Bush vs. Hawthorne

The two articles and viewpoints on the complex world of the internet were very interesting to me. Both articles brought up points that I had not thought about before and had some really good analogies that made me look at what I thought the internet stood for in an entire new light. I thought that the Bush’s idea of the memex was fascinating. I never personally thought about the internet in this way, but I thought that Bush had some very solid points that definitely made me think about it. I always used the internet for school work and the occasional myspace and facebook visits. I would sign on to the web and sign out never fully evaluating what the large world of the internet meant to me. I have found myself taking advantage of the access of having something so helpful and convenient right at my finger tips. These two writings have made me begin to think where society would be without the internet. Many people rely on the internet for everyday life routines. Taking some time to brainstorm, I can see the ups and the downs of what the internet has to offer us as a society.
I am a little torn between where I exactly fall in the decision if the internet is a pro or con. It is not as simple as black and white to me and I definitely fall into the area of gray. Before reading these pieces I would have probably sided with Hawthorne to begin with. I never thought of myself as someone that really relied on computers or the internet. I can see where he is coming from when he explains that the internet is taking away interaction from the people that surround us. Family has always been something of importance to me and that’s why at first I think his article appealed to me most. When I think about the internet, though, and the two different articles I seem to have a change of heart.
I moved with my family to North Carolina from Massachusetts when I was in the 8th grade. My family and I have lived in the same small town in MA, with all our family living in that same small town right around us. Our entire family got together at least once a week. Moving was a huge change and found it very hard for us to adjust to not seeing our family anymore. Not only did we not see them once a week, but if we were lucky, once a year. When I look back to when I first moved and up till now the way I communicate with my family is through the internet. Long distance phone calls became too expensive, so email and AOL became our ways to keep in touch with everyone. Without the internet I would be missing a huge thing in my life that I prize. I see the argument of not getting to spend time with the people around you, but what about the people you never get to see? Without the internet communication would be even less. This is why I find myself relating to Bush’s outlook on the internet and its wonders.
My blog, in particular is something that I was very unfamiliar about before this class. I knew a little about what it was but not nearly enough to form an opinion on it. Even though I did not know enough, however, I still found myself as looking at blogs as a waste of time. I would have probably gone as far to side with Hawthorne in saying that it took valuable time away from the chance to spend time with the people in your surroundings. Learning more about blogging has also made me change my mind a little and after reading Hawthorn’s article is definitely means something else to me. It is very interesting that we have a tool in the world today that allows us to achieve the goal of mass communication. Right in our homes we have the opportunity to share and save memories and experiences through our very own blog. I have grown to think of blogging as an escape for some people to write and get their feelings out which may have not been an opportunity otherwise. I look at my blog in the same light. Bush is brilliant when he uses the term “memex.” Blogging is like a big file that has already been dated and organized for you. To look back at past experiences in your life or to find a time that made you happy is all right in front of you with a click of a mouse. Saved, organized and compact just like a “memex” would be.
I do have some drawbacks of the internet and blogging, however. My few drawbacks are the reason I would say I would find myself in the gray area. I do think of the internet and blogging as fascinating tools of expressing yourself as an individual and the list could go on. My only concern is that, as Bush says, both should be used in moderation. If people understand the importance of being able to balance time on the internet and time interacting with others than I would not consider the internet as a problem. Bush does have a point in saying that in some cases time is taken away from the opportunities of family bonding. However, like I said before, what do you do when the majority of your family does not live near you? The only reason that I would side with Bush a little bit in his argument is if the internet became an obsession to an individual and was used as only form of interaction.
The internet and more specifically, blogging is an incredible tool to have for your personal use. Overall, I found myself agreeing with Hawthorne in his points and was interesting in his theories and examples until the very last page!

Mavis Beacon~New To Computers

When I look back on my experiences with computer's one in particular time will always stick in my mind. I have never exactly been "good" at computers; I would even say that at times I am computer challenged. When I was in the 6th grade I moved to North Carolina from Massachusetts and in one of my classes it was mandatory that we learned how to type correctly. There was a program called "Mavis Beacon" that we would use everyday to do various typing exercises. The exercises consisted of writing paragraphs over and typing a lot of stuff out to make us stronger at typing. The program not only taught you the correct way to type but also where to put your hands on the keyboard. The typing program had a woman named, you guessed it, Mavis Beacon that would guide you along. I can still remember Mavis to this day; her little animated body was complete with a tight bun pulled back and a burgundy jacket suit. The more I saw Mavis in the corner of the computer screen the more I began to hate her. I was never a good at typing and never knew where to put my fingers; instead I would just pluck around on the keyboard. To make matters even more difficult we had to put a dreadful black mask over the keyboard to make sure we were using the correct finger placement. Every time you would mess up Mavis would speak to you. On the other hand, I would say Mavis yelled at you whenever you made a mistake with typing a sentence. We would have timed assignments that were pages long and my computer always seemed to be the loudest, Mavis was always yelling at me. A lot of the kids already knew how to type well so the more they typed the better they got. I felt like I was only getting worse. I can still remember hearing Mavis calling me out over the computer with obnoxious remarks, "no, no, no" and "try again Jacqueline." My poor typing skills were not something that no one knew about, Mavis made that pretty hard to cover up. As if being the new girl in a new state and new school was not bad enough, the last thing I wanted to do was draw attention to me. I began to hate that woman and can remember flicking her head and talking back to her. I would turn off my speakers on my computer so my classmates would not hear Mavis' corrections over and over. Turning off the speakers was not aloud so my plan did not work as good as I thought it would. I finally got so frustrated that I would begin to take the black mask off the computer just to get through the assignments and for once I saw the nice side of Mavis. Instead of "try again Jacqueline," I heard "great job!" I may have been fooling Mavis but at the end of the year I didn't fool my teacher when I failed the final exam because I still had no idea where to put my fingers and correctly type. Anytime I think about typing or talk about typing I can visualize Mavis Beacon in the corner of my computer screen waving her finger at me. To this day I still do not type correctly and I still hate black keyboard masks but not as much as Mavis Beacon! That will always stay in my mind as one of the first experiences with learning how to use a computer correctly. I have come a long way since Mavis but I don't miss her at all.