The readings from Tufekci’s Twitter and Teargas explores the implications and impact of modern day digital technologies on social and political movements. Through an examination of the events that occurred during the Arab Spring, she presents a nuanced analysis of the affordances and limitations of online platforms in the organization and execution of protests. An interesting highlight from Ch. 5 is the reductionist view of the role of technology that many journalists held, i.e. that of technodeterminism. In contrast, she highlights the several levels of analyses that should be undertaken when investigating the role of tech in social movements. Her discussion on the four types of causation was particularly interesting, especially when she discusses the difference between necessary and sufficient causes to an event. Ultimately, the complex relationship between technology and social behaviour necessitates a multilevel analysis of the affordances provided by technology and its design – people create technology, which in turn alters spatiotemporal structures of society.
The excerpt from Schneier’s Data and Goliath was intriguing in its urgent tone. He highlights the very intimate nature of surveillance which our phones provide to carriers. The personalized location tracking offers unprecedented amounts of data to companies, to be leveraged by governments and security agencies. Beyond our mobile phones, however, Schneier discusses the implicit bargain that is made between users and most modern technology: consumers get free service in exchange for their data. Often, this is done for convenience purposes, with little thought given to the potential implications. The problem, however, as Schneier notes, is that mass surveillance (as in its current form) is highly dangerous. Governments and businesses have amassed huge amounts of data, which can be used to discriminate against and control individuals.
A relevant example of this mass surveillance in action is explored in the documentary Citizen Four. Snowden reveals insider information regarding the US National Security Agency and its illegal tracking practices. An intensely political situation, the film reveals the reality of modern mass surveillance, raising questions on what should be done in response to the extent of data collection that occurs at the hands of powerful corporations and entities.
To wrap up this semester’s discussions on various aspects of communication technologies, we decided to focus on some of the key psychological impacts that the current, prominent communication platforms have had on its users. We chose this topic because we wanted to delve into the ubiquitous nature of technology and its implications on our individual behaviour, our emotional well-being, and on our relationships with others and with our devices/tech.
We started by considering the two related experiences of depression and isolation that have grown in prevalence and severity, concurrently with the increased usage of social media. We explored some of the factors and evidence behind the negative effects of communication platforms on our emotional well-being, which include FOMO (fear of missing out), the act of social comparison, and the resulting cycles of envy and jealousy that feed into depression. We discussed the results of some studies that showed the correlation between popular sites (including Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, and Snapchat) and their effects on users’ lifestyles, allowing time for the class to brainstorm some reasons for these effects.
We also highlighted some projects that have attempted to address these issues by offering companionship and support to users. For comparison, we introduced the class to online “therapists” like Eliza and Woebot, and designated some time for everyone to experience interacting with these chatbots. It was interesting to hear people’s feedback on these systems – most responses highlighted the limitations and lack of effectiveness of these platforms. Beyond these online platforms, we also showed a clip from the movie Her, along with an advertisement for Vector – a virtual assistant robot designed to maximize the user’s relationship and feelings towards it. Are AI powered technologies a solution, then, to the increasing amounts of social isolation that individuals are experiencing these days?
Theo’s part of the presentation continued with the overarching theme of social interactions and the negative effects of technology on them. We delved into the effects of communication technologies such as social media, particularly the ability to send notifications and always be accessible via mobile platforms, on the ability to concentrate and carry out tasks effectively. We presented the finding of Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Lab on the subject, discussing key aspects such as limits to attention, interruptions, sense of urgency, and attention allocation to highlight the challenges that modern communication technologies pose on multitasking abilities and effective human interaction. Then he transitioned into some methods to overcome these social distractions and examples of technologies developed to help bring attention to this issue, if not help combat it. Last but not least, the philosophy of digital minimalism was presented as a social tendency that people are adopting to reorganize their digital lives.
The purpose of this section was to bring attention to a subconscious yet omnipresent effect of the rapid development of communication technologies and the movement to being always online and always reachable. This furthers the discussions we have had in class about the mediums of communication and their implications in interpersonal interactions.
