Reading Response #6

In Cynthia Selfe’s “Least We Think the Revolution is a Revolution” Selfe writes about how people look at advertisements about technology and how this affects people as a whole. She states many popular views and thoughts on advertisements and cultural backgrounds as well as her own views on such things. Selfe states that only focusing on the positive changes that technology can bring may mask how social forces work to resist such changes. The third narrative that Selfe covers is about “The Un-gendered Utopia” and “The Same Old Gendered Stuff” in which she compares specific gender usage of technology in 1990 to that of social narratives of the 1950’s. “A third potent narrative that Americans tell ourselves about technology and change focuses on gender- specifically, this story claims that computers and that computer-supported environments will help us to create a utopic world in which gender is not a predictor of success or a constraint of interaction with the world” What this narrative is basically saying is that advancements in technology will make it so that men and women will both be able to use computers successfully without being thrown into social classes based on gender. Selfe most clearly disagrees with this popular narrative. “Computer games are still designed for boys; computer commercials are still aimed mainly at males; computing environments are still constructed by and for males…computers are completely socially determined artifacts that interact with existing social formations and tendencies…” So in other words, Selfe believes that the complete opposite is happening than what America wants to believe, or that our social classes haven’t really changed from the 50’s.
I disagree with Selfe’s view that technology is playing into social formations because she seems to overlook the fact that people change and adapt to what is new and important. Her countering of the popular narrative of the un-gendered utopia does not completely hold up to today’s standards, eleven years later. Computers are not something that are dominated by males, why just the other day I saw a dell commercial selling a computer specifically designed for the working mom. I think that Selfe was being small minded when she said “It is clear that fewer girls use computers in public secondary schools than do boys, especially in the higher grades.” This is certainly not true today. There are just as many girls on the internet as there are boys, maybe even more so on social networking sites. I just don’t agree with Selfe mainly because I don’t believe that her article really has much meaning in the now.

Michaela's Reading Response #6

In Cynthia Selfe’s “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution,” is an eye opener to how a lot of people think America is. One narrative in the article talked about “Land of equal opportunity” and “land of Difference.” Those two statements are very powerful. America was founded on the values of hard working people and fair play. It also was founded by brave fighters who fought to help protect this land and people with similar views on how they wanted America to be ran. America is open to everyone, meaning to all man, women, the different kind of races, class, and whoever peoples connections may be. America has a fascination with strong faith in these “traditional values,” of the American dream. The American dream is having a two car garage, a white picket fence, and a family. Americans can achieve this dream in America by what was stated above of working hard, being fair, and using all the opportunities that’s provided to them. I understand that America has provided my family and I a place to live and having many opportunities to succeed in life. My dad works hard and has helped put a roof over my families head. He pays his taxes and doesn’t let us go hungry. Even through hard times America has helped my family out through assistance and not letting us go homeless. I myself work and pay bills, help out with household needs and continue to go to school. With America providing me financial aid, I don’t have to worry about working 40 hours a week and struggling to survive. America has helped many others besides myself and am proud to be an American and help America out.

I think Cynthia Selfe is mistaken because she overlooks the whole picture of what America has offered and all the history America has. The American cultural experience tells us differently. The statement land of opportunity for all is really only for some people. The reality Cynthia forgot to mention about America is the history with slavery, deaf education, women’s suffrage, immigration, labor laws, are all here to remind us that America hasn’t been the land of opportunity for all for many years. In America we never had a black President till the 2008 elections in which he won and took office in 2009. That says a lot about America. All 43 other presidents were white and all were males. Women today still have to fight to keep their place in the office because some men still to this day don’t see women having the right to work besides in their homes as housewives. Immigration here in America has always been an issue. America has a double standard telling they want people here from anywhere yet when they get here it’s another story. Not in all cases but in a lot of them. I see all these issues as a women and being part Mexican. I have been in the system getting assistance because my mom not always being able to get a job because of not finishing college. Yet we don’t have founds to put her in school. Maybe now the chances are better but it has always been a struggle for her. I understand that America is a great place to live but has over time. Things take time and when America was first founded it was not perfect and still isn’t.

