Blog Post #2 Avery Misa

 

Blog Post #2 

    AVERY MISA 

Good afternoon fellow students, as we have all enjoyed the film ‘Eighth Grade’ most of us weirdly related to most of the experiences that Kayla went through. We previously believed our experiences were unique and personal, however with the domestication of technology, all of these issues of technology become universal. Thus, technologies become so woven into the fabric of everyday life that the issues of their positive or negative effects become banal and ordinary. Using the Lens of Domestication of Technology will help us clearly illustrate how the anxiety of interactivity of new digital media is evidenced in Eighth Grade.

 

            Unlike most movies, Eight Grade displays the reality of the alienation and abuse of technology through its detailed scenes of Instagram messaging and stalking, YouTube addiction, BuzzFeed quizzes, and snapchat filters. This realism illustrates the prevalence of online interactions over in-person social engagements, highlighting how the nuances of face-to-face communication, including essential social cues, often remain concealed in the digital realm. Analyzing Baym’s domestication of technology perspective effectively demonstrates how Kayla’s experiences due to technology and social media use are passed as normal or ordinary within our generation.

 

            A specific example that effectively displays this ‘woven negative effect’ that is seen as ordinary is the scene where Kayla is at the kitchen table with her father. Without applying Baym’s domestication of technology lens, it may be difficult to identify the issues with this interaction. Kayla and her father are having a nice dinner alone, and she is so alienated and addicted to her phone that she is ignorant to the present moment in front of her. Kayla’s headphones are in blasting music, while her father is very curious about an important day at school. She is being quite difficult to communicate with as each time she takes out her headphones to respond to him, she gives one-word answers as she is itching to just go back on her phone. When we apply Baym’s perspective, we can determine a clear issue with this ‘interaction’ that isn’t much of an interaction. We can see how her father is a victim of domestication of technology as he is quite submissive of her disrespectful behavior. He is not mad or frustrated because he is so comfortable with this woven overuse of cell phones that this is ordinary to him. Before the domestication of technology, a father would scream at his daughter and tell her she should listen to her Father or there should be no phones at the table. A broken up, short, face- to- face interaction is normal for Kayla's father to accept, due to Kayla growing up with this technology and online factor, therefore making it acceptable to ignore those who are in the moment around us. To further exemplify how this is so normalized, many of us are guilty of exhibiting this exact behavior at least a few times in our lives towards family or even friends.