Bersy Alarcon

[legendarystudent-blog]

Works Cited

Abrams, Lindsay. "How Transparency Can Empower Patients and Fix Health Care." TheAtlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 19 Sept. 2012. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.

Brin, David. "Surveillance Should Be Embraced to Create a Transparent Society." DomesticSurveillance. Ed. Tamara Thompson. Farmington Hills, MI: Green haven Press, 2015.At Issue. Rpt. from "Lessons for an Age of Transparency." New PerspectivesQuarterly. 2013. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Farman, Jason. "The Myth of the Disconnected Life." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company,07 Feb. 2012. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.

Eggers, Dave. The Circle. London: Penguin, 2013. Print.

LaFrance, Adrienne. "By 2025, the Definition of 'Privacy' Will Have Changed." The Atlantic.Atlantic Media Company, 18 Dec. 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.

[legendarystudent-blog]

Time for a Check-up (#3)

The health and well being of everyone is very important, so it is vital for those of the medical field to provide the best and most efficient care to the patient that is possible. This is why there are always new procedures, medicines, and techniques that are tested everyday to get the best possible care. In The Circle, by Dave Eggers, the health care is at the best possible level that anyone can imagine. This includes a bracelet that Mae wears, that always displays her vital signs at all times. Having the patient's’ vital signs on display at all times allows the doctor to point out any abnormalities at a faster rate. Also, the readings will be accurate since it is constantly being updated. The advancement of the medical field will be beneficial to everyone, but will the constant display of someone's’ medical condition invade their privacy?

In The Circle, Mae’s father is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, or MS, which is a disease of the immune system that attacks the myelin sheath (the cover over nerve cells), and causes a miscommunication between the patient's brain and the rest of their body. If this disease progresses before being diagnosed, it could cause serious complications that will be irreversible in the future. Therefore, the diagnosis of Mae’s father was very stressful for Mae because she wanted the best for her family, and she knew she would not be able to get the best care in her hometown. This is when she turned to The Circle where she knew she would get the best health care plan.

Once she got her father on The Circle’s health care plan, he immediately began getting attention from strangers and different doctors though Zing. Each of them sending get well messages or recommending the best and most efficient treatments for patients with multiple sclerosis. Even though Mae’s father was doing better, the constant attention from these strangers caused Mae’s father a lot of stress. Especially because these strangers would get mad or upset at him for not responding to the get well messages. It was also embarrassing for Mae’s father because everyone knew about his condition. Having multiple sclerosis in the first place already had Mae’s father in a vulnerable state because he would need assistance for basic everyday activities; he could not do anything on his own. A lot of people in the world today do not like sharing their medical conditions, so would having them on display make health care more efficient?

Lindsay Abrams, a producer for The Atlantic's Health Channel, states that, “Transparency can empower their consumers to make their hospitals accountable and make the practice of medicine more honest.” So having the patients and the doctors go transparent will make the health care for each patient more efficient because the there will be more treatments and medications offered to the patient. Having more options will allow the patient to find what works better for them rather than going with the same treatment as everyone else. This is proved in The Circle, when Mae’s father was switched to a health care plan through The Circle, and he got better soon after he was put on the transparent plan. This made life easier for Mae and her family. Mae’s mother even congratulated her for putting her dad in the advanced health care plan provided by The Circle.

“Mae called her parents, telling her mom first, then her dad, and there was some whooping, and there were tears, and some very embarrassing talk about how Mae had become a real adult, how her parents were ashamed and humbled to be leaning on her...But thank you, her mother said, Mae you’ve saved not just your father’s life but my life, too, I swear to god you have, my sweet Maybelline (Page 162).”

If a better health care plan is a transparent health care plan, then why not make it available to everyone who is willing to share their health state. In the end, the transparency will benefit the patient, so why not put the shame off to the side?

In conclusion, the well being of loved ones and others is very important, so it is vital to provide the patient with the best possible care. The most efficient health care can be provided through a transparent system because it will allow the patient to receive treatment plans and advice from health care professionals from all around the world. Just like Mae’s father got the best treatment plan from a transparent plan compared to the opinion of one doctor. Also it is stated in the Hippocratic Oath, that a doctor must treat a patient to the best of their ability, this could include a transparent health care plan.

[legendarystudent-blog]

I’m Watching You

Privacy is something that has become very valuable. This is because almost everyone has a smartphone, or some type of device with a camera on it. Having a camera on a device allows the owner of the device to become the eyes and ears for the audience. This means that information and scandals are spread faster than normal. In addition, there are other types of devices that are used to record and collect information such as drones and surveillance cameras. The use of drones and surveillance cameras is usually unknown by the person that is being recorded, so this brings us back to our question. Should technology be used to watch and collect information from people?

