Blog Entry #3

For my third blog entry, I will analyze the second book I have read by Neil Postman, “Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology.” Throughout this book, Postman takes a more opinionated stance on the impact of technology on society. There are many areas of the first 90 pages in which I agree but also a few areas where I disagree, mostly where Postman begins to exaggerate.

It seems the main point in which Postman is trying to prove, is that technology has an effect on all things, and that all things are based off of technology. While we all know, Postman’s opinion is not all true; he makes a very good point. Our society has become so surrounded by computers and other forms of technology, they have slowly begun to take the place of many other old fashioned and traditional methods.

The first example that comes to mind when I think about replacing old methods with more modern ones, is Postman’s example involving Televisions. As TV’s have become extremely innovative, modern, and more ideal, they have also become more popular for everyday use. As the use of television gradually becomes more frequent, at the same time it replaces activities such as reading and studying.

Throughout this part of the book, Postman brings about two terms that play a large role in helping understand his view on this relationship between society and technology. The first term he uses to describe the development and process of our society gradually becoming dependant on technology is ‘technocrocy.’ It is described in more detail as the era where people began to recognize that “knowledge is power, humanity is capable of progressing, that poverty is a great evil, and that the life of the average person is as meaningful as any other” (pg. 38). This definition proves there was a time period where a main concern was improving technology as it would bring us greater knowledge, success, and power.

The second term which Postman describes is ‘technopoly,’ where he claims that everything throughout society and every aspect of cultural life is ‘sovereign’ to ways and makings of technology. Although, I agree that our society relies a great deal on technology, I have a hard time agreeing with the fact that our society and cultures are sovereign to it. There are still many aspects of life that have no relevance to technology and would not be affected if there were a breakdown in the world of technology. On the other side, Postman shows a great amount of support in his idea that a whole society can be, and possibly is, completely reliant on technology. He states, “Technopoly…is a state of culture…which means that the state of culture seeks its authorization in technology, finds its satisfactions in technology, and takes its orders from technology" (p 71).  This last quote gives me reason to both agree, and disagree with the beginning of Neil Postman’s book. I do believe that our cultures and society as a whole are very reliant on technology, and do find a very large amount of satisfaction in its many abilities. I don’t, on the other hand, feel that every aspect of society focuses itself on the approval and ‘authorization’ of technology. The beginning of Neil Postman’s book, “Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology,” already, has given me a much better idea of the opinion the author has on the relationship between society and technology. 

Blog Entry #2

After reading the first half of Swedin and Ferro's book "Computers" The Life Story of Technology" I must admit I was not very excited about finishing the book. I am very glad I read the second half as it was much more appealing to my everyday life and I understand a great deal more of the things the author was explaining. In these chapters the authors moved away from just explaining the history of computer evolution and focused more on how the computers began to enter the homes of many families.

It was very interesting to me to learn about the specific companies, Microsoft and Apple, as I was very familiar with their systems and I have relied on them for a majority of my life. My family started out using Microsoft when we bought our first computer for our home in 1994. Thinking back to these times of technology it proved to me how much more efficient computers are today, comparing our dial-up modem to my iphone that has the equivalence of  any computer you can find today. The author's statistic of computer game sales averaging $1.2 billion by 1982 (pg. 103) helps me remember how rarely I relied on the computer and at my age, it was more for entertainment than anything.

This moves me to the main point of the second half of Swedin and Ferro's book, to recognize how largely technology is involved in society today and how greatly it is relied upon. Comparing my family computer which I used mainly for gaming and entertainment, to my macbook which is extremely necessary to my current success in school, I notice the immense difference in the usage of technology in today's society. I always think about what would happen to a majority of the people in the world if for just one day their blackberry, iphone, and other 3G networks were shut off. It is sad to think how reliable our society is on these types of technology but it also proves how efficient and innovative our world has become in order to provide success. The second half of Swedin and Ferro's book was much more interesting to me as I could put myself into this current era of technology and really understand how it has incorporated itself into the current world. Like I said earlier, these chapters were also much more appealing to me as I had better knowledge about the companies and types of technology they were describing, such as Apple, Microsoft, Google, and certain masterminds of technology such as Bill Gates.

