Technology
companies have their own symbols to display it commercially and to promote its
public recognition. Companies like Apple and Microsoft are two of the most
popular companies and its symbol. Their symbols have been developed over the
past few years and now, audience can easily recognize both companies. Both
companies have battled over the past few years on which one has the best device
and inventions. Overall, both companies are recognized all over the world and
its symbol help them to sell their products.
Coyle, C. L. and Vaughn, H. (2008), Social networking: Communication revolution or evolution?.
Bell Labs Tech. J., 13: 13–17. doi: 10.1002/bltj.20298
Religion of Technology
Technology is becoming more and more like a religion than it
was in the past because of our culture is becoming more centered and driven on
material things. Like religion
technology promises a better future down the road with the promise of life
being easier when they make what they do public. Apple Company for an example
will put their logo which acts like what the cross is for Christians. Also with
these companies people follow whatever they do, study them, and basically
worship them by buying their stuff. The things they buy might not be so much
different than what they got just a year ago but getting the newer version of
what they just bought makes them happier with themselves. This system is a
cycle that repeats itself every year. Then the people that run the companies
are almost like priest and prophets they are telling you about how wonderful
their technology is, how bad the other companies technology (they don’t go out
and say it face to face but they make it sound like others companies can’t keep
up), and promise that they have the best way to live your life. The older religions like Christianity,
Judaism, and Islam are affected by technology now. People living on the go are
more likely to update Facebook, Twitter, or even Text during service than
people in the pass. Religion now has to fight with phones for people’s
attention. Also companies have made Apps that tell you the bible verse of the
day so that you can do it anywhere. Technology is becoming more of a religion
than religion working with technology because the two are in a competition.
Matyszczyk,
Chris. "Anthropologist: Apple Is a Religion." CNET News. CBS Interactive, 25 Oct. 2012. Web. 17 Mar. 2013
Social Class aspects
The concept of “class” has been discussed in some countries
like the United. States, but it is still in dispute. There are usually many
classes, such as upper class, upper middle class, middle class, lower middle,
class, lower class and under class. However, the class distinctions are not
obvious. A lot of factors determine people’s class. Thus, American people, even
those who are actually in lower class, are more likely to say they are in
middle class, even though most people are in working class. How do they define
themselves in terms of their social class? There are many factors that determine
social class. One factor is income level. This factor is subjective, and it
depends on how satisfied they are economically. It evokes around their
lifestyles or occupations. This is another reason why American people keep
saying they are in middle class. They strongly believe in “American Dreams,” in
which everyone has equal chance to be rewarded economically. Thus, we cannot
classify ourselves into class only by economics. Another big factor is
education level. This is associated with money. Parents who have studied in a
university can let their children get high education, because they have enough
money. On the other hand, parents who have studied only in college cannot,
because they cannot make enough money from their jobs. There are some working
children. They are really important for poor families, because they bring
income to home and they can help their family with their housework. If those
working children go to college, their family loses income and help from them.
Also, they have to spend more money on tuition. Even if they go to college,
there is a difference between professors between them and children who go to a
high private university. They would not learn some things children who go to a
good private university would. However, they might be able to get a scholarship
so that they could also go to a great private high school. However, scholarship
is based on academic merit, not real financial needs. Thus, they cannot
actually get a scholarship. These problems make the gap between rich family and
poor family much greater. Another big factor is occupation. For example,
doctors are well paid. However, how many children from poor family can be a
doctor in the future? This is related to education level. As I mentioned, children
who go to a great private university can take higher education than children
who go to a college in a rural area. Thus, they are more likely to be a doctor in
the future; on the other hand, children who go only to a college are more like
to get a job where they are not well paid.
This research
project shows how social class affects people in terms of income level,
education level, and occupation. What I realized is that people in high class
are more likely to have children who will be in high class and people in middle
or lower class are more likely to have children who will be in middle or lower
class. In other others, social class strongly affects their next generations.
There are some helps for middle or lower class people to be more successful
such as scholarship, but those helps are actually not available for those who
really need them. Thus, I strongly believe that people should take ethical
actions to make “American Dreams” come true.
