However, now that I’m in Austin (and in particular, school), I can’t help but feel that I never exited I-35. My experience here so far has been a tailspin of temptation, too many pages, and technology all culminating into one, massive traffic jam of synapses.
This is my brain on college.It gets pretty nasty in there.
Medieval Europe is giving biology the finger because it’s been stuck behind stoichiometry for the past three days. Yet, no subject has been as intolerable or as looming as the Internet and the fact that I must submit to its ways.
I had previously always and almost exclusively used the information highway for recreational purposes: looking at stats from that nights football game, commenting pictures on Facebook, or watching some guy dance to the “Numa Numa” song and the like. Realizing that I have to blog and make a website, I can’t help but feel like I’m below the curve. I sense that everyone I see on a computer on campus can navigate the internet with the speed and fluidity seen in the “Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us” video on Youtube. Everybody, in my mind is, in the words of “Web 2.0”, “sharing, trading, collaborating,” with each other, while I am out of the loop. When I rationalize the situation, I recognize that I’m probably just being overdramatic, but paranoia and a loathing of not being the most knowledgeable are hard emotions to shrug off. It doesn’t help my worries that, as Stephen Ehrmann is cited as saying in “Liberal Education: The Role of Computer Literacy”, the use and reliance of technology at today’s universities “redefine[s] what it means to be an educated person in the 21st century” (X328A). If that is the case, I’m pretty much illiterate.
While I know that in order to succeed here I must advance beyond my obstinate views of technology, I can’t help but feel somewhat reluctant. As Jenny and Skaggs pointed out, the Internet is a powerful tool that can deeply connect us with people all over the world. If one so desires, his/her thoughts can be read by anyone. It is now possible to communicate with others for an entire day without ever hearing a voice or seeing a pair of eyes. Everyone is a single, mildly entertaining, two-minute video clip away from becoming an international star. As amazing and awesome as that is, is it such a good thing? Maybe I’m old fashioned, but in this age of texting, instant messaging, and instant gratification I find myself constantly longing for personal interaction and compassion that appeals to more than just my visual senses. However, it is a struggle to act on those views, for I am guilty of using the computer to communicate, simply because of how effortless it is. Why ask a person what their favorite movie or genre of music is when I can just read their information on Facebook? Why go ask my professor a question in person, consequently giving myself an identity in his/her eye, when I can simply email him/her? Why go spend money at the movies with my friends when I have an endless amount of free entertainment right at my fingertips? While these may seem like dumb questions, it is becoming increasingly harder, at least for me, to come up with acceptable answers. As Daniel Pink writes in “Revenge of the Right Brain,” “last century, machines proved they could replace human muscle. This century, technologies are proving they can outperform human left brains,” (X330). It is imperative that they do not prove they can be the main arenas for human interaction, lest the line between “The Machine is Us,” and “The Machine is Using Us,” becomes exponentially more indecipherable.
While I’m on the subject of my anxieties, I might as well point out that since I have been here I can’t stop wondering about what I want to do with my life. Pink states that “the quest for meaning and purpose has become an integral part of everyday life,” (X331) and I couldn’t agree more. Unfortunately, my expeditions often come up empty handed. Indiana Jones I am not.
See? This guy is good at quests. Me? Not so much.
As Covey points out, to achieve a goal, we must “begin with the end in mind,”(pp.132); however, I have no clue what I want to do. I simply can’t visualize it. Doctor? Too much school. Teacher? Not enough money. Businessman? I hate cubicles. I’m driving, but I don’t have a destination.
As Andrew said, each time period seems to be dominated by a predominant side of the brain. Apparently we are entering what Pink deems as the “Conceptual Age,” (X331)- an age where, thanks to computers and outsourcing, it is no longer good enough to be a master of a craft (left brain oriented), but where it is necessary to possess creativity, emotional connections, and essentially a good heart (right brain oriented).
Are we using them, or are they using us?
While I have always viewed myself as a person who relies more on the right side of my brain, I truly envy those who are the opposite. I wish I loved crunching numbers or integrating equations or reading the stock market, as it would make finding what I wanted to do so much simpler.
It just doesn’t inspire me. Instead, It reminds me of the two S’s: Sigh and Snooze.
I wish I could be what Peter Drucker designated as “knowledge workers: people who get paid for putting to work what one learns in school rather than for their physical strength or manual skill,” as cited in Pink's “Revenge of the Right Brain,” (X330). Yet, that just sounds so dreadfully boring, so void of passion. Hopefully, with the dawning of this new era I will be able to discover my meaning and a profession that appeases and utilizes both sides of my brain.
I feel that this class, as well as this assignment, is the first step in becoming more computer savvy and discovering what my calling is. So, for now, I guess I must just take the advice of Bob Dylan. “[I] better start swimming, or [I’ll] sink like a stone,” (from “The Times They Are A-changin’”). I'm doing okay though. I'm alive.
Just keep swimming…just keep swimming.
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