Post 3 - Does Technology Drive the Way we Think, Read & Communicate?

I believe that the process works both ways. To some extent technology drives/determines the way we think, read and communicate and the way we communicate, read and think drives our need for technology. The situation is very similar to the classic, rhetorical argument between texts from Lloyd Bitzer and Richard Vatz.

In Lloyd Bitzer's The Rhetorical Situation, Professor Bitzer argues that the situation controls the rhetorical response. For example, the events of September 11, 2001 elicited a massive rhetorical response from every media avenue available. The situation prompted the discussion.

In his Myth of the Rhetorical Situation, Richard Vatz claims that rhetoric elicits a situation and people's perception is created by what they're told. In 2001, a dramatic shark attack on a young boy brought a national awareness of shark activity. He was heroically saved and the forthcoming media attention resulted in front page news which further prompted communities to demand increase shark protection and marine predator controls. In reality, the number of shark attacks in 2001 were considerably fewer than years past. The rhetoric had created the situation.

As is the relationship between Bitzer and Vatz, the causal relationship between technology and our functionality lies somewhere in the middle.

Technology drives the way we function, but I don't believe it completely determines our approach. While we have instant information available to us through a wide range of channels, we continue to exercise the free will of sensory interaction. People make it a point to read from a book in part because of the sensory experience; in part for the chance to disconnect from technological stress. Though surface information is readily available on any topic, we often delve deeper than a cursory "surf" into a subject for a more comprehensive understanding. As for communication, we may be more digitally connected than ever before, but often use our channels of communication in order to arrange in-person meetings...especially socially. The technology hasn't replaced the interaction level. My family and friends meet just as often as we ever have, except now we're more efficient with the coordination. I am still friends with a close group of 10 - 15 people that I met 20 years ago. Without "Reply-All", we probably would have lost touch years ago.