Louv: The Digital Age

When he asks, “Why do so many Americans say they want their children to watch less TV, yet continue to expand the opportunities for them to watch it?” he is using a rhetorical question to help point out the incongruity that, while parents say that they want their kids to play outside and be more appreciative of nature, they are the ones who provide the means for children to watch television. Louv then goes on to ask, “More important, why do so many people no longer consider the physical world worth watching?” Louv is asking what have people done to the world that allows it to be so easy for kids to turn to a television screen. He actually answered himself earlier in the passage when he said, “Advertisers already stamp their messages into the wet sands of public beaches. Cash-strapped municipalities hope corporations agree to affix their company logo on parks in exchange for dollars to keep the public spaces maintained.” In short terms, nature has become so littered that there are only a few places still considered untouched by mankind, and places such as those are often preserved for commercial use. Readers begin to feel somewhat guilty as they’re being told that they’re part of the reason for nature’s demolishment. This encourages people to put down technology and become one with mother

He discusses irony through a set of rhetorical questions that are meant to intrigue his readers. Louv asks "Why do so many Americans say they want their children to watch less TV, yet continue to expand the opportunities for them to watch it? More important, why do so many people no longer consider the physical world worth watching?". The irony is that people say that technology is becoming an addiction and that it should come to an end, but the advancement of technology is exponentially increasing as time goes by. He persuade the readers by asking these rhetorical questions, Louv allows the viewers to self reflect on the future generations with their luxurious technology, and creates a tone to call the audience to

Louv supports his claim about the separation between people and nature by using an anecdote of a friends experience when buying a car. When declining the offer of having a backseat monitor for her daughter the “salesman jaw dropped” and wouldn't let her go without an explanation on why. His purpose is to show how in desire these “multimedia entertainment products” are, and how now they have taken the place of nature. Louv shifts to a reflective tone where he depicts a back seat “drive-by movie” in a simpler time, where children were able to see houses and the woods teaching them how “cities and nature fit together”. Louv then appeals to emotion by using pathos when talking about the future, he says that maybe we’ll be able to tell the stories to our grandchildren. Really just painting a picture of how your imagination run wild looking out of the car window “drawing pictures on the fogged glass” and “counting cows and horses”. Where you could disconnect from the world.Connecting with the experiences of many people who lived in a time where backseat monitors didn’t

When trying to envision the world of today without computers, I imagine that our lifestyles would be extremely different. "As exciting as technological developments may be…it is important to remember that people who lack the skills or the machines to tap into this information are in the same position as those a century ago who could not read or had no access to books" (240). "These new technologies have undoubtedly altered our sense of what it means to be literate" (239). Years ago, being educated simply meant that you could read and write. Today one must go through years of formal schooling to be considered scholarly. This is because, "Our sources of information have become much

The thing about this image is that it is becoming all too real. Even today, we have the older generation telling us stories of when they didn’t have cellphones, back-seat TV monitors, and that they always played outside from dusk until dawn. This helps see how fast technology is progressing, and there will be a time when kids will no longer look out the window on road trips and the separation of man and nature is fast approaching. He also asks the rhetorical questions “Why do so many Americans … worth watching” (ln 43-47). The first question makes “so many Americans” (ln 43) hypocritical of not wanting to watch a lot of TV, but yet they make “so many opportunities to watch it” (ln 45). The second question strengthens his argument of not separating the ties of man and nature by igniting a feeling in the reader that that statement is all too

Nicholas Carr is the brilliant author of The Shallows: What the Internet is doing to Our Brains. In the Shallows, Carr discusses the unassailable issue that many countries face today. Not only teenagers, but more and more adults as well, have been using technology more often than ever. Yes, almost everyone has a so-called “smart phone” in their pocket. But the question that is presented in this book is: Is the latest technology actually smart, or are the advanced systems just making us less intelligent?

