Brave, new technological world creates spectators

    I recently read an article in the Harvard Business Review Blog Network that began with an anecdote by the author about an occurrence at a friend’s wedding. Apparently, as the groom was asked to declare his intent to accept his bride as his wife, the groom held up his hand to pause the ceremony. Amidst gasps that turned into laughter at the ceremony, the groom Tweeted, “I Do.”
    We live in a world in which people are constantly “plugged in.” It isn’t just that teenagers and young adults are the only ones who are constantly on the phone, texting or talking. That form of communication has become old media – now phones are equipped for Internet, allowing us to access social networks and online apps instantaneously. And the technology is no longer simply used in our social lives; it has become commonplace in our professional world as well.
    In a workshop for teaching college students, a composition/rhetoric professor encouraged us, as teaching assistants, to engage our students by meeting them with methods they are already familiar with. We are meant to encourage our students to form Twitter accounts and begin blogs for our classes. Class discussion is meant to be enhanced outside of the classroom by live Tweeting the classroom lecture, which enables students to reTweet the original post and respond accordingly. Not only is the classroom lecture shared amongst the 20 or so students, but also among each of those students’ followers. The same is true with the blogs through the comment feature. Learning is happening not only in side the classroom but outside of it in the public realm.
    Besides this brave new world of technology in the classroom setting, I was recently discussing summer employment with a friend in which he shared his latest endeavor with his job search: Tweeting his resume to potential employers. Who would have thought that doing such a thing was a good idea? I was dubious at first, laughing that no one would ever find a job that way – after all, who would look at such a Tweet? But I was proven wrong: he received five replies, and of those five, two offered him an interview. He now has the summer job he had been looking for – all thanks to Twitter.
    The Harvard Business Review Blog Network article links this idea of using technology to ask: “Are we entering an age where capturing the highlights of our lives has taken precedence over actually enjoying those very same moments?”
    Besides the wedding example, the author talks of his amazement when he realized that on New Year’s Eve he witnessed most revelers taking photos of the fireworks with their phones – presumably to upload to Facebook, Twitter, etc. – rather than actually watching them without the filters of technology.  The answer to his question is that it certainly seems as though society is trending in that direction: in an infographic released by Online Schools, the Facebook statistics for 2011 are startling. As of 2011, there are over 500 million active Facebook users, with over 700 billion minutes a month spent on the site. In just 20 minutes on Facebook, according to the survey, over 1 million links are shared, 2 million friends requested and almost 3 million messages are sent. With Facebook’s newest Timeline feature, now more than ever, it seems that social media is becoming more of a journal of moments to look at in the future. Gone are the days of diaries and scrapbooks.
    While many may advocate the expanse of technologies, there is recent research that says that humans will have to choose between capturing these moments and viscerally experiencing them. Researchers at Ars Technica have found that our performance drops when we try to simultaneously perform both encoding tasks – experiencing what is around us – and respond to selection tasks – capturing the surroundings – at the same time. And yet, despite our inability to multitask, the author of the article lists three reasons why we are obsessed with capturing rather than savoring our moments in life: 1) humans are competitive and wired to accumulate accomplishments; 2) humans crave acceptance from others; and 3) it’s easier than ever.
    Today it is easy to make bucket lists of accomplishments and endeavors and cross them off with each sense of achievement. It’s easy to try to capture each moment through photos and videos and instantly upload them because that is what our society is telling us to do. But the next time you find yourself confusing – capturing your life instead of enjoying it – live in that moment and leave your phone in your pocket.
    Heather Bozant can be reached at [email protected].