Your blog does not need to be 200 words this week. Simply number and write the three possible thesis statements you're considering, and then I'll give you feedback directly to your blog.
Example:
1) Possible Thesis #1: Tattoos, once considered a signal of the social outcast, are now gaining widespread acceptance by the public as an expression of personal values and aesthetics, ultimately demonstrating a larger cultural shift that favors the "public" over the "private."
2) Possible Thesis #2: Since younger and younger Americans have access to consumer electronics that discourage face to face interaction among their peers, technology is hindering young peoples' ability to communicate effectively with one another, which may, overtime, negatively impact the possibility of coming together to solve pressing social issues.
3) Possible Thesis #3: By featuring highlights of air strikes and peace-keeping missions on the news, television producers reduce them to the status of popular entertainment and undermine the audience's appreciation of the seriousness of military actions.
Nicholas Carr, a well known academic author, argues that the internet has the ability to reshape the human brain. In his essay titled “Is Google Making Us Stupid?”, Carr claims that digital technologies, especially the internet, are changing the way we think, read, and live. As a result of reading countless pages of text via screen instead of page, Carr suggests that we are losing the ability to fully concentrate and to understand texts deeply; we no longer interpret text or form mental connections, we are now focused solely on efficiency. We have become lazy readers who merely skim for convenience instead of attempting to truly understand texts. This effect is achieved because webpages are filled with hyperlinks and advertisements that draw eyes away from the text. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter constantly distract readers with the promise of new messages, wall posts and picture comments. If something does not catch our attention right away on a website, we will most likely navigate away quickly to engage in something more interesting. As Carr points out, however, few internet users realize that using the internet has a physical affect on the brain and the way it receives and processes information (thanks to the brain's ability to reprogram itself on the fly).
I find Carr's argument extremely persuasive, and there's data/history to prove that's he's on to something in terms of the kinds of biological changes that can evolve from cultural shifts. Before you get too terribly depressed about the loss of deep human thought, however, there are some potentially positive changes that technology is engendering that one might also consider. For example, I recently read a book titled "The Empathetic Civilization" by Jeremy Rifkin. Rifkin points out that, for the very first time in history, the majority of the human race is embedded in economic, social, and political infrastructures that span the globe. The world has shrunk and the human race finds itself nearly face-to-face in the world of cyberspace. Distances are becoming less relevant in the era of globalization. Our virtual addresses now over-shadow our geographic addresses. Brought together in an ever closer embrace, we are increasingly exposed to each other in ways that are without precedent. While the backlash of globalization-the xenophobia, political populism, and terrorist activity-is widely reported, far less attention has been paid to the growing empathic tendencies that this has created, as hundreds of millions of people come into contact with diverse others. Hundreds of millions of human beings have become part of a global floating diaspora, and the world itself is becoming transformed into a universal public square. We are beginning to see the effects of this reality, from the "Arab Spring" awakening in the middle east to the Occupy Wall Street protests. Perhaps we aren't the focused, deep thinkers we once were, but we are more and more able to see how we are interconnected and interdependent upon each other and the planet, which may lead to dramatic changes that benefit all of humanity that we are, as of yet, unable to predict.
"Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it." -Andre Gilde
I chose to read the essay "I Could Be Wrong" by Allan Barger because I was immediately drawn to the title; I like to think that I often inhabit the "gray" areas of life where we can stay open to the possibilities, flexible to change, and humble enough to admit when we may not have the answers or see the whole truth.
Barger tells the story of his conversion from an evangelical minister with "religious certainty" to an eventual realization/acceptance of his identity as a gay man. It was a difficult road for him to finally accept that life's truths cannot be pre-determined (or even post-determined). This new outlook opened the author up to a whole new world of possibilities in terms of his own identity/life, but also the social and political world around him. Barger suggests that it's more important than ever to embrace the idea that you "might be wrong" because it seems that (thanks to the 'narrowcasting' of our lives, as Andrew Sullivan might put it) people believe with more certainty than ever, which as he realized in his own life, can have devastating consequences. He writes that "certainty becomes a prison for my mind," and my own life experience tells me that he's on to something here.
When I think of how I've evolved over the years, I picture a slow, gradual shift from a limited, rigid, certain perspective into a more dynamic, flexible, and open approach. This approach is necessarily makes life more complex sometimes, but in the end I believe it builds humility and empathy and has opened me up to new experiences that I wouldn't have even considered before.
Looking back at this winding path, I can see that its really been my good friends and family who have pushed me (lovingly) to see that my perspective might be more limited than I had previously imagined. What they have taught me is that it is a necessary fact of my existence and the nature of perspective that I have limited sight. Our perspectives are like "tunnel vision", a tunnel that is built from our experiences and background and natural inclinations. But, with the help of honest and open friends, I can begin to construct a "bigger view." I can see to the top of my roof on my own, but on the backs of others and with a few helping hands, I can see to the horizon and then, who knows? I'll try to keep myself open to the possibilities. ;)
I just finished re-reading "Facebook in a Crowd" by Hal Niedzviecki, who makes a subtle point about the increasing role of social networking and its effects on our lives. He tells the story of feeling rather proud of his near 700 Facebook "friends," even though he realized that he had fewer friends to hang out with than ever. So, he decided to try a little experiment of getting them all together for a party at a bar, attempting to use the "event" feature on Facebook as the organizing platform. Unfortunately, only 1 single "friend", an acquaintance, showed up. As he reflects on the experience, he wonders if it was his fault, or whether no one wants to get together in real life anymore. He ultimately doesn't blame Facebook itself so much as the digital world in which Facebook thrives, stating, "For chipping away at past friendships and blocking honest new efforts, you really have to blame the entire modern world." In other words, Niedziecki is suggesting that we are becoming less and less interested in cultivating our "real world" lives and associations and more interested in developing our "digital selves." I'm wondering about the effects of constant immersion in and distraction by mediums that offer us the addicting bright lights, shiny colors, perpetual "notifications," and instant access to our network of "friends." Experiencing a large portion of your life and social interactions in the virtual realm, despite what many social networking addicts or gamers argue, does not necessarily create a population of people well equipped to function in society when the screen is off. I wonder if the social skills developed through a social networking medium can be productively applied to actually help create the better real world to come (which needs a lot of work right now). The rules you must abide by in the real world are limited compared to the digital world, but the stakes are much higher. If there was a way to harness that focus and creativity towards something more productive than "virtual world building", if we could apply that creativity to the problems of the real world, I might be more convinced as to their usefulness. In the meantime, I watch images of gamers like the one in the video above and wonder if the people immersed in this new digital world will even be able to see the value in connecting with others to improve the not-so-virtual world around them.
