Technology has definitely made information more accessible to others, but I don't think that much of our privacy has been lost. If you Google someone's name the odds of it being the exact person you're looking for are extremely high. Obviously more high profile people will be easier to find, but finding a John Smith would take a lot more effort. But Google isn't the only way to find people. Facebook has become the stalkers bread and butter. All you have to to is search a name and look for their picture and if the person isn't too smart they won't change any of their privacy settings. We choose to put what ever we want on the internet and Facebook. If you don't want some corporate viewing a picture of you doing a keg stand then don't put that picture up or change the privacy settings, if you have nothing to hide then it doesn't matter who's looking.

I don't think that giving up minor freedoms for increased security would be bad, but giving away all our freedom for complete security is a terrible Idea. It's like what we were discussing in class on Thursday. Whenever a population has no freedom, what is there to protect. I don't mind getting patted down or being scanned with an x  -ray machine at an air port. It goes back to what I said before, if you have nothing to hide then who cares what they check. I'd rather them scan everyone so we can catch people before something bad happens then have them mosey on through and something terrible happen. I don't think that it takes completely sacrificing a societies freedom to achieve a reasonable amount of security. 

Day 7: 1 Hours to Gooooo!!!!

At last, the end of this challenge is near and what a challenge it was. In the beginning I knew this assignment would be a difficult one but I didn't realize how difficult until these last few days. It wasn't hard finding thing to do  over the last week, I got done all the work I was assigned for this week and managed to read another book on top of feed. I guess this week made me realize how much work I should be doing, wasting time on Facebook and my phone has really taken it's toll. It's not that I didn't do any of the work that was assigned to me but I just tried to complete it as fast as possible. Without all the technological distraction I was able to take my time and produce some quality work.


With all the good that came from having no technology pinging me every five seconds there was also some bad. I  hated being completely out of the loop. Something as simple as where to meet for dinner turns into one of the harder things to do in a day. I love being able to look up information extremely fast, such as: GPS directions, movie times and product availability etc. these are just a few of the things that make us for effective with our time. If I can figure something out in advance then it would give me more free time to do other things (It would probably just be consumed by Facebook though).

This has been one hell of an assignment. Going without technology for a week has proved  been an entertaining task and one that I will not soon forget. Although this week technological abandonment has let me see the amount  of wasted time on my phone and Facebook, I still can't wait to get back on my phone and text until my thumbs fall off.

Day 4....

Another two days gone by without technology. I feel as though the hard part is mostly over. This weekend has gone by pretty fast so far even though I've just been reading most of the time. I've gotten into a pattern of reading for a few hours then cleaning my apartment. Which my roommates have been enjoying because a little bit too much My roommates and I started p90x a few weeks ago and this is the first time I was actually looking forward to do it since it's the only thing I've done this week besides reading and school work.

After these 4 days I've realized I could go without Facebook. When I first started I wasn't really sure but now I don't really miss all the people complaining about their schedules or why no one likes them. I really only liked Facebook for the chat because no matter what even if people weren't answering their phone they would probably be on Facebook. I've only been watching netflix recently so the lack of TV hasn't  bothered me, there's too many commercials anyway. Probably the worst thing for me is no Xbox. It was the easiest way for me to burn some time. Play a few matches of Halo or Call of duty then Boom, it's dinner time.

All of those activities have been replaced. I've started reading the watchmen again, I got half way through it freshmen year but never got around to finishing it. So yesterday I started from the beginning and now I'm about three quarters of the way through and enjoying every page of it. I've also been playing a bunch of risk lately as it is the longest board game ever and it's also pretty fun.

The only crazy thing that happened recently happened when I was waking up. I woke up then fell back asleep then had a dream that I had my phone in my hand and the notification light was going off, then I woke up and was kind of disappointed. I guess having no technology has affected me more than I thought but I've already made it 4 days there's no point in stopping now.

Day 2.

