Unplugging: A Cultural Analysis

The functional unit of our society today is centered on the Internet. In our day and age, people are prone to isolation because all communication can be performed online. We are missing key human interactions and our technology is shaping

Advances in technology has altered the world as we know it, and it can only progress farther. Through the minds of many intelligent and devoted individuals across time technology has developed into a twenty first century deity. A young child one hundred years ago could never envision a world like ours today, ruled by ones and zeros. The media has affected us in ways that we can’t even comprehend and will continue to steadily provide humans with a faster and faster flow of information for years to come. But what is the cost to have all of the information you can imagine at your fingertips? The exponential increase in information that we process in all forms of media is affecting the way that we live by making society more alienated.

In conclusion, the internet truly imprisons the human race. It takes time, but overcoming the daily use of the internet is possible. The commitment and discipline has to be there to cut down the use of it. Schwartz continued using the internet once he came back from his vacation, but he goes completely offline for brief periods. People don’t have to go offline completely, but it is possible to shorten the time you spend online. Focusing your attention, and gaining control of your mental is key in life, if humans decide they can cut back then it is very possible to see a more vibrant world outside of the

In the article “Growing up Tethered”, by Sherry Turkle, she argues that technology today plays a major role in everyday life. Youths do not have the ability to branch off and have their own independence because of their reliance and attachment to technology. They also use technology to develop who they are as people and create an online personal identity of what they think is a perfect life. In comparison, their own life seems boring, pale and unwanted. Turkle also talks about how teenagers think of their phone as a “friend’s” and cannot live without it. When feeling a strong emotion, teens want to share their feelings with their friends and phone. I agree with Turkle’s opinion that technology is changing and will never be the same, which will be hard to improve this attachment to technology because too many teens are tethered.

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.

There are few places on this Earth, if any, where the possibilities are truly endless. However, if you detach yourself from the physical world and emerge into the “online” world, you find that this just might actually be accurate in this realm. The World Wide Web has had so much to offer to us since the early 1990s, but with this comes controversy. Unleashed onto a plane of seemingly immeasurable freedom of anonymity, was the world ready for such responsibility? Since those early days when new emerging technology changed our lives immensely, have we at all become a better place, or have we bitten off more than we can chew, and doomed our human relations forever? Exploring these concepts are three in-depth articles, including: “Growing Up Tethered” by Sherry Turkle, “The Loneliness of the Interconnected” by Charles Seife, and “Cybersexism” by Laurie Penny. Although it is thought that the Internet brings the world together, it actually does not help us politically, culturally, and economically like one would believe, as it makes us unable to be independent, isolates us from different points of view, and encourages real-world violence against women and other minority groups.

The Internet, a word that is vaguely observed by the many people of this world, is an idea that plays with people’s minds and manipulates individuals by slowly taking over the way they conduct themselves. A person’s mind and the way they control their daily lives changes as the Net dominates the world of technology. In the novel The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains by Nicholas Carr, the Net is expressed through the psychological and mental health of people’s habits. Over time, society has become accustomed to the ways of self-connection and a loss of interpersonal communication, using the Internet as their shield from the communal society. No matter the type of person an individual identifies as or what electronic device

The rapid expansion of technological advancement is engulfing our culture. The author of IRL Fetish, Nathan Jurgenson argues that people have a weird interest in the world of offline. Technological advances are leading people into the realm of online, but Jurgenson also realizes the glorification of movement to offline. People who believe online world is destroying the real-life connection and many writers lament, “Writer after writer laments the loss of a sense of disconnection, of boredom (now redeemed as a respite from anxious info-cravings) …” (Jurgenson 127). People who are saying technological advances is removing people from the real-life so they think they can create a world where online does not exist. This new movement is educating the world that phone must be put away and boast about being offline. In IRL Fetish by Nathan Jurgenson, the author illustrates the practice of fetishizing of the offline world creates a misrepresentation of online and the offline world.

Nicholas Carr’s “How technology created a global village -- and put us all at each other’s throats”, conveys the message that technology was contrived to join people together, but all it is doing is disjointing them. Conversely, a dark place was shaped online, over the years, and there is no sign of the situation resolving.

