Modern society has a yearning for innovation. The constant emergence of new technology and social movements move people to anticipate when the next progressive idea will arise and modify current practices. Society’s belief that new means better forces them to jump from one trend to the next without considering possible shortcomings. In the book, “To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Technological Solutionism,” Evgeny Morozov uses the internet to explore how focusing too much on the benefits of an invention may not only distract from its faults, but also distract from ongoing social issues. In “An Army of One: Me,” Jean Twenge identifies how social issues came second place to a social movement by explaining how “Generation Me” learned
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Modern technology, for instance, does not require strict advertising before becoming a commonplace item. Tech companies do not include reasons why people should upgrade to the newest device in marketing campaigns simply because it is already understood that new means better. Kickstarter, for instance, is a website where people pitch their talents or innovative ideas through an online profile, and request funding for their crafts. Kickstarter is modeled after the NEA, the National Endowment for the Arts; however Kickstarter is seen as a better method of funding the arts simply because it is based online. Morozov mentions the opinions of Steven Johnson, who states, “The question with Kickstarter, given its growth rate, is not whether it could rival the NEA in its support of the creative arts. The new question is whether it will grow to be ten times the size of the NEA” (Morozov 26). Johnson’s claim does not take into account important differences between the federal agency and the online platform. While Kickstarter grants the public control over which arts are funded, it reserves funding for popular or “viral” ideas (Morozov 27). The NEA, on the other hand, ensures that a wide range of art forms have the opportunity to manifest, and has legal support that would encourage artists to take more risks in their crafts. Kickstarter has the potential to grow …show more content…
New technology only requires simple advertising to have their products sold. People tend to easily jump from innovation to innovation as if they will be left out if they do otherwise. Without ensuring that a product is effective, people will fall for advertisements, failing to realize that that is the goal of companies to begin with. Morozov explains, “the theory goes, if people see other people who are already in the streets, they will be inclined to join in, but only after the protests reach a certain calculable high point, however technology doesn’t need a crowd (Morozov 40). Technology has already reached this high point, which is maintained by the belief that people will be socially outed if they do not upgrade their devices at every chance possible. People feel the need to keep up, stay modern, and remain progressive, but, unfortunately, everything advertised does not fulfill its promises. The drugs GlaxoSmithKline was pushing on the Japanese markets had more research disproving their effectiveness, than research proving that the drugs actually treated depression, yet they were still widely taken by Americans and “had become the wonder drug of the 1990s” (Watters 515). Companies feed off people who sensibly follow
Modern technology, for instance, does not require strict advertising before becoming a commonplace item. Tech companies do not include reasons why people should upgrade to the newest device in marketing campaigns simply because it is already understood that new means better. Kickstarter, for instance, is a website where people pitch their talents or innovative ideas through an online profile, and request funding for their crafts. Kickstarter is modeled after the NEA, the National Endowment for the Arts; however Kickstarter is seen as a better method of funding the arts simply because it is based online. Morozov mentions the opinions of Steven Johnson, who states, “The question with Kickstarter, given its growth rate, is not whether it could rival the NEA in its support of the creative arts. The new question is whether it will grow to be ten times the size of the NEA” (Morozov 26). Johnson’s claim does not take into account important differences between the federal agency and the online platform. While Kickstarter grants the public control over which arts are funded, it reserves funding for popular or “viral” ideas (Morozov 27). The NEA, on the other hand, ensures that a wide range of art forms have the opportunity to manifest, and has legal support that would encourage artists to take more risks in their crafts. Kickstarter has the potential to grow …show more content…
New technology only requires simple advertising to have their products sold. People tend to easily jump from innovation to innovation as if they will be left out if they do otherwise. Without ensuring that a product is effective, people will fall for advertisements, failing to realize that that is the goal of companies to begin with. Morozov explains, “the theory goes, if people see other people who are already in the streets, they will be inclined to join in, but only after the protests reach a certain calculable high point, however technology doesn’t need a crowd (Morozov 40). Technology has already reached this high point, which is maintained by the belief that people will be socially outed if they do not upgrade their devices at every chance possible. People feel the need to keep up, stay modern, and remain progressive, but, unfortunately, everything advertised does not fulfill its promises. The drugs GlaxoSmithKline was pushing on the Japanese markets had more research disproving their effectiveness, than research proving that the drugs actually treated depression, yet they were still widely taken by Americans and “had become the wonder drug of the 1990s” (Watters 515). Companies feed off people who sensibly follow