This class has stimulated my thinking of the future in terms of technology and the internet. Certain topics including the black box fallacy, panopticonism, and digital activism.
It really is amazing how fast technology and the internet are evolving. Our little "black boxes" are becoming the center of our lives more and more day by day. Personally, it has gotten to the point where I can not be away from my phone, it always has to be on me! This is not only because of social purposes, but also because it keeps me connected to my school email, potential messages from my boss(es), and even for my calendar. It is ridiculous how dependent I am on my Blackberry. It is interesting to see the capacity of devices such as the iPhone and Droid grow day by day. The other day, someone was showing me their desktop on their Droid, they were able to control it from their phone!! It won't surprise me when instead of laptops, we will do literally EVERYTHING through our phones and just connect them to large monitors when needed. There really is no end to the evolution of black boxes, and it kind of scares me how they will be in ten years.
Panopticonism made me realize how large of an issue internet privacy is. The idea that we are being watched when we don't know we are is really scary. The worst part is I feel that most of us really have no idea of how much we are really watched. We always hear stories of random people being monitored, wiretapped, tracked, etc. What if they do that to everyone? I know, it sounds kind of far fetched but honestly, you really never know! With technology in the crazy state it is today (and in the state it could be in the future), who knows to what extent we can be monitored!
I feel that digital activism has many benefits. If someone has a cause which they wish to get out to the entire world, they can do so by means of the internet. Awareness can be spread leading to possible donations or someone of high power looking at the cause and supporting it. However, I feel that the actual actions taken place we will see are pretty low. When have you ever seen an online petition actually work? I do not think I ever have. On another note, the internet has led to things such as flashmobs (100 single ladies in london and the valentines day pillow fight) which could potentially be useful for protest in the future. I do feel that with protest there must be a physical sacrifice (no, not your life) but the protestor must go out and do something rather than click around on the internet.
I feel that these ideas among others will definitely have a large impact on our society. They already do play large roles today: the internet is essential to 21st century life nowadays, our privacy and whatever we do can be monitored and we must be careful what we post on the internet, finally: there are weaker forms or protesting/spreading awareness of certain causes and they can be done through the internet.
I agree with you about the Panopticonsim. I never realized how “watched” we are until we discussed this in class and Prof Thompson mentioned how even our e-mails can be tracked. In class we discussed how if someone writes “I need to get away” in an e-mail, a southwest or cruise line advertisement comes up on the right bar. I feel like the internet is almost manipulative in the fact that it can do such things. I can see that it can be convenient, however, because if I want to get away, all I have to do is click on the right bar. All an individual has to do is write what they want and the product basically comes to them. Although it is more convenient, it scares me that everyday people are being more and more “watched” and I do not know how “watched” we will be in the future.
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