The GPS and my poor sense of direction

Many people might be wondering, how are these two things related to each other? Actually, I was born with a very poor sense of direction. I'm never the kind of person who can go on a road trip with a map bought in a gas station. However, my sense of direction got even worse because of this new technology that was designed to help people.

I started using the GPS when I started driving. There was a built-in navigator in my mom's car, and I fell in love with it immediately because I knew I would never get lost again with this amazing device. I was right about it most of the time, but things were a little different when there was construction on the highway or when the navigator didn't work. Because I was so used to using the navigator whenever I drive, I never paid attention to the road signs or where I was.

I didn't change this bad habit of completely relying on the GPS even when I came to the US. My parents came to visit me a few years ago when I bought a new car, and they wanted me to show them around Purdue campus. They couldn't believe that I turned on the GPS when getting into the car ,and they started to question me if I knew the roads on campus. In order not to be laughed at, I pretended to know the way from Walmart to the campus. "I turned it on just in case I get lost," I said. But I was not very sure if I should make a right near the stadium or keep going straight without the GPS.

I didn't think depending on the GPS was such a big deal until it stopped working one day. That was a relaxing Sunday afternoon. My boyfriend was taking a nap, and I wanted to go pick up our dinner in a restaurant near the Tippecanoe Mall. My plan was, I go pick up the food, and by the time my boyfriend wakes up, there will be delicious food on the table. However, my plan was ruined when my GPS lost its satellite signal. It couldn't even locate where I was. I thought I knew the way, but I started to worry when i noticed that I passed by the same building three times. I eventually figured out how to get there by calling friends, but I also realized I should prevent the same stupid thing from happening again.

I wasn't the only person in the world that depended on GPS so much. Many of my girlfriends did that too, and so did my mom. She decided to stop depending on her GPS as much a few years ago, but her reasons was "GPSs are too stupid to point out the fastest way."

So, no matter what reasons people have, I say we should always at least pay attention to where we are. Why? Because the feeling of being lost in the small town that you have lived for years wasn't that good at all.

When your phone rings at 3 o'clock in the morning

I believe the scenario is familiar with everyone: You go to to bed after a hard-working day, and you set the alarm clock to make sure you don't oversleep the next morning. Just when you are having the sweetest dream ever (either you win the lottery or being in a vacation enjoying the sunshine and the beach), the phone rings! You thought it was time to get ready for school, but just when you are about to get up, you noticed something's wrong: Why is the sky so dark?

Then you go from "it might be raining" to "wait, this is too dark for an 8 o'clock!" before you realized that it was not the alarm clock. It was simply a text message you just received or an email that just went into your mailbox. And it was 3 o'clock in the morning!

This actually happened to me so often that I did not get disturbed at all and could go right back to sleep. I can do it because I'm still young, but what if this happens to my parents or older people who cannot go right back to sleep once they get interrupted?

The mobile technology has brought us many benefits that the previous generation could not even imagine decades ago, but it also changed the way people coordinate the everyday life. We hear mobile phones ring during the movie, during the lecture, during someone's presentation, or even during our sleep.

You might not get mad for the first time when someone's phone rings in a movie, but what if the same thing happens again and again?

Similar to the disruption in the theater, my biggest interruption of sleep comes from my iPhone application. I downloaded the CNBC news application so i could follow the latest news. However, I soon realized it woke me up in the middle of the night way too often. This application not only sent out breaking news alerts but also made a very loud, fire-alarm-like sound. For over a year, I've tried to figure out if I could turn off the application sound while leaving the phone on so I could hear the alarm clock the next morning. But I never found the way to do so. Then I realized that being interrupted during my sleep was the price I had to pay if I wanted to enjoy the convenience of having everything reachable in my phone.

On the scale of convenience and uninterrupted sleep, I soon chose the later one. And I'm very glad that I made such decision to ensure my high quality sleep.

How mobile technology changed me, and everyone else

I got my first cell phone when I was in elementary school, and that was pretty early for a Taiwanese kid back in the days. When I was the only kid in the school to own a cell phone, I didn't feel the impact of mobile phones that much. But when more and more of my friends started using mobile phones, the impact became more and more obvious.

One of the categories of mobility that we talked about today was mobility as "connected presence", and it just pointed out the biggest difference that I could feel on me. I remembered back in the days when my friends and I did not have mobile phones, we seemed more patient. I did not get frustrated if I could not reach my friends. It seemed so normal that everyone who wanted to talk to her on phone had to go through her mom, and sometimes her grandparents, and when she was not home or when I had no way to reach her, I just waited without being annoyed.

However, this totally changed when we are so used to having mobile phones with us, no matter where we are and what we are doing. One thing I notice is that people become frustrated so easily when they cannot reach their friends. I actually had this experience just yesterday. I called my boyfriend several times but he did not pick up, and as you could imagine, I became frustrated and annoyed. Before we are so used to the convenience of mobile technology, we did not blame on our friends if they weren't home, but nowadays, we blame on them if they don't pick up the phone.

