The Zombie world
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Sherry Turkle is the professor from Massachusetts Institute of Technology study in science and technology. She has written several books about the relationship between human and technology base on psychology. In her ted talk, she explained that even though we are physically with each other, we are mentally separated. “We’re getting used to a new way of being alone together. People want to be with each other, but also elsewhere — connected to all the different places they want to be.”This is the example that Sherry gave to show how people connected but alone. This the picture of her daughter and her friends were hanging out in her daughter’s room. People become to internet’s slaves. Today, more and more people rely on the internet too much, we often check text message while we are talking to someone and more frequent pay more attention on the cell phone instead of class. Internet alienating distance between friends,family and us.
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We can not deny the convenience of a internet, but also because of the characteristics of internet, people have become over-reliance on it to communicate.We are using the internet to contact people who are farther away from us, but at the same time we lose attention to those people who are around us. It’s no wonder why people’s ability to communicate has decreased, with not even a smile or eye contact. When you attend a party and each person is holding a cell phone to call, send text messages or sociale, you will feel the phone is really deeply alienating people.
When did we become so independent? I think it was when social network became widely used. I think the negative effects of using internet too much and also the biggest obstacle among the people is that we are no longer able to talk to people with an open heart and no longer know how to confide and listen because we may think that maybe email or text message will be more convenient. Facebook or twitter perhaps will catch more attention. When we complain to a person, we can only get this one person’s reflection, sometimes maybe two or three people. But when we use social media to complain, we can find ourselves receiving more attention and more resonance. This is when we prefer to use the network to express ourselves instead of face to face conversation. When a person is angry or upset, he/she needs timely consolation and also understanding, this is the time to use internet because it’s easy to reach anyone, anytime and anywhere, but meanwhile, we lose those people in the real life who are supporting us. We lose the chance to take to them with open heart and the chance to be closer. In Turkle’s Ted talk, she also said:
“We slip into thinking that always being connected is going to make us feel less alone. But we’re at risk, because actually it’s the opposite that’s true. ”
We are already used to using internet to be connected. I never thought that being immersed in the internet too much could cause us to be reluctant to communicate with each other. It is unwilling to communicate rather than not communicating. I think it’s probably because real life is boring. As Gozzi mentioned in Reality Is Boring, Media Are Magnetic, people walking down the street can not do without their cell phones. It is the truth that a lot of people are looking at their cell phone or listening music when they are walking on the street. Not only when they are walking, but also sometimes when they’re eating at the table. People just can’t stop themselves from reaching for their cell phones and sometime they just unlock their cell phone for no purpose. They reason why they are doing it because they want to get away from the boring reality. The online world seems more attractive than the real world because you can contact with your friend, read news and even make money from the stock market. The negative effect of it is that people are not that close to each other anymore and they don’t appreciate to what surround them. They forgot that they are the people who actually living in the real life but not online. The real world is what the world make us alive, but not the online life.
Turkle was right that if we do not learn how to be alone, we will end up becoming lonely. If we want to ease the lonely moments through the Internet, then we will lose the chance to communicate with others. We will become more and more lonely. I can’t image if we keep using our phone to socialize, what the world will look like? A zombie world with no emotion, no laugh, no talk and no connections.
When did we become so independent? I think it was when social network became widely used. I think the negative effects of using internet too much and also the biggest obstacle among the people is that we are no longer able to talk to people with an open heart and no longer know how to confide and listen because we may think that maybe email or text message will be more convenient. Facebook or twitter perhaps will catch more attention. When we complain to a person, we can only get this one person’s reflection, sometimes maybe two or three people. But when we use social media to complain, we can find ourselves receiving more attention and more resonance. This is when we prefer to use the network to express ourselves instead of face to face conversation. When a person is angry or upset, he/she needs timely consolation and also understanding, this is the time to use internet because it’s easy to reach anyone, anytime and anywhere, but meanwhile, we lose those people in the real life who are supporting us. We lose the chance to take to them with open heart and the chance to be closer. In Turkle’s Ted talk, she also said:
“We slip into thinking that always being connected is going to make us feel less alone. But we’re at risk, because actually it’s the opposite that’s true. ”
We are already used to using internet to be connected. I never thought that being immersed in the internet too much could cause us to be reluctant to communicate with each other. It is unwilling to communicate rather than not communicating. I think it’s probably because real life is boring. As Gozzi mentioned in Reality Is Boring, Media Are Magnetic, people walking down the street can not do without their cell phones. It is the truth that a lot of people are looking at their cell phone or listening music when they are walking on the street. Not only when they are walking, but also sometimes when they’re eating at the table. People just can’t stop themselves from reaching for their cell phones and sometime they just unlock their cell phone for no purpose. They reason why they are doing it because they want to get away from the boring reality. The online world seems more attractive than the real world because you can contact with your friend, read news and even make money from the stock market. The negative effect of it is that people are not that close to each other anymore and they don’t appreciate to what surround them. They forgot that they are the people who actually living in the real life but not online. The real world is what the world make us alive, but not the online life.
