Sample Essay

 

To What Extent Does Portable Technology Help People Be More Connected?

 

1          The 21st century is often called as an Era of Technology for a reason, because people living in this time are tightly connected to their technology. As a representative of Generation Z, I can’t imagine my current life without phone in my hand or earphones in my ears. We use technology all the time for various reasons, like texting, calling, playing games, listening to music, making a timetable, notes, order food, etc. Author of an article “Hell Is Other iPods”, Caspar Melville, doesn’t consider the impact of portable technology as positive, arguing that they increase solipsism, which is focusing only on yourself and it leads to social fragmentation with reduced experience of music. However, in this essay I will explain what he means by these terms and although generally I do agree with author’s points, I cannot accept his overall conclusion on this topic, because he is not comparing objectively influence of technology before and now.  

 

2          Caspar Melville considers usage of portable technology as a cause of increased solipsism in society. According to the Merriam–Webster dictionary, solipsism means “extreme egocentrism” and author uses it to explain that iPods in particular, limit our choices, focusing only on music that we have chosen previously, “it offers you a safe experience that flatters, because every good track was one you chose, every familiar song reminds you of an emotion or memory: yours.” I personally do not agree with author to full extent, since I don’t see it as a bad consequence. Human nature is that we prefer to stick to the things we already knew or heard. He shows this idea in a dim view, stating that people listen their iPods, “block out the rest of the world” and focus on themselves. Listening to music that you like can increase your mood and make you feel better, since you listen to what you want and according to your mood. If you are sad, you don’t want to listen to a fun or clubbing song, you would rather listen to something sad or calming. Focusing on yourself, on your emotions, mood and well-being is important, since we deal with stress, anxiety and depression every day.

 

3          The author’s second point - social division - is explicitly connected with solipsism, since for me, it is a result of it. When a person concentrates on himself only, he tends to forget that he is surrounded by other people, so their relationship and conversations are damaged. “When I need to block out the rest of the world, I turn it on” says one of the interviewees and author implies that wanting some personal space and condition to focus on yourself as a bad thing. We cannot be in a society all the time, since we need some time to reflect and analyze our actions or in general, what is happening around us. The creation of iPod has definitely made social division easier. I don’t see it as a bad thing, since for example, it made commuting less stressful, helping to reduce unwanted talks and an ability to immerse in your thoughts, rather than worrying what people around you are thinking or doing. People still chat if all participants want to and are comfortable are with it. Technologies in general help us control the flow of our conversation, while not helping with veracity of expressed emotions or feelings. We can lie about what we feel, since our interlocutor doesn’t see us and can’t analyze our facial expressions and tone. That’s why, I agree with author that social division became more obvious, but this situation has both benefits and harm.

 

4          Caspar Melville states that because of advanced technology we tend to get reduced experience of music in comparison with our predecessors. He argues that “large part of the joy of discovering good new music is simultaneously anticipating the pleasure of sharing it with someone else,” meaning that in order to fully enjoy music we have to share it with someone else. His point doesn’t make any sense to me, since I don’t care if people like my music taste or not, if I enjoy it, I will listen to it. Music is something private, it tells about my personality, what worries me and other personal information. If something is worth sharing, then I will do so. I still go to watch a movie with my family or friends, we listen to music in a car, so I wouldn’t say that our experience of media has changed dramatically, it just got a little bit more personal.

 

5          The last point is the “Daily We” concept, which was introduced by Cass Sunstein, who states “rather than broaden our access to information, ideas, and experiences, the Internet, precisely because it offers such dizzying, disorienting choice and possibility, reinforces the tendency to filter out what is unknown.” It is proven that Google and all its programs all the time analyze what we are searching for, what we are talking about. That’s why, if we looked for some kind of product, for example socks, the next half hour-day you will definitely see an ad with socks. People have a tendency to stick to what they already know or previously were interested. For example, I’m from Kazakhstan, so I’m interested in news from Kazakhstan, not from other countries, except for big ones. I think it is both good and bad, since we are reading only what is interesting for us, but at the same time limit ourselves and don’t get a full overview of what is happening around us.   

 

6          In conclusion, the author provides an interesting overview on how technologies impact on our society, stating that we focus on ourselves more, society is more divided, we get reduced experience of music and the “Daily We” concept. With some of his points I do agree fully, like the “Daily We”, with others like solipsism and social division I do agree that they take place, but do not support the idea that they bring negative consequences. I do not agree totally with his point of reduced experience, since I do not find it logical, relevant or reliable. We can argue about consequences of modern technology, but there is not much what we can change, since we cannot cut out them from our lives.

 

 

 

Works Cited

"Solipsism."Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2018.

Melville, Caspar. “Hell Is Other IPods.” 2005.