Hello Technology

For the project, Technology & Society, I attempted to depict the aspect of how technology has changed our lives drastically, using three different one-minute videos.

First of all, our perception on time flow has changed due to technological advancement.

 

Texting Away

The above video, "Texting Away" is a one-minute, non-cut video taken at the residence hall at Lawrence University. This student portrays the common behavior seen among many people in this technologically advanced society today. While they text to communicate with others, their sense of time flow seem much faster. Is it at all possible for them to live a day without a cell phone? Could they possibly imagine a life without a little technological device that keeps them entertained and connected with others? By increasing and decreasing the speed of the motions in different actions (e.g., 600% of the original speed for each time he texts, while 50 % of the original speed during other activities like drinking water), the deceptive sense of time flow is exaggerated.


The second video, "Wait... Rewind." is an attempt to capture the ambiguity of where the lines are drawn between nature, beings and technology.

 

Wait... Rewind.

Using a variety of footage from YouTube, I tried to depict similar motions seen between two out of three supposedly very different things  (for example, similar motion seen between crowded people at the intersection in downtown Tokyo vs. ants). My interpretation is that, to an extent, we are moving in a similar fashion because of technological advancement; almost systematic, almost as perfect as the nature... The pause in the middle of the video is there for one to think about what this all means, and to rewind and rethink about this matter.


Lastly, the video that mixes both found footage and created material, "MOSHI MOSHI? ~hello?~" once again pose the question of what it means to have a communication device and what the invention of telephone did to the society in terms of the sense of time flow.

 

MOSHI MOSHI? ~hello?~

Just like how the invention of TV did a wonder to people in this world, cell phones did the same. At first, everyone exclaimed, "Wow! Woah!" and clapped, like a dream come true! It was something you own only if you were wealthy. Then, more and more came out and soon enough, everyone had their own cell phones in their hands. The speed in which this society moves today is quite amazing, and how technology plays a huge role in this fast-moving society is inevitable. We tend to forget the beauty of the natural world and its calm time flow.