Do We Compute?

Human-Computer Interaction, HCI, is the idea that technologies such as computer design and software & etc., have a synergistic relationship with social sciences, specifically psychology, helping scientists understand human behaviors with the interaction with technological tools. John M. Carroll (1997) explains that “psychology is a science of design” where the engineering behind software development has significantly increased over a few years tremendously because of what humans feel what is needed to help increase daily activities, and of course leisure. How many of us use social networking sites and even blogs such as this one to interact with another? Well the interaction is constantly being in question to see what is most valuable as well as what is able to be improved based on user friendly methods as well as what people feel they want and need in their technological tools whether it be a phone or website.

 

Exploring thoughts, so a person wants to create a website. Why is the website made? It’s because someone feels that there is a need for it as well as it being useful in any way to other human beings. Social sciences record ideas as such as the context of behavior and experience, melded with the interaction between the person and the technological tool whether a website or even a simple one-touch click button (which is very common in many shopping websites). Why would such a thing exist – because there is a larger need, we are aware that people want quicker ways to buy things, maybe even persuade impulse buyers to buy more things. Living in a country where it is as simple as turning on your device and having one click to buy something (because you already set up an account) and it is delivered to you in a few days, maybe even the same day! We see this as a motivation to create more technological tools such as these because of human interaction. People’s behavior are changing due to the technology at hand as well as technology is being created and produced based on consumption by the mass.

 

Here come the thoughts on science fiction (because this blog would not be called psyficology, lol). Science fiction has many ideas on technology and one of the many huge ideas, is the notion that human beings will use so much of technology to the point that it becomes a part of us. Whether you call the symbiotic relationship cyborg or android technology, it seems that technology is growing rapidly due to the use of it, the interaction between people, how technology makes our lives easier by being able to attain things, including knowledge at a higher speed than before (which is constantly being upgraded). With the high usage, it impacts our behavior and society may seem already a cyborg entity. How many things do you do a day that includes technology? How many items have you purchased using sites, as well as how many ideas have you searched to attain this new knowledge, not to mention utilizing social networks to keep in contact with friends or even using it as a pastime? Yes, it seems tech is such an imperative tool to us in everyday aspects. Psychology and science (real and fiction) both deduce the reasons why and how we use tech as well as how tech impacts the mass. There’s a constant whirlwind of new ideas of tech (like Google glass) that will impact human behavior. Is it a positive or negative change, what are your ideas?