The past week we have been watching our peers present their tabs from Digital Nation. Everyone had great information to share, and it was very interesting.
First, I will discuss Living Faster, Brant and Keith's tab. The facts they presented about how technology is affecting our bodies where very interesting. For example, one hour of playing a high paced action game can increase visual perception. They also mentioned that as we reach adult hood 60% of the brain prunes off, and the sections of the brain that decay depends on how we live and technology directs this. We also discussed the topic of multitasking. Some said people switch from one activity to the next with such haste because they lack focus. I think that doing multiple activities simultaneously could actually require more focus then devoting your attention to a single activity if you want to focus on them all at once and not get anything mixed up.
When Justine presented her information about what stood out to me the most was the censorship discussion. Justine showed us a video about a girl with anorexia and how she went to websites that glorified anorexia. They even turned the disorder into a goddess called Ana. There are harmful website, but no one owns the internet so it can’t be censored as a whole.
In the Virtual Worlds tab, presented by Willie, Cody, and Kinsey, I found the part where scientes where putting people in a virtual setting and making them think it was real. Someone said this was like dreaming, but our dreams are not controled by someone else so I would clasify it more as brainwashing. Kinsey mentened Second Life to show how virtual worlds affect us. In Second Life people can trade and earn real money. They can get jobs and form relationships. Some virtural sites try to make them more real then reality, which is scary.
