Response to Taylor piece – Jessie Salfen
Taylor is discussing that the arguments we most often hear about technology are put into basic, black and white -good versus bad- terms rather than people on an individual basis taking a deeper than superficial investigation of the who/what/why behind our media use and its true purposes. I believe Taylor is saying that it is good that we are starting the conversation by asking broad questions, but we need to dig deeper and really look at how our day to day actions and behaviors using the internet and using social media are adding to new trends in how we are targeted online by those looking to profit. Saying that as an individual that we cannot make a difference in changing how things are is only securing yourself as a part of the larger problem of the internet being dominated by corporations that control our social structures.
Taylor also brings up impact of technology on our culture and in this we can look to how so many internet users have a lack of concern in granting faceless, nameless companies permission to access our private information, who then use, save, or sell it for reasons not made clear to the public. It is these simple actions that so greatly contribute to technological cultural impact, meaning that we are handing over exactly what researchers are looking for to make our online behaviors more compulsive. It is easy to not think about exactly how our identity, internet use and locations are being tracked because we don’t see immediate consequences of what our thoughtless finger-click is actually compromising about ourselves. Why do we so blindly allow the technologies that are such a huge part of daily lives be controlled against our best interest? Why don’t we demand more transparency and honest practices?
