Lance Strate clearly illustrates a definitive meaning of Media Ecology in his overview “The study of media environments, the idea that technology and techniques, modes of information and codes of communication play a leading role in human affairs.” This particular idea struck me, because as as well as it being true in modern day society, it is also becoming increasingly prominent aspect within our lives. In an average day individuals can upload the directions to their destination, transfer money between accounts at the click of a finger, educate ourselves through an infinite number of online resources, email large numbers of people with complete ease and various other examples. These new and efficient ways easily accessible to us in everyday life are in turn causing generations to avoid using the functions of our own brains and relying on technology to do all the thinking for us. This idea is closely related with Stieglers thoughts on hypomnesis and anamnesis, “Now, these cognitive technologies, to which we confined a greater and greater part of our memory, cause us to lose an ever-greater part of our knowledge”.
Through younger generations choosing to use these efficient form of media they’re missing an opportunity to use and train their brain. For example, in using GPS which directly tells you which direction to go and how long it will take you, it overturns the use of our actual need to think on our own. Not only that but we lose the chance to learn navigation skills, something that is a useful life skill. The same is prevalent in the example of emailing large numbers of individuals with complete ease as opposed to letter writing. Along with Email’s list of positive characteristics it avoids to engage people in forms of physical letter writing, which proves to be a more intimate and personal form of communicating with one another (getting and email saying “I love you” as opposed to a handwritten letter doesn’t have the same effect).
However, there are certain other individuals who present differing ideas which are all for technology. Through further research it was believed by some that “the activation of systems in the brain and nervous system” that trigger technologies to be our extended mind. Therefore through activating systems of the brain confining our memory to technologies it does not equate to using our brain instead of technologies. In a sense, we are actually learning new skills through adapting this technologies into our lives, through educating ourselves using online resources we are providing ourselves with an improved set of research methods and capabilities expanding the information available to us. Although, it does come to a point where we basically become so dependent, for example the internet, we would be lost without it.
On that note there is something else I would like to discuss, global mnemotechnics. In thinking about my own specific memory in relation to technology, i was able to take into account this weeks reading’s key idea in my own life. I admittedly have fallen addictive to various forms of technologies, and in turn would be completely lost without them. Something i have recently noticed within the past year relating to my technology consumption habits is the transition to an iPhone specifically in relation to the calendar and contacts application available to me. As stated in the reading the storage of phone numbers 5 years ago would have been neatly written in my nifty address book, where as now it is efficiently stored in my phone. This practice has lead me to rely upon my phone’s storage, so if it were to become damaged or lose my contacts I would not have the memory capacity to memorise all the numbers and be quite lost.
This idea is also present through the calendar app in it’s ability to remind me of upcoming events or notes and even send me alerts to keep my events organised, and sort my life in accordance to what it in regards to (so i have a calendar for uni, work, sport etc.), but if I were to lose my phone I would become quite literally lost and most likely to forget the simplest of things.
until next time…
z3373263 