Paper #3- 2nd Draft

Technology has been all around us ever since the beginning of time, whether it has been basic or advanced. With technology, we have been able to accomplish many things that were thought of to be unimaginable. Technology has been a major factor of dependence in our lives and has benefited our lives greatly, however, in the article, “Disconnected Urbanism” and with my New Yorker covers they both suggest otherwise about the use of technology. In the article, technology is talked about as being a negative factor and in my covers, technology is portrayed as a form of isolation that can take us away from our urban life and become our downfall in the end. In looking at these covers and reading the article, you can see that the artists and author both believe that the dependence on technology can lead to our society becoming locked away from its traditional and cultural urban roots that cause it to thrive.

The article, "Disconnected Urbanism" believes that technology has grown to become the reason why people are not connected to the world that is around them. In the article, Goldberger believes that cell phones have become the reason why people are missing out on their lives around them. This idea is presented clearly in this quote from the article: "When you walk along the street talking on a cell phone, you are not on the street sharing the communal experience of urban life. You are in some other place—someplace at the other end of your phone conversation." This quote shows how being on the phone, while being in one place brings you to another world in a way. When you are on the phone and walking around, you are focused on what conversation you're having instead of the sidewalk that you are walking on. This presents the idea of being isolated from society, in the sense that you are trapped in your own world of cellular conversation, instead of the urban life that is going on around you. Another part of the article that supports the idea of being isolated from society is: "You are either on the phone or carrying one, and the moment it rings you will be transported out of real space into a virtual realm." Once the phone goes off, so do you yourself. Instead of being in the place that you are in, with a phone you are allowing yourself to become transported from reality into a place of isolation, of just you and your cell phone. "Disconnected Urbanism" is the written form of how technology disconnects us from the urban world and the New Yorker covers are the visual representation of this.

In the first cover, there is a town square with nothing, but cars all around with people who seemed to be trapped in the middle with no way to get out of the place that they are in. With this, we see how technology can leave people with no way of getting out of the chaos that technology can cause. This cover shows how technology was one of the leading factors of people being disconnected from the urban world around them in the 1900s. The people who are inside of the cars are disconnected from society since they are not walking around like the other people who are in the cover. However, the people in the cars are also causing the people walking around to be disconnected from the society because with the cars being all around, it causes a blockade from the urban life around them. The cars all around are leaving the people no choice, but to be isolated from the urban life around them.

Cars caused a blockade from society and made people feel as if they needed to get them, but once TVs became available in the 1970s isolation from society started to become more and more apparent. In the second cover, we see that through TVs people began to isolate themselves by choice by staying at home watching TV rather than going out and experiencing life. In this cover, we see how people decide to become isolated with technology by their own choice. In the first cover, the people walking around had no choice, but to be stuck in the place they were in since all the cars were around them and did not allow them to go anywhere else. The cover brings up the point that with technology constantly around us we allow ourselves to not be connected to the world that is going on around us. In the cover, the couple inside of the TV watching a TV, is a representation of how if we allow ourselves to become caught up and trapped in the technology around us, we will end up becoming disconnected from society and life all around us. The TV is causing the couple to become trapped inside a virtual world and become isolated from the urban life by choice.

TVs caused people to become isolated from society, but in general any form of technology can cause us to become isolated and eventually lead to our downfall from trying to advance so much at every time in life. In the third cover, we do not see one specific form of technology, rather the history of technology and evolution of it with mankind. In it, is the beginning of time with technology always existing no matter how basic it was. From this we see how man, has always advanced and strived to perfect technology to help themselves, no matter what the problem may have been. In each section of the time period, we see one man who is up top and isolated from anyone else around them. From this, the cover is trying to tell us that technology may always be beneficial to us and help us get where we want to go, but in the end depending on technology will only lead to our downfall as we can see at the end of the cover with the man falling over. The cover creates the sense that technology will always be the driving force of society, but that it will eventually destroy the society that is around us. Technology has built up society since we see the people going upwards, but that there’s a certain point where technology will not always be there and will lead us to go downwards with no way back up like the broken escalators at the end of the cover. The cover supports the idea that technology has disconnected us from society and will lead to man becoming so focused on improvement that there will be no way to fix the problems that they have caused by wanting to become this advanced technological society.

The covers that I have chosen all represent the theme of isolation from technology. As our technology continues to advance, we are struggling to keep up. Eventually we will fall behind our innovations, and we will rely on money and many other resources just to simply keep up and stay connected with society and others. If we continue to depend on technology we will end up becoming disconnected from the urban life around us and become a person who is stuck in a virtual world with no way out.