I used the countering in the they say I say. This countering because it seemed easy to get my point across. I think the way I countered what she said worked for me to put things in place. I took what she said and went the complete opposite.

Growing up Online

Part 1.) In the video "Growing up Online" by the directors Rachel Dritzen and John Maggio which aired on Frontline brings up into considerations a lot of main points about the internet and the effects it has on our youth. The main in this video is the fact that parents are unaware of what their children are doing on their computers or phones and not really knowing these technologies as well as their children they cant understand what their children are engaging in. Parry Aftab the executive producer of WiredSafety.org states "Everyone is panicking about sexual predators online. That's what parents are afraid of; that's what parents are paying attention to"(PBS Par 10). It has been brought to our attention also "My parents don't understand that I've spent pretty much since second grade online, I know what to avoid" states one ninth-grader (Par. 9). We as adults are blindsided by all this information that there are such thing as online predators that we stress upon this fact that we need to know every little thing the kids do and who they talk to. What we don't understand is that the internet also has so many other fears on it from chat rooms to talking about how to starve yourself and how to get through that grueling experience. At the same time though some students and or kids engage in behavior that isn't quite excepted and then post these things on sites such as Youtube so everyone else can see what they have done. A mother herself, Evan Skinner, knows these things are happening and tries to stay involved in her kids lives as much as she can. But at the same time we learn from her son Cam that going to far into this can in turn lead to less of a relationship. Cam a high school student was participating in going to a concert and they were traveling on the train. They were being rude and were partaking in drinking alcohol and just not doing smart things. They had posted the videos on an internet source and it didn't take long for Evan Skinner, Cams mother, to find it. She then wrote a letter to the whole student bodies parents and it really compromised the two of theirs relationship. Cams friends didn't trust him after this and lost a lot of them due to this action his mother took. Evan Skinner says "I remember being 11; I remember being 13; I remember being 16, and I remember having secrets, but it's really hard when it's the other side"(Par. 6) I will admit there is much bad on the internet and it can really persuade people to do for lack of better words stupid things. There is a lot of good that comes along with the internet and I just think the best thing we can do as a Nation is to educate the children better on what is good and bad on the internet and try to keep close to what they are doing but at the same time not to close. It sounds so easy but it really takes a lot to find that medium ground and its really what is needed to make sure our children are truly staying safe on the internet.
Part 2.) The internet has changed the view of my life completely. Some good and some bad but at the end of the day they have all changed my life in a positive way. I know me personally had a strong addiction to a computer game throughout high school called World of Warcraft and made me practically waste two years of my life. I would log onto this fantasy world and play with online friends and would just not care about the actual real world. All I saw was this virtual world with millions of people and I became indulged in what it could offer for me. On the other side of the spectrum I overcame one of the biggest obstacles I have experienced in my life. I wasn't just fighting to get out of this addiction of playing upwards of 14-18 hours a day, I was fighting for my family and the friends I had lost through this experience. I became a stronger person through this and now understand something more about me about how easily it is to get addicted to something of this stature. Then I look at things like Facebook which I may spend a half an hour on a day and I look at how many people this site has reconnected me with. I now am going out and having a good time with these friends that I haven't seen in years and just having a good time and I couldn't even imagine how hard that would be if I didn't have one of these sites such as Facebook or Myspace to help me. All in all there is a lot of bad in the internet its all about the way the person uses this media and what they do with the internet sites they visit.

Is google making us stupid.

