How We Set Goals for Ourselves

       One of the most human qualities is the ability to set a goal, and work to achieve it. Part of being a creative human being is discovering the boundaries of what we are able to do, and then pushing those boundaries to their limits. This is what people have done throughout the history of the human race, and we still do so today, only now, technology has a huge impact on this process. When watching the short film "Sight" I couldn't help but notice how much the male character allowed technology to control his everydaylife, and how technology could make someone lose their human qualities.

            

           The computer system inside of the man's contact lenses dictated his every action, his every goal. From small things such as slicing a cucumber in the kitchen, to larger parts of his day, such as going on a date, his "sight" told him what to do. The man in the film only cares about his accomplishments in his virtual world, with an entire wall of his home devoted to displaying his achievements in certain apps in his "sight." By allowing technology to play such a huge role in his everyday process of setting and achieving goals for himself, he effectively destroys his creativity, and becomes less human. His date (who isn't quite so absorbed in technology) seems bothered by the fact that he uses his sight to do everything in his life, and reacts with disgust to his use of the "wingman" app.  

   

The "Wingman" app 

         

          Although this film was clearly set in the future, I noticed how such negative effects of technology still apply to the here and now. In modern society, people have become more and more immersed in the virtual world, living their lives through social media, pictures, games, and apps. Our society hasn't yet gone to such extremes as the society portrayed in the film, but our growing fixation on choosing the virtual world over reality foreshadows what could be to come. People stare at their phones instead of having conversations, or will focus on documenting a moment through pictures and video rather than fully experiencing it. Technology has begun to take over the way we set goals for ourselves, and takes away part of our creativity, and part of our humanity with it. Instead of setting the goal of going skydiving,  we set the goal of taking a video of going skydiving to post to the internet. Instead of meeting a new person and getting to know them through conversation, we look them up on social media. Technology is a slippery slope, and we are beginning to slide towards dependence on technology and away from humanity. So maybe the next time you set a goal for yourself and go out and try to accomplish it, maybe you should leave your phones and cameras behind for a change, and really experience the thrill of accomplishment.