Digital+Nation

Digital Nation

Video 1:

I thought that chapter 1 was quite intriguing, especially when it starts out with the lady explaining about how her children and husband were in the other room on their electronic devices. The Ironic thing is that she uses the computer to explain what was going on, kind of forshadowing what was going to happen in the next 8 or so minutes in the clip. We use these technologies every day, even when the other lady explained that her honey moon consisted of no contact with anyother human. They had no contact with the outside world. I agree that the "multitasking" part is deffinately dumbing us down. I myself catch my friends questions towards me in fragments, especially when I am on the phone texting or even engaged in Twitter or Facebook. It is topped off by the talks about MIT, Stanford, or any of the other major universities; even NASA. Professors have been dealing with lower mean scores, slower multitasking oportunities, and many other things that we as a generation have been exposed to, something that was not exposed to our parents, grandparents, etc!

Video 2:

Multitasking and the brain. I thought it was interesting that many of the students at Stanford thought that they were great multitaskers.Psychology states that it is virtually impossible to multitask. The average given toward the middle of the clip was about 50 hours a week on an electronic device. This is scary to ponder. There is more than a 2 fold increase in the brain when using google instead of reading a book. The frontal lobe is affected (the decision making party), and this seemingly makes sense. It was also interesting that the studies were posed as something positive, in which was not the case at all. It is a bewilderment to me that we have not begun to more closely research these topics, so that our brains don't turn to mush. The part that really hit home to me is that it is 23 times more likely that you will get into an accident if you text while you drive. This is a scary notion and hopefully we all gather something from it.

Video 3:

I think that it was interesting to see the cafe's that offer cheap gaming experience to the TENS of THOUSANDS of kids that are willing to indulge. It was crazy to hear that people have actually died because of gaming. Children are getting addicted to the games and the internet and it's a deffinate problem. 50 hours or more straght to complete a gaming marathon or a competition. First of all it says over 90% of Korean children use a computer in every day life. 10-15% of those children are at high risk. Isn't there a negative correlation here? It's sobering to think that other nations have quirky and ironic things that kids are addicted to. Are we this bad in the United States? If we don't see what's happening in other nations we will plummit into the ranks of computer addicted people.

Video 4:

It is very important for people to implement teaching using the computers, Ipads, and Ipods at their disposal. I have seen this first hand with the children my mother works with. She is an educational interpreter but she also works with children with cognitive disabilities. It is so neat to watch how a student that has trouble with everything under the curriculum having to do with math, excel in the classroom when given a chance to have a fun Ipad game or computer game to help aid in their learning. Even in Sioux Falls we have a new highschool geared toward a technical based field of study. This helps to branch children out even further, similiar to how many different teachers use fine and preforming arts to grasp the attention of children that aren't particularly interested in the mathematics or oral parts of school!

Video 5:

I thought the video was a little explicit. Calling people the dumbest generation is a little harsh. I don't think we are neccesarily dumb, but we just have had access to technology that makes things easier for us. I believe one example would be to read a book. Instead of actually getting actively engaged into a book we as a generation have begun to text and use electronics during this time. This is not right. Another way is by writing papers. We take time to text and do other things and it is the same way. We need to be engulfed in our studies, not just getting through them!

Video 6:

The U.S. has also been afflicted by the gaming craze. This has exactly affected our relationships! I do not know about you, but my relationships have been aflicted by this phenomenon. My girlfriend, although she may be serious 90% of the time, always makes remarks about video games to me. I just recently started playing more avidly, and the online games have been a big part that I have recently tried. I believe that we can balance our company with other people with video games, it just takes a little time and practice!

Video 7: Why do we need virtual offices? To what extent do they hold in our society? I believe that this is a bad idea. It takes away from what we actually do in the work place, and that is interacting. Going into special education I have realized that not only do we as human beings need both nature and nurture, but we have basic needs that are met by simply being around people. If we aren’t around people then we cannot get the social skills required to be a well-rounded person in regards to anything that we do. We need to build social skills so that we can be able to co-interact with our world around us! Are we slowly being replaced by computers and software? After reading this I felt like I was in a sci-fi thriller! What ever happened to normal meetings, normal real life people, and normal requirements for a job!!! Video 8: I think that the drones are actually a good Idea. I have played many video games that have to do with using fighter drones to do your dirty work. It is seemingly a good Idea to do this, but what if the aim is off? What if we are a just a hair off and cost some innocent person their life? To what extent is it worth our safety to do the job that our military has signed on to do? Also about the virtual foods: what the heck! Is our world getting so crazy and out of wack that we are actually incorporating virtual foods into our diets? We cannot get full from “virtual food”. It is physically impossible. Why are scientists and program designers even trying to do this? It makes me sick to think about, and sometimes I feel like it will be the end of the world, I mean come on //virtual food, and virtually full?// Video 9: Army recruitment centers seemingly are a good Idea. It gives kids the chance to see what combat is like, but also it’s a little bit a skew with the data. These games are fun, no doubt, but these children are experiencing the adrenaline rush without the feeling that “wow, I might be shot”. Any simulation that has to do with death is no simulation at all. Our youth do not understand that we have fought for our freedom many centuries ago, and many have died. I do not agree with using a video game to recruit kids into coming into the army is a good idea. Another thing that bewilders me is how the military is going after younger and younger kids. It should be a decision that they make when they are old enough, not told about it when they are too young and naive to care. Our youth need to be the future of tomorrow; why not let them thrive on that!?!?