Technology Obsessed

Are we obsessed with our technologies? This week the Journalism Department held a program called, Disconnect to Reconnect, which students participated in removing all screens from them for three days. For most, it was hard at first, but at a certain point students started to feel relieved that they didn't have to constantly check their text messages, emails, or social media.

Being a journalism major and a marketing minor, I feel like I'm stuck in limbo. On one side, marketing is using technology more than it ever has, and it doesn't look like it will stop anytime soon. From scanning QR codes on our iPhones to getting information through Twitter about a certain company, marketers are constantly using technology. I will agree the benefits are endless from a marketers standpoint, but when is enough, enough?

On the other side, the journalism department has tried to engrave in us since freshman year to be wary of the uses of technologies. They stress how technologies are constantly surrounding us and we are immune to it. No one asks questions nor do they do anything about it.

With all of these technologies that we are using, we are always in front of a screen. Whether it being the first, second, or third screen we are always surrounded and even bombarded by them. One thing I can foresee is the lack of face-to-face interactions because of all these screens. We rely more on communicating via email or a text message rather than a letter or going to see someone in person. By being infront of all these screens is there a negative effect that it will have on us?

So what do you guys think? Do you think marketers are running a fine line between using technology efficiently? Or are they over using technology? What are the benefits or drawbacks that you can see with the uses of technology?

The Joneses

I was relaxing one afternoon this break and the movie, The Joneses, looked pretty interesting. The summary that the movie gives is that it is a family living with a "dark" secret. (hope I don't ruin the movie for everyone else) In reality, the movie is based on a pretty interesting concept of self marketing.

Thus, this family moves into an affluent neighborhood and projects a certain lifestyle to their neighbors. Eventually, all the neighbors want to "keep up with the joneses" and they start buying the same products that make up the Joneses lifestyle. However, eventually the viewer comes to find out that the Joneses are self marketers of the products and what is portrayed as their life, is them actually working. They work for the company that makes every product (and the lifestyle) that the Joneses market to their neighbors. In the end, we find out that their lifestyle isn't "real" and neither are the Joneses.

Although there are the ethical issues surrounding self marketing and what the movie entails, I thought it was a clever idea. It makes sense that everyone in a sense does try and "keep up with the joneses" and for a company to take advantage of that and sell their product sounds like good business.

What do you guys think? Do you think people buy certain products to fit into a specific lifestyle?

YouTube Employees

Have you ever been browsing the Internet and clicked on a link from say, YouTube and it says that the video or song has been deleted? I'm sure all of us have, but recently I was curious as to how big of a department YouTube has whose main goal is to make sure all videos are appropriate and comply with copyright rules. I did some research and it says that about 24 hours of video is uploaded every minute to YouTube. That's more than I ever imagined and can't possibly picture how many people there are to make sure everything that is uploaded is okay. It seems like a daunting task, but quite necessary for the company. In addition, I was curious as to how long it would take YouTube to take down a video that someone reports. Clearly, YouTube has figured this all out, I would just be curious as to what the actual numbers are.