While reading Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman I have been reflecting and trying to distance myself from the loads of technology ingrained in our lives. As I’ve been reflecting, I’ve realized how hard it is to remove myself from screens, especially recently. It scares me to think that our whole world could be consumed by technology; I try my best to be mindful of the amount of time I spend in front of a screen. However, throughout quarantine I have caught myself being fed up of laying in bed on my phone all day. Sure, at first when we thought we’d be back at school in two weeks it felt like a well needed rest but, two weeks became a month, then two, then rest of the rest of our school year. All through the novel, Postman warns us that people are obsessed and becoming more obsessed with technology and entertainment. This is especially visible now in quarantine as this problem is worsening. Due to quarantine, I can say that myself and many others are stuck on our phones or televisions because we are encouraged to stay inside. I know that this situation isn’t ideal or controlled, but I’m worried that this will have long term effects on teens and younger students.
I know a couple of families are struggling with keeping their children and teens off of their phones, but it's genuinely difficult under these circumstances. Do you think that quarantine will pose long term effects on sleeping schedules and technology use? Has our world already been consumed by entertainment and social media? What have you been doing throughout quarantine? Could you go hours, minutes, or even seconds without your phone glued to your hand? We don’t have anything better to do shouldn’t be a thought when trying to validate how we’re using our time unproductively. I’d like to encourage all of us to try to get away from our addicting screens and find new activities that fulfill us.
It is certainly more difficult staying away from screens now due to quarantine. For me, School was probably the number one thing keeping me off of screens but now school has become the screen. There is almost no way to avoid the screen as it is almost our only way of having contact with the outside world, especially when we are discouraged from interacting with other people in person. However, it is not as if coronavirus caused this, it certainly exacerbates it, but this is how our society has always been. We have always been obsessed with social media, tv programs, and news outlets. It has always been there, but now coronavirus has taken out almost everything impeding people from spending their entire day on there and made it painfully obvious how much we have been consumed by technology.
ReplyDeleteI'm extremely uncomfortable with how much I'm on my phone. It's like I have a need to check my phone whether that be to scroll through Instagram or reply to a text. The whole idea of texting irritates me, as it now seems unnecessary to talk when we can "say" anything via text, tweet, DM, etc. Technology is enabling us to become anti-social by having everything at our fingertips. In my eyes, such an addiction isn't much different from a drug addiction. We deny that we have a problem, or when we are aware, we have withdrawal. It's not good for health and obesity is already an issue. Technology addiction has been a problem pre-quarantine and will definitely have long term effects post-quarantine, especially for younger generations.
ReplyDeleteI've actually had the very opposite effect when quarantine started. Once I realized I had the whole day to myself I began organizing to do different things. I wake up at 6:30 AM to workout, I finish at 10 then go for a jog at the park. I come back home at 11 and make some breakfast, then i take a shower and do my homework (by this time it is 2 PM). After this I work on my art skills up until 5 PM, eat, then continue whatever art project i have. I finish at around 8 PM then go to bed to watch some Netflix for 2 hours then go to sleep. I know that there are people out there who are really struggling and I don't mean to act like this lockdown is a good thing, but for me it hasn't been as bad.
ReplyDeletePersonally, when quarantine first started I was on my phone or watching TV majority of the day until I got tired of it. Eventually, I started to go out and ride my bike around the neighborhood and decided to do different things to try and stay active. But, I can say the more quarantine becomes extended, the more I see myself becoming less motivated to do these things. I don't want my days to consist completely of staring at a screen and drowning in media. I can say at some point everyone has been glued to their devices during this time, but there have been some people who've seen this as an opportunity to better themselves and even find new hobbies. Overall, I would say some people are more attached to technology than others since it seems to be the most convenient entertainment there is right now. I think the world has been consumed by technology already and as quarantine continues, it's not necessarily making time spent with technology any better. But, I can't speak for everyone and their personal experiences due to their being those who have actually distanced themselves because quarantine has given them a different perspective of technology today.
ReplyDeleteFor me, quarantine has definitely changed my mindset and my everyday routine because of how sudden our daily schedules stopped due to this virus. I believe that our generation relies on social media too much because we're so addicted to whatever is happening in the world. Now that we've gone into a couple of months, we should start to develop a schedule and be on top of our health whether it's exercising, trying out new hobbies, or just being productive with our time. However, many of us are going at our own pace and taking this whole quarantine in a variety of ways. I do agree with you about trying to encourage our peers into doing something within our quarantine.
ReplyDelete