In the book The End of Absence: Reclaiming What We’ve Lost in a World of Constant Connection, Michael Harris argues that as technology progresses society loses the experience of lacking. He continues to illustrate this point by saying we will eventually reach a time when true solitude is an outdated concept. Harris attempts to answer what exactly it means to be a part of the last generation that remembers life with and without the internet. Within each chapter, Harris discusses the fast-paced technological revolution with three themes becoming prevalent: Authenticity,

Throughout history, no single piece of technology has been so heavily relied upon such as the internet. Things such as the first car, the first telephone, and even the first airplanes were not as easily, or readily accessible as the Net is today. In all reality, the internet is the greatest and most useful tool that humanity has ever dreamt up. From instant transferring of data to endless sources of information, the Net not only connects all corners of the world, but makes each and every person more knowledgeable and self-aware. But as with all new and virtuous things, there is a darker and more dangerous side. The internet is a tool that consumes the intellectual, changing the way the brain functions and ultimately creating a reliance. This reliance is so severe that all of life’s functions depend on the internet without the same dependency being reciprocated. The relationship is one sided, where the Net has much to gain while the user has little. Furthermore, in its relatively new state, the internet is very obscure and has very questionable ethics. Although beneficial in specific cases, the internet affects one’s emotional state and latently mars cognitive function while creating a devastatingly powerful and coercive reliance.

A few years ago, the New York Times published a moving piece rightly called, Turn Off the Phone (and the Tension) by Jenna Wortham. Wortham called on many who had spoken on the topic of technology creating a successful piece urging people to put down the technology and embrace the world around them. Wortham opens with a personal anecdote about a time she went without her phone using it to drive her fist big point that for many smartphones and their counterpart social media act like “appendages they are rarely without” Wortham continues explaining the impacts they have on us “swaying our moods, decisions and feelings. Wortham then empathizes the tension this can cause users but encourages the reader that it is “possible to move beyond the angst that social media can provoke – and to be glad that we’ve done so.” Wortham then uses this as a seamless transition to bring up two very different phenomenon’s “Joy of Missing Out” (JOMO) and “Fear of Missing Out” (FOMO). JOMO or “Joy of Missing Out” is a phenomenon explained by Anil Dash this is the idea of moving past technology and being happy about it. FOMO or Fear of missing out is the opposite of the tension we feel from technology because technology and social media show all people are

Could you live off the grid? To actively remove all tech from your life? There is no doubt that our digital society is expanding at a rapid rate, sometimes finding it difficult to keep up with the latest and greatest. That is why many Americans are choosing to abandon all modern technology for a simpler way of living. In a two-part series from Seeker Stories called Could You Handle Living Off the Grid? (2015), currently on YouTube, explores one family’s journey to actively remove themselves from the grid. Nick Fouch and Esther Emery, who along with their three children, move into the backwoods of eastern Idaho; no electricity; no running water; no means of communication. Obviously, some sacrifices had to be made in order to accomplish what they set out to do, that is, to be connected to each again on an interpersonal level. The series poses interesting questions about the loss of family togetherness at the expense of digital connectivity and observes a sort of digital withdraw when that connectivity is stripped away. Revealing about how society has become highly dependent to our tech, identifying more with a smartphone then our own family and friends. Tech, while useful to a large degree, establishes our online presence based on a system of curated profiles that are essentially digital façades of true identity, this is significant because perhaps our personal identity, while at one point was only influenced by unique characteristics, is slowly being

Being unplugged gave me an array of mixed feelings and emotions. I felt invigorated because I was able to step back from my busy, hectic schedule and realize just how blessed I am for all the opportunities that I have in my life. I am able to attend one of the best Jesuit Universities; I have the opportunity to play softball at a Division 1 university. Lastly, I get to surround myself with outstanding students and faculty. I also realized, once again, how amazing my family is for always supporting me and being there for me. I sometimes forgot how much my parents have sacrificed to help me get where I am and being unconnected and getting lost in my thoughts reconfirmed all that they have sacrificed for me and my sisters. Being unconnected and

The culture of autonomy represents what people are experiencing in our society today. Our society powered by digitalism, allows individuals to discover and communicate their values, projects and interests through the internet. Through acquiring these ideals, one can develop a sense of security in their personal and organizational networks. With the use of internet it provides people a platform to communicate freely, have sociopolitical involvement, and explore entrepreneurship ( Castells, 2014). Through the use of the internet, it holds power in our search for autonomy that propels us to be true individuals.