This similar question is brought into play in, The Circle, by Dave Eggers when Mercer, Mae’s ex boyfriend, committed suicide because he was sick of being watched by people. It all started out when Mae first got her job at The Circle, and she was obsessed with getting her family and Mercer involved with all the new technology that the Circlers use on the job. However, Mae’s family lived in a place that was not accustomed to so much technology, so bringing in this new technology placed a great amount of stress on her family. Especially when Mae had the SeeChange cameras installed in her parents’ home. The reaction Mae’s family had on the SeeChange cameras reflected the reactions people in the world have today towards drones and security cameras potentially watching their every move.

In addition, there is the National Security Agency, or NSA that has access to everything that someone does on the internet.  The National Security Agency is used to track down terrorists and other radical groups to protect the United States from any attacks. In The Circle, the followers that each person has through zing, or another social media network represents how the NSA is always up to date with what a person is up to. This is because each Circler is required to keep their score up as an active community member of The Circle.

As a final point, nobody likes to be watched. If a person knows that they are being watched then it is in their nature to act differently; it causes a person to be uneasy and tense. This is proved when Mae goes transparent and she tries to have a conversation with Annie, but Annie acted differently because she knew she was being watched by millions of Mae’s followers. 

When this happened, Mae seemed confused as to why Annie was acting so different. It was not until Annie and Mae had a conversation in the bathroom (where it is private), that Mae realized people were going to act differently around her because of the camera around her neck. This was predicted by Adrienne LaFrance, a senior editor at The Atlantic. LaFrance said that people will be used to being watched by cameras by the year 2025 or sooner, so privacy is something that people will assume they have, even though they do not.

However, others such as David Brin, a scientist and author of The Transparent Society states that, “Those who deride sousveillance as “utopian” ignore one fact: It’s what already worked (Brin).” For example, the Boston Marathon bombers that were captured immediately do to the presence of cameras from businesses and people who were standing by at the time of the bombing. A similar technique was used brought up at The Circle called SoulSearcher. SoulSearcher is a program that was to be implemented at The Circle to track down and catch criminals all around the world.  

In conclusion, privacy is something that should be valued because even though we think we have it at all times, we might not. Especially in a society where agencies such as the National Security Agency can keep their eye on everything a person does on the internet and on their phones.

[legendarystudent-blog]

Connected but Disconnected

Technology is a major part of everyday life. In fact, many people in the world today could not imagine a world without technology. This is because technology is not only used everyday, but it is also being modified everyday. Is the use and improvement of so much technology causing those who use it to disconnect from the people around them? This similar question is brought into discussion in The Circle by Dave Eggers. In The Circle, Mae, the main character, visits her parents for dinner and her ex boyfriend Mercer is there. At the end of the dinner, Mercer and Mae begin to have an argument about not being able to communicate effectively. As a result, Mercer tells Mae that she has changed ever since she began to work at the circle.

“I don’t care what you read. But when you and I communicate, I want to do it directly. You write to me, I write to you. You ask me questions, and I answer them. You stop getting news about me from third parties” (Page 132).

Mercer mentions this to Mae because she now has all this new technology given to her as part of her new job, and she is required to keep a good rank by commenting and liking posts on social media sites. This is a perfect example to show how technology has caused many people to become disconnected with the real world since they spend most of their time in a virtual world. 

For instance, a Windows commercial that was aired in 2011 advocated the, “concerns of using phones at appropriate times (Farman).” The commercial showed people working out and running into others because they are always looking down at their phone rather than the world around them. Eggers made his point clear through his main character, Mae, when he made her unaware of the near apocalypse at The Circle. Technology is a very important part of our everyday lives, but people should know when to stop. The Internet is not going to go away; it will still be there the next time you check your phone or other device.

Even though technology is taking over a lot of people's lives, that does not mean we should completely get rid of it. We should simply learn how to better control and limit  ourselves when we use it. If we do not put a limit to the amount of technology we use in a day, then we will all end up like Mae; a robot that gets caught up in her devices. This is proved when Mae begins to enjoy the recording of her voice that alerts her when she has a customer waiting for a response. It illustrates that Mae has lost her touch with her non-robotic self because she craves to hear her own warm voice. In this instance, Eggers was trying to illustrate that everyone in the world is losing touch with themselves because they are preoccupied with their devices. The portable devices are the ones that cause the most trouble because people can carry them with them at all times of the day. This means the amount of conversations that are face to face with another human being will be cut short. Conversations with other human beings are more intimate, compared to those through text messages, e-mails, and phone calls.

In conclusion, technology has made a great impact on everyone who possesses it, however, there should be a limit to the amount of time spent on these devices. Too much time spent on these devices will slowly cause the user to become disconnected from the real world and the people around them just like Mae in The Circle.