Turkle was right that if we do not learn how to be alone, we will end up becoming lonely. If we want to ease the lonely moments through the Internet, then we will lose the chance to communicate with others. We will become more and more lonely. I can’t image if we keep using our phone to socialize, what the world will look like? A zombie world with no emotion, no laugh, no talk and no connections.
reality vs. virtual
The article “Social cognition in the internet age: same as it ever was?” has shown that the use of the internet impacts our thinking. We don’t know if it is in a helpful way or harmful way. Because of the way thinking has changed, we aren’t even aware that we are using the internet in a harmful way. Different from when we only had books as access to knowledge, the world wide web gives us a way to access information easily. We need to learn how to use internet in appropriate way and evaluate the online information. Today, people read news on the internet using facebook or twitter. They do it because it’s a convenient way to incept world information no matter when and where.
Because of the freedom of using the internet, people not only can be more thoughtful or empathic,like how a lot of people changed their facebook profile picture to the french flag after Paris was attacked, but also thoughtless or unsympathetic. Different from how we live in the reality, we can be another person and have totally different personality because no one knows you online and no one would even care who you are. People are more interested in the big event or gossip news. Sometimes they like to judge people without thinking. In the article “Social cognition in the internet age: same as it ever was?” it gave an example of how a nurse of the Duchess of Cambridge committed suicide because of aggressive and unsympathetic comments online. It’s sad but people who leave these comments online didn’t even think and they didn’t even think after she committed suicide. Their lives still going on, but they end another person’s life. It’s a normal phenomenon everywhere. People do it because they don’t need to be responsible of what they are saying because they are often say it as a group of people, not an individual. This is the “right” which internet gives us, but never in reality.
“We may stop ‘needing’ or craving real social interactions because they may become foreign to us,” Aboujaoude explains in The Good and the Bad of Escaping to Virtual Reality. She says that virtual reality will obviously affect our social lives and well-being. This has kind of already happened with social media because we can have a completely different life online than we have in the real world. Virtual reality could change what someone wants or needs. We might not want real world interaction anymore because it is not what we’re used to in online world. Social networking sites have changed our generation’s idea of good social life than other generations who didn’t grow up with the internet.
From Turkle’s Ted talk, she also explained “ I’m not suggesting that we turn away from our devices, just that we develop a more self-aware relationship with them, with each other and with ourselves.” She was saying that when the internet had just begun to spread, we were using it in a kind of self-reflection way. At that time the internet was just a tool, it was not enough to form a complete alternative virtual world to the real world of. But unlike what it was, now the internet is not just only a tool, but our virtual life partner, and a partner can substitute real partners. We were drawn to it and we can no longer distinguish it from reality. We lost some kind of self awareness. With the popularity of the internet, we are now able to switch freely in both worlds without any self-reflection. We need to be more aware of our habits online and how quickly we switch between the worlds so that we don’t become thoughtless, unsympathetic and stop wanting social interactions.
The article “Social cognition in the internet age: same as it ever was?” has shown that the use of the internet impacts our thinking. We don’t know if it is in a helpful way or harmful way. Because of the way thinking has changed, we aren’t even aware that we are using the internet in a harmful way. Different from when we only had books as access to knowledge, the world wide web gives us a way to access information easily. We need to learn how to use internet in appropriate way and evaluate the online information. Today, people read news on the internet using facebook or twitter. They do it because it’s a convenient way to incept world information no matter when and where.
