Entry 2: The Big Picture

by this philosophical thought experiment, Suzuki is putting readers in a scenario in which they go back a little more than a decade ago and the technology we rely on today is non-existant. By putting readers in this scenario, Suzuki is trying to establish that Americans rely highly on technological advances for our everyday life. It also seems as tough he is questioning our ability to live without self-pleasing technology. From a personal perspective, living in 1995 would would be a dramatic change. Having grown up in the new millennium, technology seemed to be a necessity. From watching TV as a child, having the ability to communicate wirelessly with loved ones with a cellphone, to using the research capabilities of the internet for high school projects. There are old fashioned methods to accomplish the tasks listed above, but technological advances have made it less stressful and more accessible. I would feel awkward and lost living without such resources.

I believe that Suzuki is trying to establish that we, the people of the millennium, are living a life that is way too easy. Every day we use apparatuses that we cannot even see ourselves without. Cellphones, iPods, laptops, Bluetooths, etc., are all devices that make our life easy, but also make it go by faster. Instead of actually going out to the park and looking at the beautiful trees or playing sports, we are too busy stuck in our homes playing virtual sports (such as the Wii) and watching fake fires (virtual fireplace). Every day we walk and talk on the phone or listen to music, but we never bother to stop for a second and look at the beautiful patterns in the sky. Without this technology, we would go mad! We wouldn’t know how to live without it, because we haven’t lived without since it came out. We are using this technology to aid us in remembering things, or aiding us in doing a specific task; this only causes us to become lazier and dumber. If we don’t use our brains once in a while, it might just “evolutionize” to complete nothingness.

In this thought experiment, I believe Suzuki is trying to establish both personal and cultural relevance technology plays in our lives today compared to that of 15 years ago. In 1995, the majority of people shared the same advantages of technological advances; home phones, basic cable, paper mail, and using books to look up information. Today the majority of people are using the technology of today with cell phones, digital and satellite television, email, and internet. This raises the point that as time and technology advances, so do we. Thus, the norm for the time is taken for granite. If I were to give up on cell phones, facebook, internet, and digital cable I would then either have to relocate to a place where these things are still not used or I would drift away without any ties to this media based country. This gives both an appreciation of what we have as well as knowing how far we have come in this technological age. As Bob Dylan said, “The times they are a changing” and without living the now the train is going to leave you behind.

Suzuki is trying to suggest that Americans have become too dependent on technological equipment. He wants people to realize how much of an impact these devices have on our everyday lives. They have become essential parts of our daily routine. For example, every morning I wake up and check my cell phone to see if I've missed a call while I was asleep. For many Americans, part of their daily ritual may involve checking there email every morning or watching their favorite TV show every nite. Suzuki wants to illuminate our dependency on these things and show us how the consumer society has coaxed us into buying all of these fancy electronics that we don't really need.
If I had to live as if I was in 1995 I wouldn't last more than a week before I'd start feigning for my cell phone and Desperate Housewives (my all time favorite T.V show). It would be almost cruel to make someone go back to the '90s because we are so much more advanced now than we were back then. I'm sure it would be a humbling experience but I'm not sure if it would do much more than make people angry about the lack of efficiency back then.

When Micheal Jackson died this summer, the first thing I did was text my friends and family members to see if it was true. When the response did not come as qucikly as I wanted it to, I turned to Facebook for the answer, and alas, it was there. Today, technology has become our number one source of communication. Intimacy between people has been replaced and is very artificial. We no longer call to say Happy Birthday, instead, we text it or post a message on Myspace or Facebook. Technology not only affect our personal lives, technology affects us financially and mentally. We spend way to much money and time with technological devices. We are going broke for technology and slowly but surely becoming stupid. I can see the effect technology has on us, but I personally would not be able or willing to live in 1995. I do enjoy intimacy, but only with a select few. Text messaging, AIM, and email all play a huge role in my everyday life, and I wouldn't know what to do without them.

I think Suzuki is trying to raise a point that in only 15 years our dependency on technology has become ridiculously high. It lists all the technology devices making us realize that it has come to cover all aspects of our lives. At this point in time of course friends would think you'd lost it because it has become of way of living. If you don't want these devices then it means going against society. Siblings would want you to consider counseling because wanting this different lifestyle seems so strange that it leads others to think that there is something else bothering you. If I were to personally go back 1995 I would feel distanced from the people around me. I feel as if all these new technology devices like the cell phone and facebook help me stay informed about people I cant stay in touch face to face on a daily basis. Also, the satellite television and my ipod give me more choices to watch and listen to media from more sources rather than only keeping up with local media. Overall, I would feel detached to the world around me but would probably have fewer but more intimate relationships than the ones I have now.

