Discussion: Rushkoff & Ellsworth

I found both Rushkoff and Ellsworth's video's to be very interesting and thought-provoking.

For a while now, I have been feeling very unhappy at work, because the slow realization that I am nothing more than just a robot that helps advance a corporation is something that I've been unable to ignore. It's true, we are given benefits, like a nice paycheck, medical plans and a 401K, but at what costs? I feel like I work hard everyday at manipulating data just so I can land more clients to advertise with NBC, but what have I really gained? Self-satisfaction? Self-worth? At the end of my life, is this going to matter at all? That I landed the Victoria secret account and we celebrated with champagne & strawberries? I don't think so.

I agree with Rushkoff that our lives are operating more like a corporation- we are living less life, with less real human interactions. We compete with one another to see who makes the highest sales, or who gets promoted faster. Who benefits from all this? The corporation ofcourse. The harder we work and the harder we compete, the more money the corporation makes. It's something we just can't escape from.
We're always playing by someone else's rules.

Rushkoff's theory about always being one step behind our technology also intrigued me. It's true that computers used to require a lot more programming skills. I've always viewed the new "user-friendly interface" as a positive thing, but his reasoning has made me re-evaluate my views. His idea that we are now being defined by media (ie selecting from drop-down boxes in facebook) so that advertisers can better target us, makes me really angry that I haven't realized this before. It makes me feel like we are being used, and there's nothing much we can do about it.

As for Ellsworth, her theory that we can be "monitorial citizens" has already taken affect, as seen on various sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc or different modes of technology (cell phone cameras, ipod video features). Our advanced technology that allows us to get information instantly has changed the way we see the world. For instance,there has been cases where a thief on a subway has been captured thanks to a quick-thinking person who snapped his picture on their cell phone before he got away. When the thief's picture gets on the evening news, everyone will be warned to be aware of him. In this way, people are protecting their own neighborhoods and using technology and the media to spread the word.