Today is the second day without my cell phone, Facebook, TV, music, etc. So far it hasn't been too bad. With all the time not wasted on TV/video games and such, I was able to read all of feed before our quiz today. even though I read it in such a short amount of time, I don't feel as though I missed any important concept or part of the plot. That's pretty much all I did yesterday besides clean my room and count up a cup full of change.

I thought that classes would go slower with nothing to look at or respond to every five minutes but they go the same speed no matter what. I just don't like the fact that I don't know what anyone is doing. If I meet someone for lunch now it's by pure coincidence. With the weekend coming up I have no idea where to go "socialize" at. Aside from being completely out of the loop I haven't been that bored, I feel like I've been more productive in these two days then I have been in the first few weeks of the semester. I guess it show's how much time I waste with technology. 

That's pretty much all that has gone on so far. I'm not looking forward to the weekend I'm nearing completion of all the work that's been assigned to me so I don't know what i'm going to do. These first two days have been interesting though. It's a little weird going anywhere alone because at that point no one know's where you are until you meet up with someone you know. Despite it being weird it's also kind of cool. I think of it as  being technologically invisible. All things considered though, I'm enjoying having no technology more than I thought I would.

Here's an interesting story. It literally shows how "attached" people are to their technology. The article is from 2006 so I don't know how credible is but it's semi entertaining http://gizmodo.com/#!155708/car-crash-victims-arm-found-cellphone-intact

Not Just Another Brick In the Wall

The idea of living in a cabin for a year doesn't sound like that bad of idea. It'd be nice to get away from whatever your doing and relax. If I could find something to do everyday I wouldn't mind, at least I'd be keeping busy. During the winter it would be a little rough just because of the the extreme cold and not being able to do much outside. It would be a physically taxing experience but one I feel would be worth doing, but seeing how the next few years will be pretty important this probably won't happen. In our defense though it would be much easier for Thoreau to complete this task as he has never used our technology or experienced the speed of todays society.

Despite using technology everyday for the last few years I don't think I've become some mindless husk or less of my own person.  I think that not conforming makes a person less efficient. Who would hire someone for a 100k a year job that doesn't know how to operate a cell phone or access the internet.. Just because you use Facebook or own a cell phone doesn't mean that you are, as Pink Floyd would say it "Another brick in the wall". I agree that corporations influence more than we realize, at least it hasn't gotten to the point where we're willing to get lesions just to look cool, like in feed.. But until we get to that point, using technology will not make us less of who we are and it won't take living in a cabin alone to prove it.

Hey, we're not dumb!

So according to Mark Bauerlein we are the dumbest generation. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and even though his is very demeaning towards our generation I don't really mind. He thinks that instead of facebooking we should be reading or doing something more intellectual with our time. unfortunately the speed of our lives has gone up exponentially. Information can be accessed in seconds via a phone or computer. Who wants to spend time reading a novel or researching the past. Although these activities would make us a more cultured people, it just doesn't fit into our lightning fast culture.I don't think that having information more readily available to us makes us more lazy though. I think it makes us more productive because of the ability for us to do more things at once.
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 Probably the best use of  the song Carmina Burana

I admit, I didn't know half of the questions on part 2 today's quiz. Half of those questions weren't even important though. For example, the name of the composer that wrote Carmina Burana. We only care about information that is relevant to us. I'm guilty of this, if something happened 300 years ago why should I care. I definitely found the quote " Two thirds of high-school seniors in 2006 couldn't explain an old photo of a sign over a theater door reading COLORED ENTRANCE" interesting. It would seem that our generation doesn't even know our own history or what we discussed in groups that racism is slowly starting to decline. As a member of another group pointed out, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". Despite the fact that our generation probably doesn't know the meaning of the sign, I still believe that there is less racism in our generation.

Mark Bauerlein can think what ever he wants. I love living in such a fast paced culture. I don't think I would be able to live in a society that's not. If that makes me dumb then oh well. 
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