Читать книгу Homo Cypiens - Herlander Elias - Страница 16

Since 2010, with the coming of the Apple iPad and other similar tablets, we have come to deal with new computing formats heirs of smartphones. Basically, tablets are larger and broader, smartphones. But the great innovation lies in the apps, simple applications of the post-computer era that make life easier for us. This type of digital devices, when empowered by the apps, become post-computer machines that work as TV, radio, press, typewriter functions, among other things. The big difference is that these devices turn digital audiences into digital masses, more passive when compared to those of the computer era, which is associated with smarter classes like programers. Once this said, the big dilemma is that these network screens are, of course, dependent on the “network” and are in a large scale nothing more than simple “screens”. They do not impel us to be big content producers, although they also allow it. The positive aspect is that its portability makes these devices something handy and practical for anyone who wants to be an elite performer in the digital world. They last a long time, are aesthetically attractive and allow us to always be in contact with our public.

The network screen is a dream device and allows someone to always be online for work or leisure, but it also allows the management of our public. Now, once we are all stars, the network screen represents the icing on the cake of post-computer computing. And in this transparent society no one can be alone for a long time. A tension is felt in the air; we need to be connected and to hunt information. We need to know things and check data. We are homo cypiens,the network searching species. We are consumers and informants, but we can fall short of expectations and deal with network screens for media consumption only. That is where the danger lies.

On the other hand, one of the fascinating aspects of network screens is that they are made available to the public as devices of great technical power and versatility. The adult active population uses this type of equipment and computers, but the elderly and the younger who have not used computers have a completely different kind of use. The reality of digital for them is simpler. One touches the screen and it reacts. One can browse the net, buy things on Amazon, one can be on Google, Facebook or Twitter with friends and one can watch movies or TV series on Netflix. In this universe, the only officially productive add-on comes from Microsoft or Apple. Networking screens are more focused on “light” creative audiences, and that's quite noticeable. There's nothing like putting an iPad under your arm and plugging it in whenever you need to. We have digital power with us. We can write, listen to music and draw, make notes or make blogs, re-watch móveis or read emails. It has never been so practical to use a computer. The question is that this gadget is not a computer, but a network screen. The digital screen was merged with the lightweight computer and the Internet. The result is something new ― equipment for the post-computer generation has been created, designed for mobility, portability and convenience in a near future which is already the present.

We always have the Internet with us and we are eager “searchers” of data and born consumers. Everything is paid by credit card or via PayPal. In this system the user has the power to act as a consumer, but on YouTube we can all be creators of audiences. And the younger generation shares everything with everyone, constantly. It does not know what it is to be outside the network and the public domain. Facing this new reality and the younger generations eagerness for audiences and constant “fame”, we all feel immersed in information and pop culture. We have access to an entire information and knowledge society, but we can not run out of money. This network-screen society is a consumer society that increasingly becomes a capital society. Half a dozen brands run the networks we go to. And since that the majority of people only have network screens, they are dependent on them. There is not much to get away from.

As has been debated in this text, or a person is outside the network or inside, or one has access to everything or has not. Being online now is a sign of status. We are stars and audiences that interact with everything and everyone. A post-computer generation will never understand why computers were on sale without Internet access. In fact, if we think about it, digital culture only evolved because it permeated society with the network. Without the network and without the computers we would not have reached the network screens.The advantage of the tablets is that they improve the user’s experience, but it is also certain that some childish characteristics about computational dynamics are used because the goal is to allure the younger generation above all. And the younger generations will not ask a lot of questions except on Google. What's left of the networking experience is typical of the cloud era. Everything is saved and saved somewhere on a remote server, yet we “carry” less and less information. We basically have in the tablets an evolved digital terminal that allows to do a lot, but not everything because besides infantilizing the general public also new passive audiences appear, and these are the digital masses for whom the network screens are no more than easy and ideal computers able to read emails or being in the social media.