On Thursday, IC journalism professor Vadim Isakov gave a special presentation in our class. During Vadim's presentation, I listened with both eager excitement and frequent fear about the new technologies being used by today's journalists. Here is why I feel as I do...
The first example of new technology that is being incorporated into modern journalism is GQ magazine's altered reality. As Vadim demonstrated, subscribers to GQ were treated with an interactive, movie-like video that featured Robert Downey Jr., the issue's cover story. All readers need to do to access this video is hold their issue in front of the computer, where a small, barcode-like box is read, bringing up this cool video. Sweet, right?
Yes, but as someone who takes great pride in writing, I fear that people are growing desensitized to the physical nature of the world. Too often people get sucked into the digital world never to return, or when they return, to emerge a different person. It is obvious that technology is as much an addiction as any drug, and while it may not be as physically harmful, it certainly affects the way people communicate.
With that said, I do enjoy fancy new technolgies, but I do think some of these new inventions are absurb and demeaning. A refrigerator that instructs me when to buy milk? Give me a fucking break, I'm not that stupid. But if I put forth the money for such a fridge, wouldn't I be just that stupid? Or would I just be technologically ahead of the curve?
Humans are the supreme species on this planet, and our technologies prove that. I just hope they don't prove to be better than us...
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