In his The Big Picture, David Suzuki reminds us just how much modern society has become overly dependent on modern technologies, right down to the point where anyone that doesn’t follow such a lifestyle is subject to being taught of as crazy. Which is actually pretty funny considering if we go back a couple centuries embracing technologies was taught of as crazy, impossible, the devil’s doing. Suzuki’s syntax also points to a tone of ridicule at a species’ (humans) inability to come to grips with it’s own nature, enable to accept a life in balance with the world around us, but rather constantly fighting and inflicting pain on a system created to sustain us. Suzuki is calling to action for a more “primitive” world, which in turn is a modern world as it allows for change. Perhaps we’re both crazy; people of centuries ago and people of today, a happy medium is certainly in need, perhaps a year more like 1995. Personally with knowing what I know today about all the advancements we’ve made as well as the environmental regressions I’d find living in 1995 definitely challenging, as I am use to my modern world.

Suzuki’s experiment of eliminating the everyday technological advances that one has been accustomed to use in their everyday life, is preposterous to think that one would see it as abnormal. If people’s lives once went on for centuries without any of these new advancements in electronics and technology, then why is it so difficult to go a few days without a cell phone or computer? I have to remind myself that there once was a time when I lived my life without a cell phone. The days I forget my cell phone at home, I have to learn to not stress out so much about it. The more technologies that society accustoms themselves to use in their daily lives, the more stresses they bring to themselves such as making sure their cell phone is charged, switching their movies from VHS to DVDs, making sure to update their Facebook status as soon as they get online, and so forth. It is a bit sad and pathetic that the witnesses of Suzuki’s experiment would question “what’s wrong” just because they have become so accustomed to the consumer revolution that one gets sucked into, rather than viewing this absence as a positive and healthy change!

In his philosophical experiment, Suzuki tries to establish the idea that life 15 years ago symbolizes a world of insanity. As of now, we all rely and base our lives on technology. For instance, in order to communicate one must use a cell phone, in order to be well informed, one must turn on a television set and watch the news. We can clearly see how technological advances have forced technology into our culture. By Suzuki stating family members might consider counseling if we were to cut off all ties to technology, we can see the importance technical devices have on the way we live our life. Suzuki's experiment made me think of how our society has created a technological world. In this experiment, i don't believe Suzuki tries to attack technological advances or give his opinion of whether or not it helps our society. On the contrary, i believe he is using it in order to question whether or not we can readapt to living the "old fashioned" way.

As I was reading this sort philosophical experiment, I imagined doing everything Suzuki asked. I threw away my cell phone, shut down my iPod and abandoned my HDTV. Then I realized that after doing all the things that Suzuki was asking us the readers to do, there was nothing much to do. If we think about it, without any of our technological items our life would be boring and difficult. Which leads me into wondering how did people in the 1990’s, or even way before that date, manage to survive without such strong and useful tools that we can presently take advantage of. I am pretty sure that if someone bans the use of technology, an immense among of people would rebel against that. At least I know I would. Suzuki is trying to make us realize how we have integrated technology in our daily life and how much we depend on them. How it has become a great part of us to the point where we feel like useless without any of our technological devices.

Technology has advanced exponentially over the last fifteen years, which has in turn drastically altered society. Modern day life is intertwined with smart phones, laptops, ipods and a host of other gadgets. It is almost incomprehensible to some to imagine a day without access to a computer, and if you asked a person to go a day without a cell phone they might look at you funny. However, the largest change technology has had on society is on our vocabulary. For example, a friend used to be a person you knew well and interacted with frequently; now a friend is a person you haven’t seen or talked to in months or even like for that matter. In addition, a virus used to be something that made people sick and caused fevers, now it’s something that invades computers and causes crashes along with unwanted deletions. For better or worse, technology has irreversible made its way into our society and with each new advance it will dive deeper and deeper into the heart of our way of living.

