Some may see convergence as the curse of innovation, slowly grappling away at real-life social situations as the person to your right laughs at the IM received through their iphone, and the person to your left states a ‘did-you-know’ fact to the group fresh from their latest Google search conveniently from the palm of their hand. And furthermore, it might seem a little strange that this scene can be taken from your last outing with your friends. Yep, that’s right YOUR last outing with YOUR friends!Let’s give a big warm welcome to convergence!
My advice is to befriend convergence asap as it isn’t going anywhere and will/has/is currently making itself extremely welcome in your life. Now, it’s not all bad. Let’s continue with this concept of interaction. While convergence may be the cause for distractions from some social situations it also allows us to communicate with a plethora of people all at the click of a button.
It allows for greater platforms of communication with many thanks needing to be given to Web 2.0. Everyday activities such as reading the paper, which could be seen as an activity of solitude in the past, now offers an abundance of interactivity as readers are able to find more information on articles through the internet, and interact with others through leaving public feedback and participating in forums. Readily available content at the click of button has unlocked new levels of learning and knowledge for anybody and everybody.
So before convergence cops a beating ask yourself this, has it helped you? If convergence still has no friends, I’ll be sure to volunteer.
I'm in the same boat. I love convergence, it makes our lives easier. Will we get to a "wall-e" level of gadgetry distraction? I don't think so. Why? I think we're too smart for that. Some people might get that way but I don't think it will be an across the board thing. People are too aware of the potential over-saturation of technology to succumb to that level of digital dependence.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on that one Amy. I remember I was out not too long ago and I was with around 10 people and at least half of them were on their smartphones; some probably commenting others that were there. Still, convergence is awesome, even if it does make you a little anti-social in a digitally-social way
ReplyDelete*Naomi haha
ReplyDeleteYeah I also agree that the majority of people won't get to a 'wall-e' way of living, but I think it's safe to say therere some people out there who are totally dependent on technology!
I guess being slightly anti social is a little sacrifice to make for all the amazing technological innovations our world is seeing.
I think convergence also leads to us being able to get out of awkward social situations... *looks at twitter to avoid talking to people*. I personally like convergence, not having to carry around 30 devices to do what my phone can. Imagine, carrying a calculator, laptop, phone, game console and how ever many other things it can do all at once. Doesn't sound too great.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on that one! I always pretend to look at my phone to avoid talking to people or as a form of safety if I feel uncomfortable somewhere ( I don't really know how my phone will save me though :l haha) .
ReplyDeleteAnd I would much rather carry my phone around then all those other forms of technology !
Haha it's true that it would just be silly to be carrying around all of those devices every day. Back in the non convergent times - I'm sure there was a lot of "gee, I wish that I had a calculator right now" and "boy, I'm bored" (wish I could play a game while I'm waiting) going around.
ReplyDeleteI love having all of that at my convenience and not even noticing that I have it in my pocket until I actually need it. So I will have to say that Yes, yes it has helped me. BUT I do think, that usually the separate devices are of better quality (or do more.. because they are the singular)...
e.g. calculators - they have soo many buttons (which people use in like 4unit maths) that I'm sure phone calculator apps cannot do.
e.g. a HD video camera will always take much better quality video and more space on the tape than on a mobile phone.
e.g. I feel a computer screen to browse the internet is always going to be more comfortably than squinting at a phone screen - no matter how big.... which I guess brings the topic to ipads... but that's a whole new bucket of fish.
One of the comments you made in your post about the reading the news is no longer an act of solitude really speaks to me.
ReplyDeleteOne place on the internet in particular that this is true for is reddit. Previously, in the printed text world we could discuss news in person, but we’d be limited in the topics discussed, and even then we’d most likely talk about the headline news. However with sites like reddit which determines the headlines not on a single editors choice but instead on popularity. This completely changes the game as I don’t read news now unless it features on the front page of reddit.
All my information is congregated onto a single website. Although this should clearly identify a weakness my strategy of finding reliable news (when has the popular news ever been the correct news) I still wouldn’t change it, as from what I’ve seen this is what convergence does. It creates its own system which removes redundant data through public filtering and creates a system resistant to outside control by the same method.