People must find balance when using technology. Learning when it’s appropriate to use the internet, and when it's more productive to use paper and books. The world is always evolving. The human population tends to worry when a new abnormal tool is introduced. We must learn how to use technology as an advantage. I feel that older generations are more hesitant about the internet because they see younger generations using technology in “negative” ways. Teenagers these days struggle to go through an entire meal without a glance at their phones. Carr talks about how the obsession with texting, video games, and social media is currently so common. In my opinion, there is a simple solution. Little by little, people should try to “disconnect” from the world. It’s amazing what a difference it makes to just turn a phone on silent during an outing can

To connect with readers, Louv uses familiar anecdotes to draw the reader in and reveal everyday changes from technology. All around us different forms of the latest tech is constantly being implemented into our lives and it is challenging to deny tempting new gadgets that are being promoted. Louv mentions a story where a mother, “didn’t want a backseat television monitor for [her] daughter” and the salesman, “almost refused to let [her] leave the dealership until he could understand why.” The mother wanted her daughter to look out the window of a car rather than be absorbed by a screen, while the salesman had assumed that the mother would clearly take advantage of the television monitor. This occurrence is more common in today’s electronically charged world and the anecdote serves as a way for Louv to relate to his audience who may have been in similar situations. Once Louv has connected with his

When a close friend of Louv had told a salesman that she did not want a backseat television monitor, the man’s “jaw dropped.” This lets the audience see how shocked people can get when someone does not want a new device. Not only was the salesman shocked, but he also “almost refused to let [her] leave until he could understand why” she did not want one. This shows how appalling it is to some when technology is rejected. These hyperboles allows the audience to get a glimpse of how silly people can be when technology is declined.

The new age zombie apocalyptic is here! The TED talk by Andrew Blum and seeing how the internet is literally underneath us got me wondering as to how the future is going to be. We need the internet right now and right away. I know that I need my phone near me at all times even when I have everyone who I talk to around me. The internet gives me instant gratification and I constantly want more even though there is nothing else. Watching television shows have gotten easier through Netflix’s and Hulu. Nowadays, the internet and the technology to run the internet is all anyone wants or needs. This article talks about how we give iPads to children to play with over playing outside. Students can barely read cursive let alone write cursive. I speak

I realized how much I was missing out on. In my opinion, video games, social media, or augmented reality, in general, is not the route we should take. Pokemon Go does have its pros, but it should not have to take a video game to enjoy life. I interviewed my father and close friend, my age, about their feelings and experiences with and without technology. My father did not grow up with technology. He exclaimed how he appreciates not having the internet because he is a brighter crayon in the box. He was not consumed in the television but actually interacted with his peers and family. When the internet came about, he did not find a use for it. Now in this generation, he has the newest iPhone. He knows how to use it for the most part, but he only uses it when he needs it. He is not caught up in the virtual world. My close friend Lauren thought otherwise. She believes without the internet, she would not have passed her classes, she would not be able to interact with her friends when they are not together, and that she would have no social

We are now getting to the point where we are programmed to use technology at a daily basis. My generation needs to realize that there are many other types of activities that give us greater satisfaction than anything that is offered online. Instead of spending two to three hours text messaging a friend, social networking and checking listings on Ebay, we should really take a visit to a local

Technology has more negative effects on today’s society than positive. Due to technology in the past few decades Canine Shock Collars have been increasingly popular. Students in school pay more attention to texting than they do their classes. Violent addictive video games have made their way into American homes. Parents encourage their children to not text as much, but them to face the problem of constant communication. The Internet gives the students easier ways to cheat in school, and reinforces laziness. Internet Porn gives every bored male a chance to look at the seediest film in the comfort of his own home. Technology has taken the innocence and mystery away from the American family.

As asked by the English alternative rock band Muse in their famous song “Screenager,” “Who’s so phoney and always surrounded?” This song perfectly depicts the effects of technology on America. People are engulfed by different types of technology everywhere they go and even carry around technology such as phones, laptops, and iPods. These items may seem like a blessing, but they are potentially dividing America. Every day, eight to eighteen-year-olds watch four and a half hours of TV, listen to two and a half hours of music, use the computer for an hour and a half, and spend two and a half hours on their cell phones, two hours for texting and one half hour for talking. This adds up to eleven hours dedicated on the media per day (Crawford).

The utmost, overriding facet of our society has been placed in our hands, perched on a stand, and then plugged into a socket: modern technology. Today, individuals without up to date technology are christened anomalies that are late to the ‘smart era’ of smartphones, smartwatches, and smart televisions. In Is Google Making Us Stupid? by Nicholas Carr, and Be a Gamer, Save the World by Jane McGonigal, it is made comprehensible that, as a society, we have begun to intertwine ourselves in the tangles of our electronics, which we cannot seem to relinquish. Our generation has been advancing with technology nonstop to the point where a new gadget is practically released daily. Recently, the latest technological fixation that has rapidly spread like wildfire is video streaming: whether it be video-on-demand or live, it has concurrently seized and fashioned jobs, as well as intermixed communities and individuals alike.