Blog Post #2 - Technological Determinism

The Washington Post brought forth an article written by Jessica Contrera that revolves around a young girl who is of the age of 13. “13, right now” is a piece that focuses on what it is like for kids to grow up during a time where likes and lols are part of one’s daily life. The article at hand illustrates a girl who is constantly found on her phone, whether it’s on her drive home, during dinner, or at school. Contrera demonstrates a world where 13 year olds focus on the amount of likes they get on their Instagram photos and making sure they put forth photos that demonstrate their ‘best’ life. When reading this article, it becomes clear that these individuals become anxious over what they decide to share with their friends. Not only that but anxiety is created when they are not able to constantly be with their phones. The kind of anxieties that are provoked from the constant pressure of being ‘good’ enough and looking ‘good’ enough are endless. The constant struggle to make sure that the individuals online presence is perfect created strain and anxiousness. For Katherine to “want to get better at her phone. To be one of the girls who knows what to post, how to caption it, when to like, what to comment” continuously induces anxiety.

The theory that I have chosen to connect to the article is technological determinism. In his second chapter, Baym expresses that “technology is conceptualized as an external gent that acts upon and changes society” (Baym, 27). Essentially, Baym explains that technology guides individuals action and changes the way to society runs. As we see in the article, Katherine’s actions and feelings change depending on what she is doing. With a cellphone, social media is always within her reach meaning that anxieties are continuously factored into her life. Katherine is of the generation that has grown up with technology and social media, thus her actions are dependent on the devices in her life. Katherine Pommerening constantly wants to be better with her phone because the more technology develops, the more advanced individuals must be. Technological determinism brings forth the idea that when a new technology is developed, societies actions change. With the creation of a cellphone and the connection to social media that it provides, values that Katherine has changes. Katherine’s values are to have a specific amount of life on her photos, while making sure that she puts forth the best version of herself. If this is not achieved, anxieties begin to appear. Her obsession with making sure that she has a perfect social media presence comes from technological determinism. Baym expresses that social media choice is also a form of technological determinism that have direct consequences on an individual (Baym, 29). With this in mind, it seems to me that anxieties that arise from managing one’s social media accounts are a direct consequence of technological determinism. Technological determinism is a way of bringing forth new and upcoming technologies that impact one’s life. As Baym explains it, “a technology enters a society from outside and ‘impacts’ social life’ (Baym, 29).


Baym, N. K. (2015). Making new media make sense. In Personal connections in the digital age: Digital media and society series (2nd ed., pp. 44-51). Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Social Media Anxiety

I came across this article that unfortunately has started to seem a little too relatable for many. It talks about social media anxiety and the obsession over likes, follows, what other people are doing, and all other feelings that are a result of us being over connected with the rest of the world. The article showcases examples of people who even become physically sick when logging on to social media sites. While that may seem as an extreme example, the scary truth is that more and more people are reporting social media anxiety everyday because of pressure, fear of missing out (FOMO), and ‘Compare and Despair’. I found this to be very relatable to the article we previously read about Katherine and her obsession with her phone and social media. Katherine was constantly worried about getting online approval from her friends, how many likes she got on her photos, how many comments and so on. While the article never directly claimed she had social media anxiety, many of her a...
Read more

Blog Post #3

Due to the freedom we have for the post this week, I took the time to really think about what I wanted to write in my post. My first thought was to discuss sports but I wanted to try and discuss a topic that could create more discussion. As most social media users have learned over the last few days, former SNL actor Pete Davidson, and pop star Ariana Grande have called off their engagement. While the speed at which their relationship seemed intense, at the end of the day, shouldn't we be more focused on the wellbeing of each of these individuals who very well may be walking away from the loves of their life? I would think it is safe to say that those of us in this class won't garner as much as attention on social media if and when we find a life partner. These individuals are only a handful of years older than ourselves and are under the microscope of the media every day of their lives. We may never know exactly this relationship didn't work out, and honestly, we as comple...
Read more

Just a social human-being

I want to draw on ideas from this week’s reading to share upon how this perspective has provided me some insights into why social media practices vary from person to person.  In society where there is a strong reliance on social media for interaction, connectivity and information, it is uncommon to encounter someone that does not use any form of social media whatsoever. The social practice of meeting a neighbour or starting a conversation with someone you see on a public bus has decreased because of the overlap of our public and private lives. Therefore, because there is less sharing exchanged exclusively with people solely immersed as beings in a public space, I believe that even those that attempt to resist the use of social media feel the need to be connected. I argue this because Dunbar suggests that it is the animal genetic make-up to innately want to share to build connections and respect.  I chose to address the idea of people resisting social media because I ...
Read more