Reflections on Thursday's Class

From reading Bifo's views about autonomy within today's society and how technology diminishes the emotional effect of communication, there were many interesting ideas from Thursday that I jotted down and decided to put my own reflection on from chapters 4-8. Though the first few Bifo chapters seemed quite historically overwhelming, I felt more at ease with the later chapters, maybe since I can personally relate to many of the ideas that were expressed.

First off, In chapter 4, what I found very interesting was how Bifo claims the cellphone is seen as the assembly line of labor. This really struck me because I agree that in this age we have become fully dependent on smartphones, where even if we take a day off (or few days off) from work, we can still find an effective approach of completing tasks through technology without even being present at work. One example that comes to mind involved my absence from class for a couple days, where I had no access to any type of technology whatsoever because my phone had been damaged. I had felt out of touch with the world, and even at one point lost an aspect of time due to my dependence on technology. About two days later, once I received a new phone, it felt as if my world had spun on its axis yet again; everything had fallen back into place though in the meantime I developed my own sense of time cognitively... In short, what I derived mainly from this chapter was that technology is an extension of our availability, and that we rely on technology to provide flexibility within our lives.

Next, in Chapter 5, I couldn't help not taking one side from another when discussing the issue of how technology critically affects cognitive function, but I will say that comprehending and applying literacy to technology does result in the loss of the emotional connection that, for example, one would obtain from being taught by their parents or elders. I will also add that there is also an emotional disconnection between images that we share on Facebook and the images and memories that have been stored in our thoughts. For instance, when someone looks through another user's images, they are viewing the image from an outsider's point of view, and may not recognize the significant memory that was shared during the moment that the photo was taken. Also, another element that adds to the emotional disconnect through imagery is the limited amount of time that is spent looking through one's album which also contributes to the emotional disconnection. Moreover, the more information (or images) that we look through, the more dissonance of information arises which results in the increasing lack of attention that we pay to the overload of information.

What I also found interesting about Chapter 6 is that although through the idea repression, thoughts and emotions become internalized and build up over time, hyper-expressivity is what Bifo views as the main cause of disorders. It is as if the more freedom or autonomy people have to express themselves, the more prone people are to have several psycho-pathological disorders, since it is not solely based on an individual level, but on a mass level. However, was Bifo stating that art shouldn't be therapeutic due to the revolts of different people's opinions?