Imaginative Thinking : The Real World And True Living

It’s not unusual to witness how people when faced with the same situation form different perceptions. These perceptions are shaped by our mindsets and their interaction with our surroundings. The kind of action that occurs as two or more objects be it living or non-living have an effect upon one another is called interaction. The idea of a two-way effect is essential in the concept of interaction and also how much we interact and to what degree is also influenced by multiple factors. Both Alain de Botton, the author of “On Habit” and Adam Gopnik, the author of “Bumping into Mr., Ravioli” talk about our interaction with our environment and how different mindset perspectives affect this interaction. Both de Botton and Gopnik observe how we become “blind” to our surroundings be it the place we live or the people we live with because we are too “busy”. We have a set of beliefs, powerful incentives called mindsets that directly or indirectly affect our behavior towards others and our perception about the world and these mindsets affect our interaction with the environment. I believe, with the world becoming more interconnected instead of interacting more we have stopped interacting at all. We don’t exchange intimacies be it with people or things in our surroundings. Our mindset now days is such that it forces us to work like machines giving us little or no time to imagine, think and interact. In this fast-paced world, we are always “bumping” into people, “grabbing” lunch instead

In STS, we were assigned three different articles and watch, where we saw how technology changed our reality. When I read the Relive Box it made me really think how difficult it is for us to not use any sorts of technology in our daily lives. The Relive Box is a technology that does not exist now, however, we have something similar, our phones. Our phones connect us to everyone and to everything. This technology is something that can make time speed up and it can make us forget our surroundings. So when I read the Relive Box I couldn’t help but to compare it to our phones, where we can access social media to check on exes to see how they are doing. They even made an app to show what happened on this day in our lives three years ago. It’s as if we created something to make us time travelers and if you have this in the palm of your hand, do you really want to live in reality? We’ve created our own hell, where we can see our once happy moments and our painful ones as well. It’s as if this one dimension is not enough and we choose our own suffering.

In Daniel Gilbert’s “Reporting Live from Tomorrow”, Gilbert makes use of statistics, studies, and experiments to convey a multitude of ideas, primarily the concept that while many people are opposed to, or are in disbelief of it, turning to surrogates as means of predicting our own future is quite effective. Gilbert’s concepts and theories are quite important to take into consideration not only as a general message of how human beings tend to let factors such as their imagination or their own self-image cloud their perspective on the future, but rather as an alternative viewpoint and how through surrogates, we are able to make more accurate predictions on our own future, such as what will be providing us happiness when

Sherry Turkle, the Harvard educated MIT professor, founder and current director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self, asserts that “people have never been more connected—or more alienated” from each other; that they may not aspire to their vision of best self as their devices become increasingly important. People unintentionally place more importance on “virtual relationships over real, instant messages over deep complex feelings, robots over live

As acclaimed author Yvonne Woon wrote, “Sometimes, you have to look back in order to understand the things that lie ahead.” Reflecting, or the act of thinking deeply about a moment from the past, the present, or the possibility of such an event in the future, is an important aspect of human nature, as it serves as a method of learning and as an example of evolution. By reflecting on the modern and historical world, we are able to obtain a deeper understanding of why and how certain things happen, and then decide whether or not we are satisfied with the environment in which we live. Contemplating all the decisions that have been made and all the different circumstances our ancestors have lived through, can serve as guidance for the future.

The “nightmare” she had included her texting a friend for 30 minutes instead of meeting for a cup of coffee and socializing. She also emailed her professor instead of walking into his office and having a conversation to get to know her as a person. She lost the opportunity for having another credible source for a letter of recommendation. She claimed to have ignored a cute guy when he asked for the time because she was responding to a text message. Nilles also stated, “I spent far too much time on Facebook trying to catch up with my 1,000 plus “friends.” “This technological detachment is becoming today’s reality” (Nilles). Nilles believes that technology is destroying the meaningfulness of interactions we share with one another, which disconnects us from the world we live in, therefore leads to an imminent sense of isolation from today’s society. She also points out that instead of having physical interactions with our friends, we tend to call, text or instant message because it is simpler, but we do not see our friends as much as we use to. Twenty messages do not compare to how many words that can be spoken within an hour spend talking with a friend. “There’s something intangibly real and valuable about talking with someone face to face” (Nilles). She believes it is significant for partners, friends, employers, and people in

Sociological imagination is a concept that was defined in 1959 by American sociologist C. Wright Mills. He described it as an awareness of the relationship between a person’s behavior and experience and the wider culture that shaped the person’s choice and perceptions. It helps us relate our own experiences to others. Sociological imagination can help us understand the difference between personal troubles and public issues by determining if it is a problem in someone’s own history or if it is an issue in the society or culture’s history.

