John Ivansek
Professor Schmeling
September 19, 2012
Reflecting
on my Connection
The
students who participated in this great experiment at Carlton College are
extremely ambitious. In today’s world, technology surrounds us everywhere we
go. These kids were offered a challenge to take up the fight against the machine,
which they did so very bravely, but ultimately they did indeed find it very
difficult to survive while being completely restrained from their devices. They
did, however, seem to be extremely surprised and proud of themselves with the
wonderful will power they exhibited. They pushed beyond their comfort zones and
kept going. I would think the best take away form this is the fact we should
not try to make technology our life and try to utilize them to be able to go
out and experience life outside ones home.
While watching
this documentary, I could feel the pain of the three brave souls who decided to
take on this crazy yet very exciting endeavor. In our modern world, technology
is king. In addition to that, my generation is the first to be fully brought up
in this new age. I find it hard to live without being trapped by our devices.
These computers are supposed to make life simple and efficient, but it’s also
hard on the contrary to realize we are slaves to these devices. In today’s age,
losing a computer is like losing your best friend. We have to worry about
having people reaching out on a personal and professional level everyday. Even
if we hate the thought of being tied down and forced to turn on or devices
everyday it’s inevitable. To be successful in today also requires computer
comprehension. Without these computing skills one is essentially pushed out of
the loop and therefore the world competition will eat you up. These facts were
evident in this video, when the frustration of the students was showing as they
overwhelmingly trying to keep up with schoolwork, teachers, friends and family
without the internet.
The
hardest part about not having a computer for me is reading and turning in
schoolwork online. I do not know what I would do at this school without D2L.
This is because teachers barely explain homework anymore in class. All they do
is post it and say finish the work by next class. This has its advantages and
disadvantages. But, knowing this experiment took place in 2008 teaches me that
if these three kids tried to do this computer ban in 2012 they would run into
even more difficulties conquering their quest. As we all know, many
advancements have occurred in this short four-year period. Technology has only
grown to become even more involved for both the good and bad. I love the fact
that this has made us completely mobile with work and life, but then again
there is no completely going away anymore. Privacy is out the window. The fact
that one cannot even make any mistakes in life without them being publicly
poured out by social net working is shameful. We are not perfect, and
technology is depressing in the fact that it is impeding human achievements.
People need to make mistakes and in today’s day and age I am finding it very
difficult to make my own decisions in life.
I completely
respect these individuals in attempting this wonderful endeavor to give
everyone hope that something of this magnitude could possibly be pulled off. I
understand that its not easy at all and would take plenty of frustrating
moments, but I feel it would be a satisfying show of immense will power and
courage to take it on. I also have realized that doing this with school and
keeping up with the ones you love would make this a difficult decision to make,
because you are sort of shutting off your life from the world. I wish life
could be simpler. In a way, computing has the main goal of making everything
simpler, but nothing can be that simple. There is no perfect solution, and this
is just another tool to help and distract our great human race. Technology has
very good intentions, but this film has shown me how difficult it is to shut
off the computer for good.
