Movie Review Example: Digital Nation

The documentary, Pbs Frontline Digital Nation explores ways that the internet and digital media have changed the modern world. The first thing learned from the video is that internet addiction is real. Based on the video, such a case is evident in South Korea where the internet consumes most students. In the documentary, it is believable that internet addiction is factually based on the clips of students who spend most of their days and nights at internet cafes. As well, the second thing learned is that the internet has created a lot of dependency among people in a way that they feel it is the only way of connecting with other people. I have learned that the internet diminishes personhood in a way that people view themselves as gadgets. Everything that they do around them involves the internet.

Based on the documentary, it appears that individuals are productive in focusing their attention on one task at a time. Looking at the surveys and interviews of students in the video, a majority of them think that they have mastery in multitasking. However, experts point out that digital natives have a hard time adjusting to the digital era. David Jones, an associate professor at MIT, affirms that he can test students on how well they pay attention and how they absorb information from assigned readings (6.57). As he explains, students do not do well in both cases. The professor articulates that students are unable to answer apparent questions because of distractions (7.14). As well, Professor Clifford Nass of Stanford University, in an experiment on multitasking found that students attention becomes less when they multitask (10.50). Seemingly, productivity requires more attention.

Digital media has an impact on friendships and family life. For instance, concerning friendships, digital media builds them because most people are connected through the internet, but they have never met in real life. Regarding family life, addiction is the primary issue facing families. In South Korea, the internet cafe offers internet for students to play video games. In the video, when the children are asked whether they stay overnight to play video games, a handful of them agree (17.34). Some of them state that they prefer video games to studying. As well, they deny that they have an addiction problem. More so, the mother of a 15-year old affirms that there is minimum communication in her house because her son is addicted to the internet (20.20). On the real sense, digital media affects families in a way that ample communication is limited between children and parents.

Based on the documentary, there are things that digital technology makes it difficult for people to do and accomplish in life. For example, acquiring artificial values would be difficult to achieve using technology. Indeed, computers are not aware of life, as we humans perceive it. For that reason, they are unable to develop values. They only work when the person at the end of the screen gives them instructions. Professor Sherry Turkle affirms that technology is complicated (1.21.22). She explains that it will take a while to find a balance between the real and virtual world. Ideally, a computer is unable to make judgments through the instructions given to them by users. Overall, in the future, it is inevitable that technology will rule individuals lives.

Reference

Sexdexter. (2017). Pbs Frontline Digital Technology. Published on January 27, 2017. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8EierQ6n-8