Samantha Martyn

ENG: 111
Instructor: Paul Anderson
Mid-Michigan Community College

Technology & the Real World

Has society really changed its thinking so much because of technology? There is a
controversy going on whether or not technology distracts people from the real world and what
should be done about it. I will be using Video Games: The Movie, Nicholas Carr, and Jay David
Bolter to thoroughly go over technology. These authors will prove if technology is really
distracting through their opinions and research and whether its a good or bad distraction overall.
The audience is anybody who is interested in technology including technology designers and
technicians who know about games, cell phones, and computers. Is technology so powerful that
it can lead to distraction? Video games might be just the type of technology that could distract
people.
Video Games: The Movie was directed by Jeremy Snead who wanted to show how
video games were a beneficial technology and how they have evolved over time to become even
better. He starts off with going into how much an average gamer has been playing video games
which was 12 years. Then goes and shows the audience that forty seven percent of that audience
is female explaining that gaming is no longer restricted to gaming nerds but is highly popular
everywhere. The movie then explains that cloud, which is a data storing site, made it easier to
produce faster and higher quality games that could be uploaded from anywhere and was a big
step in the direction towards better games. Technology is everywhere when creating a game or
even when communicating with each other via games and there is such a wide variety of gamers
in society that it is easy to find a group to belong in. The movie conceded that games can be
distracting but stated they could also help you learn life lessons, history, communication skills,
and be used as a coping mechanism. Max Landis and Will Wheaton say that video games are

Samantha Martyn
ENG: 111
Instructor: Paul Anderson
Mid-Michigan Community College

better than a movie because you are involved in making the ending, the ending does not happen
if player does not play, which is like reading a novel. All the creators in the making of Video
Games: The Movie all agree that technology is not to blame for the lack of attention span or
change in thought process because it is a tool that will not work without somebody using it. So
ultimately the blame of distraction and change in thought processes start with the people
themselves not technology.
Nicholas Carrs article Is Google Making Us Stupid? is about the negative effects of
the internet and technology. In the beginning of his article he says what the Net seems to be
doing is chipping away at my capacity and concentration (Carr, 371). Carr describes the internet
as a distraction that makes him fidgety so he cant focus long termly on an assignment because
instead of having to do a lot of hard research and concentrate google does it for him. He also
relates the negative effects of technology to other technological advancements like the
typewriter, pencil, and paper. Using Plato as an example in his article Carr relates with him and
begins to theorize about what Plato was talking about which was the pencil is a distraction that
changes the way we think. Carr applies this to the internet and even time itself, which originally
came from a clock. Without time most people wouldnt be able to do anything because we are so
independent on it, it organizes what people think and do so it can be a distraction by making
people put off things. Carr then goes into talking about how if technology was not there people
would be able to be productive in the real world but what is the real world? He never really
defines the definition of the real world and why it was so important to get back to, did we ever
really leave? In the real world even technicians need technology to properly do their job, so
why is technology at fault? Video Games: The Movie believes contrary to what Carr believes,
saying that technology is there to relieve stress from the real world and is needed in order to

Samantha Martyn
ENG: 111
Instructor: Paul Anderson
Mid-Michigan Community College

function normally. While even writing itself is a form of technology so Carr really cant
complain too much because in order to get his point across he had to write a paper.
Jay David Bolter brings up writing and technology in his article Writing Culture.
Where he talks about how over the years as technology has developed and it became easier to
write the form of writing itself began to change. The form of writing went from the reader having
to adapt to the written work to the actual piece of writing having to adapt to the reader. Bolter
takes a more objective view and talks about how the web does not have a standard of writing so
more authors can contribute an example being Hemmingway and Faulkner. Hemmingway writes
short to the point stories while Faulkner write long stories and takes his time by adding details.
Bolter brings up the point will written verbal communication come to be regarded as an
ancillary form, to be used when microphones or cameras fail or when the internet connection is
degraded? (Bolter, 664). Basically he is saying that will there be a day and age where print will
be considered obsolete and everything will be online most of the time but will that always be so ?
Right now we are in the transition stage and Bolter does not think that technology is good or bad,
but that it has its advantages and that eventually maybe there will be something new that will be
more popular than the internet just like how the internet started to replace books. Bolter takes
more middle ground towards technology while Carr is completely against technology, saying it is
changing us. While Video Games: The Movie is saying to embrace the change that technology is
giving us and learn from it. All three sources are very varied and each is concerned about
technology in its own way.
Technology itself is a broad topic and technology could be anything as long as it was
created by mankind an example being the pencil. The sources I have all talk about are all about
technology but each with its own point of view and using different examples. Video Games: The

Samantha Martyn
ENG: 111
Instructor: Paul Anderson
Mid-Michigan Community College

Movie talks about technology and gaming and how beneficial technology is to the gaming
industry. Explaining about how due to technology the industry is thriving and coming up with
new and better ways to help people and gamers learn, immerse themselves, cope with stressful
situations, and just have fun. The movie takes a positive approach on technology and basically
says dont sweat the small stuff, there may be minor problems but those can be fixed. While
Carr is completely not buying what the movie is selling, saying that the games are a distraction
and do not help people do productive work in the real world. He wants people to be more
independent of technology because he thinks we are too dependent on it and that if technology
were to ever go away our society would be left vulnerable. Bolter on the other hand is more in
between, he acknowledges Carrs opinion and takes into account the positives explained in Video
Games: The Movie and says that technology is evolving and soon the internet may not even
matter because something new and even better than the internet may arise and take its place. He
has a more open minded view and reviews the facts that he researched to come up with the most
logical conclusion. His conclusion is that things will ultimately change over time and not much
can be done about it but to just be careful if you do not want to change.
Technology is very influential and when properly handled can be the best tool but
it can be used to distract someone. The solution to that is at a personal level the person using any
form of technology must decide if they want to be distracted or not. Whether or not the
technology itself is good or bad depends on the use of that certain piece of technology. It should
be up the individuals themselves to see if they like technology and if they know how to properly
use it. Technology itself is not a complicated subject on an individual level because if the
individual likes to be distracted then there is no problem to deal with. While in all three of my
sources the real world was mentioned. What defines the real world? Or is it just the authors

Samantha Martyn
ENG: 111
Instructor: Paul Anderson
Mid-Michigan Community College

own perception of what the real world is like? The only problem I see is on an individual level,
people will change over time due to age, sickness, experiences and other factors. Technology is
not the only thing that distracts our society there is also sex, drugs, sports, ect. Technology is
only one part of the real world, there are other parts that contribute to our changing as a society
which will continue to change and evolve in the future.

Samantha Martyn
ENG: 111
Instructor: Paul Anderson
Mid-Michigan Community College

Work Cited:
Bolter, Jay David. "Writing Culture." Composing Knowledge: Readings for College
Writers. Ed.Rolf Norgaard. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001.
Print. 654-665.
Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Exploring Relationships: Globalization and Learning in
the 21st Century. Custom ed. Boston: Pearson Education. 370-77. Print.

Video Games: The Movie. Dir, Jeremy Snead. Perf, Sean Astin, Zach Braff, Larry Atkins, Nolan
Bushnell, Ernest Cline. Mediajuice Studios, 2014. Netflix