Summary Of Hamlet's Blackberry

Hamlet’s Blackberry is a comprehensive book that evaluates the technological revolution by examining the history of mankind as well as author William Powers’ personal experiences. The class discussions that accompanied the book opened up the sharing of ideas about technology use in the modern day. Through reading the book and participating in the discussion it has become clear that this information can be divided in three different topics. They are as follows: the role of technology in our individual lives, how technology affects our lives, and coping methods for when technology gets out of control. This first major topic that we started exploring even before opening the book is the role of technology in our lives. For our first topic we talked

Although the responses differed, it quickly became clear that as students as well as active members of society we possess many devices for both work and pleasure. Powers also delves into this topic in the very first chapter as he talks about the concept of busyness. This fits into the role of technology in our lives because one reason we are so busy is all of the technology we use. The more devices we are connected to, the busier we feel we are. Although many students feel stressed out and too busy, most admitted that some of our busyness is within our control. We have the option to be connected 24/7 and although in some ways in makes our lives more stressful, we still do it. Additionally Chapter 8, which focuses on organization, also deals with the role of the specific technology that is in our lives. Although most of the students in our class are of a younger generation than Powers, most of us agreed with his low-tech organization methods. Just like Powers talks about writing things down in his Moleskin notebook, a majority of students stated that they prefer writing lists and schedules down on paper, even though most of us have

Although not all the strategies were practical for everyone, it was helpful to examine them and think of how we can apply them to our own lives. My favorite technique was discussed in Chapter 9; it’s Ben Franklin’s principle of “Philosophical Self-Denial”. Basically it means that when you set out to do something you first reflect inward and examine why you are doing it, which helps you accomplish your goal, even if it’s something you don’t want to do. I think this technique is my favorite because while it is helpful for disconnecting from technology, it’s also relevant to almost every other aspect of life. Although this class was the first time I had heard of this term, I try to apply a similar principle to events in my life by seeing how it connects to and will affect my life goals. Other methods that were discussed were Walden Zones, focusing on one thing at a time, using older devices to complete tasks, focusing on local media, the principle of inner space, and “Internet Sabbaths” (which everyone agreed isn’t practical for a college student or worker). Although I have not changed my technology usage since participating in this class I think that these method are useful and it would be helpful to remember them when I am feeling stressed or