IPod's and Laziness

I am currently enrolled in a course entitled contemporary social issues through film in which we discuss many aspects of entertainment and its relationship to human lives. This course combined with the sheer number of IPod’s, cell phones, and other electronic devices that can be seen anywhere on campus. All of this made me think of how lazy, for lack of a better word, we have become with our desire to be entertained and to be entertained whenever we feel like it.
Not too long ago things such as IPod’s did not exist, and very few people had things such as Discman’s to listen to at their leisure. Music was something that if you wanted to listen to, you had to be in a car or near a radio. Now with the advent of portable music devices those days are a distant memory, and for younger people it is a time that simply did not exist. We can now listen to music whenever we want, in our own homes, in the car with our handy auxiliary converters, when walking down the street, or even sneaking it during a particularly boring class. Someone in our class once said that these devices are encouraging us to be antisocial in a way and I have to agree. The ease and convenience of these are causing us to become antisocial and even lazy to a dangerous degree.
One cannot deny that with the alarming increases in technology that our life is becoming easier but passed the point where it is beneficial. Things like cars might help make travel easier, but we now have a high number of obese individuals and we are polluting the environment at a rapid pace. Things are being marketed in ways that promote concepts of ease, comfort, and speed. Even things such as shopping, an activity that once required one to leave their home, can now be done on their computer.
I have to admit that I too have succumbed to the allure of easy living. I have my own IPod with a converter so that I can listen to it in my car, just the other night I bought a CD online rather than take the time to go to a store; I also research things for papers online than take the time to hunt it down in the library. Well there is my little rant after having a course with Ed Curtin, an amazing teacher I might add.


Question: What sorts of technology do you think do more harm than good for mankind, besides ones used for killing?

Response to Sarah

This is in response to Sarah’s question, do you feel like musical theatre and the movies have a lot in common?
As soon as I read this post and looked at the question I immediately thought of my professor and advisor, Ed Curtin, and his course on Contemporary Issues through Film. Among the many things we have done in that course, the idea of people watching things like movies, TV, and even theatrical production has been at the heart of the course. So with the knowledge that I have garnered from this course I feel confident in saying that yes, musical theatre, and other types of theatre, do have some key elements in common with each other.
One of the most common elements, even if it does seem rather simple, is the fact that people go to them for entertainment. We are a nation of people who want enjoyment and want people to provide it to us on a regular basis. The sheer number of movie theatres, video stores, online retail, and Broadway itself is a testament to this countries desire to be entertained for a few hours. There is an enormous industry in this country that prays on our desires, there is even a cable channel called E (for entertainment. So since both musical theatre and movies are among the more popular forms of entertainment, it is not hard to see the connection between the two spheres of the attempt to defeat boredom.
Another way that the two are similar can be found in the fact that many movies and made into a theatrical performance, and plays are at times made into movies. Look at movies such as Grease, or Sweeney Todd, both pieces of work were performed in both arenas and they were done so because of the fact that they can, with little difficulty, be adapted to the other form of media.
The final way in which I think that the two are similar lies in the fact that both mediums imitate real life. There is no play, musical, or movie that does not try to emulate real life in some way or another. The lives may be extreme, fantastic, or down right out of this world but the emotions, problems, and the feelings of the characters within the medium are dealing with everyday human issues that are basic and natural. When people go to see these imitations of life they have to suspend their disbelief for a period of time. To get the full entertainment value of any piece of work, one has to, at some level; believe that what is happening before them is not only possible but probable as well. The connection between the two is that people seek out these forms of entertainment to lose them self in a non-existent reality that is not their own. So I do think that these two forms are similar and are similar in many different ways.


Question: Do you think that entertainment has become more beneficial or more harmful to the lives of people in today's society?