After touching on depression, isolation, and distraction, we decided to close our presentation on the main cause that drives the previous three behaviors: addiction. Were it not for our addictive attitude towards these mobile devices, we would not have experienced such behavioral change. For this part of the presentation, we decided to focus more on UX design features across different platforms. We focused on explaining how these target our human psychology in a way that makes us keep our hands on the phone and our eyes on the screen. This section had a strong focus on Tristan Harris’s perspective. As a google design ethicist, he is considered an expert on the subject and has written multiple essays and given talks on design for addiction. After looking at some of his videos and texts, we decided to focus on three key aspects of design addiction: variable ratio schedule, the bottomless vortex, and warm colors – showcasing how they stimulate different part of our brains based on gambling patterns, intuitive cues versus visual cues, and color dominance. In order to look for ways forward and focusing on what we can do as humans to combat these default triggers, we also proposed three alternative actions to limit the power of these features.
In order to expand on that aspect and at the same time wrap up with all topics as a cohesive whole, we showcased Humanetech, Harris’s awareness platform that talks about different ways in which technology has altered our behavior – from our relationships, our self-confidence, and our addiction. We wrap up by stating how this form of media is different from the TV, the radio, the computer, etc. in order to strain the importance of the awareness of its impacts. With this, we then focus on more tactics to mitigate social platform impact – ranging from specifically daily actions to potential apps we could use to limit us.
As society evolves, so does our technology – at faster rates than ever before. Part of this involves the expansion and progression of not only human intelligence, but artificial intelligence as well. Remarkably, AI – or perhaps “Artificial Alien,” as Kelly describes in “The Inevitable” – is making its emergence in almost every industry, including medical, manufacturing, and marketing. Of particular interest is the rise of the AI in our personal lives – as virtual assistants in our homes and cars. Beyond the help provided by these AI powered assistants, artificial intelligence is increasingly adopting human-like characteristics. Earlier this year, in May 2018, Google unveiled a demo of its most recent developments for its virtual assistant – the Google Duplex, capable of imitating a human voice to make a call on its owner’s behalf. Until this point, users have relied on artificially intelligent assistants to perform certain functions by communicating directly with their devices. Now, however, a shift is occurring, as evident by the principles behind the technology of Google Duplex. We are no longer simply communicating with AI devices, in a 1-to-1 relationship between the user and the machine. Our devices are now purporting to communicate for us, acting as their own agents to engage in intelligent, coherent conversation with others. With the release of such technology as the Duplex, it will soon be impossible to determine exactly with whom – or what – we’re communicating.
As our devices get smarter, what are the implications and consequences for our society? How does our increasing dependence on smart, deep learning machines affect our own understanding of what “human intelligence” and purpose is? What do the ever increasing ubiquity and capabilities of AI – powered assistants entail for the future of communication? As AI becomes a formidable entity of its own, what happens to the individual, the “I”, in this process?
In the final chapter of Digital Cosmopolitans, Zuckerman provides a number of suggestions – at both the national and personal levels – on how we can attempt to rewire our connections to expose ourselves to new and different perspectives. The first suggestion that Zuckerman makes in our personal rewiring is to be aware of what our current consumption habits are. In order to experience serendipity online, Zuckerman describes a similar principle that we should follow: “It’s possible to wander with a purpose. The flaneur strolls the streets as a strategy for encountering and understanding the city. We can wander in ways that seek serendipity” (230).
So, for this assignment, I attempted to do two things. Sadly, I rely too much on Facebook for getting news and updates, and so it was clearly a limiting factor for me. Thus, the first part was to disconnect from two digital spaces that I use quite frequently: Facebook and Google. The second was to increase the possibilities of encountering new, foreign, unfamiliar sources of information by using DuckDuckGo.
