The day I turned off my cell phone

When I first found out that I had to try to go 24 hours without using any of the various types of technology that I use on a daily basis, all I could think was, "There's no way." Luckily for me, my parents had decided that for Thanksgiving we were going to drive up to our newly built house in West Virginia. The house is on twenty acres of land somewhere among the mountains of Hampshire County outside a town called Romney, and there is no land line phone, internet, or any sort of tv (cable of otherwise) there yet because it was just completed a few short weeks ago. I figured this would be the opportune time for me to give the assignment a try, and made sure to bring a couple books with me because I knew I would probably be doing nothing but reading.

When we first arrived, I turned off my cell phone (surprisingly I was the only one in my family who got service at the house...I guess it pays to be IN the network) and tried to psych myself up for a loooong day. I thought I had made it pretty easy for myself to succeed, but sadly that wasn't the case.

One of the first obstacles I encountered was the fact that (unbeknown to me) my brother had brought along his PS3 and an assortment of video games. After finding this out, I realized it has been silly of me to think that he wouldn't want to find a way to keep himself entertained for the couple of days we were going to be there. I decided that I would just stay away while he played and find somewhere to read quietly. Not a few minuted after I had settled down with my book, music started blasting from downstairs. The house is medium-sized, but the living room is completely open and the ceiling is essentially the inside of the roof. Basically, even when I was trying to seclude myself in a room upstairs, I could still hear everything that was going on throughout the rest of the house. Now, I know I could have rounded up my parents and brother and explained to them my assignment and asked them if they might try to help me out with sticking to what I was supposed to be doing, but instead I totally caved.

After about an hour of trying to ignore the music my dad was playing and the sounds of my brother playing NCAA football in the next room, I just said to myself "screw it" and went to play Need for Speed: Pro Street for a while. I know what you're thinking. That day in class when Joel Breton came as a guest speaker and asked everyone what their background in video games was I said that the only game I played was Guitar Hero. So big deal, I lied. For me, I think some of the only times I tend to play video games are when there is NOTHING else to do. In the end, the very reason why I thought it would be easier to deprive myself of technology (meaning the fact that my location made using the phone, internet, etc. almost impossible) became the reason why I gave up on the assignment. I just couldn't bring myself to sit and read for the entire time when I knew that there were other options for entertaining myself.

On the other hand, even thought I didn't make it, during the 24 hours I did end up doing a lot of other things that didn't involve playing video games. My brother and I built a bonfire outside the house by burning all the scraps of wood that the builders had left, and I eventually ended up finishing one of the books I had brought. I don't really want to put the blame on anyone besides myself, but I do think that had I been completely alone I would have done much better with avoiding the things I was supposed to be avoiding. Maybe if I hadn't thought so much about how awful it would be to go without all these things I would have realized that in reality it's not as hard as we all might say it is.

Oh, and just in case anyone was wondering, I didn't think about checking Facebook once during the 24 hours. For me, that's a success. When I did get home and check it, here's what I found.

Two Cultures - Television vs. Print

Camille Paglia, professor and author of many controversial media-related books and essays, and the late Neil Postman, chair of the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences at New York University, met to discuss their opposing perspectives on the age-old books versus television debate. Postman, an avid supporter of the book speaks nostalgically about a time when literacy and intellectuals were highly valued, while Paglia is in favor of the television and the significance images play in our daily lives.

Both professors made many excellent points, but I found myself at times a bit perplexed by the metaphors used by Paglia in her arguments. I found that I identified more with her perspective, but some of the things she said seemed less statistic-based than the information Postman brought to the table. Paglia is very up-front about the way television influences our lives. When Postman brings up the way that news reporters switch from a story about 5,000 people who died to an airline commercial, Paglia counters that there is no way we can extend our compassion to those people. It seems harsh, but not very far from what my thought process might be when watching the news. We are faced with so many pieces of information all at once that there is no longer any time to stop and get emotional over a particular news story. Paglia does not seem to show remorse for her opinionated views, she simply presents the harsh truth about the media within American culture today.

