After leaving the event with Alexis, I found myself repeating her words, "We are not machines." The event really made me think about how sometimes (perhaps subconsciously) people think of themselves as a machine in terms of doing our day-to-day jobs, or as one part of a machine in terms of our purpose in the greater society. People get so wrapped up in power and capitalism that we begin to only see ourselves as having a purpose in completing an overall task. For example, the women in my sorority can be seen as each holding specific chair positions that are essential to the overall success of the sorority and if one woman is not doing her job, the rest of the sorority will suffer. This trivializes the raw beauty and natural essence that each woman possesses individually. People no longer see themselves as a strong body, energized and ready to play. We think of ourselves and one another as part of a mechanical whole, with only one task to complete.
Another concept that Alexis pushed was "information overload." From what I understand (and this might be a bit off), information overload refers to people being bombarded with information that may be conflicting or repetitive, but received from all around nonetheless. By receiving too much information it is difficult for people to make sense of it and understand it, and therefore not being able to provide an adequate response or make decisions. Making use of the internet, it is very easy to experience information overload, and that is exactly what new users are experiencing, whether it be youth or middle-aged folk who are being introduced to the internet for the first time.
I found it extremely refreshing to hear Alexis' point of view on this topic. She wasn't necessarily a guest speaker for our class, but I somehow felt she was speaking directly to our class because of the content in her presentation, and I felt it to be overwhelmingly related to the subject matter that we've been discussing throughout the semester.
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