Technology life

Technology development is so rapid these years that someone begins to worry about that if human would be ruled by technology one day. This reminds me a movie which I watched few years ago. I Robot is a science-fiction film. The story took place in 2035, in which robots are widespread and used as servants for various public services. They are regarded as human friends and loyal to their hosts. There are three laws to ensure the robots are perfect and safe to use. However, some robots break the laws and hurt human. The main character tries to investigate the incident and discover that these robots may govern the world in the future. Let’s enjoy the trailer of the movie.

Due to different affordances and constraints, technology controls us, but at the same time, we also control technology. Apple invented lots of controversial devices over years like latest iPad2 and iPhone 4. The iPad 2 allows us to access the Internet with a bigger screen and lighter device as well as seeing people (face time) anytime such as on MTR or gathering with friends. But it also makes us difficult to concentrate on the MTR, we may focus on the videos and miss the station.

Our social practices are also changed and controlled by technology. It is rare to see people browsing the web, watching video, playing games using mobile phones on pubic transportation few years ago. Now, thanks to the invention of smart phones, it is so common to see people accessing the web and checking Facebook on pubic transportation.

On the other hand, we also control the technology. Latest technology always have loophole and “smart” people use these loophole to control or adapt the technology advancement. The most popular one is definitely Jailbreak. People Jailbreak iPhone4 to enjoy free Apps.

Although technology and people influence each other, I think technology controls or influences people more than the way we control it. You may argue that technology is invented by human. That’s true! But only a small proportion of human are smart enough and eligible to control the technology. Most people, like you and me, actually enjoy the benefits bought by technology and controlled by technology in a way that we even don’t conscious!

Social networked life

We are inevitably living in a social networking environment with the establishment of numerous social networking sites. The most popular one for me is definitely Facebook. With the use of Facebook, I keep in touch with friends, even the ones we don’t know very much about them, communicate with friends, play games, make new contacts and promote my modeling job.

I have 442 friends in Facebook. However, there are some unknown friends. I don’t know even why they are accepted. It makes me confused that do I really have connection with all the friends. Let’s find out the answer with Friend Wheel. 

Now, I can identify different kinds of friends. The different clusters that make up my network are basically my primary school classmates, secondary school classmates, associate degree classmates, university classmates, models, photographers and unknown “friends”. The ones whom I have strong ties are primary school classmates, secondary school classmates and university classmates. They are the active members on my wall. They post comments on my wall and comment on my photos and I also make comments back. People whom I know from my work and unknown friends have weak ties with me. I am also surprised to find out that who the connectors between different clusters are. 

The people whom I have “strong weak ties” are models and photographers. Actually, I don’t always communicate with my model friends as with the active members on my Facebook as some of them are only “friends of friends” But I can know what job they are going to attend via “activities” and I can apply the job via them as well. Moreover, they also act as bridges between me and different photographers and model agencies. They may know some model agencies and photographers very well. Thus, they can refer jobs to me and I have a higher opportunity to win that job. If I know the model agencies in my own, they may not trust me as a stranger.

The “strong weak ties” is really useful in my modeling job hunting!