Postman's argument that television fosters a lack of emotion within us may be true, but, as Paglia says, "If you fully responded emotionally to every disaster you saw, you'd be a mess." I think that both Postman and Paglia are (obviously) totally biased in their views, and, as Paglia frequently mentions, it is due to their generational disconnect. I have a harder time relating to Postman because he grew up in the time before television. I can't imagine life without television, and although I enjoy reading and appreciate the value of the written word, I still think that television defines our culture as much as literature and intellectualism defined the Founding Fathers.

The Telephone: Transmitting the Voices of our Society

With the advent of the various new forms of technology our generation is familiar with (i.e. the internet, cell phones, GPS systems, the Ipod, etc.), it becomes increasingly difficult to look into the past and recall why certain media advancements were so innovative when they were first introduced to the world. In the same regard, it is also extremely difficult to label one as more important as another considering they have all had a profound effect on our culture as a whole, whether we are aware of it or not. If forced to choose one development that made the greatest impact on our society, the telephone seems to have drastically changed the manner of person to person communication. Before the telephone became commonplace in homes across the country, people’s only choices for contacting anyone outside their own city or town were to either write a letter or to send a short telegram. Both of these methods of communication were one-sided; the sender sent a message and then had to wait for a response. In short, the telephone made interaction possible, where letters and the telegraph only supported reaction.

The invention of the telephone was revolutionary in the sense that it provided a quick and easy method of communication between two people no matter the physical distance between them. Today, with the abundance of cell phones, most people are able to be contacted at almost any time, day or night. Of course, this was not the case when the telephone first was put to use, but as a way of transmitting messages it bested the telegraph because it was something that potentially anyone could use. There was no need to learn Morse code nor did those making a call need to be literate. (Communication in History, 119) The telephone had greater potential for widespread use within any home provided it was affordable enough. This also set it apart from the telegraph – there was no need to go to a specific location in order to send a message once telephones became commonplace in homes across the country.

Some of the earliest telephone users were doctors, druggists, and businessmen such as manufacturers, lawyers, and bankers. The technology began solely as a business tool that facilitated rapid communication between businessmen and their employees. (Communication in History, 147) Doctors were able to check their messages while at home and thus respond to emergencies in a quick and efficient manner. (Perhaps the origin of the phrase “on call”?) As telephone usage evolved and expanded, rates went down, and more families were able to afford telephones in their homes which made immediate contact between family members across the country possible. Unlike the telegraph, which served the purpose of transmitting coded, detailed information, as our textbook puts it, the telephone was “an immediately interactive medium”. (Communications in History, 119) The telegraph was just not as interactive, and was not a quick as the telephone in relaying messages between two people. Today, the telephone is the most common way most of us keep in contact with the friends and family we are unable to see on a regular basis. For many people it may be the ability to hear someone’s voice over the phone that helps make them seem closer than they actually are. In my opinion, talking on the phone is more personal than writing letters back and forth because you are able to hear the emotion and subtle nuances of speech when hearing someone’s voice even if you are not able to see them.

In the world we live in today, telephones can be put to use for an abundance of purposes. Information such as the weather, the time, business locations, movie times, and more is available by phone. I can call PNC Bank and by punching in a username and password am able to find out my checking account balance. If there is a fire, an accident, or we witness something suspicious going on near our homes, we use the telephone to contact the appropriate authorities who will respond almost immediately to take care of the problem. For reasons such as these, the telephone has been able to survive and remain an important part of daily life for over 100 years. It has expanded our social interactions and made contact possible between anyone instead of just those who are in close proximity to us.

I'll admit it....I'm totally a Facebook addict.

I don't know if anyone else in this class feels the same way, but I have developed this serious addiction that I need to constantly feed by compulsively checking Facebook many times throughout the day. I know it sounds weird...and a little sad, but I guess the reason why I like Facebook so much is because it seems to be the easiest way to stay in touch with people I've met (middle school, high school, college, etc.) without actually having to TALK to them. I bet you're thinking about how weird that sounds too. It's true, though. Think about all the people you are friends with on Facebook (if you have it) then think to yourself, 'Would I really be friends with these people in real life? Or am I just friends with them through this social networking website so that in the case that I might actually care what they're doing these days, I can just look them up online and find out?' Again, maybe it's just me, and most people only use this website to stay connected with the people they see on a daily basis. Who knows.

