How technology enrich our daily lives--A personal perspective of Internet development

         Technology is a broad word which refers to every inventionwe have around us in daily life, from household appliances to aircrafts. It canbe either tangible objects such as cellphones, vehicles; or conceptual schemasuch as instructional design, timetable management.  The technology I am going to discuss about inthe following is specified in Internet development: How Internet change mydaily lives? What benefits I got from it?           I still remember the exciting feeling I had when my family got our first computerwhen I was in Grade 1(1994).  It is areally old style one with a cumbersome big monitor and a heavy mainframecomputer and it was a Windows95 system. At that time, none of us in the familyknow any software; we simply use it as an entertainment by playing the Windowsdefault games. That was my first impression of high-tech. We kept that computerfor several years but I hardly remember what we did with it except for playinggame from time to time (My mother might use it for accounting but I was tooyoung to recall any details). The next stirring moment related to computer Iremembered was the first time I got it connected to the Internet (1999).  I actually screamed out when the Internetconnected symbol popped up.  These two exaltingmoments were the milestone for my recognition of computer technology. From thenon, I hardly remember any “WOW” moment even though there was time to time new gamechanging software came out  because itwas so correlated to my daily life and I had already taken everything forgranted. Forums, QQ (an instant messaging software like MSN used in China),websites, online video games, etc., they were inextricably bounded to my dailylife.  The ways we keep in touch withfriends and classmates had changed: We no longer chat via land lines norwriting each other letters, instead, we chat online. That was the time we beganto say “leave me a message on QQ” instead of “Call me tonight at 9:00”. Itchanged our way of communication and the life style and we did not even noticewhen and how this happened exactly.
         When searching engines like Google andBaidu came into fashion that was the time we stopped asking questions to ourparents. With a few key words and a click on the button, we get what we wantedto know from the enormous resources on the Internet. Even now, if we do notknow the answer to the question, the response is always “Google/Baidu it”.
         Our life style underwent a hugetransformation when Weibo (the Chinese version or Twitter) released. I startedto do Weibo at 2010. At first we post it via website and it was not thatpopular yet until it launched applications for Androids and IPhones.  It was like everything changed overnight! Thenext day, Weibo is a world for up to date news from celebrities, governments,sports, and foremost our friends. The newspaper seems to be incrediblyill-informed. In this burgeoning online community, everyone can be journalistand everyone is an informer.  Governmentcannot conceal the truth anymore: Just like the tragic bullet train accidenthappened in last summer in Wenzhou, China. The government tried to block thescene and forbid any press to report the accident except for those who havepermission of the central government which only speaks for its sake. Victims inthe scene immediately posted photos, videos on Weibo even before the journalistof the permissive press tried to start writing a single word. The impact wasimmediate and tremendous. The government had to change their covering strategyto give a reasonable explanation to the outraged citizens. With Weibo, friendsare become closer by getting to know each other’s latest trends and givinginstant response and feedback. For example, when my ex-boyfriend broke up withme last April when I was still in Canada and he was in China, I posted on Weiboto express my great sorrow and the disappointment. Within seconds (literallyseconds!), I got more than 50 response from my friends- intimate or justnodding acquaintance. They all tried very hard to comfort me. It might not theexact words they said that soothing my pain but it is the feeling that I sensedvia Weibo. Although all my families and friends whom I have known all my lifeare not in Canada, I know I am not alone. I had the entire army to support meto go through this. I honestly believe I would be way much worse without Weiboand could not leave everything behind so fast. It changed my life at this pointand it continuously affecting it. When I signed up a Weibo account for my momWeibo became a daily life sharing and safety report to my parents. Whenever Icook something good or buy something nice I post Weibo. I post GIF pictures ofme ice skiing, jumping around, and laughing when travelling, so that my parentscan actually “experience” my life in Canada across the ocean.  Weibo has given me so much in my life that Icannot express my feeling in words. I laughed out loud in the public alone justbecause I read a hilarious anecdote from one of my friends; I screamed in joywhen I knew my intimate girlfriend announced on Weibo she will get married inthis coming fall; I felt sorry for my friend when she lost her dog, etc.,.

In the Case of Fire… Don’t Tweet.

(Retrieve from PrinciplePage Blog2:http://principalspage.posterous.com/)

          Technologyhas changed our lives in so many ways we may even not noticed: Maybe you walkdifferently because you have your cellphone in the hand texting; maybe you eatdifferently with you reading news on IPad setting up in front of your dish;maybe you think differently when you tried to rewrite something on the paperbut all in your mind is “can I just ‘copy-paste’ it?”. What I talked about inthis article just something based on my experience. Technology must have deeperand greater meaning in our lives and the society. This is why I am so excitedto have this course to learn the relations between technology and society in aphilosophy and academic way; to perceive critically how technology facilitateour everyday activities.

*Weibo: Sina Weibo (Chinese: 新浪微博; pinyin: Xīnlàng Wēibó; literally"Sina Microblog") is a Chinese microblogging (weibo) website. Akin toa hybrid of Twitter and Facebook, it is one of the most popular sites in China,in use by well over 30% of Internet users, with a similar market penetrationthat Twitter has established in the USA. It was launched by SINA Corporation on14 August 2009, and has more than 250 million registered users as of October2011. --Wikipedia