During the presentation by Toisha Tucker's, we examined the idea of becoming more empathetic with technology in our homes and every day lives. To dive further into that idea, we took a look at several pieces of photography and digital media that attempted to capture this theme of technology transforming our lives. Of the many photographs that were exhibited in the talk, there were two that stood out to me.
One of the images that were shown was the image of the subway sign at Time Square. While not too exciting at first glance, I think the image is a sign of what can and will be happening to aspects of our lives. Today, our subway stations have been installed with some of the latest technologies like train arrival times, subway maps, and station assistants that were not present there in the last few years. As a result of these recent installations within the last decade or so, we can now know exactly where and when trains will come more reliably. As a result, for many people, our mindset changed, for example, from patiently waiting for the next train in 5 minutes to everyone cramming on the train coming in one minute. The addition of technology in the subway system changed the way we behave when commuting now. Last minute behavior is now much more prevalent due to these additions in our subway stations..
Subway stations aren't the only places where technology has impacted our lives. With the addition of our smartphones and 4G LTE and now 5G networks, technology has gained the ability to change our lifestyles no matter where you are on the earth. In the presentation, there was an image of two people outside in Washington Square Park just staring at their phone screens in the middle of the path. This is a common thing that happens in the world right now, and it shows that by connecting ourselves more with our phones, we become more and more disconnected to the world in our immediate surroundings. This form of immersion to our smartphones have led to many traffic accidents and other incidients as well, showing us how our time on our smartphones can lead us down a path of accidents in real life.
As terrifying and powerful technology may be on human behaviors, it cannot go away and will only grow more advanced as time goes on. As time comes, we as humans need to learn how to better use such technology in our lives and approach technology with a more responsible mindset. While misused it can lead us down a road of misfortune, when used properly, it can lead us to a much brighter future.