Nicholas Carr's article "Is Google Making us Stupid?" mainly focused on technology and how it affects us today. Carr refers to how he began to notice after his inclined use of technology it has become harder for him to stay focused on a book for a long period of time. Deep reading became a struggle for him. He has also found some of his friends were feeling the same way. People us the internet to obtain information quick and easy rather than researching for books and articles in the library. Studies have shown that people who do visit websites rarely read more than the first or second page. Have people looked to the internet to escape deep reading? Carr states, "Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski" (2). Carr is explaining how he used to do research very in-depth, but now because the internet makes researching so much faster and easier Carr just skims the surface looking for information that he needs. This is most likely true for many people. The internet has in fact replaced deep reading. The loss of deep thinking isn’t the only thing the internet has changed. Carr goes on to explain how the internet and the type of reading we do has changed the way our brains think. We used to think that the brain was fully developed in your early twenties. Now we realize this isn’t true. The brain is always changing; altering itself. James Olds states, "[It] is very plastic" (4). our brains ultimately begin to take on characteristics of the tools we use. So the human brain is altering itself to be like the computer. The computer is so many tools wrapped up into one. It is a calculator, radio, TV, calendar, among others. Is this why our brains are beginning to see quantity and immediacy over quality?

My Super-Long "Growing Up Online" Summary

Part 1
The documentary “Growing Up Online” gives viewers an inside look into the online lives of teens who were born into this age of computers, and have never known anything different. This PBS Frontline video is directed by Rachel Dretzin and John Maggio and aired on January 22nd of 2008. A common theme seemed to keep appearing amongst the parents in this video, which was that they didn’t really understand their teen’s activities online. The documentary addresses many of parent’s fears, such as online predators and overexposure of their children; both what their children are seeing and what their children are showing. However, we also see a different side of the online socializing which seems to be much more prominent, and yet not at the top of most parents’ list of worries, as we hear in the case of Ryan, who was bullied mercilessly both off and online.
Although Ryan’s father taught him how to defend himself physically, his father was unaware of the psychological aspect of Ryan’s bullying problems. Ryan’s father told Frontline: “I allowed the computer to become too much of his life” (PBS). Ryan turned to “suicide help sites” to try and solve his problems, sites which instead of talking you out of committing the act instead encouraged you to do so. Although Ryan’s story is not how most cyber-bullying ends, there are other ways which it can effect teens. At Chatham High School in New Jersey, several girls told Frontline that after being provoked on Myspace by several other girls from the high school, they confronted each other and a mass fight broke out. Ironically, this fight was videotaped and posted online (PBS).
The subject of internet use is present in most households across America, parents who don’t understand their teens use of computers often will either just stay out of it or try their best to protect their children by closely monitoring their every online move; which is no easy task. One mother, Evan Skinner, was especially adamant on keeping close tabs on her children’s internet use, admitted that she remembered having secrets as a teen but that “it’s really hard when it’s on the other side” (PBS).
Danah Boyd of Harvard University’s Berkham Center for Internet and Society told Frontline that it’s not a question of taking online activities away or even trying to make the internet a perfect, innocent place but more a “’question of how we teach ourselves and our children to live in a society where these properties are fundamentally a way of life. This is public life today’" (PBS). Many teens rely on the internet not as a thing separate from their everyday lives, but as an extension of their lives. The online world is their way of keeping in touch with friends, learning about themselves and the rest of the world. Not to mention the increasing amount of school assignments which require the use of the internet (PBS). It isn’t something we can ignore nor can parents take it away; the important thing is teaching children and teens how to be responsible while on and offline.
Part 2
Like most teens in America today I probably don’t realize the impact that the internet and digital media has actually had on my life; it’s always just sort of been there. Although most of my life my access to the internet was very limited (I was allowed to write a couple words at the end of my mom’s emails to family) today I can honestly say that without social networking sites I probably never would have went to high school or college for that matter. As an ex-homeschooler I know what’s like to live way out in the hills and not see anyone except my parents for days or weeks on end. It wasn’t until middle school that I had any friends that weren’t also homeschooled. After being persuaded to make a Myspace account (and hating it) I thought that talking to more people in person would be a good change for me. Now even though I don’t use those social networking sites very often, I still appreciate them as making a huge impact on my life. My current boyfriend of 3 years even asked me out via Myspace, so without it who knows where I would be today?

