After reviewing the ten flatteners that were presented in Tom Friedman's, "The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century", I have come to realize that the idea of "steroids" within our world has had the biggest effect on the way that we live and function each and every day. According to Friedman, he groups the idea of the world being on steroids into three different types of steroids. He believes that the three types of steroids are digital steroids, mobile steroids, and personal steroids.
The idea of the world being involved in a digital steroid deals with the idea of how we are are able to use text, sound, pictures, and video to deal with daily activities and communication each and every day. These pictures are great examples of how we communicate without needing to have face to face communication. The pictures at the top of this post are great examples of how we have deleted face to face communication, as well as being able to access other peoples information as quickly as possible. Today anyone can have "facebook" chats or watch a video of someone online, while never having to talk or interact with them at all, face to face.
The second type of steroid is mobile steroids. Friedman talks about how the expansion of wireless internet, as well as the ability to use mobile phones to be able to access information with ease. No longer does someone need to go and use a home computer, or even a library, but instead just pull out their mobile phone and access the internet at the touch of a button. In my opinion this has been an addition to people lives to make things easier, as well as allow us to become more efficient with ease. While this idea does take away from people needing to be in the office to get work done, it has allowed people to use their time more efficiently and get things done without needing to be in the office for work. I believe that the movie we watched on BestBuy, and how they changed their policies on the requirements to be in the office. With the ability to have "mobile steroids", BestBuy was able to increase their efficiency, as well as their employee happiness which in the end made their company stronger and better than their nearest competitors.
The last type of steroid Friedman discusses is the "personal steroid". He says that these type of steroids are things that allow people to connect to other peoples computers to share information and documents such as Napster and google. He believes that search engines like Google have increased our ability to beef up our capabilities and become stronger individuals. Being able to access Google and search for any type of information available on the web has become one of the strongest tools available to us these days I believe. The previous two types of steroids have made our own personal steroids that much stronger. We are able to become advanced individuals with no further knowledge needed to be kept deep within our own brains. I personally have used google on my mobile phone in my classes to access information requested from my teachers and have been able to learn more from that one search, rather than just sit in class and not know what was being asked by my teacher and being useless.
In conclusion, I believe that the idea of "steroids" being a flattener has had the largest impact on the world we live in today. It has not only made us more efficient within our own worlds today, but has also allowed us to expand our horizons with information that we would not know off of the top of our heads. I believe it has allowed to hear information that we may question at first, and then be able to double check it on our mobile phones in a blink of an eye. While it may be a flattener with our own learning curve, it has actually expanded us to be able to be more accessible, and allow our brains to expand and only keep the critical information needed. Albert Einstein was once asked what his phone number was. He didn't waste his mind with the numbers as to it was, but trained himself to know that he could look it up in a phone book and tell you what it was. I believe that is what these steroids has done today. Not waste our minds with tons of facts, but allow our brains to know where to go to find these facts.
2 comments:
After reading the blog posted by Zach Kohn I totally agree in every aspect of what he summarized in his post about the three steriods that he explained out. " I have came to realize that of Steroids within our world has had the biggest effect on the way that we live and function each and everyday". Without any of the technology that we used in our everyday lives we would be blind i believe. Having digital phones that have the ability to text, send photos, and even Skype one another is just amazing. If we didn't have these abilities we would still be using the only options available send letter by mail or even like horse back like Paul Revere. The second Steroid explained was the wireless internet. Having the ability to sit anywhere in the world and be able to surf the web on your mobile device or even your iPod has to be one of the greatest things ever invented by man kind. This ability is mostly loved buy business men and women around the world. This give them the ability to do there work on the go. This has made a huge impact on the business world. The third and final Steroid is the Personal Steroid. I totally agree 100% with Zach on this one. Being able to use the search engines like Google has become one of the strongest tools available. If we didn't have this ability we would be asking our fellow neighbor and use books to find the answers that we are looking to gather. Like i have stated before i totally agree that Steroids have made a major impact on our lives today. I am grateful that we have the technology we have today. If we didn't have these abilities that Zach has explained out i don't know what i would do with my life. I guess i would be living like the Amish
I also would have to agree. I feel, even though we analyzed different flatteners, we came up with the same points. I commented about the way YouTube and other outlets have enabled and sped up the process of sending files, videos, pictures, and sound. I believe that the rate at which information travels is astonishing. My flattener, which is uploading, is also highlighted within your flattener.
"Steroids" have had a great impact on business. There is no more wait time for information. Businesses can release information, internally or externally, and have it reach their audience in a matter of seconds. This flattener you discussed, ever so exquisitely, is monumental in the world of business. Cell phones have also changed things, like you mentioned. A worker no longer has to be in the office, or in a building to make a call. They can be virtually anywhere and still contact who they need to, or to be contacted. I completely agree with what you posted.
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