Instead of deleting Facebook directly, I tried to simply avoid using it. I was surprised at how difficult it was to resist opening up the Facebook app during this experiment. Sometimes, I would (almost automatically/mindlessly) start opening the app to check for any updates, before remembering to stop. A lot of the news I see on Facebook is focussed on events/things happening in Toronto or, more broadly, in Ontario (my province), ranging from posts about the weather, to the government, to the newest food fad. Besides updates from home, a lot of posts relating to NYUAD also take up my feed. Avoiding Facebook for a day made me notice the absence of these two sources, but also made me realize how limiting Facebook can be, in terms of news intake and connecting with others.
In terms of searching for content, switching from Google to DuckDuckGo was quite enjoyable. It was weird but pleasant to know that my online presence wasn’t being tracked, and whenever I searched for anything – whether an article, or a youtube video, or the answer to some random query I had – the results weren’t biased from my previous search histories. I also enjoyed the experience of not having ads pop up, that were influenced by my location or my web history. Although this didn’t automatically expose me to new channels of information, it did provide the possibility of wandering on to an unfamiliar path on the web. I will definitely continue using DuckDuckGo – and be more conscious of the connections and channels I use online.
I’ve never signed up for a Stack Exchange site (or any other similar platform) before, so the process was quite new to me. As I browsed through the available sites, I noted which ones seemed particularly interesting/relevant, such as Travel, Expatriates, French language, Parenting, and English language. The process of choosing which communities to join, however, took longer than I expected. Although there were several sites that interested me, I found that the questions that were asked required highly specific knowledge/expertise. So in the end, I signed up for Lifehacks and Puzzling (for fun).
Since I was a completely new user, I started out with only 1 reputation point, which limited the types of interactions I could engage in. For instance, after browsing through some questions on the Lifehacks site, I wanted to upvote answers that I found creative or practical, but could not do so since I lacked the points. Thus, the gamification of an open, user-based information system was highly effective for me, as it motivated me to try and accumulate these points.
I started out by answering a few questions in Lifehacks. I strategically chose questions that only had a few answers, with the hopes of increasing my chances of being upvoted. Nothing changed for the first few hours after my responses. Eventually, I received a notification that I had gained +15 points because the original user who had asked the question selected my answer as the best! (Best out of 2, but still felt good nonetheless). Although my answer wasn’t that innovative or exciting, I had noticed that other answers with links to resources tended to have more upvotes, so I incorporated that technique into my own response.
I also submitted a few edit suggestions to previously-posted questions, mostly correcting grammar mistakes (since I still did not have enough points to upvote/downvote or comment).
I wanted to ask some questions on the Lifehacks site, but found most of my questions had been asked already in some other form – perhaps I’m just not creative enough to think of an entirely new question for this?
I enjoyed seeing the types of questions and answers that were already posted on these sites. Some of them were unexpectedly specific and detailed, especially on sites like Parenting and Travel. The posts on Puzzling were also quite interesting, as users built off each other’s answers to solve/decrypt puzzles that others had created and posted. Overall, the experience highlighted the power and potential of such platforms for enabling individuals to easily form and participate in new groups (at minimal cost) – principles that were highlighted by Clay Shirky in ‘Here Comes Everybody’.
We began by thinking of a system that would efficiently encode each letter of the alphabet, and so we settled on the idea of using a string of five papers, with each paper representing a different column number on a 5×5 grid of letters. Each letter would be encoded by its position in the grid. By tapping the appropriate paper along the string, the sender would signal the column number. To indicate which row, the sender would signal a number with their arm. This would give the receiver a coordinate to quickly find the corresponding letter in the grid. The numbers were inspired by their positions on a clock, modified to capture only the numbers 1-9, with 0 indicated by two hands on the head.
Our initial idea looked like this:
Initial ideas
However, we realized that from a distance, it would be difficult to see which paper in the string was being signalled. We also wanted to make the system more efficient, after our initial practice attempts using the paper and arm-number method took quite some time to transmit messages. So we modified our system to include colours that would more clearly distinguish each separate column along the string.