Thesis: The relationship made with people in life helps one stay in reality and keeps one grounded in morals. If one completely blocks out society and get lost in their imagination it can progress into an unhealthy alternate reality. Without the support of friends and family one can dwell in an irrational state of mind.

Within Jenna Wortham's article, "Turn Off the Phone (and the Tension)," Wortham discusses the impact that social media possesses, in which Wortham believes that technology is responsible for shaping people's lives negatively. From Wortham's previous experiences, she shares a moment in her life that made her realize that people often compare their lives to others excessively- one of the reasons why people have social media attachment issues. Wortham also expresses how social media users brag about their lives being better than others through exaggerated posts- something that shouldn't be encouraged. With effort to resolve this issue, Wortham considers and suggests Mr. Hofmann's advice to readers: go screenless for a certain

Emphasis, these days, seems to fall too heavily on humanity’s need to push, to dream, to work to achieve a lasting happiness. People seem to forget that everything they’ve ever been, known, and have yet to experience moves. People seem to forget that life is change.

We live in a world now where we have never been more connected while being more alone. Instead of spending hours on the phone or with our close friends and family, it is now much more convenient to simply tweet, Instagram, or post our feelings on Facebook. Orenstein reveals while she is spending time with her daughter, “ a part of my consciousness had split off and was observing the scene from the outside: this was, I realized excitedly, the perfect opportunity for a tweet” (Orenstein, 347). Orenstein made the conscious, yet somehow detached, decision to post her personal life on social media, instead of fully indulging in the moment. People have allowed social media to overtake both their social lives and

According to Thoreau and Plato, people like to imagine themselves living in another world because they are not content with their lives but the “Gladney” family from Don DeLillo’s “White Noise” enjoys living in their own world. With technology so advance today it is a common problem that people from all ages find it suitable to live through a virtual reality in which the real world does not exist. Even though this causes no physical harm to anyone it’s just as bad as a problem as if it did. People today are lacking in personal interaction with others because they are living in their own world through a screen. This is becoming a major issue and we need to limit the usage of technology otherwise we will become robot-like if we do not do

As Emerson perceived the world, “Man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on tiptoes to foresee the future. He cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present, above time” (“Self-Reliance” 833-834). Even if a man finds himself with both self-trust and originality, he may never realize his true potential if he is preoccupied with past events or future fortunes. Emerson finds these obsessions to be utterly useless: “Discontent is the want of self-reliance; it is the infirmity of will. Regret calamities, if you can thereby help the sufferer; if not, attend to your own work, and already the evil begins to be repaired” (838). In contemporary society, a willingness to “live in the moment” is highly regarded, especially among youth, yet this acceptance seems to wane with age. Nevertheless, excessive anxiousness and nostalgia are a waste of the potential that can be realized when the truths of the present are

What makes Middlemarch such a realistic novel is the situations and the characters in the novel are applicable to everyday life. Although the novel is fictitious, many of the characters are not overly inflated into superfluous unrealistic personalities; rather, they are relatable descriptions of everyday people. The situations may sometimes be dramatic, but no more so than in real life. The settings and the surroundings in the town of Middlemarch are also appropriate with those of reality. The aspects of reality and realism throughout Middlemarch provide a much stronger connection and relationship with the reader.

Silently, my senses begin to abandon their rationale…who is to say then what is real? The world that we live in, the reality, which we are a part of, is small and thus limited. That is why, in his infinite capacity for potential improvement, man created fantasy. Fantasy is BIG! To a certain extent it is more imaginative, more exciting, and more fun. Fantasy is like a lake where man throws all his ideas and dreams, and then he dives on in from the springboard of imagination. So, jump in to the lake. Why not? Just make sure that when you jump in to the lake you know how to get back from where you came from. Because, no matter how big a fantasy is, to the point that it somehow changes our perception of what is