Redo Blog #2: We Evolve as Technology Evolves

 It seems like yesterday when the first ipod came out, offering an alternate of music listening to radios and CD walkmans. Nowadays we have even more high tech gadgets the likes of iPod’s and phones with multiple technological abilities. It is here where these things have taken flight, offering all sorts of goods and services, much to users benefit. As Rheingold detailed in his excerpt, How to Recognize the Future When It Lands on You, when he “began to notice people on the streets of Tokyo staring at their mobile phones instead of talking to them,” that the next phase of technology was beginning to wave through. The wave of new communication has established peer-to-peer networks, through exchanging “short text messages” as well as using the internet to connect with others.  Though these may seem like an important step in the technology realm, Rheingold states that it’s merely “a small harbinger of more profound changes to come” some which are beginning to reveal themselves today.

Through the mobile communication capabilities, groups like flash mobs are able to quickly connect amongst each other. They have taken it a step further though as they do not just use a “short messaging system” via texts, but they also use blogs, email, Wi-Fi, and webcams to spread news of where the Mob will meet and what they themselves will do. An example can be seen with Improv Everywhere’s flash mob that gathered hundreds of individuals to Grand Central Station in New York City, where they performed a skit as Frozen travelers. With out mobile communication via cell phones and the Internet, performing the skit would not even have been possible. This instance is only one example of man evolving as technology evolves. The trend of this evolution is on display in workplaces, schools, and all parts of society each and every day.

              It has been a little over a decade since Rheingold had first witnessed cell phones users observing the screens of their phones while admiring texts. Technology has evolved very fast and brought much to users delight through its multifaceted features. As each day progresses newer features are added to, gaining popularity and diminishing use of the less capable features. Though the benefits added daily may at the time seem revolutionary, in the end the are all just merely small harbingers with “more profound changes to come”. Those changes beginning to take affect are on our full display by smart mobs like Improv Everywhere, who continue to interact through mobile communication. From banding together and connecting with each other through cell phones, Wi-Fi, and the Internet, people are able to effectively evolve as technology evolves, continuing to use what’s well liked while also awaiting change still to come.