Program or be Programed: Ten Commandments for a Digital Age By: Douglas Rushkoff

While reading Rushkoff's Program or be Programed, I had began to realize the stresses of technology on humans.

First, I have seen that the technology of communication has not been made for the purpose it holds today. Today, we are constantly "plugged into" the world, our family, and our friends. We are able to get information around to multiple people in seconds.
For example, while reading today, I had three different friends text me within minutes of each other that the singer Mac Miller passed away from a drug overdose. Meanwhile, I have not heard of the news myself from a report let alone had the time to share the news. Regardless of me taking the time to read something I had printed and not on a device, I was still "plugged into" the world's news because of the immediate way people can communicate through technology.
After reading, I found that email was not created for this purpose. Initially, people would enjoy the convince of not having to get a hold of someone while they were physically available. If someone was not physically by their phone, you had another way to pass along information to them, email. This email could be sent to someone's mail folder, and would be there for the recipient to look at their own leisure. In the book, it was illustrated that people could take time to respond to someone, even send one email a day, or could take some time to think about what they wanted to say in a conflicting conversation online. Being given so much time, provided by the technology, had brought "art" to online conversations.
The way that humans have used this convenient technology has changed the direction that communicative technology has evolved. With the ability to accomplish something quickly without physically being available has also enabled humans to multitask, which makes technology even faster.

Secondly, I found it fascinating that Rushkoff associated immediateness to valuing what is most recent over what is most relevant. As he described it, since technology has new evolved into something that can be viewed in real time, comments online become a battle of time. The most recent comments will be viewed first, and so on. This has trained technology users to value what information is given to them more quickly than others, even if the information that comes later is more valuable in terms of content.
This has stuck out to me because of the way that we receive news and information now. Again, I experienced this when being told by friends that Mac Miller passed away. After I was told, I took a moment to respond then wondered how they found out and why I had not received a news report or notification about it on my phone. The only information that I had from my friends were that he passed away from a drug overdose and that he was 26 years old. Because my friends were the quickest people to give me the news, I quickly stopped trying to find a news report that could give me more perspective and information about his passing. The convenience has taken precedence over the need for information, which makes me think about what technology does for education and research.