Reading Response 6

The Future Depends on Changes
A passage from, “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution,” written by Cynthia Selfe. Selfe states about the illustrated ads called the “Land of Difference narrative,”-is present not in what they show, but what they fail to show. There is remarkable absence in all the images of people of color, and poor people, and people who are out of work, and single-parent families, and gay couples and foreigners. If citizens of all kinds are to have access to technology and the opportunities it provides, we do not see such a narrative imagined in the Land of Difference narrative; if technology is to improve the lives of all Americans regardless of race and class and other differences, our collective ability to envision such a world is not evident in these images.
What Selfe is basically saying here is we need to expand our advertising to include everyone that makes up our society. Not to limit our advertisements to show only a specific group of people based on the color of their skin, their level of income, education, or marital status. The world is changing with the use of technology and in order for the world to grow and expand with technology; we need to drop the stereotyping of citizens and except everyone equally.
Although I agree with Selfe up to a point, I cannot accept her overall conclusion that we as Americans would limit a person from pursuing a desire that they want to achieve. I have noticed a slow gradual change to media advertising. For example, President Obama’s, (who is our first African-American President of the United States) words of encouragement to return to college. By offering federal grants and financial income to help with furthering educational goals. Also, college advertisements; are offering online training, classes available to take around work schedule, and the people in these ads are colored, both genders, and middle age with children. So I do believe change is occurring, but it occurring slowly in order for American to adapt to change. Women today are not just homemakers; it is very much a reality to see them in the work force, and many times the man staying home to care for the children. It’s all about how far you want to look outside the “box.” I also foresee the first woman president is not very far from happening.

The countering strategy I used was IV. “Yes/No/Perhaps but…,” to show that I understood where she was coming from in her statement that she had wrote ten years ago, and also to illustrate how society has been changing since she wrote this. In order for change to happen it takes time and encouragement from others to allow this to happen.

Reading Response 6: Lest We Think The Revolution is a Revolution

Cynthia L. Selfe is the author of “Lest We Think The Revolution is a Revolution” . In her essay she states the popular ways in which people view advertisements and their thoughts on our cultural background. Then she goes and states her views on what she thinks our culture is really like and what advertisements are saying. The first narrative in her essay has two parts the “Global Village” and the “Electronic Colony”. When writing her first narrative she describes ways in which people are seeing different cultures through different technology. Cynthia L. Selfe states, “One of the most popular narratives Americans tell ourselves about computers is that technology will help us create a global village in which the peoples of the world are all connected- communicating with one another and cooperating for the commonweal. According to this popular social narrative, the computer network that spans the globe will serve to erase meaningless geopolitical borders, eliminate racial and ethnic differences, re-establish a historical familial relationship which binds together the peoples of the world regardless of race, ethnicity, or location”. Through this quote I see that Cynthia L. Selfe is saying that having social networking sites and the internet will help the world become connected. Meaning the world will be one happy family. I think Cynthia L. Selfe is mistaken because she overlooks the strong feelings of distrust and antagonism some countries have toward one another. Also she doesn’t realize that on many social networking sites people are mainly writing to friends and family. People don’t always talk to strangers or people they don’t know that are half way around the world. People all around the world may be using the internet but that doesn’t mean they are using it together. Even though people are starting to communicate more with other countries in order to help them it doesn’t mean everyone will. Recently the United States has found ways the help with relief in Haiti. That is one out of many countries around the globe. How much of a bigger disaster is it going to take to get the whole world united? Some cultures we don’t even know exist until we go on the internet and look them up. But what do we do with the information once we receive it? The answer is mostly nothing. When have you gone online and found out someone was in need and did something to help? We see ads almost every day saying we should help someone or we should donate to a cause. We see commercials for kids in Africa and Haiti with little to nothing asking for help. We also see commercials for the ASPCA asking you to help injured, unhealthy, and abandoned animals. Have you picked up the phone to help? Once everyone in the nation lends a helping hand then we will truly be united and one big happy family. I used the arguing the other side strategy and my response shows this by proving in many ways why she is wrong and many things she may not have thought of.