Technological Determinism And A Sad Reality

With the rise of new digital media came a new way of social interaction and communication as a whole. A technology based world of apps, emojis and likes. With every new generation in my opinion brings new levels of anxieties provoked by new digital media. In Katherine’s sake, a 13 year old girl’s life revolves around the world living inside of her iPhone therefore bringing a tremendous amount of anxiety along with this obsession. Within the article written about Katherine the author states that:

“Katherine Pommerening’s iPhone is the place where all of her friends are always hanging out. So it’s the place where she is, too. She’s on it after it rings to wake her up in the mornings. She’s on it at school, when she can sneak it. She’s on it while her 8-year-old sister, Lila, is building crafts out of beads. She sets it down to play basketball, to skateboard, to watch PG-13 comedies and sometimes to eat dinner, but when she picks it back up, she might have 64 unread messages”.

This paragraph creates a type of anxiety that Katherine feels every time she is not looking at her iPhone screen, one that is a kind of ‘fear of missing out’ feeling (usually known as F.O.M.O). 

Her iPhone is a place where to her, the latest and greatest things are happening and switching from app to app will mean she is there to experience it. With this must come a sense of overwhelming stress, to have the need to always be posting the best photo or getting the most likes like young Katherine so desperately feels to be doing. Social media has produced this sense of social pressure and has projected it onto the world’s newest generation especially. Pressure of constantly feeling the need to compare the lives of one another through the pictures and videos that are posted online. Who is more popular? Who is having more fun? Who has more followers? This article also highlights a certain restless feeling Katherine feels as she switches from app to app while in the car. The attention span of this generation is being overcome by the need to be refreshing timelines.

The theory of ‘Technological Determinism’ as discussed in the second chapter of Personal Connections in the Digital Age highlights the idea that technology is the sole influence on the way society thinks, feels and reacts. With this being said, new digital media being a huge factor in this theory. It is clearly displayed in the article by Jessica Contrera that Katherine’s whole world revolves around technology and new digital media. Katherine lives her life wondering how many likes she will get, she communicates through texts, comments and snapchats. This clearly shows how technology has taken the reins of her life. As generations go on we can see how these machines “change us” and this although this theory takes a very dystopian view on the world it seems to be a very sad reality of the way we live.

I chose to relate this to technological determinism because though I would like to think that machines changing us can also be positive and not 100% negative, I cannot deny the fact that this is happening. Technology is continuing to influence and alter the way we live and I see it within my own world as well, this theory was the clear choice in my opinion. If people focus on real relationships and not just the relationship between you and your Instagram followers, I believe there to be some hope to not have these anxieties devour our whole world.

With this being said, I think I can speak for the majority of this class and even our generation when I say that reading Katherine’s story made me feel EXTREMELY thankful that I did not grow up being obsessed and consumed with a cellphone by thirteen.