For this week I read "Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution" article Lovegety and p2p journalism. I am not the most tech-savvy person, but I had no clue that devices such as the Lovegety and Upoc existed. And I have to say, who comes up with this stuff?!
I find the 'intrapersonal awareness devices' to be absurd and that they take sites like Match.com to a whole other level—a creepy level that is. First, I do not think you can be matched with a person basedon profiles. Secondly, if I own a Lovegety keychain and a compatible person is sitting next to me at a cafe, what happens? I should get the guts to go up and say hi!, the key chain is telling me you and I would be a perfect match, then we would probably have a coffee together and talk for hours—I don't think so!. What if the person is talking with someone or busy, are you supposed to interrupt and say, excuse me, since we are compatible could you give me your number and we can meet up later?... And worst of all, what if you do not find your match to be attractive, the other person obviously has the device so they know that you are their match—what do you do then to avoid them?
Don't even get me started on the ENGwear computers! They gather everything seen and heard, WITHOUT discriminating what is being recorded and it is instantly sent to the real time web! If we were afraid people could photograph strangers and capture things we would not want others to see with cell phone cameras, thing about the invasion of privacy these wearable computers bring! And the level of stalking it brings.
I have to say the idea of the ImaHima might be good. I might like to have a device that tells me if friends are around so you can meet up. But, then again, you can simply text friends that you know would be in the area and say, anyone around x street or anyone free for lunch? This device lets everyone (in your circle) to know where you are, but what if you do not want people to know where you are? I know you adjust the device to block people from seeing where you are, but let's face it we can so easily forget to turn it off. How many times do our cell phones ring the middle of class or at the library because we forgot to put it in a silent mode?
In the end, although these devices may serve a purpose and be useful, I think that they are too invasive and have more negative aspects than positive.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I think this whole mobile technology is too stalkerish/creepy to be good. I agree with Ale in the sense that ImaHima sounds unnecessary with the exception that if you don't know that one of your friends is around, you can find out...then again, you could also always just randomly run into them. Some of these devices almost take the fun out of random encounters: the device goes off when, for example, with Lovegety there is a person who shares common interests with you. CREEPY?!?! Check "YES!" As I said in my blog, these devices seem to have 2 purposes, like Second Life:
1) For bloggers to write articles
2) To "seem" cool for the desperate
I think the barrier that all these new programs are tearing down is for the worse.
Everyone need that social barrier between themselves and others. It keeps us sane. Just cuz my friend is 2 blocks down, doesn't mean I want to see him/her, and please god don't tell whoever it is I'm only 2 blocks away.
In addition, I don't want the creepy chick from across the street to know what my favorite music/movie/book is, or if my favorite color is blue or not.
It makes me sick to my stomach the bad these programs can do. However if implemented correctly, it can be nifty, but there's a very thin line between nifty and disturbing.
Post a Comment