Religion and technology fuse

For my final essay in Apple, Google, Facebook I wrote about the use of technology in megachurches. The following is the link to my essay on issuu.com (you might want to download it because the formatting got a little messed up with the site):

The Effects of Technology on the Religious Experience and Community

Extension, Platform, Container

Apple, Google, Facebook covered a lot of very interesting topics ranging from Steve Job to Singularity and everything in between, but I think we can all agree that the focus of the course was the connection between technology and the Self. 

Apple taught us how devices are extensions of or tools for the Self. All of these devices are expressions of ourselves. The i in iPad, iPhone, iPod, iMac, etc. can been seen as individual; these products are each individual persons. The Whole Earth Catalog provided us with a variety of tools and devices for improving ourself through their various products.

Google is a platform for the choosing Self. It is the medium in which our generation receives information, as a platform it is the the medium or lens between us and the world. . Google allows us to search for something but rather than just providing one answer, it gives us the option of what to pick what answer(s) we want. 

Facebook is a container for the Self. We upload all kinds of information and pictures to social network sites which basically become a virtual representation for the Self. Statuses, pictures, videos, etc. are all complied together on Facebook and come a capsule of our virtual self.

All three of these companies focus on how they can relate to the Self in everyone. The Self is inherently the most important aspect in everyone's life (whether they know is consciously or subconsciously). Apple, Google, and Facebook work as extensions, platforms, and containers of that Self. 

Creating to create or to profit?

Timeflies is a musical duo that started off by making their own home music videos every Tuesday, Timeflies would post a music video to YouTube which soon became known as Timeflies Tuesday. The duo gained popularity by consistently publishing these videos every week for YouTubers to view. However, as a 

In the case of Timeflies, the only money they were making was from various shows, but not from the creation of their music in general;they were not profiting from posting videos, YouTube was technically. Lanier thinks that the creation or the creators should be the ones benefiting or profiting not the aggregators or the platforms. 

It is only very recently that Timeflies paused their creation of Timeflies Tuesday videos to focus on creating an album (which is available on iTunes) to make some sort of profit. This shows their shift from their desire to simply create if their want to make money or a profit. 

Is technology destroying the middle class?

Jaron Lanier has a lot to say about how technology is ruining individualism in his book "You Are Not a Gadget." The article Jaron Lanier: The Internet destroyed the middle class discusses his new book "Who Owns the Future." Lanier says that the Internet is destroying the middle class by eroding the economy and and job security. He is essentially saying that technology is going to take over jobs that people would normally do; we see this already with robots/machines replacing people in factories. Lanier continues to discuss how technology is taking away from the creativity of artists ( especially musicians and photographers). With certain technologies, anyone can create music online or edit photos. Just look at Instagram; so many people think they're amazing "artistic photographers" just because they can take a picture on their cell phone and edit it. Things like Instagram take away from the actual artistic-ness of real/professional photographers. While both of these concepts make me question our generations use of technology, is it really destroying the middle class?

Jaron's list of concerns

There are a lot of things about Jaron Lanier's argument in You Are Not a Gadget that I don't necessarily agree with, however, one concept of his that I do agree with is laid out in his list of concerns on page 21. These are a few of those concerns:

• If you put effort into Wikipedia articles, put even more effort into using your personal voice and expression outside of the wiki to help attract people don't yet realize that they are interested in the topics you contributed to. 
• Create a website that expresses something about who you are that won't fit into the templates available to you on a social networking site.
• If you are twittering, innovate in order to find a way to describe your internal state instead of trivial external events, to avoid the creeping danger of believing that objectively described events define you, as they would define a machine. 

With all of these points, Jaron is concerned about people losing their individual voice and individual Self on the internet. I think this is really interesting because even though so many people use the internet and conform the to templates of social network sites, you don't have to lose your individuality. Jaron wants people to realize that not only can they still stand out as an individual, but that people should prioritize their individuality and the Self over conforming to the internet norms.

HTML Link

Click here for the link to the HTML page I made!

Catfish

We've talked a lot about how our Facebook profiles are an electronic identity of ourselves. But one really important thing to remember is that our profile depicts ourselves how we want it to. We decide what to share, what to leave out, and how we actually portray ourself. But because we can pick and choose what our profile says, how can you really know someone if they are deciding to leave specific details out? All of his reminds me of the MTV show Catfish. The show investigates online "couples" and sees if they are actually real or if their Facebook profile is fake. Some people get their heart broken because they find out that their online girlfriend/boyfriend is fake; aspects of them are real, but their profile is depicting someone else. 

I think one thing we really need to keep in mind is that an online profile cannot replace a real person. No matter how much information I share on my Facebook profile, someone who hasn't met me or gotten to know me in person, will never know the real me.