Changing the Subject: Art and Attention in the Internet Age
Book by Sven Birkerts
Birkerts' fundamental argument is mainly based on the digital shift experienced in the modern age of the internet since it has changed virtually everything in our social and physical life. I love the author’s theory where he presents an opinion that technology in some ways helps us to improve our habits. Some of the examples that make this factual is in the aspect of waiting to be attended in the hospital; we do not claim about any delay because we take our phones and read or play.
“One thing that is clear, though, is that these various displacements diminish the basic tangible” (Birkerts, 2015, p39) in the notion of being addicted to technology. The author had to prove that as we search about the specific issue on the web, sometimes the search engine takes us to different web pages that can mess our mind and contribute to the weakening of our memory. Another example that stood out to me regards the usage of the GPS VS paper maps. Birkerts contends that we must acquire knowledge but not only searching for information on the internet. However, I can't entirely agree with his argument as I believe that this is life-transforming and we as human beings must strive to fit in this new world. On the other hand, he was refuting his theory by ensuring that he does not have a cell phone!
The author spent an extended part of the book illustrating what he said "serendipity." In his opinion that every technology that helps us to meet our friends or go to the location by avoiding traffic is that something happens in our daily routine and we can reject it. Also, he keeps on referring to the same concepts using other words. For example, in the article “You Are What You Click” (p.89) he went back to the notion of how Google can make us careless or the GPS make the drivers addicted to the same apps. I believe the author can summarize this idea in one article.
Finally, my impression about the author’s feeling towards this transition that he does not appreciate the technological evolution brought in our lives as he does not want to contradict his position since he wants to secure his attitude towards digitalization.
From my interesting research view, I am considering how social media has negatively impacted on our privacy. Also, does the social media platforms ensure there is integrity in their privacy policy? Do users trust this algorithm? I agree with Birkerts' proposition when he talks about surveillance on the internet. He explains what Google can present to us as human beings, how Google can make our life easier through different products on offer. In fact, he concludes that by saying that “we are just following orders,” (p57). In the meaning of being consumers by Google as an example. My research is mainly focusing on a scenario of how individuals are selling private information to the companies and which end up exposing our privacy to the public. Indeed, he explains this phenomenon by wearing Google Glass to view the world since we do not have another choice.
Furthermore, his conversation evaluates some companies that track our online shopping behaviors such as Netflix and Amazon. As a result, we are enjoying the result of donning things while sitting in front of our screens. Based on this fact, our data has been obtained through many channels that we use.
Birkerts’s book is a form of writing that should be read to familiarize with certain concepts or gain knowledge but is not that much of scholarly aspects worth to be included in the list of digital humanity references. The book contains information about the writing experience rather than well researched scientific facts. His language was forthright thus making is it easy to understand, and his storytelling style was exciting which gave me the motivation to read the entire book effectively.
Birkerts, S. (2015). Changing the subject: Art and attention in the internet age. Graywolf Press.