String of colours
We also decided to simplify the grid system by using the same colour sequence for both the row and column positions. In this system, the sender taps the two colours that correspond to the letter’s grid position, with the first tap indicating the row, and the second tap indicating the column. For example, to transmit “A”, the sender taps White then White (again). To send “N”, the sender taps Yellow then Green. (Z was a special character – given its low frequency of usage, we did not fit it on the 5×5 grid. The sender would wave her arms frantically to transmit “Z” if indeed it appeared.)
Final Code
We also decided to keep numbers separate from the letters for clarity, so we kept the numbers according to the original clocklike positions (although the order would be the mirror image of the above, from the sender’s point of view). A space was indicated by crossing the arms in an X shape.
On the receiver’s end, an arm up signalled that the colour combo was accurately noted. If the combo was unclear (for example, which colour came first), the receiver would roll her arms to signal for the combo to be repeated. Although it took some practice to learn our system, it was fairly efficient once we were both familiar with the colour sequences.
During the actual competition, set up proved to be slightly tricky as the string became tangled. Once the string was set up, however, the system was smooth sailing from there. (I think I was so stressed from the set up that sending the message was a lot easier than I had anticipated). We managed to beat our average rehearsal times of 4:40, by transmitting our message in under 4 minutes.
Although there is some debate over who was the original inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell successfully patented his device in 1876 and sent his first message a few days later. Shortly afterwards, the first long-distance call was made from Brantford, Ontario to Paris, Ontario, marking the advent of a new era of communication. The Bell Canada Corporation was established, and the telephone industry began to grow rapidly across the nation. At first, telephones were mostly used by businesses, but it became adopted quickly by the wealthy upper-class.
When I first started brainstorming for emoji ideas that would represent home (Toronto, Canada), I was initially a bit stuck. Some of the immediate things that came to mind were a bit stereotypical, and too generic – shovelling snow in the driveway, waiting for the notoriously unreliable TTC (public transit). After some thought, and wanting to make the emojis specific but recognizable, I decided to go with a Raptors basketball emoji, a poutine emoji, and a coffee cup (Roll up the rim) emoji.
Toronto is a city that loves its sports teams. Although hockey is a typical Canadian favourite, Torontonians also love basketball, as we have a huge fan base for our home team, the Toronto Raptors. When there are games at home (which are often sold out), crowds will gather in an outdoor square dubbed “Jurassic Park” to cheer on the Raptors. So I decided to draw a basketball with the Raptors claw. (Although I am borrowing a bit from one of their logos…)
Poutine is a classic Canadian “dish” composed of fries, cheese curds and gravy. Though not strictly Torontonian, this emoji captures a bit more of the wider Canadian food culture.
Given the busy city life and cold weather, locals also love coffee/hot drinks, especially Tim Hortons (which we call Timmies). I didn’t want to draw their coffee cup exactly, since that would be using their brandname, so I decided to draw a popular aspect of Timmies: their Roll Up the Rim cups – a promo campaign where consumers can win food prizes in the rims of their cups. But more often than not, we unroll the rims to find “please play again” inscribed there.
I sent these emojis to two high school friends, explaining to both of them that I had to create 3 conceptual emojis that describe home. I asked them what they thought, and how the emojis made them feel. Both of them initially responded with a similarly amused and intrigued question: “what classes are you taking now? LOL”. After the initial surprise, they were both able to recognize what each emoji represented. My friend Daniella suggested the basketball could be made a bit more accurate, whereas the other two seemed fine. My friend Selina excitedly replied “Roll up the rim! You could even make it into a meme. Not the other two. But great ideas!” They both enjoyed the three emojis.
Given their limited feedback, I didn’t change much to the emojis except to clean up the designs a bit. I then sent them to my mom and sister, without an explanation. “Poutine!!! Can you buy me some?” was my sister’s response – it’s one of her favourite foods, and she’ll often make me buy her one when I’m home. My mom liked the emojis as well, although she didn’t recognize what the basketball stood for – she thought it was just a normal basketball. I realized that the Roll Up the Rim emoji might be a bit hard to see, since it has words on it – but the colours and overall concept was recognizable. Overall, I learned how tricky and fun it can be to design emojis, to capture aspects of “home” in a codified illustration.
