Bianca Bosker - The Binge Breaker

Journalist, author, and former senior tech editor at Huffington Post, Bianca Bosker also writes. She is one of the most honored writers in history. Her name has been mentioned on social media in connection with articles she penned for The Atlantic, The New York Times Style Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Food and Wine, The New Republic, The New Yorker Online, and The Guardian about architecture, food, wine, and technology. She wrote the first drafts of the 2013 publication Architectural Mimicry in Contemporary China for the University of Hawaii Press.

Social media was useful when people still exchanged letters and had pen buddies. It is with the advent of the social media the digital communication came into being. With digital communications in place, dissemination of information has been brought to a whole new level and a broadening in the globalization process that has dismissed distances between relatives and friends (SKLAR). However, The Atlantic, a Social Media Article authored by Bianca Bosker, shades light on the unexpected effects that the social media has brought to our lives. “…to give customers more of what they want, yet simultaneously inflicting collateral damage on their lives.” (Bosker). Also, the article talks about the nature of the educational redundancies that various institutions are experiencing as a result of spending more time glued to their mobile phones than their curriculum books.

In relation to what the article mentions, Tristan Harris, who had been a former product philosopher at Google, tries to prove the major adverse effects that the social media in conjunction with digital communication has caused to the world. Tristan feels that electronic devices used to access the social media to enhance digital communications are slowly taking over control of their owners. “In short, we’ve lost control of our relationship with technology because technology has become better at controlling us.” (Bosker).I can’t agree more that his point of argument is rather the reality that is taking course in the world today where we glue our eyes to our gadgets with the initial wayward thought that we are just confirming notifications only to get stuck in unintended chat sessions. “To answer the friend request, we’ll pass by the News Feed, where pictures and auto-play videos seduce us into scrolling through an infinite stream of posts.” (Bosker).

Nir Eyal tends to disapprove Harris’ point on the dire effects of communication technology. He views the social media as an entertainment tool just as the television sets. “social media merely satisfies our appetite for entertainment in the same way TV, or novels do, and that the latest technology tends to get vilified simply because it’s new, but eventually people find balance” (Bosker).There may be some truth behind Eyal’s words but then when will people realize that their gadgets are controlling them and not the other way round? Also, after realizing so, how will they control their urge for these devices?

Gerald Graff, in his article, Hidden Intellectualism, considers the fact that there is a huge possibility of students being academically incapacitated (Graff) but brilliant in non-academic matters. “I totally agree with the author regarding their statutes. According to me, it is very true that intellectualism is not only a show of academic brilliance but also a demonstration of effective response to demands.” (Graff). Graff argues that the intellectual ability of a person should not be measured using brilliance in academic fields only. In the article, Digital Communications, The social media advancements seem to be making people dumber that they were (SKLAR). “The critics, however, retort that, far from making us smarter, online technologies are making us dumber…” (Graff et al.). Conclusively, the firm bond between the people and online technology that creates a binge just as explained by Bianca needs breaking to liberate those who are already victims without their knowledge. Also, it is important to allow those that are not intellectual, academic orients to tap into other fields to achieve their full potential.

Works Cited

Bosker, Bianca. "The Binge Breaker." Atlantic Monthly. 318.4 (2016): 56-65. Print.

Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel K. Durst. "they Say / I Say": The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, with Readings. , 2015. Print.

Graff, Gerald. "Hidden Intellectualism." Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture. 1.1 (2002): 21-36. Print.

Graff, Gerald. Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind. New Haven [Conn.: Yale University Press, 2003. Print.

SKLAR, BERNARD. Digital Communications. S.l.: PEARSON EDUCATION, 2016. Print.