At the end of part one, Mae encounters Mercer and falls into a disagreement. Mercer tells Mae that she has become "boring." Upset at his comment, Mae leaves; however, contemplates his statement. While working in The Circle, Mae becomes so engulfed in her social and work life as a Circler, she loses sense of what is real and what doesn't really matter. Things such as "PartiRank" is what Mae finds important in life. She is sleeping with guys, drinking a lot, and obsessing over work, just so that her social rank in the Circle could go up. Mercer is definitely right in the sense that she has lost sense of what is actually important. Boring may not be the correct word to describe Mae, but he is definitely on the right track in the sense that Mae is obsessed over things that aren't relevant.
In this world, modern society is becoming more and more like the society of the Circle in what people think is important and what people think is "socially acceptable." It would be hypocritical for me to talk about how ridiculous it is to care about how many likes you have or the number of snap chat streaks that you hold or how many friends you have-- even though half of them aren't really your true friends. It would be hypocritical of me to critic the people who worry about those things; however, it is pretty shocking to see the similarities in the modern society that we live in and the society that is in this dystopian story.
Mercer told Mae that she became boring. It can be argued that the new generation in the world that we live in have become boring as well. Maybe it is the small things like using your phone during dinner, or not paying attention in class because you are busy on twitter. Maybe it is that instead of sharing our feelings we tweet about them. Instead of feeling and remembering the concert we video tape it and make sure to upload it to every single social media site. Maybe it is because we care so much about what other people think of us instead of caring about our own actions. Like the way The Circle changes Mae, social media has changed our generation. It has gotten in the way of bonding with people, forming relationships, attaining knowledge, and even just experiencing life.
Friday, September 23, 2016
Thursday, September 22, 2016
Prompt 2 - The Circle
The two concepts that I want to compare are intimacy and privacy. Privacy and intimacy, in a way are two very opposite concepts. With intimacy there is privacy within the relationship, but not between the two people in the relationship. Privacy is a concept that affects the person as an individual.
In the circle there is absolutely no privacy of any individual. Everything is being watched by the circle. Everything from your location to your phone messages, to even what you are thinking. That thought is so scary. The thought of someone watching every single one of your single moves is not a settling thought. The intimacy between Mae and Francis is a bit strange. It is definitely not normal when we think of relationships in our world. The intimacy of their relationship is affected by the concept of privacy that should be expected in a relationship as well. It is as if the needs of The Circle which is the exposure of privacy is first in priority instead of the need of privacy and intimacy that Mae expects in her relationship with Francis.
How would you feel if in the world today everything was being tracked? What if the invasion of privacy from your work got in between the privacy and intimacy that you have in personal relationships? How would you react to that? Would you jeopardize your future and your job to save the privacy that is rightfully yours and the intimacy that you deserve in your personal relationships?
As time goes by, I feel like these questions are more and more applicable.
In my opinion, the reason why these concepts are being impacted is because of the evolution of technology-- the way technology has taken over everyday human life. Without the growth of technology, the invasion of privacy in our life, as well as in The Circle, would be almost impossible. Without technology, intimacy would be so much easier to maintain. There would be no distractions to affect or harm the relationships of people, whether its with a significant other or just with your parents.
The two concepts are very much related because they are associated with each other in the sense that they both impact relationships. In the Circle we can clearly see in the relationship between Mae and Francis and also in the relationship between Mae and her parents that intimacy in the relationships are affected by the invasion of privacy.
In the circle there is absolutely no privacy of any individual. Everything is being watched by the circle. Everything from your location to your phone messages, to even what you are thinking. That thought is so scary. The thought of someone watching every single one of your single moves is not a settling thought. The intimacy between Mae and Francis is a bit strange. It is definitely not normal when we think of relationships in our world. The intimacy of their relationship is affected by the concept of privacy that should be expected in a relationship as well. It is as if the needs of The Circle which is the exposure of privacy is first in priority instead of the need of privacy and intimacy that Mae expects in her relationship with Francis.
How would you feel if in the world today everything was being tracked? What if the invasion of privacy from your work got in between the privacy and intimacy that you have in personal relationships? How would you react to that? Would you jeopardize your future and your job to save the privacy that is rightfully yours and the intimacy that you deserve in your personal relationships?
As time goes by, I feel like these questions are more and more applicable.
In my opinion, the reason why these concepts are being impacted is because of the evolution of technology-- the way technology has taken over everyday human life. Without the growth of technology, the invasion of privacy in our life, as well as in The Circle, would be almost impossible. Without technology, intimacy would be so much easier to maintain. There would be no distractions to affect or harm the relationships of people, whether its with a significant other or just with your parents.
The two concepts are very much related because they are associated with each other in the sense that they both impact relationships. In the Circle we can clearly see in the relationship between Mae and Francis and also in the relationship between Mae and her parents that intimacy in the relationships are affected by the invasion of privacy.
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Prompt 1 - The Circle
Every society has its own expectations, beliefs, and the way that a person should act in order to fit in. Much like how a Circler should act in Dave Eggers Dystopian story, The Circle, each Penn Stater who is new to the Penn State society has their own expectations as a student in order to fit in to the every day life of a college student.
As a student athlete, there are certain things that I must watch out for involving the influence of technology on my everyday life. Just like how Mae's every move is watched because of her high status and place in society, my life online and through technology is also influenced in a similar way because of how closely my social media accounts are watched due to my position as a student athlete. As a "newbie" in society, adjustments to how many people watch and control the social media part of my life was an intense change. Every post on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat is always being watched. This relates to the adjustment Mae had to make with her new position in the Circle.
Entering into college and into a new chapter of your life alone, a drift from family is inevitable; however, Mae in the Circle, unlike a new college student, is starting to completely break off from her family which is different from what we as college students are experiencing. Due to Mae's family health problems, Mae completely avoids the problem by directing her attention and focusing only on work. In college, we become more adapted to life on our own, but completely breaking off from our family is rare and not the norm.
Modernization in today's society comes at a high price. People want to know everything about everything and they want to fit in. Sometimes this makes modern society a dangerous world to live in. Is being exposed to everyone around you really something we should sacrifice in order to heighten the strength of technology?
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