Netflix

Today I’m going to focus on the application of instant gratification to movies, television shows, and primarily, Netflix.

As a child I remember the sheer excitement of going to Blockbuster to pick out a movie. It was always so difficult to decide which movie to rent; Did I want a funny one or a scary one? A light-hearted one or a serious one? I could only choose one, and I just did not know which one to choose.

With the advent of companies like Netflix, people now had a huge assortment of movies and shows at their fingertips. Long gone were the days of having to rewind a VHS tape that someone had forgotten to rewind before returning to the store, and having to clean the fingerprints off DVDs. At the click of a button, one can watch essentially whatever they please whenever they please.

Although Netflix has a wonderful business model, I wonder…isn’t this mode of entertainment just fueling our need for instant gratification? Even the movies that aren’t available to be streamed are difficult to wait for. How dare they make us wait a whole TWO days?! And this doesn’t even begin to discuss the monster they are creating for younger children. Children don’t understand how to wait for their entertainment anymore because they have it right on the computer or streaming through the Xbox. Seeing a new movie has lost a lot of its excitement.

Instead of being able to choose only one movie, now children have hundreds upon thousands of movies and shows right at their fingertips. Do you think this will pose problems for them in terms of patience and appreciation in the long run?

Don't Text and Drive!

I found this public service announcement on a woman’s blog. The post was titled “for oprah” and had a brief description of Oprah’s “don’t text and drive” campaign. Oprah Winfrey declared April 30^th, 2010 “National No Phone Zone Day” in order to get people to stop using their phone while driving.

The major claim in the argument is that you’re four times more likely to have a road accident when you’re on a mobile phone. The warrant that supports this claim is that it is hard to concentrate on two things at one time. This is evidenced in the layout of the public service announcement. When reading, the eye tends to want to read each line in sequence. This is impossible, however, because every other line is part of a different sentence. The usage of different colors for each sentence has two separate purposes. One is to throw off the reader when trying to read line by line. The other is to allow the reader to differentiate between the two thoughts after discovering that they are not all one thought.

Overall, the argument is successful. It presents a statistical claim about the dangers of cell phone usage while driving, supports it with a reasonable warrant, and then evidences the warrant through the layout of the announcement.

Anonymity

The birth of the Internet caused many things. Among these, the formation of the idea of anonymity was quite prevalent. Today, people say whatever they want to whoever they choose. I have noticed that some people are quite forward when it comes to forming friendships and relationships over the Internet. This all goes back to the idea of instant gratification.

Before the Internet, forming a romantic relationship with a person was quite difficult for the guy. First, he had to personally know the girl. Next, he had to muster up the courage to ask the girl on a date. Finally, he had to actually carry through with the process and ask her. Today, a lot of guys will hide behind the wall of anonymity when it comes to dating. They may only have the bravery to talk to the girl on Facebook and hardly talk to her in person.

Nowadays, you might talk to a guy once, and then become friends on Facebook. I have received a few startlingly forward messages from guys I have maybe talked to maybe once or twice. The scary part of this phenomenon is that the messages aren’t warranted. Before the Internet, in order to appropriately contact someone, you needed to know them pretty well first. Now, one can go on their Facebook account and talk to any person that interests them…instantly. The same story goes for text messages. Without any personal contact, people feel that it is okay to be so forward.

Why did the wall of anonymity cause this phenomenon to occur? Our morals haven’t changed. Why have we changed the way we act?

Social Media Overload

In this post I will be rhetorically analyzing Danah Boyd’s blog and Sarah Zhang’s blog. Danah’s blog focuses on taking an email sabbatical whereas the Digital Natives blog talks about social media overload.

Danah uses both logos and pathos in her blog post regarding why and when she will be taking her email sabbatical. She appeals to logos by explaining the lengthy process of preparing for and carrying out the sabbatical. She also appeals to logos by expressing the exact purpose of leaving her email for a certain period of time. Danah appeals to pathos by conveying the importance of having a break from constant communication for her own psychological and emotional health. Her basic idea is that she needs a complete and total break from being connected…not just a partial one.

Sarah Zhang’s blog primarily uses the appeal of logos. It explains how we are just always connected, whether it is in the form of emails, Facebook messages, Twitter, etc. Sarah’s blog definitely focuses more on moderation than Danah’s blog. Danah plans to entirely cut herself off from the internet whereas Sarah talks more about ways to avoid being overly connected, such as owning a smart phone.

The rhetorical messages conveyed in both posts are successful: I understand completely why Danah wants a break and has planned this email sabbatical for herself. I also agree with Sarah about being too connected within social media.

