Google Glasses advertisement, first Google glasses in may 2014

Graph by the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society (SIQSS)

The first document is an advertisement that promotes the brand new Google Glasses. A POV shot is used, thus the viewer is in the google glasses wearer’s shoes. We can understand that the Google Glasses, project in front of the user all the applications he can have access to. The background music is joyful and pleasant so that the viewer keeps watching the ad. Step by step we discover the ever growing functionalities of these glasses : chat, news, GPS, agenda…I mean, you can even talk to them ! The glasses wearer looks happy, his voice is cheerful and he seems to be in a very good mood.The goal of this commercial is to make the viewer wish he was the owner of these glasses, that look so cool and so fashionable.

The second document is a graph that shows how  social isolation increases, principally because of the new technologies. We can notice three curves : the first one corresponds to the percentage of internet users who use their phone more than talking to their family or friends. The second one is about the percentage of internet users who reported that they spend less time with their family and friends. The last curve shows the percentage of internet users who is attending less events outside their home. The graph also indicates the time spent on the internet ( hours/week ). We can notice that people who use the internet during more than 10 hours per week are the more isolated ones. We can also see one of the principal obstacle to interact with people for internet users : their phone : 27% of people prefer using their phones over interacting directly with friends or family.

The idea of progress can be examplified through these two documents because on the one hand, the first document shows how technology can make our life easier, because everything that you could possibly need is in these “magic glasses”. But can’t they become addictive ? Of course. People wearing these glasses will forget about everything else, this fake screen full of applications will flood their minds. One day, not wearing these glasses will be abnormal and people will not even look around them anymore. The second document shows us that because of these kinds of new gadgets (glasses, phones, tablets….) people will focus only on their screens and will get more and more lonely, they will cut ties with their friends and / or family to be locked up in the modern technology world.