Lecturer Merry Brown held a forum on Tuesday, March 12, discussing “The Good Life” and if we could truly be happy with the way technology is in our lives today.
Brown focused on a single word throughout the forum: virtue. Virtue is defined as “having high moral standards”.
Aristotle, a historical philosopher Brown mentions throughout her presentation, believes that virtue is the key component to living a good life, and it should be infused within us. Without virtue, we would not be able to flourish in our everyday life.
Brown discussed four cardinal words that help explain virtue: wisdom, courage, moderation and justice, referring to them often during her presentation.
Aristotle believed that virtue is a necessity. People should have the wisdom and courage to be able to moderate anything that they use in their everyday life. This brought Brown to ask how technology comes into play.
“Technology should always serve us, we should not serve it,” Brown said.
Technology is good when the use of it leads you to do better things with your life, but when it leads you away from doing better then it is a bad thing.
Brown talked about the 48-hour media-fast she asks her students to do in her classes. She took time to read a few excerpts from their papers which, for the majority, all had the same meaning. These students wrote about how difficult it was to be away from their cell phones, and any source of media, for two full days.
However, another common theme within the papers was how much more time these students had on their hands. Some students spent this time studying more, talking to friends and family or they just felt lonely without their constant companion on them at all times.
The overall message Brown expressed with these papers was how much people rely on media. The media fast that Brown conducted helps show how technology is making people be less virtuous by taking them away from friends and disconnecting from the world.
After this discussion, Brown gave out a list of ways to make technology a good thing in your life based on her 48-hour media fast.
First, turn off your phone when you know you need to get things done. For example, turning off your phone when you have a big test coming up that you need to study for will help you stay focused.
Second, figure out if you’re properly using social media or if you are misusing it. Limit the amount of time you are on your phone a day.
The last, and most important, suggestion Brown offers is moderation. Moderating your phone and media usage can help keep you engaged in your everyday life. Focusing on how much time you spend on your phone a day, and trying to improve, helps you take one more step of being a more virtuous person.
Brown concluded her discussion with a question and answer session where students gave their opinion on why they think people are so attached to their phones.
The engagement of students during the discussion helped show that technology matters but so does the importance of moderation.
The takeaway Brown left with her forum asked: “How much am I using my phone?” and “Should I start moderating my time to become a more virtuous person?”
