The Internet

THE INTERNET

In the article “The internet” Steven Johnson analyses how the internet has gained the trust and time of every user in the world. He does this by splitting some of the methods the internet uses to draw people in. The first being through participation, the second through the interesting video game feel, and withdrawal of public spaces.

With participation, Johnson argues that the internet uses it to keep everything interesting. Writing emails, creating web blogs or even indulging in watching TV episodes keeps the attention of society. He quotes, “internet causes you to lean in and engage, while television encourages you to zone out.” This statement is very much true to how our society works, and is a prime example to what Mark Bauerlein stated in the thesis statement. It gives people participation and power over technology. Television has limited engagement and without society now a day, multi-tasking is a must like state in the Technology and the Mind page. According to Johnson skeptics thought that the internet would consist of scholars and professional writers or editors publishing material while the rest of society only used it for clicking hyperlinks and creating emails. Yet, history has proven that to be wrong, the internet gives people a voice, the voice you project your identity to as your life developing in front of your eyes.

Video games is another way the internet draws us in, and another way it changes society. For the video games teaches society the ability to problem solve. Johnson went into further explanation on to how video games create pleasure in society and that’s why it is interesting; it is interesting through the exploration of new interactive sites or programs such as iTunes and the engagement it provides.

The last statement he spoke of was withdrawal of public spaces, he explains it as “terrible social cost” because it takes us away from face to face interactions and placing us in front of a screen. Sure it does facilitate our lives when it comes to communicating information but it also secludes us from society. In Greg Downey’s article, “Introduction: Communication Meanings and Social Purposes” there is a quote that enforces this idea.

“For a while, it seemed that communication technology had finally brought about the “death of distance,” paradoxically producing a global society that one could consume from the comfort and isolation of one’s home.”

The idea that the internet, a technological machine, can change the structure of society fits well with what Mark Bauerlein is trying to display in his anthology. But, an impressive quote that has resonate with me from this article is, “Google is our cultures principle way about knowing about itself.” We also made the internet the diary of our society.