It seems fairly clear that Suzuki seeks to address humankind’s dependency on technology. I think it’s pretty interesting how rapidly these technologies become staples of consumer society. It used to be, and for many people it still is, that what was considered a necessity was something that had a direct impact on one’s physiological needs; my mom used to always tell me, “I hope that when you’re hungry you can take a bite out of that CD you’re buying!” Surely we can deduce that in past times, when said technologies weren’t available, tasks were much more difficult to complete. Writing letters, reading books, using a portable CD player, etc. are obviously more laborious tasks than their modern counterparts (texts, e-mails, Google, iPods, etc.). It seems then that technological advances are driven by humankind’s desire to alleviate as many of life’s “inconveniencies” as possible. Rather, I believe that corporations have long abandoned this ambition for financial endeavors, which any capitalist would say us is a more compensatory goal.

Suzuki’s description of life in 1995 makes the time sound like a whole other era, an era centuries ago instead of only 15 years ago. It is true we have made significant advantages in technology since that time but what’s more astonishing is our attachment to this technology. I have actually tried living without technology for a few days at a time but never have I completely been without it, I always have my cell phone if not immediately on my person it is in no more than a few feet away ready to be used at any moment. I am a victim of “cell phone vibrationitis” a disease where I feel my phone vibrate even when nobody is texting or calling me, I use disease as an appropriate word because- to a certain extent- I believe we as a society are sick with technology. In a large generalization, if people today truly tried to live a day in the life of 1995, quite frankly, they would not survive. In one way or another we are all attached, no we are glued to our technology and try as we might we can not escape its ugly jaws; case in point, right now I am on my computer (technology) and there is no way I can avoid it because my homework is online now. It is a sign of the times, in 1995 not many people were using computers on a daily basis, fast forward to 2010 and a day without computers is unfathomable. While I describe technology and our addiction to it as a monster, I am not completely opposed to technology, I realize technology has literally brought us the world’s information at our fingertips and that is great. My opposition to technology does not arise from this but from our ever-increasing dependency on it. There is nothing wrong with life as it was in 1995, when our technological dependence had less strength. I propose a challenge to any of you that read this, try a day without your iPod, blackberry, hdtv and all those other gadgets we all love. If your brave try it for a whole weekend and let me know how it goes, I hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

This morning my friend invited me to have breakfast with her. It was only her and I that were going, or so I thought. The whole time we were sitting there, she was cracking up. The only problem was that i had no idea of what because I was definitely not saying anything funny. All breakfast she was texting with someone and I must add it was irritating. It seemed that there was someone other than myself at the table because she payed more attention to the phone than she did to me!

I don't understand why but it is true, most of the people I know are always on their facebook, myspace, yourspace or whatever other websites there is. There are so many people who will find themselves lost if they where not texting all day. They send chain letter after chain letter to every person on their contact list hoping that someone else will also, just like them, be the kind of person who cannot stop texting. And the little red light on the phone blinks...in a second a response, because just like the first person who sent the message there are so many other people who are anxious to text.

Suzuki implies that we are that generation that seems to be reliant on technology. He shows that a lot of people are dependent and feel like they cant live without things that at one point did not even exist. That the person that send the 500 text messages in one day would feel lost if their cell phone was taken away. I believe that many of us have allowed ourselves to get lazy and expect things to be done easier with technology. I truly believe that taking away someones television set, cell phone, or even a microwave will lead them to feeling a sense of anxiousness and disparity . I mean why wouldn't we get frustrated, it is definitely easier to pop a Lean Cuisine in the microwave than it is to hurt oneself using a pot.

Suzuki is trying to emphasize the impact that technology has had in the past fifteen years. Society as a whole has become very dependent on mechanisms such as cellular phones, music devices, television, computers, etc. and in a way made life more efficient. With these millennium advantages, people now can acquire better forms of communications and ways of becoming more educated with what is happening in the world. However, the drastic change that the US has gone through in such a short amount of time also points out how quick we are to accept any device that promises higher quality of life without knowing the consequences. Through social networking sites, people abuse the privilege of having people within reach. They automatically build a cyber barrier that only restricts them to learn how to communicate with people face to face. If I had a choice, I would live in 1995 where I could receive more satisfaction about saying hello to a friend through a phone call or a letter. Life in a way was more simpler in 1995 and it makes me sick to know how much we now depend on technology on a daily basis.

