iPod Determination and The Fall of Humantiy

I would like to return to our discussion on Wednesday about iPod Culture. Almost everybody mentioned ways that using iPods have changed our behavior. I think that this has strong parallels with Technological Determinism. Potts says, "as media technologies change, profound cultural effects ensue. These effects operate on both the level of the individual psyche and the social formation as a whole." Our discussion was largely centered around this idea as it relates to iPods. We automatically recognize that someone with both earbuds in should be left alone, that it is common courtesy to take on bud out when you talk to someone else, and we do not talk to each other on the bus anymore. These examples of our cultural norms that have changed from iPod use, suggest that some technological changes are powerful enough to be more than one more element within a larger social movement. The technology itself is the catalyst of this social movement by tapping into parts of our psyche that previously went ignored. In the case of iPod, I am concerned that this technology may have a dehumanizing effect. Instead of socializing with people around us, we dwell in the isolation of iPod music. We are using the iPod like a drug o escape from the pressures of big cities and crowded buses, and we become dependent on it for constant stimulation and when forced to cope without it we have lost the ability to reintegrate into the society.