Reaction to Did You Know 4.0

I just viewed Did you Know 4.0..and I have seen a very similar thing to this in another class but it still astonished me.  The statistics were really baffling and amazing.  The ones that particularly caught my interest were that there are 2 million TVs in America in bathrooms..I mean what are you doing in the bathroom that you need a TV? Even if you want the TV for while you are taking a bath, where is the quiet and the relaxation?  We are constantly bombarded with what I will call "noise" from technology, radios, ipods, computers and rarely get a quiet peaceful moment in our lives.  It seems that now even our bathrooms have been invaded. 

I could not believe the statistic that Youtube in last 2months had more uploaded footage than all if all 3 major TV networks had been running new footage continuously since 1948!  This is not only an astronomical amount of footage to be uploaded, but also a little scary that so much about people's lives is out there in cyberspace for the entire world to view.  Im not comfortable sharing my entire life with the world- my Facebook has little information, I've never put anything on youtube, I don't have a picture website, and even this blog makes me a little nervous and feel vulnerable.  Regardless, youtube has been used for some of my classes like when we had to create a commerical for a marketing class (the result is pretty embarassing and should probably be taken down), so it can be an effective tool.  

Additionally, I have used to Facebook as a tool to stay connected with friends from high school or to re-connect with old friends and distant family which has been pretty cool.  I barely even remember life before these things, especially because I listen to music on youtube all the time, so the statistic that neither youtube, myspace, or facebook has been around for more than 6 years (longer now though) took me a little off guard, even though I already knew it because I created a myspace in my sophomore or junior year in high school, and a facebook in my senior year of high school.  Still, imagining life without them is impossible and it astonished me that these sites get as many visitors as the three major tv networks!  Even this video was in youtube and was being used for a class and learning purposes, just as this blog is, and our facebook group for all of us in group 3 here in the TCPCG.  

Technology has become such an integral part of our life it is unimaginable to live without it, and there is certainly no going back.  I just hope that essential skills like good penmanship, doing math without a calculator, and even effective face to face communication (as we are more reliant on virtual communication) are not lost on future generations..and that facebook and other sites do not completely ruin lives through oversharing by many of today's adolescents.