Summary: In the second chapter of ” Seeing Ourselves Through Technology”, Jill Rettberg opens up the chapter writing about filters and the different meanings the word holds. She starts out with literal filters that separate different things and allow you to take what you need from it, and goes on into other types of filters and the impact of those. Cultural filters come from the way we were raised and the affect and expectations of society. Our brain filters certain things based on bias and experiences. Technological filters such as Instagram filters allow people to defamiliarize themselves, while other technological filters filter out certain information from your newsfeed. Rettberg explains how these different types of filters are used and how there can be combined in different ways.
Key Terms: Aestheticization- The act of making something visually pleasing. An example of this would be when you take a picture of an object that doesn’t have any particular beauty and add a filter to it. Rettberg used the example of people being grateful towards the stuff they don’t really have a positive outlook on. This can cause us to take things for granted and not see the beauty in it.
Defamiliarization- presenting familiar objects or situations in an unfamiliar way to allow for a fresh perspective. An example of this would be a filtered photograph. This shows us a different image from what we’re used to seeing and gives us a different and fresh look.
Cultural Filter- a filter based off of the rules and conventions of a culture. People do certain things subconsciously based on how they perceive how it is supposed to be done. Different cultures have different affects on people and they also filter differently.
Technological Determinism- The theory that technology dictates the direction of society and culture. Technology causes differences between cultures based on how dependent and advanced that tech is in that particular culture.
Cognitive Filters: a filter that comes from the mind. Cognitive filters is basically how we perceive things. Our mind filters out irrelevant information and brings out certain information.
Commentary: Overall, this chapter really gave me a different view on filters in general. When I thought about filters, the first thing that came to mind was a photo filter on a social media site. A realization is that this is how are society currently is. I liked how Rettberg used the different meanings of the same word to help the reader better understand her points. Technological advancements and how they showcased their effects on filtering was truly interesting. The way social media platforms have different algorithms to show users different content and how that filtered content has an affect on their reaction whether positive or negative is crazy. Think of how important filters are in today’s culture. Even if there wasn’t any technology in todays world we would still have filters because they are human nature.
Mustafa's summer english blog 