Although Facebook is the website I visit most frequently, there are still other forms of media that find their way into my daily life. For instance, over the past four or five years I have noticed myself watching much more television than I ever have before. Of course, when I watch tv, it's usually to catch a specific show. I'm never just channel surfing, but that still can't guarantee that I won't have to sit through the countless commercials. My tv-watching habits now are completely different from my childhood. When I was about 5 years old, my parents got rid of cable and I said goodbye to the Mickey Mouse Club forever. After that, it was basically PBS and WETA, which meant Sesame Street, Arthur, Reading Rainbow, and Barney. These were the shows I was allowed to grow up watching, and these channels were lacking in the commercials for fast food and other consumer products that regular channels had. I think my parents liked that PBS and WETA got their money from viewer donations rather than advertising.

All during my childhood, the most common way for me to hear what was going on in the world would be on the radio. My parents religiously listened to NPR, and even though it bugged me as a little kid because all I ever heard was "boring talking", I still could not help but listen from time to time.

When I was in 6th grade or so, we began to use America Online as our internet provider and I was introduced to the world of Instant Messaging. A good deal of my friends from school also had IM, and so began the era of talking to people online for hours at a time. In high school, IM became useful for asking teachers questions before an exam. Chat rooms were also a way to talk with teachers and other students to review exam materials. High school also happened to be the time period when I got my first cell phone and came to rely on it as a main form of communication. Having a cell phone meant being able to contact pretty much anyone at any given time of day. I used my cell phone back then to keep in touch with my parents when I went out, as well as for keeping contact with friends when we were out. Texting became the new "on-the-go" instant messaging, an alternative to actually calling someone and relaying a short message.

Overall, I think my media habits have definitely broadened throughout the course of my life. I can't imagine not being able to use Facebook to communicate with my friends, and reverting to live without a cell phone would be manageable, but extremely hard. I also know that I could do without cable television, but how would I entertain myself when there's nothing else to do? I can acknowledge that I have become very dependent on all these forms of media, and although I don't see it as a good thing, that doesen't mean that it's a bad thing.....right?

Here is the blog that I have chosen to read over the course of the semester:

http://www.dailykos.com/

Hope this is okay!

Who am I?

Hey, everyone. My name is Susannah Parker, and I am new at UMBC this year, a transfer student from a couple of places. I graduated high school in 2004 from Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC, and started as a freshman at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. It was definitely a place where I got what I think a lot of people would consider the "traditional college experience". By that I mean huge student body (upwards of 30,000), frat parties, house parties, very large classes (anywhere from 300-500 students), and, of course, everyone was REALLY into school spirit (Big 10 football...GO BADGERS!). Although that might have been what I thought I wanted to do for my four years in college, it turned out that I was not entirely correct. I did enjoy my time in Madison, but the huge state school was not for me.


After a year and a half, I came home, not knowing what I wanted to do, and decided to take classes at Montgomery College while I figured it out. I stuck with Sociology, my intended major at UW, and got my grades up significantly while living at home. After some serious thinking about where I wanted to go from there, I decided it would be easier (not to mention cheaper for my parents) to go somewhere closer to home, and starting looking into UMD and UMBC. I knew that they were completely different schools, Maryland being much more like Wisconsin that UMBC. After doing some reasearch on both, I realized that maybe it was time to try something totally different than what I had already done. I chose to transfer to UMBC in the hope that a smaller student body and a campus not located in the midst of a total college town would help me get past all the novelties of so-called "college life" and get down to business. Or whatever you want to call going to class and eventually getting my BA.


On an entirely different note, the picture on the right is from a trip I took over the summer to San Francisco. I was walking down Haight street and saw the awesome graffiti and there just so happened to be an old purple VW Beetle sitting right in front of it. I thought it was an appropriate photo op considering I was wandering around in the hippie/psychadelic capital of the U.S, so I snapped a picture. It also happens to be my current Facebook picture because I like it so much.

Here is a link to Facebook.
Because I know most of you are on it, and if you aren't, you should know that it's a great way to connect with people at your school, in your area, or just friends you don't get to see very often.