When is too much? What can we do to alleviate the anxieties posed by being submerged in the digital age?

The daily bombardment of emails

I’ll be honest…having an email address stresses me out. Every day, my personal account is flooded with advertisements from different companies I’ve done business with over the last few years (eBay, Gap, buy.com, etc.). As college students, we also have to have a school email address! Since I am signed up on a listserv, I receive many unimportant messages as well as important ones. It seems every time I check my phone, I have a new email in my inbox. It’s just never ending!

After reading Danah Boyd’s blog on taking an email sabbatical, I thought to myself, “Could I ever manage this?” Among all of the emails that I receive, there are always at least five very important ones. If my inbox were to reject all of my emails, I would for sure miss out on something…whether it be a meeting or a test review. The idea of having a week free of the intrusion of emails is just so wonderful. I almost can’t remember life without this constant contact with the outside world.

This goes back to the concept of instant gratification. People expect you to receive their email and to respond to it very promptly (sometimes within hours). Oh, life without this stress. Wouldn’t it be nice? Unfortunately, we are too progressed to completely do away with email in our lives. We would surely miss an important message. What we need to do, however, is take a deep breath and relax:

1) 1) Respond to emails only during certain hours of the day.

2) 2) When you go on vacation, turn your email notifications off. They will still go to your inbox, but they won’t intrude on your personal time.

3) 3) When sending an email, give the person at least a day to respond. Don’t be quick to get annoyed with the person.

We are all guilty of constantly being plugged in. The question is, what are you going to do to not allow email to control your life?

On a humorous note, I received an email during the time it took me to write this blog post (really, they are always rolling in). Luckily, it was only my digital turnitin receipt. (Ha ha)

Juggling different elements of life

This graphic demonstrates the difficulty that humankind has with all the information portals that are available to us. The man in the cartoon is juggling five different elements of his life. The cartoon was originally found on a website for a company called "Illumine", which focuses on management and personal skills development training. The article talked about information overload. The audience is everyone who is submerged in the digital revolution; that is, one who has a cell phone, Facebook, e-mail address, Twitter, etc.

The main point of this visual is to express the dominance of technology and information in our lives. It is both humorous and realistic. We don't realize how "plugged in" we are until we see cartoons such as this. The visual subverts the traditional American value of family. Four out of the five elements being juggled relate to a person's individual life, whereas only one element (the family portrait) depicts family life.

The cell phone is visually the largest image that the man is juggling. On the opposite side of the frame, the family portrait is the smallest. This sizing technique effectively illustrates the importance of technology and our "need for information", which exceeds that of our family a lot of the time. The technique is very noticeable due to the fact that a cell phone is physically the smallest element in the visual. The use of color is also notable. Each piece of technology and the man are all in black and white. The family photo and the date book are in color. I believe that this technique was used to separate the idea of man and technology from the idea of traditional values (like keeping a calendar of events on paper).

As illustrated by the cartoon, our lives are so full of information. We are constantly connected and plugged in to the outside world. This alienates us quite a bit from our own personal lives (our relationships, friendships, and family). The main point of the graphic is not to influence us against the use of technology, but to understand the difference between moderation and going overboard. When we live our lives in moderation, "juggling" the different aspects of our life will not be so difficult and overwhelming.

When is it time to log off Facebook? When is it time to send that last e-mail? When is it time to turn off your cell phone or computer? We must ask ourselves these questions in order to live a life that is not characterized by information overload.

Information Overload Cartoon

Cell phones

You are out on a dinner date with a special someone. There is candle light, and classical music is lightly playing in the background. You just can’t wrap your head around how much you enjoy this person’s company. All romance ceases with the blaring sound of your date’s cell phone going off. “Surely he will silence that,” you think to yourself. Instead he asks, “Do you mind if I take this?” There are obviously instances when the phone call is of importance. However, most of the time people answer their phone literally just because it rang. This not only instantly gratifies the caller, but also the recipient of the call-they now know how their best friend’s day went. Never mind the date who was left behind at the table.

The advent of cell phones caused human behavior and interaction to change drastically. Now at the press of a button, one can get in contact with another person. Not only do they have the ability to do so, but they also expect it.

As more and more features have been added to mobile phones, the more prevalent this phenomenon has become. Many young people will sit in a restaurant with their family but be texting their friends. High school and college students will sit in class, sending and receiving a string of text messages. What is so important that can’t wait until after class? We just can’t stand to be disconnected, if only for a short period of time.

The beginning of cell phones was the beginning of this idea of instant gratification. We must always be plugged into the lives of others. We have made this transformation in under twenty years. What will come next?