Web 2.0 Argument

Q. What is Michael Wesch arguing about the nature of reading, writing, and thinking in the Web 2.0, digital world? Is the machine using us? Is this a bad thing?

A. Michael Wesch's argument in his video is that the machine is breaking the process down for us so that tasks are simpler and less time consuming, such as uploading media onto websites. For example, in Wesch's video, it describes how the HTML internet language fuses the content of a page with the form. Then XML comes along and divides the two; the code of XML only describes the content of the page, not the form. The internet is also breaking down our reading and writing skills. Every action we perform on the internet is becoming more automated and systematic for us, and it takes little to no effort to focus on a selection of writing, despite the type. As technology advances, the "efficiency" of our interpretations online is increasing, and our levels of focus are steadily declining, since we're spending less and less time on each page and link on the web. Computers are also evolving into machines that can remember our technological habits, such as the pages we visit, the music we listen to, the style of fonts we like, etc., and this is only contributing to how little we have to think while on the internet. As I said before, we only need a small amount of focus while surfing the web, and as the world grows more and more automated, that level is becoming infinitesimal. I wouldn't be surprised if a laptop is made that senses what you wanna do while on the internet. If (and when) this ever happens, good luck to us all...