I was looking forward to doing this digital detox, as I’ve done it before and I remembered how refreshing it can be to unplug and disconnect for a little while. This time was no different. What added to the experience was the fact that one of my friends decided to join me in this exercise, as she was eager to try it out upon hearing me describe what the detox would entail.
Since I’ve done such a detox before, I didn’t find the experience too difficult. I wouldn’t consider myself to be someone who’s addicted to technology, as I don’t really use too many apps. I do, however, spend a lot of time on the Internet or on messaging platforms. Thus, being disconnected encouraged me to be more aware of each activity I was doing – whether it was enjoying the taste of my food, or relishing the company of friends. Sometimes, though, my mind would wander to think about the emails/messages I needed to reply to, wondering what others must be thinking if I didn’t respond promptly. The absence of communication technologies made me realize how easy it is to get distracted by our devices which pull us away from the present, from the very people and things that surround us. Overall, this experiment helped me consider how strongly technology demands my attention and time.
In the dystopian world of the short story “The Machine Stops,” people have become so dependent on the Machine for their daily needs and desires, to the point of worshipping it. Moreover, they prefer to remain in the comfort of their assigned rooms – anything to avoid the “terrors of direct experience,” of direct contact with others or with the outside world.
This fear of person-to-person interaction and increasing reliance on technology is, sadly, a reality we have come to embrace. In “Reclaiming Conversation,” Sherry Turkle highlights certain patterns of social problems that have developed as a result of our digital culture. We have traded conversation for mere connection, preferring the easy, editable platforms of online communication over the unpredictable circumstances of face-to-face conversation. In this “flight from conversation,” we’ve retreated into the safety of our technology. As a consequence, conversations are fragmented, and there is a decline in our empathic abilities. Perhaps we should all take a digital detox more often? Freeing ourselves from the “seductive undertow” of our technology, we can take the time to truly reconnect with ourselves, and with one another.
Communication – the act of transmitting and receiving information – is a fundamental aspect of the human experience. As social, thinking beings, we are constantly exchanging information with one another through various means of expression. Even before we are born, we begin to participate in this transaction: consider the baby kicking his mother inside the womb, or the delicate, sweet moment of intimacy when a mother sings to her growing child. In both cases, communication is occurring, whereby some sort of message, emotion, or thought is being transferred between two individuals.
As Gleick aptly states in the prologue of The Information, “we can see now that information is what our world runs on: the blood and the fuel, the vital principle” (8). Indeed, when we narrow our focus down to the microscopic level, biological life itself exists because of the cell-to-cell communication that occurs at every transient moment. How much more do we as humans then, rely on communication!
Advancements in technology have largely served to improve and expand upon our ability to communicate, across distances and even time. When I first considered the term “technology”, I thought of such tangible, physical devices such as the radio, telephone, and computer. Especially now, living in the new era of technology, we have become so dependent on different gadgets for daily functioning. To me, at first, “communication technologies” would refer to such concrete tools as our smartphones and digital devices.
It makes perfect sense, however, that Gleick traces the development of writing itself as a technology in the second chapter of The Information. What is writing but a visual means through which information is transmitted? Thinking about this has made me appreciate how much we take communication technology for granted. Not just with the advent of the internet, and all the various apps we use to stay connected with each other. The very act of writing is a form of communication technology. It is a complex, codified system of symbols that enable thoughts, ideas, and information to be transmitted.
Truly, “Every new medium transforms the nature of human thought” (12). As communication technologies continue to progress and evolve, we should celebrate – yet also remain cautious of – the opportunities and limitations that each brings to our ability to gather, express, and retain information.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/FirstTelephone-58a750b23df78c345bbd2870.jpg)
