Social Shaping of Technology

            The article 13 Right Now is an article that embodies how teenagers in today’s society is deeply submerged into the world of technology. Katherine Pommereing demonstrated a range of anxieties in relation to the interactivity of new digital media. From reading the article I sensed that Katherine had a slight sense of minor OCD, she had an obsessive and compulsive disorder with her specific app Instagram. It was so important for her to have a certain amount of like and making sure it had the right filter. Which can even lead to frustration if it was wrong or like mentioned in the article that she would delete pictures that did not receive enough likes or may not have good lighting. That is where the OCD comes into play.

            Katherine like many teenagers has a hunger for attention. They also seek the attention and validation through social networking and in particular through likes and comments. The more you have, the better you are … that is how they put it. It’s as if it’s a status that many want to obtain. I can reinforce this when she said that she “wants to get better at her phone. To be one of the girls who knows what to post, how to caption it, when to like, what to comment”. At this point she has lost her own identity. The use of their mobile phone has also caused them to have a short attention span. In the article, Katherine opened up 8 apps in a matter of a 12-minute drive home. Kids now a day needs to be constantly entertain and if they find it boring they will easily move onto the next thing. Teens like Katherine has also never experience such a high for the fear of missing out, which is why they are constantly on their phone. Based off the article Katherine seems to never be away from her phone – from the time she wakes to being in school, she is on it.

            This article resonates with the theoretical framework of Social Shaping of Technology. As it is important to understand that humans give technology life and purpose – it is an “interrelated nodes” (45). Though we put the blame of the cause of our anxieties on technology lets not forget yes technology can initiate new problems, but troubles lie in the hands of the people enacting the behaviours (47). With the use of technology it does further “accelerate certain trends, magnify cultural weaknesses, and fortify certain social structures while eroding others” (44), but we are feeding into it. We are losing our own identity by living in this fictional world of social media in this case. The insecurity that Katherine has is rooted in herself but with the use of apps like Instagram it only enhances and magnifies it. The problem was always there, technology did not cause the problem but only is it making it more evident.