Blog Post #2 - Abigael Chalmers
For this week's post, I will focus on Technological Determinism as it relates to Kayla in the Eighth Grade clip we watched in class. We have previously discussed Technological Determinism as the way technology shapes—or plays a role in shaping—and develops a society and culture. Furthermore, it explains how technology influences the way people work, live, and interact with the world around them.
For Kayla, technology has been a huge influence on how she interacts with the world around her. In this scene specifically, Kayla is seen scrolling through a series of different apps and websites. After receiving an invite to a party on Instagram, her attention shifts to her phone and I would argue this is where the biggest example of Technological Determinism can be seen. Her phone acts as a portal into the lives of others, thus changing her interactions with the world and her peers in a completely different way. In terms of the anxiety that comes with the interactivity of technology, Kayla's fearful reaction to her dad coming into her room could be an example of how this influence of technology has also created an anxious reaction to the freedom of interactivity she has. In addition to her anxiety about the freedom she has, technology has allowed for a sort of "escape" for Kayla and she often relies on it to combat the social anxiety she has. Some of her anxiety comes from social media itself which is another example of Technological Determinism. Kayla has a constant urge to continue scrolling through her phone and laptop and everything she comes across shapes who she is and how she feels about herself. Whether it is videos she likes on YouTube or pictures of a popular girl in her class, social media and technology change who Kayla is.
Hey Abby,
ReplyDeleteI think your comment about how Kayla's anxiety partly stems from the freedom of interactivity that social media grants her is really insightful! I agree that, paradoxically, freedom can sometimes be paralyzing; if one can choose to do many different things, it's easy to get caught up obsessing over which option is the 'right' move to make is. Especially since social media's technological affordances vastly expand the breadth of interactions we can engage in and the people we can engage with, but on the other hand does not allow for many social cues which we rely on in real life to gauge the reactions of others to our own actions. So, we need to make more decisions based on less information! As you said, I can imagine that this effect might be especially torturous for someone like Kayla, who seems to be pretty deficient in confidence and is still working on developing her personal identity and self-conception. I believe that it requires a lot of confidence and a stable sense of self to know what to do with one's own freedom.