Emergent Media: “Wasting Time on the Internet” Chapter 1

In “Wasting Time on the Internet”, the first chapter describes the exploration of keeping one busy and grazes upon the idea of literally wasting time. In this chapter The Social Network, that the author subjects the people to boredom and would have to find their own way to keep themselves busy, which corresponds to the whole idea that people are more connected to their devices than once thought. In my own experience in wasting time without my precious technology, I would usually do a lot of miscellaneous things and would be more social than I usually am. Frankly, there is meaning to taking away our technology because it provides the person with a sense of freedom, as they put their entire life onto one device or maybe two. In that experience, however, there was a sense of accomplishment mostly without technology and that impact is much more powerful that we wouldn’t have to rely on these devices to do so. Goldsmith conducted actual research when trying to generate something random when taking people’s devices away. The outcome though, was to make sure that nobody knew what they were doing or how to occupy themselves, and that pretty much reflects on my experience when away from technology, unaware and lost with no sense of direction.