It is 1:00 am and I am scrolling through the recent posts on Instagram. Next thing I know, I’m awake, now, and it is 10 in the morning. Time to scroll through Vsco and Facebook. I see so many pictures of what others are doing, what they are saying, and who they are with. Little do I realize, I am not paying attention to the meaning or intention behind their post, or the many other simple events going on around me. I now click on a link that was on my snapchat that takes me to “The reason Fast Food is Diffusing Around the World” article. As I read, I am learning without even knowing it. I did not even think about the beautiful mind that was making it possible for me to read and learn.
Through reading the article, “The Mechanical Bride,” by Marshall McLuhan, I have recognized the extent to which technology takes our attention away from our personal growth, meanings/intentions of others, and direct emotional connection with humans. There are three different perspectives I see on the effect of technology.
The first relates to what McLuhan describes in the article, “The reporter doesn’t even know there’s a beautiful shell above him. He grows the shell, unwittingly, subhumanly, biologically. This is not even the voice, but only the feel, of the turtle.” Just as the reporter does his job and doesn’t realize the beauty in it or himself, we read off the internet and technology everyday without acknowledging our beautiful mind. We take in the things we read/see and learn from them, expanding the extent of our knowledge, but not realizing the growth in ourselves. When I am bored I click on news articles and magazine subscriptions available on snapchat, and begin learning about something random, such as how to bake a lava cake. I learn how to make this wonderful cake, but I never even acknowledge my ability to learn such a thing is because of my mind.
The second perspective also relates to something McLuhan explained in his article, “These habits blind people to the real changes of our time. Conditioned in this way, people have been taught to accept opinions and attitudes of the press. But the French symbolists, followed by James Joyce in Ulysses, saw that there was a new art form of universal scope present in the technical layout of the modern newspaper.” We, humans, are accustomed to following the actions of others so that we may not feel out of place or uncomfortable. This relates to the modern technological world of the younger generation. We walk or drive from place to place, not really speaking to anyone we do not know, and when held still, we take out our phones and look blindly at something on our device, acting like we have some agenda. This is true for almost any younger person. Even I catch myself doing this as I wait for the Statistics class to disperse from the room where my English class is to be held. I look through my photos, so I may seem to not look alone. I avoid human contact in that moment. Technology has taken our attention away from what others are doing, and coming in direct contact with other people. We follow the actions and attitudes of those around us, restricting our ability to grow and be unique. But there are also those who stand out beyond the realms of technology and the unspoken rule of actions. Those who are able to express themselves and find a new path to go on, such as James Joyce, become unique and grow consciously.
My final point and perspective has to do with our ability to act, but finding no meaning. “The same man would rather dunk himself in the newspaper than have any esthetic or intellectual grasp of its character and meaning. The incorrigible dunker would perhaps do well to skip the next few pages,” (McLuhan). This also relates to the vulnerability of the human race to conform to the actions of others around them. As you pull out your phone, avoiding contact with others and making yourself look like what you are portraying, you look at a news article, Instagram pictures, Snapchat stories, etc., and find no meaning in what you are looking at. When I am surrounded by people in a quiet place, I will look at something, some words, reading them, but finding no meaning behind them. I would rather portray myself as busy, important and independent, rather than find meaning in what I am actually doing in that moment of silence, outside of the classroom where our English class will take place.
As we act and associate ourselves with technology, we allow it to take our attention away from other small details around us. Whether it be sympathetic human interaction, improvements in ourselves, or the meanings we should find, we lose that interaction and realization by choosing to veer away from social events.
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