Paper 3: Disconnected Urbanism

   When it comes down to brass tacks, we humans are a very creative yet lazy species in the animal kingdom. From a historical standpoint, most of our greatest inventions of the past were simply implemented to decrease our own work load: when we couldn't outrun a deer we invented the spear, when we couldn't carry a heavy load all at once we invented the wheel. And when we grew too far apart from one another, we found another challenge to over come; to invent a way to be able to communicate with each other in a reasonable amount of time. From smoke signals, to letters, to the telegraph, and finally to where we are now; there are approximately over 4.6 billion cell phone subscribers in the world today and this simple machine has drastically shaped not only our ability to communicate with others, but how we view the world as claimed in the article "Disconnected Urbanism."

   In the article, the author Paul Goldberger argues that unlike the ways of communication in the years past the cell phone is taking away the individuality expressed in other forms we communicated with in decades past. Text messaging and calling have forced us to connect in the same way and denies us the ability to express ourselves like within a letter or while verbally communicating with someone face to face. Although this should not come as a great surprise, as the more heavily reliant on technology we become the more we become disconnected with society and those around us whom we share our lives with claims Goldberger. It's not an hard arguement to make if you think about it; we now spend more time on our little pieces of plastic then we ever have in the past, now with the advent of apps and internet capabilities, what's the point of even having an actually face to face conversation when you can just facebook chat? But it's not just Goldberger that has taken this stance against the relentless march on technology, "The New Yorker" has been proclaiming the downfalls with technology in the sociological sense for over 80 years and much of their arguements come down to their magaizines cover art

   Throughout it's history, the New Yorker has been exploring this connection between the lost of personal communication and technological interference through their facinating cover art. In this particular cover from 1937, we see this struggle of man and technology play out as a couple is stranded out at sea with a broken a engine. As the man desperately attempts to repair their motor, his date/spouse looks longingly out to sea with a look of almost disappointment and sadness. With the man's back turned to her, I believe it's almost a metaphor for how our obsession with technology is keep us from spending that precious time with our friends and family. But it's not just in the sense of lossing connections to family that the New Yorker explores.

   While the detachment from our emotional surroundings and family/friends is a serious issue expressed, sometimes the New Yorker likes to point fun at their own policies. Like in this cover from 1971, a monk is seen strolling through the plaza of a monestary while listening to what appears to be a radio. The life of a monk is often taken with a vow of silence in order to help distance themselves from the problems of society, while devoting themselves completely to the Lord. This may seem like a harmless and rather comical representation, but does this mean for the future of religion in a world dominated by technology? Religion has always been at odds with science since the age of Newton over the workings of the natural world; so when people begin to rely more on their phone then their God, the possiblities to conflicts to arise is always a reality along with the characteristic lack of individuality.

   This brings us to the most recent cover art I have selected to express this conflict in socialization and technology. This cover from 2007 shows a small child holding a cell phone while taking a picture of his parents in their bed. Appart from this not only deeply disturbing that a child would take a picture of this kind of intiamate behavior of his parents, but that this child being so young can operate a phone so well. In this little boy's childhood, it is not only normal but expected for you to do most of your socialization online in this new generation of Aim, texting, and Facebook. Social skills normally being learned through face to face interactions are forgotten skills of the past when a few simple texts can make up a whole conversation. If these lessons are already being taught now to children like this, then how will people be able to grow up without a phone in their hands texting away? Truely in a society like this, even childhood individuality is a memory of the past.