Because of the freedom of using the internet, people not only can be more thoughtful or empathic,like how a lot of people changed their facebook profile picture to the french flag after Paris was attacked, but also thoughtless or unsympathetic. Different from how we live in the reality, we can be another person and have totally different personality because no one knows you online and no one would even care who you are. People are more interested in the big event or gossip news. Sometimes they like to judge people without thinking. In the article “Social cognition in the internet age: same as it ever was?” it gave an example of how a nurse of the Duchess of Cambridge committed suicide because of aggressive and unsympathetic comments online. It’s sad but people who leave these comments online didn’t even think and they didn’t even think after she committed suicide. Their lives still going on, but they end another person’s life. It’s a normal phenomenon everywhere. People do it because they don’t need to be responsible of what they are saying because they are often say it as a group of people, not an individual. This is the “right” which internet gives us, but never in reality.
“We may stop ‘needing’ or craving real social interactions because they may become foreign to us,” Aboujaoude explains in The Good and the Bad of Escaping to Virtual Reality. She says that virtual reality will obviously affect our social lives and well-being. This has kind of already happened with social media because we can have a completely different life online than we have in the real world. Virtual reality could change what someone wants or needs. We might not want real world interaction anymore because it is not what we’re used to in online world. Social networking sites have changed our generation’s idea of good social life than other generations who didn’t grow up with the internet.
From Turkle’s Ted talk, she also explained “ I’m not suggesting that we turn away from our devices, just that we develop a more self-aware relationship with them, with each other and with ourselves.” She was saying that when the internet had just begun to spread, we were using it in a kind of self-reflection way. At that time the internet was just a tool, it was not enough to form a complete alternative virtual world to the real world of. But unlike what it was, now the internet is not just only a tool, but our virtual life partner, and a partner can substitute real partners. We were drawn to it and we can no longer distinguish it from reality. We lost some kind of self awareness. With the popularity of the internet, we are now able to switch freely in both worlds without any self-reflection. We need to be more aware of our habits online and how quickly we switch between the worlds so that we don’t become thoughtless, unsympathetic and stop wanting social interactions.
“Psychotic internet”
One of the reasons why we should stop using internet in a negative way is that problematic internet use can cause future serious mental illness. In Mittal, Dean and Pelletier’s research, they defined the term, “problematic Internet use (e.g. Internet addiction and/or using the Internet several hours a day for non-work-related activities)”. Internet addiction is a kind of psychological problem that appears most in adolescents. Different people have different reactions to Internet addiction and sometimes it can cause psychotic depression or psychotic symptom. Mittal, Dean and Pelletier conducted an experiment to study and analyze the consequences of internet addiction and reality substitution, also referred to as problematic internet use. This is the first study that shows that as problematic internet use increases, psychotic-like experiences (PLE) in the general population increases. An example of PLE from the article is “fleeting auditory hallucinations”. If you have psychotic experiences, you will more like develop psychotic disorder. The study find out that if we reduce problematic internet behavior, it stops those people from having psychotic experience and they might not get psychotic disorder. From their study Internet addiction, reality substitution and longitudinal changes in psychotic-like experiences in young adults, Mittal, Dean and Pelletier conclude:
“Indeed, recent reports that Internet addiction is associated with significant brain changes in areas that are also highly implicated with schizophrenia and PLEs, suggest that problematic Internet use may be placing further strain on an already compromised neural system.”
Internet addiction would cause brain changes which associates the schizophrenia area. So the internet addiction can cause more serious neural illness. For those people who already had PLEs, problematic internet use would cause further serious mental disorder. On the other hand, for a lot of normal people, psychotic disorder can be a potential mental disorder because a lot of us have problematic internet behavior such as using the internet too much or substituting reality with the internet. In the 21st century, young adults are fascinated by the internet. We use it to communicate, take pictures, listen to music, do research and so on. We might somehow think about it as a bad thing, but we are never aware that it can cause deeper mental illness.
“Indeed, recent reports that Internet addiction is associated with significant brain changes in areas that are also highly implicated with schizophrenia and PLEs, suggest that problematic Internet use may be placing further strain on an already compromised neural system.”
Internet addiction would cause brain changes which associates the schizophrenia area. So the internet addiction can cause more serious neural illness. For those people who already had PLEs, problematic internet use would cause further serious mental disorder. On the other hand, for a lot of normal people, psychotic disorder can be a potential mental disorder because a lot of us have problematic internet behavior such as using the internet too much or substituting reality with the internet. In the 21st century, young adults are fascinated by the internet. We use it to communicate, take pictures, listen to music, do research and so on. We might somehow think about it as a bad thing, but we are never aware that it can cause deeper mental illness.
