Thoreau Against "Thechnology"

I thought that the class discussion about Thoreau this week was very intersting. I would never be able to do what he did. I could never imagine spending months in a one bedroom house. It would be especially hard to do these days because I honestly feel that I can't be without my cell phone for even a couple hours. I feel that Violet, in the novel Feed, and Thoreau are somewhat alike. Both Violet and Thoreau wanted to seperate themselves from technology. To Thoreau, he thought that the post office during his time was technology, this is something he wanted to be without. Violet tried to not use her feed as much as others around her did. I feel that both Violet and Thoreau were couragous for trying to do so.

The Dumbest Generation

I do not agree with Bauerlein's statment made in the video we watched in class, that we are the dumbest generation. Just because we use technology does not mea we are dumb. It may mean that we are a lazy generation, but not a dumb one. Our generation has created many things such as the iphone of hybrid cars. These are only two of the many technological things that our generation has created. To create these things it takes a lot of intelliegence. I guess Baulerein's opinion would be based around what he means by "dumb". I feel that book smart, we are a very intelligent generation. Street smart maybe not so much. I bet forty years ago people knew how to make a fire. I know I would'nt even know where to begin to make a fire. I feel that before he calls our generation dumb he needs to make clear what he really means when he uses the word "dumb".

The Media and its Effects on Americans

The topic about the media and advertisements during this week of class was very interesting. I never really took the time to stop and look at each advertisement and really think about what type of message it was portraying. The video played during class said that the average American is exposed to 3000 advertisements everyday. I would like to say that advertisements and the media do not have an affect on me, but they do. It's hard to escape because it is everywhere. I do although think that advertisements do not need to be portrayed the way that they are. To many advertisements tell people that they need to have a perfect body, skin, hair, and clothes. People then strive for this, but in all reality, it is impossible. I feel that this problem is only going to get worse. The media controls us, we dont control the media.