Reflection Of The Loafe Cafe

Many people are not mindful of how technology is disconnecting us from one another. When people pull out smartphones during a conversation or social gathering they will cause others to feel disconnected. These phones allow people to withdraw from what is happing now and move another situation reducing the quality of the conversation that is within our reach. In the essay "Stop Googling. Let's Talk" by Sherry Turkle; she believes that we are becoming a culture of short chats versus growing our culture of thinkers that are open to sharing in constructive and meaningful conversations with one another.

Ever since technology began so prominent in the modern world, can anyone remember going outside for more than 30 minutes and not see a cell phone or computer? Probably not, as these pieces of technology have become so ingrained in people’s lives, no one wants to leave their home without still being connected. And there is no reason to, as friends, family, and strangers share the same sentiments. Unplugging from technology is not only a decision people don’t make for personal reasons, it simply isn’t conducive to a productive life, as many people’s work and social lives wouldn’t be the same, if exist at all, without being connected to other people or the internet with just a single touch.

In our culture today we see the progression of how technology has affected our social makeup. In “Is Google Making us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, the writer makes clear that our current use of technology has diminished our ability to think critically. While one could agree with Carr’s point, there is also an issue that has a greater level of concern. Our ability to think critically about the information we gather is only a resultant consequence of the population’s new-found focus on technology rather than relating intentionally. Why is it that our current social constructs are made up almost entirely of technology? What happened to the time when humans interacted outside of their obsession to seek comfort from what lacks any empathy (their phones), rather than real humans?

In the beginning, when it was said to my class that we were expected to right and ethnography. I had no idea what that was. Dr. Cairo began to explain to us what she did, what and anthropologist did, and, most importntly,what an ethnography was. First thing I thought to do my Ethnography on was a church or public place. My choice changed about three times but I finally choose to study a Hispanic Culture club here at SIUE (Southern Illinois University Edwardsville). I made this decision because I wanted to learn more about what Hispanic students that go to this school go through, what traditions do they practice, and what is thier family background. Another expirience that changed my topic is one that took place in Anthropolgy class. That

I learned more in depth the meaning of physical and human characters of a location. Before embarking on this project

In his June 12, 2015 article” Flick Flick”, published in Commonweal, Rand Richard Cooper argues that the technology of “handheld devices” interferes with being in present with others and being present with ourselves. He measures pieces of evidence to illustrate his point; for example, he mentions teens in a school bus busy with their phones and they do not communicate with each other. The author uses technology; however, he agrees that with the excessive uses of technology we lose the ability to communicate, the personal freedom and our time to our selves. Also the author claims that we lose the appreciation of nature around us and our ability to do the daily actions. Cooper even explains how people interact with their phones and cannot stop

This combination causes the people to not “...talk about anything...they all say the same things and nobody says anything different from anyone else’ ” (Bradbury 28). As technology plays a major role in their life, socializing and interacting with others is no longer valued and forgotten—causing the people to become recluded. Similarly, this is reflected in our society as technology is advancing, and people are becoming infatuated with their devices. Often times, “the kids are all hanging out, but instead of looking at each other, they are staring at their phones” (Los Angeles Times). With technology being at reach, and the current popularity of online social media, people are finding shortcuts and alternative ways to interact with others virtually instead of physical interaction. Although this idea seems innovative, it damages our society’s social structure as people are not being exposed to social skills—thus, creating a socially corrupted community. Not only is technology impacting human interaction, but the people’s mentality as well. Mildred, from Fahrenheit 451, believes that “ ‘books aren 't real people. You read and I look around, but there isn 't anybody...My ‘family’, is people. They tell me things; I laugh, they laugh’ ” (Bradbury 69). Mildred is infamous for being obsessed with her parlor walls—televisions integrated walls—and often refers to her ‘parlor family’ as her biological family.

What intrigued me about this ethnography so far, is the analysis from both the ethnographer and people being observed. An example of this was when the anthropologist described the area for boarder crossers and how to him it seemed so obvious that it was a place for

Patrons like myself stood in line scanning the café for empty tables and available seats. The arrangement of the tables in this area allowed for more seating flexibility and appeared to lower social boundaries between customers while encouraging interaction between members of cliques and individual patrons. Armed with my laptop and cappuccino, my observations occurred from an empty table in the center of the café.

Technology abolishes human interaction with one another. Human interaction becomes less frequent as technology advances. Many people have access to technology. For instance, walk into a diner, or a fast food restaurant, and then discover a group of people at a table all on their electronic devices. People need to be more aware of how technology is affecting the relationships among people. People are going to lose their friendships because they failed to separate their cyber life from their social life.Melissa Nilles describes her experience as a nightmare that was actually reality. In the “nightmare,” she lost many opportunities because of being attached to her cellular device.

In Cecilia Brown’s paper titled Are We Becoming More Socially Awkward?, the main point the author is trying to make is the use of electronic devices is affecting people’s social skills. This central idea is being advanced throughout the essay through the meticulous word choice of the writer. In essence, this paper is trying to bring forward to an average modern day citizen the dangers of electronic devices to the social aspects of today’s society.

When a new technology or an advancement is introduced into society, there is no doubt that it will in, some way, reconfigure social relations. In some ways the changes can be very beneficial, but not all changes are always intentional. Wiebe Bijker introduced the idea that “A machine is a Socio-Technical Ensemble” (Bijker,1993) which when broken down is a way of saying that all technology consists of social dynamics and practicable technology. An iPhone is a prime example of a socio-technical ensemble. The technical aspect of the iPhone lays within the engineers, how they designed it to be piece of technology which allows people to communicate, perform functions, and be a platform for applications. The social dynamics of the iPhone is created by people communicating using a device and utilizing the apps it offers. The engineers of the iPhone can be seen

1. Go to a public place and OBSERVE the community of people in that place for at least 30 minutes; perhaps as long as 60 minutes. In your report, describe the setting and note the date and time of your observation. Describe the element of “community” that you observed.

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.

Do personal technologies like phones, iPods, and computers connect or disconnect us? The opinions vary from person to person and generation to generation. Two opinions that we’ll look at specifically are from Andrew Sullivan, a blogger and columnist for the Sunday Times of London, and Anna Akbari, a professor at New York University. When looked at briefly, Sullivan and Akbari’s views seem to be like the opposite sides of the same coin. Sullivan argues from a more personal standpoint that personal technology shuts us out from the world. Akbari, on the other hand, sees technology and our personal devices as a way to open the world up to us and provides facts and results from professional studies that