A phone to replace phones

Before I criticize the advertisement and the phone itself, I have to admit this is a great advertisement. Maybe because it's funny, maybe because it's so short, or perhaps it is the familiarity of the music but regardless of I can watch the ad over and over again. And that's kind of scary- because that's what they want.
The advertisement itself is a viral success, being viewed as often as amateur videos.

The slogan for the phone is an interesting one, "It's time for a phone to save us from our phones."
This is saying this phone is the solution to societies obsessions with "smart" phones. So this is technology to replace technology, but aren't all new devices and technologies created to improve past technology? Every new model of a technological device is created to improve the problems that past ones had. Our society is obsessed with the idea of creating new technology to better our current technology. Why? to make our lives easier, but what our we sacrificing for that?

Human interaction. This advertisement clearly shows that physical human contact has been replaced with digital interaction. People are attached to technology, putting it before social interaction. The commercial displays this in a dramatic way by trivializes the most important celebrations in our culture, such as a wedding, and puts it behind technology. By showing all these different people in different situations where they are focusing on their phones rather than their lives around them.

Although this commerical does focus on a major issue in our society, and makes a promise that this phone with solve it, it seems that the phone will probably only add to the problem.
This phone may be quicker, but it still allows people to focus on their digital lives instead of their real lives. Windows claims it will get you "in and out" but with all the new features the phone has, Microsoft office, xBox live ect, people will spend just as much time obsessing over their phones as they have in the past.


Nice try Microsoft, but I highly doubt your phone is going to solve the problem our society is so deeply emerged in. Your probably only going to make it worse.

The Never-ending, Never-changing Story

My roommate and I never discussed the possibility of not paying for cable television this semester.  Our main focus was whether or not to order HBO for an extra $15 dollars a month.  Looking back I realize that television is such a prominent force in both of our lives that neither of us could contextualize living without it.  In fact the first two days after we moved in we were without cable and internet.  It was not until then did I realize how often I watch television, whether it is consciously or just as background noise.

In Eating a Dinosaur, Chuck Klosterman quotes Ted Kaczynski, the legendary Unabomber, "Technology is a more powerful social force than the aspiration for freedom."  This is a very bold and true statement.  People sacrifice many things for technology, in facts our lives revolve around it.  People will spend ludicrous amount of money for the latest technology, thousands of dollars of state of the art computers and televisions, "smart"-phones, cable television with thousands of channels.  All of these seems unnecessary, especially when people begin to choose to spend their money on  these luxuries verses the necessities of life. 

Television is a life conquering force.    Everyone is exposed to it, and many of the times it shapes our ideas and experiences.  Klosterman also discusses how our internal images, how we picture things, most likely originate from television.  Television is a world wide medium that allows us to believe other peoples opinions and leaves little room for interpretation or our own opinions.  Television is one of the sole mediums that has the ability to take away our freedom and our voice.  Television is run by the elite, the images seen are created by  the minds of the elite, the information given to us is from the mouths of the elite.  The average person does not have a say in what people say or do on television.  They do not create television shows,and they do not benefit from  what television offers.

Using my own  life as an example I will admit that I am a fan of the television series True Blood.  I watch it regularly and this was the main reason my roommate and I debated ordering HBO (which we did by the way).  This show is by director Alan Ball.   Of course this show is entirely fictional, but Alan Ball definitely contributes many elements to the show that are detrimental to our thinking.  The show is violent, sexual and racist.  Abuse is consistently seen through out the show, as well as sexual violence and murder.  This show does not show that these things are wrong,  or what to do if they  happen to you, but instead tells us it's normal and everything will be fine next episode.  Television is unrealistic, many people realize that, but the ideas that they  reinforce constantly such as abuse against women, whether sexual or violent, are prevalent in our society.  This must mean that television does effect some, if not most, of it's fans. 

Knowing all  of this- knowing what it does to me and the ideas I am exposed to because of it, I still watch it.  I am smart enough to look beyond what they are saying to me and contextualize that this is not real life, that it is a television show.  Even if I did stop watching, what difference would it make?  Television will never die.  It will only grow stronger.

my hd lullaby

I can’t fall asleep without the TV on.   I am twenty years old and I cannot fall asleep unless the TV is on.   I don’t watch what is going on, I close my eyes and listen.  It’s as if I need to television to sing me a digital lullaby before I can fall asleep.   It’s pathetic.  Last night I was up until 3:30 a.m. with my eyes shut tight trying to fall asleep, but I couldn’t.  I gave in at this point and turned on the TV, lowered the volume and put the sleep timer on.  I was asleep in a matter of minutes.   It is just noise, noise that helps block out the things I am actually thinking so I can have a clear enough mind to sleep.  Television has become a safety blanket for so many people in our society.  It has become a toxic life force that pollutes everyone who participates. 

The media, television in general, is addicting.  Its main purpose has shifted from to inform, to entertain and ultimately to distract.  When we watch television we are trying to distance ourselves from the real world for a bit and indulge in this fantasy world, where you can focus on others misfortunes to distract yourself from your own. 

Television is so dominant in our culture, but what kind of effect is it having on society?  Even television that is meant to inform the public is full of frivolous information told to us by beautiful people to grab our attention.  What the media strives to take from us is more valuable than money, our attention.  Our attention is priceless, and limited, so media is in competition with itself to obtain this precious entity.

How do we choose what to waste our attention on?  Sometimes things we are genuinely interested in, but usually it is the most outrageous and shocking thing we come across.     Information has become pre-packaged into “infotainment.”    This information overload has made our society brainless and inattentiveness is a major result.  How do we make more constructive use of our time and attentions?  Skip the television, read a book, but it’s not that easy.  Television is everywhere, when I pump my gas, buy groceries, go on an airplane, my attention is redirected towards a television.  Television has invaded and majorly altered our culture.  This blog is going to talk about the many ways in which the media, but television in particular, has changed our society and how our attention has become our most valuable commodity.    Stay tuned!