technology overload?

there are so many new kinds of technologies out there, such as twitter, wed designn programs, etc. that are meant to make our lives easier. but at the same time, i can help but feel overwhelmed that there are too many options out there. and we r expected to keep up with all of them, which is just impossible for me. as soon as i get the hang of a program, its replaced with a newer better one. as soon as i get used to navigating and interacting on facebook, they change the layout. why cant things just stay simple? keep it simple stupid.

mobile phones

the increase in technology contained within cellphones today is astonishing. my new phone can do practically everything, its a PDA, phone, music player, has internet access, camera. cellphones today are cramming 5 devices into one to be more efficient. we depend on them to do almost anything, it has changed the way i do things. i set all my appointments on my phone, set and alarm clock, and use it as a calculator. its so useful even without the phone part.

Adobe Connect

econferencing would be vital in my career. I plan to do advertising/public relations, so being able to communicate with people over distances is important. Not only could i talk and txt those listening, but i can also draw and display things too, such as a prposed advertising campaign, etc. also, this internet program doesnt tie up the phone, which we all know we rely upon so much and are constantly using. i hate long talks on the phone because its difficult for me to text and do other stuff on my phone while conversing. nowadays, business is done over great distances, and with a program that could easily connect people in a sense that they feel they are right there next to me, PR could be achieved easier and help business flow sooo much quicker and easier. Im sure when im into my career i will relish using an econferencing service.

spring break with info tech

well, during my spring break i was so lucky as to get my wisdom teeth pulled, so needless to say i did not do very much other than sleep and be in pain. However, i did work on my academic paper. using the bookmarks i saved on delicious for the bookmarking project, i was able to use them to write my section of the paper and incorporate accurate sources. Google is my savior as far as search engines go, whatever i did not save on delicious i found through google. I spent a lot of time on facebook Chat as well, mostly talking to people back here in Cloud, as well as my friends who did not share the same break as me and i was unable to see.

education

i think the the standard college education system of classes and credits is becoming obsolete. having X amount of credits in one section and X amount in another shouldnt make up a degree anymore. it should be more specialized, more individual, with more diverse and specific topics. also, while i do understand the need to general education classes, i think some of them are obsolete. why should we have to pay to learn something that we dont care about and doesnt even have to do with our degree? i think gen ed courses should be more specialized to a persons interests and potential major. i find it kind of silly that our college degree is not a total of what we have learned, but a total of the number of classes and credits we have taken.

did you know...

the one thing that i found most interesting in the video was how quickly information and technology are being updated. every 2 years there are advances, and someone starting a 4 year degree will be taught obsolete information for half of the years they are in school. we need to constantly be training to keep up with the market.

which isnt fair. when im thirty, someone who just graduated from college will be more qualified than me. so whats to stop my employer from replacing me? the growth of technology worries me. in a few decades a human workforce could be obsolete, then what would we do? i plan to go in to advertising, which requires human input and creation...at this point. but i could see in the future a computer compiling interests of people, whats commonly accepted, based on purchasing habits and trends, and compiling an add via AI that would attract customers just as easily as all the human effort that goes in to a media campaign

after seeing movies such as the matrix, terminator, and other movies similar to those, i believe that technology and artificial intelligence will surpass us one day. and as any servant who becomes aware that he/she should not deserve to be opressed, there will be a revolution.

watch the Animatrix series, it tells the story before the matrix. very interesting, has to go do with the rapid developement of technology.

information overload/stress

information overload is an excessive amoung of incoming information that causes the reciever to be selective as to what information he/she recieves and retains. information stress is stress caused by information overload, or lack of information, or an inability to process and retain all incoming information. technology stress is similar in that it is stress caused by being unfamilar with how to use and operate certain technology.

i have been a victim to all three of these. i do not easily know how to use my computer, as i have only a basic understanding of how to perform certain tasks on my computer, as opposed to knowing all the basic computer functions of my pc.

when doing research, i often succumb to information overload. when i google a topic, i am bombarded with many links that each may contain the information i seek. however, most sites do not contain all the info i need, there for by clicking on many links, i am overwhelmed by the amount of information i recieve.

to overcome all of these obstacles i have developed several ways to cope. when confronted with a technology problem, i consult the help function on my computer as it often tells me step by step solutions to my problem. when dealing with info overload, i make my topic as specific as possible to narrow down what i need to look for. i use quotes or paratheses when searching a topic on a search engine, or use the find function to find certain words or phrases within an article. when the stress comes to be too much, i just take a break, do something that takes my mind off of what i was doing.

technology in mass comm

mass communication revolves around information technology today. advertising, public relations, broadcasting, etc. all involve the media, tv, internet, radio. i plan on majoring in advertising, so i would use the internet to research the latest trends, statistic, etc. so i could more adequately get ideas for an advertising project. i could use web 2 applications to interact with others to get the latest information, as well as do advertising on the web, which is becoming increasingly popular.

technology-venting

all these technology things we keep learnign about, like social bookmarking, podcasts, different kinds of blogs, etc. it all seems so...unecessary to me. all of these things sound nice and useful, but ive existed without them up til now and after using them, ive only found frustration with my attempts to use these various technologies.
first, i made an account on del.ic.ous and tried to upload my bookmarks like it said, only select ones. but it ended up uploading all my bookmarks, including the ones i rarely use, such as maintainance for my computer.
i also tried downloading my first podcast from itunes. well i downloaded it and its on my itunes, but when i went to sync my ipod up, i tunes said it couldnt transfer the podcast to my ipod because itunes can only recognize up to 5 itunes libraries on my ipod. well since i take music off peoples ipods and put it on my itunes, apparently i can put anything from my itunes account on my ipod. thats just f*cking stupid.
and dont get me started on facebook. my biggest pet peeve on FB are teh applications. why would i allow an application, that states it is not made or monitored by facebook itself, access all my information? people say its fine, but i dont want my account misused, as my myspace was.
with all these new advances and better opportunities, there come a ton more problems and it doesnt seem worth it to me.

blogs

not a fan of blogs as of rite now, i dont feel the need to post about my everyday events for everyone to read. its just a privacy thing.