In addition, I become more connected and more attached to friends even though I don't see them all the time. I text my friends when I think of them, and i receive more than 30 text messages in a day, sometimes even more than 50. This feeling of belonging actually became stronger especially when I started using iPhone. Because of the internet connection and the 3G network, I can view my friends' facebook whenever I want, and we can comment on one another's photos even when some of us are in class. Because we are so used to being reached, and constantly communicating with friends, we get insecure when our friends don't respond right away. I noticed that I checked facebook no more than five times in a day before I had iPhone, but after I switched to this magic phone, I now check my facebook a lot more than i used to do. Sometimes I check it too often that I see no new notifications on my homepage, I feel kind of lost. I sometimes start worrying if I'm not as popular as before: How come no one comments on my new status? How come no one "like" my photos? And how come they don't respond when I tag them in my album?

I was shocked when i noticed that I became such a paranoid person and such an impatient person just because of the convenience of the new mobile technology, but if you pay attention, you will notice that I'm not the only one who feels this way. A lot of people are just as paranoid and as impatient.

Because I noticed how impatient I was, I adopted a new way to deal with those negative thoughts. Think of how convenient our lives have become because of the mobile technology. I should be thankful for whatever I have now, instead of complaining about my friend who did not pick up the phone or no one responded right away to my new status on facebook.

Sometimes I still get frustrated if I call my friend for a hundred times before she finally text me back and say "sorry I put my phone on silent", but I'm moving toward that direction of being thankful and as patient as I used to be. And i think a lot of young people should go the same thing too.

You don't get as much benefits from gaming if you are old?

When we picture game players, we always think of children, teenagers, or young adults. Young children play to learn, and teenagers become more interested in high technology if they play video games frequently. What about adults? or the elder people? Do they get as much benefits from gaming? Is there an age where games lose their benefits?

I have never thought of this question before, but the more I think about it, the more I believe there's no such age where games lose their benefits.

First of all, playing games is always entertaining and helpful in releasing stress. Take my dad for example. He was in the school tennis team from high school to college. It is undoubtable that he not only played tennis well but also enjoyed it very much. He told me that playing tennis gave him the chance to release the stress from school, and from work in his later life. Did he lose such benefit even when he turned 50 this year? No. He might not be able to run as fast as he could, but playing tennis is still an effective way for him to feel less stressed in life. In addition, he can now play with me and my brothers, so I say he probably have more fun playing tennis now, compared to 30 years ago when he could only play with his coach.

Now, let's not talk about sports. Everyone knows doing exercise is good for people from all ages. What about other games?

When it comes to games that benefit human brains, I always think of my grandfather. He has been a famous, semi-professional Mahjong player for as long as I can remember. I always thought playing Mahjong was simply a game to kill time or to hang out with friends, but later I realized that it is actually more beneficial than I thought. Several years ago, my grandma started to have the symptoms of memory lost. I could still remember that evening when everyone was worried, because grandma's phone was off, and she had been out for almost 3 hours. Later she came home and told us that she suddenly forgot where she lived after she went grocery shopping, so she could only walk around and try to figure out the way back home. Everyone was shocked when they heard this. My mom was worried that my grandpa would be the same in a few years, but my dad said he was not worried at all because grandpa had been using his brain constantly because of Mahjong. It is less likely for him to have buildups blocking the transmission of the brain and the nerves. Giving that my dad is a physician, I totally believe that playing games, especially games that can stimulate thoughts like Mahjong, is actually beneficial for elder people.

So, because of the living examples in my family, I don't think there is an age where games lose their benefits. Looking back at what happened to my grandparents, I say certain games probably have more benefits to older people because keeping the brain active is like doing brain exercise. I do not know if playing Mahjong or chess can reduce people's chance of getting Alzheimer's disease, but I do believe that poking your brain once in a while by playing game is good for you, and you don't get less benefits from games just because you grow older.

Video Gaming: Benefits outweigh costs?

I"m not a person who's good at computer stuff, and I've only played a few video games. Because of the society that i grew up from, I had this stereotype of people who play video games in Internet Cafe. I always thought video gamers in Internet Cafe were all bad kids who skipped classes and played video games 24/7. However, my perception of video gamers changed when I met my boyfriend. He was the championship of a video game when he was in high school, and he was so good that whenever he played in the public, he had different kinds of companies to sponsor all the equipments he needed. He never had to buy the screens or mouses, or even computers.

One thing I noticed the difference between me, an old school person who knew very little about video games, and him, a professional gamer, is that his hand-eye coordination is a lot better than mine. Also, the way he thinks is a lot faster and more practical than me. In general, he is a more intelligent person in general compared to me.

On the other hand, because of all the media theories that I studied in my other communication classes, I know that many scholars have claimed that video games have negative effects on not only the players but also the society. Some say kids may be more violent because of violent video games, while others claim that players might become anti-social because of the large amount of time in playing the games. Still others say children are less intelligent because they have less time to spend on reading.

