Core Post 5 - Brian Smith

 I recall earlier in the semester Tara had said that the cell phone has become an extension of ourselves. Due to its so many capabilities in delivering us news, entertainment, sending us reminders, allowing us to communicate in a myriad of ways, those of us with smartphones have a codependent relationship with them. As I read the Lotz piece this is what I thought of. As media progressively converges and as technology evolves to serve that convergence, does this diminish the boundaries between technology and self/identity? Perhaps this is a dystopian question but I think it is a fair one considering the hellscape we currently live in. The era of digital media accentuates media convergence to a spectacular degree. TVs, laptops, phones, and tablets pretty much all have the same capabilities with little differences. What are the implications of this technological totalitarianism? Where does technology end and the individual begin in this era of media ubiquity? One place we may locate these effects are in the prominent digital communities of conspiracy theorists. Media and technological convergence continue to intensify concerns of surveillance. As we, in a post-9/11 America especially, are surrounded by technology that “tracks” us (phones, tablets, laptops, cars etc) do we have autonomy? A seemingly rational question that is often exacerbated and politicized to the point of people refusing to take a vaccine because of the unfounded belief there might be a microchip in it. As ridiculous as it sounds to many of us, these are very real concerns people have and they develop communities around these concerns and create echo chambers of unfounded ideologies and often mobilize in ways that have drastic political and social ramifications. Questions I have: How do we address the social and cultural fragmentation created by media convergence? (How) can we maintain a sense of self separate from technology? Can we configure the economic systems that allow these technological possibilities to exist so that their production is not parisitically attached to the global south?