It is very easy to romanticize analogue media and to criminalize “new media.” There are countless movies made where a inventor pours his or her heart and soul into building a beautiful computer or robot only to have it turn on humanity. New technology is very easily turned into a villain, often being associated with a loss of human contact, the rushed feel of the present time, and an overall distraction from reality. When people don’t understand something, most of the time the first impulse (if it isn’t curiosity) is fear and after that comes dismissal or anger.
Its a problem that has seeped into many corners of our society in highly unattractive ways. I grew up in a town that was very conservative and very fearful of things it didn’t understand. Physics wasn’t really taught in my high school, we had no opportunities to study programming, history classes were taught from one point of view, even basic biology classes were taught in a biased way. So when I came to NYC I saw it as an opportunity to dive into everything I didn’t understand. I took physics classes, sat in on philosophy classes, and started a minor in computer programming.
Overall, studying programming has helped me become a more curious person. Instead of taking something at face value, I have begun to ask “why?” more and then I try to expand on it. Its like a never ending puzzle piece (and I LOVE puzzles). Once you get a new piece in its place, you are given a bunch more pieces to work with and figure out. ITS AWESOME.
I’ve also begun to see how any problem in our society that has been attributed to the rise in technology as not a problem with technology, but as a problem with people. We were given this HUGE opportunity to connect with everyone, and we can’t put our phones down for one second? It’s taught me to be aware of how my actions affect others around me and how others actions affect me. In the same way that programming has made me more curious about technology, it has made me more curious about people and how people interact. It catalyzed this impulse in me to see a problem and to think about creative ways to fix it, within the digital realm and within our society.
So that’s waaay more than a blog post and I could go on all day, so Imma be done, but yeah, its safe to say programming has affected me a lot. <3 computers <3 4eva