Did you catch the “internet disease”?
In contemporary life, people use the internet for business, for video games, for school and even for politics. The enormous amount of information that the internet contains is impossible for human’s memory. However, even if we are using the internet for these things, it can easily distract us from what we are doing.
Let’s say that you look for an article for a research paper, then getting distracted by advertisements are a negative impact of the internet. It’s just too easy to focus on other things rather than learning. All you need to do is to take few seconds to open a new tab, then you will be in other places, either online shopping or watching a new movie. The easy access of the internet gives us so many conveniences, but also too much freedom. It’s really easy to get lost if you don’t use internet in an appropriate way. Because of the various function of the internet, it is also really easy to get addicted to the internet. Have you ever heard that there was a baby who starved to death because of her parents were too busy raising a virtual girl online? According to CNN news “‘They were addicted to Internet gaming; they put their baby to sleep and came home early in the morning,’ said their attorney”This is so ridiculous. I won’t say that internet would directly cause death, but this kind of tragedy could happen anywhere if we aren’t aware it. “Of course you will talk on the phone. And check your GPS. As more and more electronic gadgets get built into car dashboards, media distractions will multiply” Gozzi said. Every one knows that driving is boring and no one thinks what could happen if they use internet to text, call or check GPS while they are driving. Imagine you are listening to some news, you will get distracted because it might be shocking, which might cause you to be in an accident. Driving requires you to pay full attention. This is one of those boring times when we shouldn’t escape to the online life. According to the site “Mobile Mindful”, “driving distracted is the equivalent of driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.8” which means that as people are using more technology and getting addicted, driving is becoming more dangerous. |
Addiction is not addiction?
“In Escapism, Yi-Fu Tuan writes about society’s feelings on the titular subject: ‘Escapism has a somewhat negative meaning in our society and perhaps in all societies. It suggests an inability to face facts—the real world.’ Nevertheless, all people do it. As Evans noted, ‘As escapism appears to be a natural mechanism, the mind must have need for it.’ Those dissatisfied with the banality of their day-to-day life may find pleasure in the immersion of a fantasy world; others unable to find fulfilling relationships may seek solace in Japan’s otome games, first-person visual novels that simulate romantic relationships.”
Escapism is a derogatory term, but when we all have a tendency to become escapist, we need to redefine the word. As mentioned in Monica Kim’s article, Yi-Fu mentioned that escapism is everyone's nature or that we all need escapism. We all need to escape from reality by indulging in or becoming addicted to the Internet. It doesn’t have to be the internet, but it is a more common way we escape. Sometimes the reality of ordinary life is not enough to meet our needs.
Professor Peter Cohen writes, in “The Naked Empress. Modern neuro-science and the concept of addiction.”
“I will propose an alternative way of looking at behavior that is currently called addiction, seeing it as normal human potential, that of strong bonding. Bonding is an emotional process that creates ties that cannot be shed at will. Human bonding can take place with a large variety of objects, from food, drugs, ideas, people, places to musical instruments and animals. The stronger a bond the more an individual will value and defend it, even under conditions of (extremely) negative consequences.”
Cohen found that the reason why humans can be addictive is because we need connection, maybe we should not call it addiction, but more precisely it should be called as bonding.
Yi-Fu and Cohen both believe that human being needs connection or need something to rely on. This connection can be relating to drugs, to food, or to the internet. That is why modern people are inseparable from the internet because it is human propensity. When we are alone, we will question our own self-worth. So we want to be connected, we want others who reflect our personal values. It is our nature being social animals, and the internet makes it more convenient and easier to gather together.
I agree that we should or may reasonably rely on certain things just like I rely on the internet to contact my family in china. In this case, the internet is not just a tool, it is my spiritual bridge which supports me in this strange country. However, there is a Chinese saying called “wu ji bi fan”,it means that things will develop in the opposite direction when they become extreme or it can be translated as too much water drowned the miller. When we are too dependent on the one thing, we forget our original intention to use it. Our problem now is being too immersed in the Internet, and forget the Internet can bring us harm. It’s undeniable that the Internet has became part of our life. We even can not live without it. But precisely because we naturally accept this fact, leads us to ignore all sorts of hazards the internet will bring. When we lose our self-consciousness, the Internet will begin to gradually impact us all negatively.
