The Age of Technology
Technology has come so far in the last century, it's amazing. Even in my 3 decades on this earth I've seen a significant change. I remember sitting at my dad's Macintosh waiting minutes for netscape navigator to dial up and load a page. Now I get aggravated if my smartphone takes more than a second to load. Haha. Luckily I've always had a computer and the internet, but not far before people were using typewriters and the public library.
Yes we're in an age of technology, but even more so we're in an age of Social Media. From Facebook to Instagram to Twitter to YouTube and so forth it's definitely a main part of our current society. I won't deny that I rely on social media, but at what point is it dulling our society. Before It was a way to keep in contact with friends, now it's spammed up with ads, and mindless clickbait. And everyone is a "star". I'm convinced that kids these days are born with 10k+ Instagram followers. I can't even get past 200, and I was the first generation of MySpace! Haha.
It's great to browse people's photos, I find myself doing it for hours, but no one actually engages. We're creating a shallow generation that are only focused on "likes" and "views" and who have the opportunity for making money by taking selfies and contributing nothing of value. Making a living by being popular. If you haven't watched Black Mirror, check out EP301 "Nosedive". It's not too far off from the truth of where we're heading.
And then we have Steemit. Still in it's infancy, it's becoming a lovely platform of engaging and creative people contributing actual content. I've been using it to engage in a lovely photography community, but it's got any and all topics. I'm so happy I've found steemit. I would like to see a better search and organization from the site, but I honestly don't want it to go mainstream. I feel like if it does, it will become as shallow as the rest of Social Media.
Right now I'm in a lovely group of photographers playing the @photogames. The games we play keep us creating and learning from each other. Doesn't matter if you're experienced or just starting out, this group is always keeping us doing something new. #fixitfriday is a staple and should stay a weekly game, but I'd like to see more new games and assignments. Different games each week to keep us learning new skills. I know it's called the Photo Games, but I think of it more as a community run photography class. It would be nice to use the Discord channel to volunteer as a Photostar when you have something you want to teach and create a game for it. Les learn together and help one another grow! :)
-Maya
*PS-I got the typewriter from my grandmother's house. Probably my Great Grandfather's. It's an Underwood Standard Portable Typewriter. Kinda like the laptop of typewriters. Haha. They were manufactured from 1919-1929.
Wow. I really dig your blog, from what I've seen so far. I appreciate the time and effort as well. New follower!
Whooo! Thanks so much! :)
Oh I like that learning together thing. Good idea.
Netscape Navigator ........ I haven't thought about that in years! Thanks for the memory, but I don't miss dial-up. :)
Haha i remember when my best friend got DSL and we used to play online games together over the phone but her pages would load and I’d be going, wait wait! I still only see half of mine!
I seriously can't agree with you enough!!
Right before I discovered steemit it was shutting down on a lot of "technology". I only had facebook and that was enough... over the past 6 months or so I have been deleting a lot of my older posts that come through as memories. And to be honest there are times were I read them back now and think, 'what was I thinking!'. I barely post on facebook at all now, I certainly don't go through my feed anymore but I do leave it open on my computer in case someone wants to get in contact with me as I no longer have a mobile phone. I turned that off a few years ago and for me it was the best thing I did! I'd never go back now.
Before getting my head in the crypto space I was pulling myself off my computer as I felt I was spending far too much time on it. I was doing well until crypto and that changed everything, lol. While the market was bad I barely looked but that is when steemit started to take my time instead... but I have to agree with you. Steemit isn't the mind numbing, soul sucking rubbish that is now social media. I often find myself questioning my time spent on here again, as it is high and maybe I need to pull back on that a bit, hmmm maybe more than a bit but you are right, we are learning - all the time. We're being challenged and improving one's skills, thoughts and ideas which to me a positive and not a negative as so many of the social media platforms are now.
However, it sounds like I really need to get myself on Discord.
I love the idea of random volunteer games!
btw... love what you did with the photos! How did you get that effect?
Maya the idea of teaching is so cool. I think that would take it to the next step cause that is one of the things I love about photogames, that I am learning and pushing myself.