Tools of digital media are both expanding and impeding our knowledge. With every technological advancement, there is an equally negative impact that comes with it. The Internet is an unfamiliar way is the most extensive storage system of information ever created. Therefore, this positively impacts our society as it undoubtedly expands our knowledge due to the large amount of data we can acquire. Additionally, it allows us to communicate with people from other places in the world and learn about an entirely new culture and people.
Nevertheless, with all this amount of expansion, there must be adverse effects. In the article, “The Web Means the End of Forgetting,” Jeffrey Rosen states, “the Internet records everything and forgets nothing — where every online photo, status update, Twitter post, and blog entry by and about us can be stored forever.” In the case of informative content, this might not seem like a harmful feature, but for that one stupid post you wrote when you were a kid, it might be the difference between getting a job or not. Rosen goes on to say, “we are only beginning to understand the costs of an age in which so much of what we say, and of what others say about us, goes into our permanent.” It is like a double-edged sword as digital tools have the “ability to control our identities; to preserve the option of reinventing ourselves and starting anew; to overcome our checkered pasts.”
Furthermore, with the vast amount of new tools like data mining, it has become exceptionally easier to gather information on people. In the text “Data Mining 101: Finding Subversives with Amazon Wishlists” by Tom Owad, he touches on this exact point and focuses on the U.S. government. For instance, he states, today, it is increasingly easy to monitor ideas., most of us don’t have access to the databases, software, or computing power of the NSA, FBI, and other government agencies.” Through these new advancements in data collection, it can prevent a future terrorist attack. However, at what cost do we need to pay for this? As people, privacy protection is being challenged, and several have no idea.
Sep 28
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