Living In The Matrix

This unit in Journalism, we learned about the power of the media. The stories we hear on the news and online effect how we view a group of people or an idea. In class, we looked at how 2 different people were portrayed in the news. Both people were affected by Hurricane Katrina and were trying to scavenge food. The white lady in the photo was portrayed as finding the food while the black man supposedly looted a grocery store. For an FE, a lady that our teacher, Sharon, knew came in to talk to us about photography. We got to take pictures of our classmates while trying to convey an emotion or story connected to the photo. This helped in my AP, it made me think about angles, purpose, and colors. The purpose of this Action project was to tell a story with 2 images. I decided to focus on technology and social media because everyone has felt connected as well as disconnected with technology.

Below is my story: Living In The Matrix

I was on the train heading towards Harold Washington College to attend my Art Appreciation class. It was a day like any other, except today I had left my phone charger at home. The night before I had been up all night on my phone scrolling through my Instagram and Snapchat feed...tap, scroll, tap scroll… I usually do this every night until my phone runs out of battery. After my phone dies the rest of the night is a blur, my eyes usually start to feel heavy and I fall into the black abyss of slumber. Heading to Harold Washington, I was left without a phone to distract me from my boredom and lonesome. I began to look around, studying everyone in the train cart. I realized that almost every person had a device in their hands or headphones in their ears. It reminded me of that movie, The Matrix, the one where everyone is living in a computer simulation. The whole world is being controlled and enslaved by the artificial intelligence. I had been able to unplug myself from the stimulation that I had been enslaved for almost all my teen years. I became free from the Matrix, I became The One. I was able to unplug myself from the artificial facade of social media, I snapped back into reality. It allowed me to notice the small things in life like the clouds, flowers, and the different ways people walked that I’d been missing out on by looking down at my phone.

I wanted to explore the how technology(mostly social media) has affected our perception of life. To dive deeper into this topic, I borrowed Harold Washington’s camera to capture moments of people being plugged. I stopped and interviewed a few people to get into the minds of a technology slave. The first person I interviewed was a woman who preferred to stay anonymous. She was an older woman that had lots to say about this subject. She sparked my interest. When I had walked out of a 7/11 after getting a cold beverage the way the sun was hitting her dark skin captured my eye. The anonymous lady didn’t have any device out which made her a bit more approachable. When talking to her she said,” Teens put anything out on Snapshot and Instagram now, they don’t know that people are constantly watching them. You know the saying what stays in Vegas stays in Vegas, well it doesn’t apply to being online or posting videos and photos. A stripper went in for a job interview, she used to post all that stuff online and when she went in for the job they told her no because she would post all that stuff. I try to tell my son to stay away from all that crap.” She describes social media as being some sort of dark rabbit hole, If you aren’t cautious of what you are showing the world, it can cause you lots of trouble in the long run.

Unknown, LD,2017

When I finished talking to the anonymous older woman, I spotted a grey-haired lady waiting for the signal to change to stop from the walk, her name was Emily. Emily’s grey hair and monochrome black outfit made me want to talk to her, we began talking about the truth of social media. “Social media has allowed for people to create a fake image of themselves that reflects their personality in the real world. My perception has changed by realizing that people put on an act for social media.” When Emily said this I began to think about the images I put out into the artificial world we call the social network. Subconsciously, I upload photos and videos that I want others to see so that they develop an artificial opinion about who I am.

Emily, LD,2017

The beauty of living in a world similar to The Matrix is that you have a choice; you can either stay plugged or unplug yourself from the cycle. Unplugging yourself from social media is taking the red pill, allowing yourself to see reality as it is. Choosing to stay plugged is downing the blue pill and being happy in the artificial world coded in technology.

Choose wisely.