Homework 3

I found Panera's article to be a relatively fair assessment of the culture at large, despite the "Get off my lawn!" mindset evident throughout. I think there's something to the idea that because we can now quantify what people enjoy and how much they enjoyed it through social media, we feel compelled to document that we were there. I personally try my best not to do that, simply because I too find it off-putting. I'll snap a picture or too here and there, but I don't overdo it, and I don't get the need to take a video at a concert (Horrible quality, no longer connecting to the artist on stage, etc.) But when even though this article is clearly a few years old (As evidenced by him putting "tweeting" in quotation marks), the assessment is just as true in 2016. He's right to point out that with each new technological advent, our attention span becomes less and less. Perhaps older generations took a look at more with an objective point of view, whereas we might instinctively expect to have it handed to us on a silver platter.

To that point, we may become attached to our phones because we have immediate access to anything we want to keep us amused. I agree with the idea that museum art loses interest with the youth because it lacks an entertainment factor, and while my instinct is to say that's not what art should be focused on, I question it more the more I think about it. I personally don't care for art in museums, or often the concept of "art" in general (Except of course for this course and Professor Roykovich), and the biggest general reasoning I can give is that it doesn't entertain me (Keep in mind that I thought MacGruber was a great movie and that Dr. Strangelove was boring, so my opinions on entertainment should be taken with a few grains of salt). And to a small degree, that can impact our "phenomenological" relationship (Which to me means how our relationship to the Earth goes beyond a basic physical one, but one of great psychological import) to the physical world, but keep in mind that the advancement of image quality and access to it can lend anyone a great appreciation for what the world has to offer in the palm of their hands.

And I actually agree with Panera about how our memories are lessened due to the phone becoming a constant life jacket for our memory. It's part of what he calls the "Fascism of the image", where we aren't even aware at just how much we rely on our phones instinctively, which I will support by pointing out how I and many others check our phones the second we get out of class like we were one of Pavlov's stupid pets. So I guess we can become more emancipated observers by using that immense time usually spent checking Facebook or watching YouTube videos of cats chasing a laser pointer and instead use it to familiarize ourselves better with culture, art, and history. It won't happen overnight, but as this technology becomes a great part of our lives, hopefully we learn to adapt along with it for the better.

Also, I have never heard the term "retinal masturbation" before reading this article, but I am considering renaming my blog that.