This is a debatable issue that everyone is interested now. Although I do not play games, or I play very few games (the only game I play is Little Big Planet from PS3), I'm more on the side of the gamers. In my opinion, gaming has more benefits than costs if people play it in a moderate level. Let's not talk about video gaming just for now. Everyone knows that drinking water is good for human bodies, but what if a person drinks too much water? I actually read a news about a person who drank too much water for too long, and he eventually died from this. I also know from my HK classes that if a person work out too much or too intense, he or she might have body damages. There are so many examples out there that tell us the lesson. Doing something in a moderate level is usually good for people, but when we do it too much, it will backfire like the water example and the workout case.

Playing video games is the same in my opinion. People who play video games in a moderate level have better hand-eye coordination, shorter reaction time, and they are more intelligent in some perspectives. On the other hand, if a person spend too much time on playing games instead of doing what he/she has to do, the negative effects are unavoidable.

So, at the end, I have one question to those addictive gamers: Don't you feel sick after sitting there for 12 hours straight?

I guess not everyone can do this. At least you'll need a very strong bladder first.

Virtual vs. Organic Community

Today in class we talked about different views of whether or not virtual communities can replace the actual, real-life communities. Rheingold said yes, but Van Dijk said no. In my opinion, both are correct in some perspectives, but looking at my personal experiences, I have to say i agree with Van Dijk more than with Rheingold.

According to Van Dijk, virtual communities can "supplement but not replace" the real communities. From this point of view, I totally agree with Van Dijk. I remember one of my teammates asked the class one question today. He asked, can the Internet (or the online community) replace the actual job interview. While standing there and listening to the class answering this question, I formed my own response in my mind. In my opinion, the Internet or the online communities cannot "replace" the real interaction. However, it does provide a medium for people to keep in touch with, or to reach out for, their potential employers. Take myself for instance. I got my summer internships with two companies in Asia this year. None of the company had face-to-face interview with me. I first used the Internet to submit my resume to them, and after the back and forth emails between the recruiters and me, we had phone interviews. I believe this process sounds familiar with many college students. Without the medium provided by the Internet, I would have no chance to get the information from these Asian companies, and it would be more difficult for me to start the "please hire me" process.

However, I didn't get the internship simply by contacting the recruiters online. They had to get to know me in a more personal level before they decided to hire me. So, this is when the new technology cannot replace the real human interaction. People might argue, now we have Skype that we can use to have the face-to-face conversation with people on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, so new technologies do replace the real communities. To be honest, I do not think so. Even if today I can have a job interview with my potential employers through Skype, I would still react differently from what I would do in a real job interview. Why? the reason is simple. I can imagine I will be a lot more nervous when sitting in front of a recruiter in his/her office than sitting in front of my Macbook in my own bedroom.

I believe the difference depends from individual to individual. Some people might claim that they do not feel any difference, but I still believe that there must be differences between a virtual community and a real community, based on the technology we have nowadays.

I don't know how the future technology will be like, and how it will make the virtual community similar, or almost the same, with the real one. But for now, I believe the virtual communities cannot replace the real one.

Social media= the social watchdog?

Online indentity has been a hot topic of mass media researchers. Some say people are more likely to attack others because of no face-to-face contact, while others say because the face-to-face contact is lacking, people tend to be more friendly.

I believe it depends on individual and situation, but I do notice that there's something out in the cybrespace somewhat regulating what people say and do.

People might think there's no self-regulation at all in the cyberspace. However, a news story that I read last year told me there might be still some regulations that forced people to behave accordingly, or at least apologize for inappropriate behavior.


Right after the Sichuan Earthquake, a Chinese girl from another province created a video and posted on Youtube. It was like a normal video that people created to share their music. However, instead of sharing music, she was sharing her complaint about how the whole country was grieving for those earthquake victims. She said in the video that Sichuan people should keep the grief to themselves because she's sick of everyone grieving for those dead people. She also stated that Sichuan people deserved the disaster.

As you can imagine, people got mad and started to search for who she was and everything about her. Within a few days, her identity as a university student, her social security numbers (as in China), her boyfriend's name, and even her school grades were made public. She not only received a lot of angry calls and angry comments online but also got criticized in her real life.

She posted another video later to apologize for what she did, and to ask for forgiveness from the earthquake victims, their families, and the whole nation.

This news may be forgotten by now, but I see the same thing happen over and over again, in China, in Taiwan, or even in the U.S.. My point is, online users might attack other users or celebrities because of no face-to-face contact, but because of the large amount of people online, and because of the easy access of the Internet, online users automatically form an environment to prevent such incident from happening again. Such regulation may not apply everytime when someone posts something ridiculous online, but I see these actions moving toward forming self-regulation. It might take a long time for online users to form such regulation of what they do or what they say, but at least there's something out there to regulate people not to do stupid things like the Chinese girl.

After all, would you do the same thing when you found out how badly the girl was criticized in real life and how much pressure she felt?