Devotions to Screens

Psychologists often insist that ninety percent of our personalities and hence character traits are shaped by the environment with which we interact now and then. Technology, for instance, has been hugely lauded from all sectors of life, with most protagonists arguing that it is the only way through which humanity can experience civilization from a different perspective. As a result, most people depend on technological platforms such as social media and various entertainment platforms to shape their personality and character.

The youth, for instance, have been heavily influenced by dress codes and lifestyles of celebrities worldwide to the extent that they no longer consider the influence of culture on their personality, but instead depend on the various celebrities as their social role models. Two articles, “You are what you click” by David Auerbach. and “Wall of Sound: The iPod has changed the way we listen to music.” by Nikil Sava, therefore, justify the perception that in the contemporary world, people have become prisoners of technology and media and no longer care about the societal norms but concentrate on following the footstep for the various celebrities they interact with or read about. Hence, in the modern society, humanity is shaped by both society and technology.

In the article “You are what you click” by David Auerbach, the author critically explores the concept of user privacy and anonymity when using the internet. For instance, as much as most online users claim to have secure private and confidential and private data, there are high chances that such intent websites allow for third-party access to user profiles and hence violating the purported privacy. The assertions of the author are supported by the recent increasing usage of most marketing companies to run series of advertisements on social media. The argument of the author, in this case, is that such companies often have prior access to the online user profile and come up with different categories of online users. His nature, content, and type of advertisements o social media are therefore carefully designed depending on the specific user profiles obtained (David Auerbach 1).

In other words, the online user actually confirms the initially developed profile by clocking onto the various advertisement links that appear on social media. Hence, each advertisement is meant for a certain caliber of online users depending on their profile. The big question asked by the author min this case is, how to such advertisement companies come up with precise and unique advertisements for each user if they do not have access to online user profiles? In other words, online anonymity and privacy are mere terms that do not practically exist when it comes to internet usage. Unknown to most online and internet users, almost all sites do not offer the purported user privacy and have a way of allowing third party intrusion into private data and content (Nikil Saval 1).

In the second article, “Wall of Sound: The iPod has changed the way we listen to music.” by Nikhil Saval, the author explores the effects of technology on human behavior and character. An iPod is a line of portable media player or a multi-purpose pocket computer designed and marketed by Apple Inc. which allows the owner to listen to music stored within the memory of the gadget. Unlike other audio devices, an iPod is a plug-in device that can only be listened to by one person at any given time. According to the author of this article, users and owners of iPod tend to isolate themselves from the rest of the world and instead establish a close relationship with the genre of music stored and played by the iPod. (Samways 24) At the end of it all, the person listening to music from an iPod will tend to behave like the celebrities associated with the music stored in the genre.

Principally, human behavior is expected to be influenced, and hence shaped by the interactions with the environment in which one lives. However, with technology, people have found a way of keeping away from the rest of society, and instead establish some virtual relationship with different genres of music. In this case, it is justified to say that technology is, therefore, shaping the character and behavior of people as opposed to society.

The two articles, “You are what you click” by David Auerbach and “Wall of Sound: The iPod has changed the way we listen to music.” by Nikil Saval portray the extent to which society has impacted on individual character and personalities. For instance, the mere notion that most online sites are secure has driven people to believe that they can successfully maintain their anonymity even on such crowded sites. On the other side, the owners and hence users of iPod believed that they are slightly indifferent as compared to other people and have a strong relationship with the various artists that constitute their favorite genres to the extent that they are willing to sacrifice their culture and traditions to emulate celebrities. As more technologies come up, the common fear is that people will completely ignore their inherent culture in favor of the new practices and behavior (Nye 124).

The allusion of a personal character to different genres of music can be used to explain the existence of various personalities. For instance, hip-hop is often associated with lawlessness and drugs. People who prefer and hence listen to the genre often end up with a rough personality; they are mostly bullies and arrogant characters in society. On the same note, jazz is often identified with personal composure and calmness. Hence people who love to listen to jazz often end up as polite characters that take to listen to others and are not always in a hurry to answer back. In fact, according to “Wall of Sound: The iPod has changed the way we listen to music.” by Nikil Saval, each’s character, and personality can be perfectly matched to a certain genre of music.

From a personal point of view, there is so much that has been hidden from online and internet users. For instance, as much as most websites claim to keep private the user information and profile, there is always a guaranteed access by a third person. For instance, from a technical point of view, how to the various website administrators identify between right and wrong passwords if they do not access such information. How can the administrators keep an updated record of login details if they do not have access to the user account? Hence, the fact that online advertisement companies can come up with unique advertisements that target a specific audience means that such companies have a way through which they come up with online profiles for every internet user.

In fact, in the article “You are what you click” by David Auerbach, prominent companies such as Google have been heavily implicated in online user privacy violation cases. Given the fact that Google and Facebook are the most accessed sites, and then online user privacy and anonymity cannot be guaranteed by any company. The same thing happens with music celebrities and musicians. The kind of music that celebrities come up is meant to elicit certain reactions from a certain audience. Hence, a certain genre of music will always find a unique audience that looks extremely different from other audiences.  Hence, in the contemporary society, personalities and characters are jointly shaped by both the society and technology.