Some remarks on digital music from The Nation:

Some remarks on digital music from The Nation:

Unlike the introduction of the compact disc, which was developed by major labels and music retailers, as well as Phillips and Sony, the current tumult was unplanned and unforeseen. Digital technology has put far more power in the hands of ordinary consumers to wrest music from its gatekeepers. But crashing the gates has caused the music economy to dip down between cheap and free; people are storing more music on their hard drives than they're likely to listen to in the next decade, yet major labels, music retailers and even jukebox manufacturers are spiraling toward obsolescence. Offbeat and invaluable aspects of the mass music experience are slipping away as well, from the cranky exclusivity of the niche record shop to the tastemaking role of college radio to the music press itself.

Whereas Suisman's materialist study of the record industry's beginnings focuses on market creation and slights artistic fruition, Greg Milner is on the side of the sensible audiophile, someone who cares most about what's lost in the way most people experience music today. In Perfecting Sound Forever, an exhaustive history of recorded sound, Milner is honest enough to admit that the "warm" sound of LPs that vinyl maniacs crave is not some Platonic quality but the product of the way sound is processed by the apparatus--the amp, turntable and speakers. Yet no amount of "warmth" can combat the more insidious developments of our age of Pro Tools and MP3s. Music now flows through various channels in digital form, often never hitting tape of any kind; scrunched into a tiny file containing a fraction of its original sonic information, it passes through tiny cubicle speakers or tinier earbuds blaring at dangerous volumes. Compression might indeed be killing pop music by flattening it out, lopping off its highs while boosting its lows to yield songs boiling over at a fever pitch every moment. Certain pop albums become so loud and distorted that choruses are at the same sonic level as verses, creating a feeling of unending blast and total boredom. Compression has certainly left serious listeners in a crummy cul-de-sac of insufficient quality and decreased dynamism.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100111/boylan

I'm not sure whether Suzuki is referring to life without advanced technology (as in 1995) or type of life we humans evolved in. There was never meant to be laptops, internet, tv cable,satellites, etc. These were all developed to "enhance" life as we know it-in no way are any of these devices necessary. I feel technology allows for us to lose our true connection to the world and to one another. We don't feel the need to go out and explore whats out there; we can simply open up our computers and google it. Perhaps this has a lot to do with our consumption culture. What if you dont have the latest technology? There is so much pressure out there in the media and from peers that pressure and push for you to buy the "latest". My laptop is one year old with a Windows 7 operating system. Now they've just came out with Windows 9. Windows 9! How much different and "better" can it possibly be? Am I lame because I'm still using Windows 7? If i had a choice, I wouldn't just go back to 1995, I would go all the way back to 1960, when people were truly connected to one another. America was changing for the better and the media was all about love, NOT money.

In this experiment, I believe Suzuki is trying to challenge us to go without the use of technology because I also believe that he is trying to point out how dependent our culture/way of life is to the technology we have today. I believe that it is true because I cannot live without my phone. I feel disconnected and I feel like I am missing something when my phone runs out of battery. If I would go back in time to 1995 I wouldn’t be able to handle not being able to text or surf the web. I think that the technology we have now a day is great and provides a big advantage for us now. Contacting friends and family is a lot easier and more efficient. Relying on technology has also had a negative impact on our culture and the interactions amongst people. For example, the amount of people who like to make phone calls is declining because everyone is texting. People rely on technology to have conversations and are moving away from actual interaction. People now watch more television thanks to the DVR, which can record live tv without the use of tapes. Technology is a big part of everyday life and has affected everyone around us.

David Suzuki is basically giving the readers a complex thought and a gruesome challenge to many of us. Suzuki is basically challenging us to live life how it was in 1995, meaning without the most modern technology. This is a challenge which tests your will, personal fortitude, and mental strength. With this quote, Suzuki is explaining that people in the modern world rely on modern technology too much and they could not survive without it. Even the slightest idea of people not living with any of the newest gadgets sounds wrong to an abundant amount of people in the world. Personally, I would not mind taking this challenge on just so I could see how mentally tough I am, but I doubt that I could last very long.

The technological advances of the last century have significantly simplified our lifestyles to the extent that information and entertainment is easily accessible at the click of a button, whether it be on a laptop, ipod, tv, or cell phone. David Suzuki implies that society has become so consumed with technology that living without it would be considered abnormal. He goes as far as to mock our dependence when he states that people would think we have “lost it” if we decided to forego our cell phones, ipods, laptops etc. Therefore, through this thought experiment, Suzuki is challenging our capability to live without these devices that we have come to consider necessities of life. In taking part of in this experiment, I think we would all gain a greater appreciation for the world around us.

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