Nowadays it is strange
to meet a person who does not depend on technology. Technology is all around us
from cellphones to the doors from local supermarkets. It has affected our world
for the better and even for the worse. The most important technology that I use
is my cellphone, and I find myself never leaving my home without it. My
cellphone is my handheld information; from it, I receive news, social, and
media updates. With just a few clicks away, any question that puzzles me can be
accessed anywhere I am on the go. As a student this resource is beneficial
whenever I am doing work. However, there is always a “but” to every good thing.
Although cellphones could be very resourceful, not everything on the internet
is true and I find myself having the terrible habit like many others of using
improper English while using my phone. It is difficult sometimes to distinguish
what is true or not on the internet, but it is the most practical technology
with access to the internet. Whether it is to Google something or to simply
respond to a text words are often shortened, sentences are usually run-ons, and
no capitalization is used for faster replies. This downfall, also mentioned in
the video may influence many students as it affects me sometimes. Just because
this type of English is acceptable on cellphones does not make it acceptable in
real life scenarios such as schools or jobs, so I always have to proof read my
work to make sure I do not use any of these.
My laptop is the second
technology that has influenced me the most; I am even using it right now. Like
my cellphone, I use my laptop to look up information. I use it for research papers, schoolwork that
I have difficulties with, and for video tutorials when I want to watch how to
do something. However as stated before these things are great, but sometimes it
is hard to tell what is true and what is not on the internet. Aside from that
being on my laptop can be very distracting. I find myself procrastinating while
doing my work because there are so many things to do like social media, games,
or even chatting with people.
The
third technology that I use the most is my television. Although I cannot
control when and where I access the information for my television, it enables
me to learn things, which I did not know or even think of. Whenever I watch
television, it allows me to learn about the most recent news events, some,
which I knew, and others, which I had no, idea had occurred. The news covers
many things all around which I would not even think about looking up.
Additionally, there are specific channels that I could learn different types of
information, such as news channel, weather channel, sports channel, cooking
channels and entertainment channel. Each one of these channels allows me to
learn different types of information. Overall, having access to this
information has been beneficial and has to be true, if on these channels.
Although I have access to these channels I only watch then occasionally and use
television mostly for my personal use, to watch my shows, which are not
educational.
There are several
similarities and differences between the way the students in the video and I
use technology. More than one student has mentioned laptop and cellphones,
which are my top two technologies. Like two of the students mentioned my phone
is always with me at all times where ever I am an it is used mainly as a way of
communication through texting. In addition, one of the students mentioned how
she dislikes when people abbreviate words when texting, which are not actual
English words. Almost everyone I know does this. Like these students, I also
use my laptop for social media and looking up things when I need assistance.
Although two out of three of the items I mentioned the students also did, they
did not mention the television, but rather mentioned some gaming systems. I am not
sure whether it is because the students seem to be younger than I am in the
video, but video games having been as influential to me as they are to the
students in the video. The times I have played video games were just to pass
time or to have some fun. Overall, there are not many differences except the
one mentioned.
Hi Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in many parts of your blog. I liked when you mentioned that one draw back of having a cell phone is typing with improper english. That was starting to happen to me and I did not like it, so now when I text I try to always use proper english and text how I would talk. I try not to use abbreviations, because I do not want to form a bad habit. You mentioned that when you use your laptop you get distracted and I feel like that happens to me often and sometimes it is hard to focus on a paper when you have access to social media so easily.
I also liked that you mentioned the issue of improper English that comes with the use of technology - I feel like this isn't talked about enough, only by people who distance themselves from the problem and complain about the "younger generation" having problems with grammar because of cellphones. But it isn't just kids, it's also us, as you mentioned. I really started to notice it in my own life when I would be writing an email and find myself typing "idk" or something like that and then having to go back and fix it. One of the drawbacks to technology is that it can create this impatience in us for getting everything faster and instantly, and so this carries over to texting where we want to say what we have to say as quickly as possible. I stopped using "u" instead of "you" when I realized that it reality, it doesn't save me ANY time at all to type the one letter instead of three!
ReplyDeleteI like how you brought up that not everything on the internet is true. I agree 100% with you on that. However, I think in certain circumstances this can be a good thing because it forces us to decide what information is true and what is not. This can be good because it allows us to think critically and reason which are very good skills to have and develop. I really think you did a good job discussing a wide variety of technologies. I did not even think to mention my television as a technology, otherwise I would have probably put that down as one of mine because we do get so much information from it.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned how a difference between yourself and the students in the video is that they did not pick television and you did. I noticed this difference myself and found it suprising. I also picked television and as far as I see most of our other classmates did as well. You made a good point that it might be because the students are younger than us. I think our generation grew up on television more than any other. As a child my eyes were constantly glued to the television. Today, children have so many other devices to occupy them than we did. There are far more advanced video games, computers and cell phones.
ReplyDelete