Filed under: Assignments | Tags: blogs, camera phones, cell phones, privacy, Technology, text messaging
The Camera Phone
1. How do you think camera phones could help the world?
2. Are camera phones just another invention to contribute to our invasion of privacy?
A World of Witnesses
This article was very interesting and made me think about cell phones in a different way. It begins by explaining how text messaging is becoming a very important tool in the technological world today. People use texts to inform other people, form groups, and even make plans to meet up. I learned the world of text messaging is even more in-depth than that. This article showed me all the numbers around the world people can text and recieve so much information from pollen counts to weather reports. I didn’t realize that there were so many different numbers you could text and recieve so much information until reading this article. It also discusses the camera feature on phones and discusses the Rodney King incident. I believe camera phones can help people in distress and uncover many things that a bulky video camera could. The cell phone is a very popular techonological device with many features and is shaping the way we live and recieve our information. I feel like every week there is a new feature for cell phones and i can only imagine what they can do for you in 10 years.
1. Did you realize before reading this article how many numbers there are to text to recieve different information?
2. What new concepts or ideas did you learn about from reading this article?
Always-on/ Always-on-you: The Tethered Self
This article was created in order to explain how our electronics are tethered to us and we are so dependent on them for everything. It starts out by describing a group of MIT student that carried around a portable laptop special electrical glasses and other electronical devices teathered to them. The author relates us and our cell phones and computers to them. We are connected to our cell phones more than ever and we use it for virtually almost everything. We can look up stock quotes, play video games, turn to bots for comfort, network with people, etc. However, with all these endless possibilities, it is hard for us to turn off our electronical devices. Because we do so much with computers and cell phones, we are very dependent on them and find it very difficult to pull the plug for even a weekend. The cell phone has changed the world so much even in the way we talk to people. When we talk in public say at a coffee house, we would turn to the person we are talking to and saying something quietly in his or her ear. However with phones, we often see people putting their finger in one ear and yelling into their phone without any recognition there are people all around him listening and being bothered. The article describes the virtual life we live in and how we are dependent on techonology in almost every aspect of our life and because of this, we are in fact, addicted. I myself find it nearly impossible to turn off my electronic devices or not use them for more than an hour. I am always on my computer and looking at my cell phone. I can even relate this article to our class by saying how dependent i am on the computer to fulfull a class for my major in order to recieve my bachelors degree! I bet if you said this to someone ten years ago they would think you were absolutely crazy, but its true. Technology has come a long way and because of that people stay connected and put it at the center of their life.
1. Do you think our electronics are too “tethered” to us?
2. Why do you think we are so dependent on our cell phones in this day and age?
2. Do you believe ideas, emotions, and stories are better expressed through sites like Facebook, Myspace, Flickr, and Youtube compared to blogs? Why or why not?