good. One of those things that has come to my attention recently is the campaign "Three Days of Love."

This is a campaign to get people to commit to being kind and loving on December 20th, 21st and 22nd of this year. Since I am doing my research and thesis for my MLS program on love, this is the kind of thing I like to examine.

The quality or phenomenon of love is interesting because it is one of the most powerful forces in our lives, yet we neglect training and examination of it as such. We assume everyone knows about love automatically. But stop and think... what is love, really?

This campaign is going forward with the notion that love and kindness are linked. I believe that is good enough to generate a feeling of connection and to bring the idea of love into consciousness. One thing that I have learned is that talking about love seems to generate loving feelings - even though love itself is more than just a sentiment.

I also noticed that Barack Obama referred to love as one of the responsibilities we have as citizens in a free democracy. The quote took me by surprise, but encouraged me to keep studying love.

Evolution of Digital Culture

In Nicholas Carr's article, Is Google Making Us Stupid?, the claim is that the physiology of our brains is being changed by our online habits. One of the main effects that Carr discusses is the tendency to lose our ability to handle reading long chunks of text.

In fact, this phenomenon is getting more attention and confirmation in the years since that article was written. Carr's new book, The Shallows, goes even deeper into the history of neuroscience and the specific effects that have been observed in the internet-immersed brain.

This summer an article came out in Newsweek called "Is The Web Driving Us Mad?" by
Tony Dokoupil. That article went even further in pointing out the adverse emotional effects of habitual internet use. From the article:

Does the Internet make us crazy? Not the technology itself or the content, no. But a Newsweek review of findings from more than a dozen countries finds the answers pointing in a similar direction. Peter Whybrow, the director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, argues that “the computer is like electronic cocaine,” fueling cycles of mania followed by depressive stretches. The Internet “leads to behavior that people are conscious is not in their best interest and does leave them anxious and does make them act compulsively,” says Nicholas Carr, whose book The Shallows, about the Web’s effect on cognition, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. It “fosters our obsessions, dependence, and stress reactions,” adds Larry Rosen, a California psychologist who has researched the Net’s effect for decades. It “encourages—and even promotes—insanity.”

 So, I think it is something we should be aware of as we become more and more dependent on our connection to the internet. I am hopeful that human beings can manage our new connected society in a way that enhances our experience of life, but this information about the effects of overuse are concerning.

Gatekeeping online

I wanted  to comment on last classes discussion about 'the cult of the amateur.'  Particularly to address the question of who are the gatekeepers and Toni's assertion that it may not be exclusively a 'who' that does the gatekeeping, but includes how the material is presented that draws its audience.

Gatekeeping appears to be shared by those of us that encounter online content.  We rank it through 'likes', curation, sharing, and so on.  However, I do think that part of what makes us rank content higher, can include how it's presented.

The following article speaks to this idea.  You Tube, which grew popularity largely based on the fact that anyone can post and share material is making an effort to polish up its presentation.

YouTube turns more TV like

We appear to be invested in many aspects of online culture, and not only interested in cute cat videos.

Privacy please!

Wow- talk about being accessible.  There is new technology being worked on that allows text message display on your contact lenses.  This was brought to my attention in a recent blog, Contact lenses can display your text messages.

 My reaction is eek!  Is there any time that I can claim as my own, just disconnect.  Is this type of accessibility just strange to me, similar as the accessibility of smart phones was when they hit the market, or is this something beyond that?

Perhaps this video can give you a glimpse of what we have to look forward to!

Most of us would understandably not bring our phone into the shower.  We can be out of touch with good excuse- maybe not for long!

An interesting response to this post pointed to the actual changes in the brain that this technology could develop.  Less and less we are differentiating ourselves from the technology we use.  It could now literally be an extension of ourselves.

Goodbye Santa

Organizing and protesting via social media is happening more and more often.  However, one voice may make a bigger difference than before due to the platform afforded by places like Facebook.  Take a look at this article.  I thought it was timely, and Santa may have deserved to get the boot.  But,  it really caused me to focus in on, how much power,  Facebook in this case, gives one voice.

Bad Santa Fired from mall gig after parents complain on Facebook

In this case one voice= one complaint.  However, the fact that it is seen by others on the mall's Facebook page probably had something to do with Santa's firing.

What are the kids doing?

As the topic of this video is something that the class has revisited throughout the semester, I thought it would be worth a look.

Contrary to our conclusion that kids are not thinking at all about the content they put online, at least some are, and include many of the considerations that we have discussed.  Perhaps they use a different set of criteria in order to determine what they post, but still consider the consequences all the same.