Escapism is a derogatory term, but when we all have a tendency to become escapist, we need to redefine the word. As mentioned in Monica Kim’s article, Yi-Fu mentioned that escapism is everyone's nature or that we all need escapism. We all need to escape from reality by indulging in or becoming addicted to the Internet. It doesn’t have to be the internet, but it is a more common way we escape. Sometimes the reality of ordinary life is not enough to meet our needs.
Professor Peter Cohen writes, in “The Naked Empress. Modern neuro-science and the concept of addiction.”
“I will propose an alternative way of looking at behavior that is currently called addiction, seeing it as normal human potential, that of strong bonding. Bonding is an emotional process that creates ties that cannot be shed at will. Human bonding can take place with a large variety of objects, from food, drugs, ideas, people, places to musical instruments and animals. The stronger a bond the more an individual will value and defend it, even under conditions of (extremely) negative consequences.”
Cohen found that the reason why humans can be addictive is because we need connection, maybe we should not call it addiction, but more precisely it should be called as bonding.
Yi-Fu and Cohen both believe that human being needs connection or need something to rely on. This connection can be relating to drugs, to food, or to the internet. That is why modern people are inseparable from the internet because it is human propensity. When we are alone, we will question our own self-worth. So we want to be connected, we want others who reflect our personal values. It is our nature being social animals, and the internet makes it more convenient and easier to gather together.
I agree that we should or may reasonably rely on certain things just like I rely on the internet to contact my family in china. In this case, the internet is not just a tool, it is my spiritual bridge which supports me in this strange country. However, there is a Chinese saying called “wu ji bi fan”,it means that things will develop in the opposite direction when they become extreme or it can be translated as too much water drowned the miller. When we are too dependent on the one thing, we forget our original intention to use it. Our problem now is being too immersed in the Internet, and forget the Internet can bring us harm. It’s undeniable that the Internet has became part of our life. We even can not live without it. But precisely because we naturally accept this fact, leads us to ignore all sorts of hazards the internet will bring. When we lose our self-consciousness, the Internet will begin to gradually impact us all negatively.
Conclusion
We should pay close attention on how we are using the internet. We can use it as a tool, but don’t get addiction just like Lauramarie said in her blog post: “ We can also argue that they have also hurt us but I think establishing a middle ground in where not too much technology is used would be prudent.”
The internet takes us away from what we’re doing.Too much internet use can cause a mental disorder like psychotic depression or psychotic symptoms. We become more isolated because we lose our ability to communicate and our emotion which I consider one of the most important things as a human being, and our real world is far more beautiful than the online world. We should see more and appreciate more of the real world when we still young instead spending all the time on just a limited sized screen.
Many people know and are worried that one day the technology or the internet will replace all contacts between people, but we still can not do without it. The internet is essential with the development of civilization and technology. We can’t deny that it has brought us convenience, but we must know that direct communication between people is the most fundamental aspect of civilization. From the article “Man-Computer Symbiosis”, Licklider says: “Computing machines can do readily, well, and rapidly many things that are difficult or impossible for man, and men can do readily and well, though not rapidly, many things that are difficult or impossible for computers. That suggests that a symbiotic cooperation, if successful in integrating the positive characteristics of men and computers, would be of great value. ” People and computers should work together and avoid using it in a problematic way. That way internet can play its most efficient role.
The internet takes us away from what we’re doing.Too much internet use can cause a mental disorder like psychotic depression or psychotic symptoms. We become more isolated because we lose our ability to communicate and our emotion which I consider one of the most important things as a human being, and our real world is far more beautiful than the online world. We should see more and appreciate more of the real world when we still young instead spending all the time on just a limited sized screen.
Many people know and are worried that one day the technology or the internet will replace all contacts between people, but we still can not do without it. The internet is essential with the development of civilization and technology. We can’t deny that it has brought us convenience, but we must know that direct communication between people is the most fundamental aspect of civilization. From the article “Man-Computer Symbiosis”, Licklider says: “Computing machines can do readily, well, and rapidly many things that are difficult or impossible for man, and men can do readily and well, though not rapidly, many things that are difficult or impossible for computers. That suggests that a symbiotic cooperation, if successful in integrating the positive characteristics of men and computers, would be of great value. ” People and computers should work together and avoid using it in a problematic way. That way internet can play its most efficient role.