Technology: Changing the market again. (Weekly Written Assignment 3)

Technology is a perplexing part of culture that is always changing. An article about technology discusses how over time, the borders between private and public realms have come down and really changed our culture. (pg 339) Most of the chapter discusses how the different generations and the different age groups implement technology. In addition, it addresses the barrier issues faced by trying to make certain technology mainstream. The article about breaking down borders intrigued me the most. The questions at the end are excellent questions to ask yourself and look at from different perspectives and they are; "How do you think the technologies you regularly use have influenced the way you live your life?" Also, "What would your everyday life be like without these technologies?" As we look around in our lives, we see the blended environments of the public realm and the private realm. You can walk into Starbucks or any place that offers WIFI in a social setting and find people busy on their laptops and smart phones as if they were at home. The new LG projector phone is a great example of mixing a private "business" or personal environment to a public environment. The phone has a built in ability to project the images or videos on your phone to a bigger "screen" such as your wall (Segan). Before, people would have a stand-alone device to give presentations or watch movies in your living room. Now people will be able to be virtually anywhere they want to show off personal videos or presentations in a much more public atmosphere. One thing that really stood out to me was when Samuels discussed how people use these technologies to create their own personal culture (Samuels). The ability to take culture wherever you go is an ever-growing aspect of our society and the line between private and personal is becoming more and more unified. The other side is that people are trying to multitask so much that they lack the ability to do a single task (Samuels). So how do different generations look at it? As said before by other classmates, the older generations are having a difficult time melding the technologies of today with their own lives. However, these new smart phones like the projector phone have been designed to appeal to a broader audience and are used for more than just business (Nielsen Wire). So now I ask, how do you think technology has allowed the private atmosphere of people to meld with the public atmosphere of people? Do you think this is a good thing or is it a means for people to get lost within themselves?

Dr. Clip, Initials. (2009). Smartphone and iphone demographics. BitBriefs, Retrieved from http://bitbriefs.com/2009/09/20/smartphone-and-iphone-demographics-from-nielsen/

Samuels, R. (2007). Breaking Down Borders: How Technology Transforms the Private and Public Realms. Common Culture, 339-342. .

Segan, S. (2009, November 30). LG, AT&T Announce 1-Ghz Projector Phone. PC Magazine, Retrieved from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2356407,00.asp