Group 1: Jose Acosta Ysabelle Alberto America Aragon 8.1 Technology Today 1. Can you think of people in your own life who support or defy the premise that access to technology leads to greater opportunities? How have you noticed technology use and opportunity to be linked, or does your experience contradict this idea? There are a couple people in our lives who either support or defy the premises that access to technology leads to greater opportunities. The people we know who support it believe that technology makes their lives more convenient and easier. For instance, with technology they are able to talk to their families no matter how far the distance. Another example would be for stay at home moms who are busy taking care of their kids but are wanting to look for a job. With the opportunity that technology gives, stay at home moms can use the internet to search and apply through various websites like Indeed, Zip Recruiter, etc. At the same time, they are still able to stay at home and take care of their kids. Similarly, technology offers great opportunities for new mothers. For example, a mother may have some conflict when it comes to having a newborn to take care of and their responsibility at work. With technology advancements, they have the convenience of working from home while being able to look out for their newborn babies. However, with access to technology comes some negative aspects. Because of the convenience of being able to use technology wherever and whenever, it can be a distraction to some people. For example, some may get stuck trying to answer a text while driving and end up getting pulled over and ticketed. Also, some young children get distracted by technology because of how addicting it can get. Instead of doing homework for instance, they may rather play games or watch videos, which hold them back from learning. Technology use and opportunity are linked through technology’s ability to allow people easy access to online resources. From our experiences, we saw what an important role technology played in giving us greater opportunities to learn. During COVID, in-person classes were canceled and we were all shifted to online learning. Even though we weren’t able to meet in-person, with the use of technology, we were still able to take courses and pass them. Another instance would be school projects. Since we aren’t able to meet in person to discuss the project, we are still able to communicate with one another and work together to complete assignments, and it’s all thanks to technology. 8.4 Theoretical Perspectives on Media and Technology 12. The issue of airplane-pilot exhaustion is an issue of growing media concern. Select a theoretical perspective, and describe how it would explain this. The issue of airplane-pilot exhaustion is an issue of growing media concern. A theoretical perspective that can explain this is the Functionalism perspective. According to functionalism, this theory “sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of the individuals in that society” (Keirns et al., 2016, 15) . Because of the issue of airplane-pilot exhaustion, it creates a fear in people to fly which would affect the social needs of people for transportation to distant places. In some cases, pilots have to fly from one timezone to another timezone, completely opposite of one another. This can lead to the pilots being jet lagged, which puts passengers at risk because of the pilots’ lack of rest. Because of issues like this, media coverage may exaggerate news and therefore influence flying individuals. Additionally, in particular to functionalism is the perspective that media changes one’s life. According to the downside of ongoing information flow of the issue of airplane-pilot exhaustion, the exposure of this concern can lead to “narcotizing dysfunction, a result in which people are too overwhelmed with media input to really care about the issue, so their involvement becomes defined by awareness instead of by action” (Keirns et al., 2016, 170). So, there is a chance that in the beginning of the issue, people will be hesitant to fly but eventually because of narcotizing dysfunction, their avoidance of flying becomes awareness. Reference: Keirns, N. J., Scaramuzzo, G., Vyain, S., Sadler, T., Bry, J. D., Griffiths, H., Cody-Rydzewski, S., Jones, F., & Strayer, E. (2016). Introduction to Sociology 2e (2nd ed.). OpenStax College, Rice University. https://openstax.org/details/books/introduction-sociology-2e
