The short film (about 11 minutes), composed of many vignettes, explores and explodes the impact of the Internet on social interaction. This film seems to highlight concerns threaded throughout our in-class discussions: Isn't the Internet a substitute for real interaction? A teenage girl texts at a movie theater seated next to her younger sister, a young boy hides inside his oversize jacket texting on the playground, a young woman seems isolated in an elevator surrounded by others texting on their phones, a father grows irritated while watching a movie at home with his family, and his children seated on the same couch are somewhere else, on the phone, on the lab top, not present with him and his wife.
Right from the beginning, these vingettes complicate Lankshear and Knobel's notion of the outsider and insider. Aside from the scene with the family, the conflict is not generational. And what the conflict is, is not so easy to describe. And what exactly are they all doing on their phones? Are they all texting? According to Lankshear and Knobel, I'm an insider. But from my view, I can only make assumptions about what these characters are doing.
But, from the outset, the film seems to position the viewer, regardless of age, on the outside, and anyone could quickly assume that this is a cautionary tale. The stories begin to develop with further complexity when we gain access to the interactions happening on each device.
This film is NSFW (Not Safe For Work), i.e., there's some content you may not want playing on a public computer, but the content is PG-13.
Online Now: Journey into the world of contemporary online social interaction.
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