Citation
WKSU Public Radio. Class
America: Unspoken Divide. WKSU – news, classical, other smart stuff. 2013.
Web. 16 Mar.2013.
Wright, Erik Olin. Social Class. Department of Sociology.
University of Wisconsin. 2003. Print.
Communal Identities
When thinking about the communal
identities such as race, nationalism and ethnicity in terms of technology
people tend to not think about how you have this physical and virtual image of
yourself. When thinking about identity and who you are as a person and who you
wants to be as a person, technology can be a great way of expression. A lot of
people love to use social sites, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Using
these sites is a great way to express yourself, when thinking about identity
you really get to make your own identity on social sites. You have to power to
give people the image of yourself that you would want them to see, technology
has really transformed how we leave our footprint. The things you search, the
places you go carrying a GPS and through our social media you can really give a
person an identity using all of these. Technology is slowly transforming this
physical world into a virtual world.
After doing some research
on race and ethnicity in digital technology, I had found out that PEW Hispanic
research center did a survey on the technology used by race and ethnicity. In
conclusion Caucasian people are likely to have access to the internet and a
broadband connection or own a cell phone then Hispanic or African races. But
the use of internet and cell phones is very similar between races. There is a
lot of variable to this study, after looking at Hispanics and Caucasians that
have lower levels of education the difference disappears. Hispanics and whites
who have similar socioeconomic characteristics tend to have similar patterns
for these technologies. Another study that they did was how and what they had
used their cell phone for. The studies showed that Hispanics are less likely
then Caucasians to use non-verbal applications, but were more likely to use
instant messaging. 6% of Hispanics said that they access internet from the cell
phone, but don’t have an internet connection at home.
When
thinking about technology from a global standpoint, people really don’t tend to
think about the large percent of people who don’t know what the internet is.
The new technologies have really influenced the way people perceive the world.
People have this impression that the internet has the ability to solve all
political and social problems. When thinking about the news on the TV or
internet sites, they people making and telling the story can really manipulate
the meaning and plot to what the story has to offer. People think that
technology does have this big advantage over knowing and finding out what is
happening around the world but how much can you really believe?
Works Cited
"Ethnicity and the Internet in a Global Society." Ethnicity and the Internet in a Global Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
"Race and Ethnicity in Digital Technology." Times of Texas. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.
Socialization Aspect
This research show how a relationship between
parents and children are affected by the use of Internet. People discuss how the technology revolution affects and
changes the family relationships and people’s consuming behaviors. It highlights the
connection between parents’ warmth and receptivity to the influence on their
kids through Internet use. Specifically, a study shows how warmth in a
relationship between parents and children could positively affect the decisions
to purchase technology items of parents.
There are uncountable numbers of children who have access to
Internet at home. As in the research, most US family has a long-term online
subscription with the Internet providers. The parents believe that using
Internet and interacting with a computer directly can help to develop their
kids’ investigative skills, critical abilities, and academic potential. The
research also points out that the Internet access increases both parents’ and
children’s technology knowledge and it affects their activities, behaviors, and
relationships as well.
This study also extends research on children perceptions
and reactions in teaching their parents to use the Internet. Do these kids
teach their parents spontaneously? Does that make these kids feel satisfied
about their technology skills and knowledge? And do children realize about the
motivations of their parents when they try to engage in these activities?
Grossbart,
Sanford; Hughes, Stephanie McConnell; Pryor, Susie; Yost, Amber.
"Socialization Aspects of Parents, Children, and the Internet." Advances
in Consumer Research. 29.1 (2002): 66. Web. 16 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=8559>.
Communicative Aspect
Social Networking has boomed over the past few
decades. It makes it easier to socialize and communicate with your family,
friends, and acquaintances. Facebook is a very popular social networking site
that was launched on 2004 and as of 2012; over one billion active users are
using the program. Facebook gains you access through peoples account to view
their status and social life. You can view conversations, pictures, and videos.
It made it easier to communicate by a simple click. Now, Facebook has a lot of applications that can even track where
your friends are. Twitter and instagram are alike Social networking program.
You follow people to access their status time to time. On the other hand,
instagram can only post pictures. Unlike twitter, it posts status and pictures
from instagram. Both programs are link together for a better communication.
