In Deborah Luton's article she talks about how she has an emotional relationship to her computer starting with the
beep her computer emits when turned on. Usually this relationship with her computer comes to the fore when something goes wrong. As a heavy computer user myself I know how this feels. Whilst writing this entry for some reason I could not turn off the underlining feature after inserting a link. The feelings Deborah Lupton feels, impatience, anger, panic, anxiety and frustration are ones shared worldwide by millions of people everyday. In fact almost everytime I use a computer I'm constantly aware that something may go wrong at anytime. This is not something I feel when I pen and paper. When Lupton says "A pen now feels strange, awkward and slow in my hand, compare to using a keyboard." is also true to me. Like her I find it easier to put my thoughts down in ones and zeros than I do with pen strokes.
Deborah Lupton goes on to say how the relationship people have with their computer is completely to other technologies we use around the home and office. The smiley faces and paper clip helpers can't be found on VCRs or dishwashers. Maybe this is the reason we invest so heavily (emotionally)in these pieces of plastic and silicon. We humanize the computer, talking about how they catch viruses or how they are feeeling stubborn and wont do what we ask..
The disembodied Computer User."A central utopian discourse around computer technology is the potential offered by computers for humans to escape the body" (Lupton, 2001). More and more people are finding themselves in the digital realm where only the mind is needed. As Lupton reminds us we still have our "fleshy body" with all its distractions (such as eating and sleeping) within which we have to live.
Indeed it has even been reported of a man who apparently had a heart attack after playing a
MMORPG for 50 hours with barely any breaks. Lupton goes on to say "the dream of cyberculture is to leave the "meat" behind and become distilled in a clean, pure, uncontained relationship the computer technology" (Lupton, 2001). The other "option" of course is to become a
Cyborg, intergrating computer technology into oneself such as
Robocop, the
Terminator or the
Six Million Dollar Man, becoming faster, stronger, better than human.
This, of course is the myth of the heavy computer user. The reality is just as well perpetuated in modern culture, that of an overweight, pimply, socially withdrawn computer nerd with pale skin and acne. These people are stuck in a vicious circle, their habit (the computer) draws them in increasing their social awkwardness which in turn makes them invest in the computer ad infinitum.
Lupton explains how we, as a society tend to put our values on computers. They are delivered, live a life doing different things, get slower as they age, maybe catch a terminal virus and die. Our obsession on looks also involve computers, we forever desire them smaller, sleeker, even
sexier. Lupton says (and I agree) "Not only do humans approach such technologies in heightened emotional states but they resound to the technologies with emotions such as vindictiveness and spite". We look at computers as emotional entities. Like humans, computers work best when with others of their type (networked) be that local or via the internet.
