"Modern Times" Response

1. What are the benefits of the new technologies (industrial machinery, feeding machine, closed circuit cameras) shown in the film? Who gains from these technologies?

• time clock: helped both workers and employers know that people were getting paid fairly for the amount of hours they put in.
  

• conveyor belt & factory set up: helped accomplish work more efficiently

• feeding machine: feeds you while you work "be ahead of your competitors, eliminate the lunch hour, increase your production" mostly benefits the company owners because they can get more work out of their employees (theoretically).
  

• video monitor: helps the boss communicate with his workers from his office and also keep an eye on them to make sure they stay on task.
  

2. What is the effect of these technologies on the main character’s life/mood/body?

• Before lunch he seems to get stuck in the robotic actions of his work as he sort of flinches and tics about.
  

• When the feeding machine malfunctions it hurts him physically.
  

• I would expect he does not feel good emotionally about the eating process, perhaps humiliated by the lack of control, especially with so many important figures (his boss, the men who made the feeding machine, etc.) watching him.

• The style of work appears to make him go crazy (later we find out he suffered from a nervous breakdown) from working so frantically and mindlessly, not at a natural pace or in a natural way.
  

3. What effects does using computers and the internet have on your life/mood/body?

Though I feel that computers and the internet are extremely useful in my day to day life and generally increase my knowledge base and efficiency as well as simplifying my communication (especially while abroad) I think that it also has some negative effects on how I live and approach my life. Just as some people claim that the way we watch TV today with frequent commercial breaks and flipping through channels with a remote control leads to ADD, I think that the way we use computers and the internet (or at least the way I do) also can have that effect. I typically have nearly a dozen tabs open at once on my internet browser and am clicking between news articles, blogs, videos, photo albums, online chats and my e-mail constantly. I also tend to have my music programs open and sometimes maybe a game of Solitaire or something on the side. When I'm reading from a print source I find that I am much more focused, accomplishing one thing at a time. Another negative effect of the internet is that it is so easy to look up the answers to any questions that I might have that I am less likely to find someone to ask or walk over to the library. This makes me less social which affects my mood and also less physically active, affecting my body.