Communication now is way easier than the past. You can access everything from a
person’s life with a single tap. In the past, we use letters and telephones to
keep in touch with people.
Gender Aspect
In today’s life, through the high-speed
spreading and the influential power of mass media built upon technology, people
in modern society are getting familiar with the image of women are shown in online
and television advertisement as a sexual object while men are depicted as a
representation for domination. In “Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt: Advertising
and Violence”, Jean Kilbourne shows that the overuse of women bodies, the
violence and the inconsiderately extravagant power of men in commercial advertisements
are literally a reason for the normal feeling of society towards sexual
violence and brutality in that a woman is plainly a victim. In the technology
era, it’s easy for the messages in an advertisement to reach any audience. When
the messages get wrong, people’s mind get messed up as well. As in
advertisements today, men are seen as a dominant class and it becomes ordinary
when they act violently and abusively towards women as it is inevitable that creates
an outrageous distance between the two sexes. Additionally, when sex is
overexposed to fetishize a product and degrade women like using an image of a
woman get rewarded for her sexuality by the man’s wealth “as in an ad for
Cigarette boats in which the woman says, while lying in a man’s embrace clearly
after sex, “Does this mean I get a ride in your Cigarette?”, we can recognize
that “products never can fulfill our sexual desires or meet our emotional
needs”. In Kilbourne’s essay, she disputes that it becomes a danger when women
are depicted as sex objects because the dehumanization and value deprivation
could make women become easier to be victimized, at least under men’s view.
That is when the violence, brutality, and aggression towards women are
extremely skyrocketing when women are not seen as equal. People would be
unlikely to hurt someone that they have respect for or see as equal as them. Dangerously, the advertisements tend to convince men that
dominance is a key to score with a woman and that means they have to treat
woman badly. In that case, men are likely victims as well when they are imbued
with a wrong masculinity ideal. In general, the advertisements obviously use
sex to attract the viewers and sex-related factors are something that makes a
product more appealing to buy. It also portrays women as something that can be
gained and easy to have a sexually exchanged just by using company’s products. The
statement “The poses and postures of advertising are often borrowed from
pornography” said by Kilbourne, supports her idea that women’s sexualities are
often overexploited in advertisements in order to sell a product and technology
is a useful tool to fulfill that purpose. Kilbourne also got a point when she
gives out examples of the advertisements for the alcohol brands containing
tremendously belittling ideas about females. It is said in an advertisement
that you can take advantage of women by getting them drunk. Dangerously, those
sorts of advertisements could give out an erroneous idea that some people would
absolutely be willing to try. From that, the messages with sexual appeal in ads
are completely out of control and getting easier to spread to many generations
by using technology. Thus, when technology is misused, it could cause negative
effects as well.
Kilbourne, Jean. ‘‘Two Ways
a Woman Can Get Hurt: Advertising and Violence.” Rereading America: Cultural
Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Ed. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen,
and Bonnie Lisle. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2007. 417-442.
Political and
Power Aspect
No matter what
technology it was, power always went with the people who had more technology. The
advancement means the more accessible something is. If we look back at the 2012
election there was a lot of technology that was used. A lot of it was social
networking and seeing which candidate had more likes as well as polls on
Facebook to see which one of them was favored in your area. The other thing
that it did was it was a new way to campaign, it was looked at to get the
younger generation. If you look back at even the 2008 election there wasn’t as
much online campaigning as there was today and if we look back even further it
was almost unheard of. People in power know and realize how powerful technology
is and are trying to use its power. Technology has the power to change the
world. People are more linked in with the world around you and they are more
informed. Technology sets trends that can change in an instant. Technology also
helps challenge what is known. With the internet being easily accessible people
have the ability of challenging what is said by looking up what the internet
says it is. Also the government is trying to take control of what is on and off
of the internet. The internet and technology creates a power struggle over them
as well as a power struggle with them.
Cite
"Politics
and Technology." Politics and Technology. N.p., n.d. Web.
17 Mar. 2013.
"The Power
of Technology, The Power of Equality." The White House. N.p., 20 July
2010. Web. 17 Mar. 2013.
