Having reviewed the topics we’ve been
through, I tried to conclude the whole idea in the word ‘separation’. Though
the mass media tell us about ‘Earth Village’ or how Internet and other
computing technologies bring us together, we actually experience an opposite
feeling. It’s not only about how interpersonal relationship has been reduced, but
also about how the integrity of an individual’s mind and body is broken down,
with the involvement of ubiquitous media.
Think of the surveillance technologies. The
report about how citizens monitor each other still shocks me. It sounds like a
plot in 1984, by George Orwell, but the truth is even harsher, with pervasive CCTV around the city
and all the data collected from every citizen, and the check mechanism of
online information. People then have to try their best to protect their
privacy, cause everything could be collected and some day turns them in, and
that’s how surveillance separate us.
Cloud, the Enclosure 3.0, is also an
evidence of separation of interpersonal relationship. It’s kind of like
monarchal social stratum. People are more involved in a relationship with
official platforms with gigantic database, but less with other people.
Apart from the foregoing separation of
interpersonal relationship, with increasing digital technologies in our life,
smart phones, wearable devices, we may foresee a possibly separation of mind
and body. Think of the concept of brain in a vat proposed by Hilary Putman. We are actually facing with the
similar situation. In a near future, we may stop writing or typing anything
because computers will generate our ideas. We don’t walk, we don’t go to work,
and we don’t have parties. And then those pragmatists may claim that our
physical bodies are no longer useful, but a waste of resources. We surely could
run the intelligent function well without legs and hands. Is human intimate
relationship necessary? We can fall in love with computer programs anyway.
To make a conclusion, separation is the
most important reason I think ubiquitous media challenging, and perhaps the most
profound influence it’s going to have on our social behaviors.