Are You Ready to Fight Information Addiction - Essay Example

Section/# Sociological Study For purposes of this very brief sociological experiment and study, this has chosen to focus the following analysis upon the way in which a very close friend of mine dealt with an entire day devoid of all technology that usually powers her own life and provides her with an endless amount of personal enjoyment, entertainment, communications, and a litany of practical applications. Rather than merely observing the psychological means by which this lack of technology impacted upon her, this brief analysis will seek to gauge the level to which her interaction within society was changed as a result of not having access to these technological devices, the means whereby her communications models were altered, and the ways in which her free time and personal habits were altered as well. Moreover, by performing such an analysis onto the ways in which technology and the lack thereof impacts upon the ways in which an individual integrates within society, it is the hope of this student that a further level of inference can be drawn with regards to technology’s role within society and the means whereby each and every one of us to one degree or another integrate with it. Firstly, with respect to the way in which the brief moratorium on technology impacted upon her degree of interaction within society, it was quickly observable that she was more willing and able to meet and speak with strangers than she would have been on any other normal day. Rather than reclosing into the information of her phone or laptop, she was open to the world and actively seeking a form of stimuli to replace that which had been lost. It is worth noting that from the observation that this student engaged upon, it seemed to be that the level of interaction and the level of interpersonal communications were integrally linked. As such, the proceeding section of the analysis will seek to draw a level of inference based upon the lack of technological stimuli into the way in which interpersonal communications were also changed. It was further noted that as a result of the lack of stimuli from the technological tools that my friend had become so very dependent upon, there seemed to be a noticeable growth in the level to which meaningful and undivided levels of communication could be engaged upon. This was evidenced not only with this observer but also with other individuals with whom she interacted. It seemed from a sociological interpretation of the levels of communication that she interacted with that the lack of technological stimuli was a vehicle for her to seek to develop a more extroverted and engaging social life that would not have been witnessed previously. As the text notes regarding functionalism, “Each structure has a function that contributes to the continued stability of the unified whole” (Ferris & Stein, 2008). In this way, the structure that had previously been engaged upon was a means whereby the individual in question sought to provide a stable integration with society; however, when it was removed, a new paradigm was forced to develop instead. This ultimately can be understood in terms of how the moratorium on technology affected every aspect of the “down time” that she experienced during this particular day. At a time in which only telephones existed, without internet or mobile phones, it would have been normal to call an old friend maybe once every few months. However, as a result of the instant messaging, text messaging, social networking sites, and a litany of other forms of communication that the rapid growth of technology has portended, she had become so used to continually keeping track of distant relationships that existed within the cyber realm that she had lost touch with much of reality of potential friendship and conversation that existed within the world that she was actually living within and integrating with on a daily basis. As a function of this moratorium on the use of technology, this student, as well as the individual that was being used for the case study, realized the extent to which the cyber world and the forms of entertainment, communication, and business had all coalesced to form a distraction that was so profound it threatened to rob her of the ability to integrate and function in a socially conscious manner within society. Oftentimes, the line between sociology and psychology becomes somewhat blurred. This is due to the fact that seeking to understand unique sociological integrations on the personal level one must necessarily revert to a modicum of psychological theory to explain these interactions. As such, for the final portion of this analysis, this author will relate to the reader with regards to the means by which the nervous habits, ticks, and body language of the subject became amplified in the absence of the technology that had become such a driving and defining portion of her life. As the text noted regarding pragmatism, “Pragmatism meant seeking the truth of an idea by evaluating its usefulness in everyday life; in other words, if it works, it’s true” (Ferris & Stein, 2008) Whereas before any pause in conversation, or any boring circumstance in personal or group interactions would be a much needed reprieve for her to recluse back into the realm of the technology that provided her such a solace, the day without these tools saw her nervously fidgeting with her hands, feeling uncomfortable in her own skin, and nervously shifting from one foot to the other in a variety of situations. It was even observed that she would randomly check her pockets at various times to see where she had placed her touch screen phone; only to realize that she was without it and continue with her nervous fidgeting. The overall purpose of this level of research which has herein been performed has not been intended to ridicule or demean the use and implementation of technology within the lives of individuals within our current system; or indeed this individual in particular. Rather, the purpose has been to provide a key insight into the way that an over-reliance and dependence portends a great many sociological repercussions which have been evidenced within the body of this brief research. Reference Ferris, K. & Stein, J. (2008). The real world : an introduction to sociology. New York: W.W. Norton. Read More