Blog Entry #1

As our society is extremely dependant on technology, it was interesting to read Swedin and Ferro's book "Computers: The Life Story of Technology." This book gave me a better understanding of how the technology of computers has advanced and impacted society more and more over the years. Although it seems the book is outdated, but since this book was written in 1992 it helps give you a better understanding of how technology has gradually developed prior to 1992 and how greatly it has expanded and impacted our society up until today.

One idea the author portrays that I found very appealing was the idea that technology not only has advantages on society but also disadvantages. Living in the fast-paced world we do today, it is easy to see how technology is very popular and used by many throughout their everyday lives. This use of technology and computers helps them to have a very strong positive opinion about the impact technology has on the culture of our society.

Throughout the first chapter, the author explains three types of cultures that have been apparent over the years and how the technology of computers has affected them. In the first category, the 'tool-using culture,'  technology is seen throughout society but is not used to a point that it would be missed if it weren't there. The second culture the author explains is called the 'technocracies.' This culutre uses technology noticeably enough in the everyday world that it starts to seem that it is holding more attention than the other ways of society. The final culture in which the author describes is considered 'technopolies,' where technology is very apparent in the everyday society and has a very strong domination and impact on the everyday life of people within the community.

Throughout the first half of the book, "Computers: The Life Story of Technology" you gain an understanding for the development of technology through computers and the impact it has had on society as a whole. The part of the book that I explained greatly helped me to understand how much technology really has innovated over the years and how different my life would be without it. Based on the three cultures the author explained, it seems that our current society is stuck in the phase of 'technopolies,' where technology has become such a large part of our everyday life, it is almost as if our world would shut down without it. A term the author uses, "technophiles," and describes as someone who only sees the good in technology seems very compatable with our current state of technology. Being a college student in this century, I realize how many people rely on the technology of our computer systems and how they would not be able to succeed without it, in the same way they do with the advantage. The capabilites of technology today, prove how modern our society has become over the years. While our society strives to be more efficient everyday, it would not be possible without the innovations and development of technology over the years. The first hald of Swedin and Ferro's book does a great job describing the history and development of the technology of computers and has greatly contributed to my understanding of this technology and the enormous impact it has on our society in the current day.

First Blog

My name is Steve B and this is my first time blogging on the internet.  After completing the first assignment of charting how much I go on the internet I realized that I do not use it nearly as much as my friends do. Here is a chart of my internet use over Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday:
Tuesday.
30 min in study hall surfing the internet in the afternoon looking on espn.com and nfl.com.
About 30 min on the computer at my house looking at barstoolsports.com and also checking my email that night while hanging out.
Wednesday.
Spent about 15 min before practice on the internet looking at sports websites and check facebook
Went on the internet that night to go on sakai as well as check my email
Friday -
Was on computer for about 30 min before practice surfing the internet and checking espn.com

After looking at my chart for when I went on the internet I could tell that compared to my friends and other people I don't go onto the internet very much.  Doing this blog alone was something new for me and getting on the internet to figure this out was hard enough.  It was tough for me to transition to using sakai and my.rutgers when I got into college from being in high school when teachers would just tell you what the assignments were.  It is a good thing that schools are transitioning into this type of world where instead of wasting paper everything is put on the internet for students to look at.  I do not go on the internet enough and am not in a routine to check the assignments for this class so feel that it is easier for me when the teachers just go over the assignments in class and hand out the work that students need to do.

Another thing that surprised me about doing this chart and taking notice in when I used the internet was how little I use facebook compared to other people.  I am not a big facebook user and only go on from time to time just to stay in touch with some of my friends from back at home.  I don't really like to always be on facebook and would rather be doing other things along with the fact that I don't have that much free time to really surf and go on the internet for other reasons besides school.