These Systems are Failing

“These systems are failing.” This was the phrase that came up multiple times in the Moby Mad World Remix video. I think the meaning behind it is not actual technological systems failing but us as people. You see, we are addicted to our phones. We can’t go anywhere without them. They are connected to us. They are a part of us.

Our cell phone addiction deprives us of human interaction. Yes, we may interact with other people through social media and texting but that’s different than talking to someone face-to-face. This causes us to turn hostile towards one another (as we saw in the video where the little guy bumped into the bigger guy). We become emotionless (the video depicts two people texting smiley faces and “lol” while having no facial expressions).

One part of the video that stuck out to me was when the police were beating someone and they were surrounded by people on their phones, videoing the incident. None of those people offered to help the person being beaten. We see this all-over social media now. Taking videos may help raise awareness, but that only helps but so much.

Phones grant us access to media and once we’re sucked in, it becomes our lives. We are giving our attention to the wrong things. Examples from the video show a woman taking a selfie in front of a fire and another image of a woman being praised for having plastic surgery. We care more about what we look like because of what the media tell us than how we treat each other.

“These systems are failing.” We are failing as people. Our phones and the media have taken over our lives. Some to the extent that it has taken their life altogether. While it’s fine to be on our phones sometimes, we must not allow them to control every aspect of our lives.

Cited Sources (links)

• Mad World Remix of Moby video
• Image (came from video ^)