Artifact #4: A and B

Between the two videos, I found the first one the most interesting.  At first, I thought the person was just in a daze and like bobbing back and forth or something.  It took me a while to realize it was a robot; it took me until the robot started talking to realize this.  I found it very intriguing that a robot could be that humanistic; it could definitely be mistaken for a human if it just did not talk.  It is very interesting to me that robots are being made like this today, and makes me wonder if shortly there will be robots like this used in every day life. I am actually pretty sure they will become used more often, but to what extent and for what exactly.

And for the second video, I was bored and had to ask myself why someone would make a video about that.  For one, so many people use mechanical pencils today, and for two, who does not know how to sharpen a pencil, but better yet, who would get online and look for a video on how to do this? Also, along with people using mechanical pencils, if someone does use a pencil like this one, they would sharpen it with an electric sharpener.  But I guess this object has developed and become better too like every other form of technology.  So, in a way, this is an example of technology and how it is advancing.

Artifact #3

In What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr, a few great points are made.  Multitasking is a huge factor with the internet.  When on the internet, I know very few people who do one thing at a time.  Currently, while doing this, I have the weather website tabbed, Facebook tabbed, gmail, my blogger dashboard, and a few shopping websites all up in my window.  Yes, this is a bit ridiculous, but I always find myself getting distracted thinking about something else I need to look up while i'm on the internet.  This is an example of how our world is today.  This does not just happen with the internet, but it happens while kids are doing homework, while face to face conversations are happening, while people are working, etc.  There are not many people you will come across in a day that will tell you they go their entire day with only doing one thing at a time.  I know for sure that I am the exact opposite of that; there is not many instances where that is the case with me.  Is this a bad thing? It can be, yes, because if someone is watching TV, doing their homework, and texting, chances are the homework is not getting done or is being done poorly.  Multitasking does not always have a negative, no, but it is not always the best because one thing is always being pushed to the "least important" factor and is performed poorly.  The internet has definitely changed the way things are done today but it is not all negative unless one makes it negative. This does not effect our brains differently as far as being bad; if anything it will allow us to think more and be able to challenge ourselves to thinking different things at once.  This is not all good but it can keep the brain thinking.  The way that our society has changed can have some positives and negatives, but the internet causing us to be multi taskers I do not see as a negative.

Artifact #2

While listening to the video by William Powers and listening to him talk about Hamlet's Blackberry, many things popped into my head.  I realize how "Blackberry" or "smartphone" has become a every day word.  Cell phones and technology are used by almost everybody today and if they aren't, then that person is deemed "disconnected." This term of disconnected was used a lot by Powers and this being because it's very true.  If someone does not use technology every day or have a cell phone or computer, they are missing out on big events. While just about everyone is guilty of using technology so much, there are critics out there who find it ridiculous that technology has just about taken over. Go to a mall or a movie theater and just sit and people watch; chances are you will see just about every teenager on their cell phone and even adults on their cell phones or at least holding it expecting something to come in.  Like Powers mentioned at the beginning, taking out a cell phone to check it is a habit that everyone who relies on their phones has acquired.  I am guilty of this in so many ways.  As I was watching this video, my phone was sitting next to my computer so I could see right away when I received a text or phone call.  I am the worst at constantly checking my phone throughout the day.  Because the world has become so reliant on technology, we can't take ourselves away from it for very long periods of time.  Technology also takes away from family time as well.  I know my family is guilty of this sometimes, but many families today will, instead of sitting down together to eat dinner, make dinner, set it on the table, and allow their kids to grab a plate and go into their rooms so they can continue to watch their TV show or finish their video games or get on Facebook.  Technology has taken away from family time as well.  Technology and the use of it needs to be taken down a notch sometimes so that things like family time don't become nonexistent. Another point Powers made in his video was about technology taking over paper.  Technology has taken place for textbooks in some schools, newspapers for many people, and in many other ways as well.  Yes, there will always be a need for paper for at least a few things, but for the most part technology will rule over paper.  And this is because of how ruling technology is in today's society.  Technology is a great invention and is very helpful for many many things, but we are at a time when we have to question if it has become to much.

Artifact #1

This article states a very good point on how reading the newspaper online has become so popular and how the internet is a dominant source of information for people today.  I prefer reading the news online; however, if I find myself with nothing to do when the news is on or I happen to be in the room where the news is on, I will watch it because I find it interesting.  I do find watching the news interesting, but I don't ever seem to catch it on time or, honestly, I would sometimes rather watch something else.  I believe that the main reason for the decrease of news watchers is convenience.  Some people may find themselves busy when the news is on; in the So since morning they may be getting their kids ready for school, in the afternoon they are probably at work, later in the day they might be cooking dinner, and at night they may be putting the kids to bed.  So, since they may miss the news on TV, these adults or even teenagers may look online for this information instead.  Numbers are going to continue to increase because computers are going to soon take over every age group and every generation will be solely dependent on computers.  This article was pretty interesting and shocking at the same time because I definitely did not know that the numbers were as high as they are.