There isn't really that much for me to discuss this week...I've been reading more of Selfe's book, obviously. It's a bit of a dry read; to me it kind of drags on. Of course, it continues to encourage parents to discourage their children from using computers for anything other than academics, which is irritating. The people quoted in this book tend to act like education and mindlessness are binary opposites that have no gray area, that these are the only things computers can be used for.
To me, even watching people vlogging on YouTube can be "educational"; sometimes you go onto someone's channel and, by watching them talk about their thoughts on various things, you learn about them as if in a documentary...it can be really cool. If you want to know about something, you can look it up on YouTube, usually. Tumblr can be educational, if you follow art or science blogs, or blogs that cover things like current events and politics. Even Facebook can be more than just a "mindless" way to waste time; as someone in our class pointed out, riots and protests have been organized on Facebook. Once again, the lesson seems to come down to, "It's all in how you use it".
I also think it's kind of irritating how the politicians and people quoted in this book are pushing the "American way" of life on everyone, and how that's their definition of progress. I mean, maybe things other than Capitalism haven't worked for other countries in the past, but why should we push our way of doing things on everyone? It has its flaws too! Sometimes I feel like America is the arrogant douchebag of the world, trying to bully everyone into doing things the way it does. Sorry if that was offensive, but I feel it's true sometimes. I actually came across a meme (on Tumblr) that suggested something similar and found it pretty funny. Just a few more of my opinions on the book.
I agree, I've wondered many times over the course of the past few weeks what "progress" actually means. Progress in what? I think the key point, which Dr. Mike pointed out several times, is that information does NOT mean intelligence. Although I don't think this is an accurate definition of progress, I think most people see progress as literacy and learning how to extend human life and decrease poverty/environmental problems etc. but we've been sidetracked by technology. Technology became the new "progress" which enabled widespread information (accurate and inaccurate information), which has now started become synonymous with the idea of "progress." I don't think that is the right attitude at all. I think it's important for us to sit back and actually study what the term "progress" actually means instead of throwing it everywhere. We are talking about something we don't even understand and something which holds different definitions to different people. Once we get a grasp on what "progress" actually means, I think people will start realizing technology isn't the end result. Is technology important? Yes, of course. Is it crucial to progress? It could be, but we aren't utilizing that ability.
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