Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Jim Abbott Project Proposal
For my project I would like to write a short story about how people today hide behind technology instead of handling their problems and living their lives. I would use a teenager as the main character and illustrate how all of the advancements in technology have changed the character's life, mostly in a negative way. I would mention the inventions of cell phones, instant messaging, video games, television, internet and social networks, and show how they act as a shield from the characters real life. How these advancements have made it easier for a teenager to procrastinate, from life's problems such as school work, and college applications. Also i would mention how the main character lives vicariously through online networks (instant messaging, facebook) and fantasy sports. This will lead to the loss of community that also occurs due to these hinderances. There is less social gatherings, and less in depth conversations, due to cell phones and text messaging in particular. Families will also become more divided as parents lose their closeness with their kids since kids would much rather occupy their time with their computers, televisions and cell phones. I'm not sure about the sources I will use for this project, but i will definitely relate it to McKibben, and his theory of "How do you feel after you watch a whole night of Primetime TV? Maybe like you wished you did something else." Also i will check the the library webpage and look for statistics about time consumed on the computer or television. Also, how this relates to success in school, athletics, and also overall happiness.
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4 comments:
I like the concept.
As with most projects, you want to find a focus. You may not find it necessary to explore all of these technologies at once - simply focusing on how a single teenager withdraws into a finite set of technologies, or even just one (say, World of Warcraft) could do the trick. Sometimes less is more.
As far as research goes - I'm not a sociologist, but there must surely be an abundance of work in sociology and psychology on the behaviors created and influenced by new technologies, especially new communications technologies. There's no shortage of research on the impact of video games, for instance.
I like your idea of writing a story on technology and how it has affected teens today. For this story you could also compare the lives teens lead today with those of the past when technology played a smaller role in their lives. Also try to limit your story to the discussion of fewer types of technology. Your research seems to be directed in the right direction with time spent on t.v. and computers and how this relates to other areas of life. Overall you have a good idea that just needs to be focused a little more.
I like the idea for this project primarily because it's something most, if not all of the kids in our generation could relate to. Just a thought... if you find yourself looking for material to write about you can even tie our "loss of community" ideas in with our obsession with technology. As far as research goes, you shouldn't have any problems finding anything... there's plenty of stats out there that could help you out.
I really, truly like this proposal and i think that it could turn out really well. You should also think about, maybe as a sort of counterargument, a character in that single teenager's life who isn't living through technologies, but instead was brought up in a family in which restrictions stopped them from doing a such thing, just an idea. This could serve as a replacement if you don't want to do Andres idea of someone in the past, which also would be great. It doesn't seem like the person who will serve as the main character will have a good life because of their technological dependence and perhaps you could use research on the growing number of teens that have been hurt, killed, or depressed due to these outlets, such as myspace, instant messenger, etc. This is a great idea and i hope it goes well.
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