"Modern Times: pros and cons of new technology"

1) In a couple of paragraphs, summarize the way that Chaplin is affected by new technology in the beginning of the film Modern Times.

In the beginning of the film Modern Times, Chaplin was crazy because of the malfunction of feeding machine.After he tried to demonstrate how to use the machine, he had a great excitement and then suffered from nervous breakdown.

Chaplin looks just like ''plaything''. He is controlled by some maintenance workers and the traders of the feeding machine or even new technology. Indeed, I think Chaplin is one of the experiments as well.

The second reason for his situation is that he works under great pressure for a long period of time. Everytime he follows an intense procedure which needs lots of action to do. In his mind, he cannot stop tightening the screws. Otherwise, production line will be stopped working. It brings Chaplin mental effort and makes him crazy finally.

So, when Chaplin had great pressure on his work and confronted an unpleasant experience, he was crazy.


2) Then discuss any similarities or differences in the way you experience common digital technologies such as computers and the Internet.

In my opinion, one of the similarities is that new technology cannot increase the productivity.

For example, when I search the information on the Internet, there are many irrelevant information I found. Moreover, some information may be wrong. So, I need to have careful consideration on the degree of accuracy of the information when I decided to use it. Undoubtedly, it cannot increase my working efficiency as it is a waste of time.

In the film Modern Times, businessmen recommend a boss to use feeding machine to limit the lunch hour and then increase productivity. It is because workers cannot stop for lunch. However, this machine is not working and practical. It also makes trouble for Chaplin lastly as he got a nervous breakdown. It is ironic that the malfunction of feeding machine seems to symbolize Chaplin's mental problem.

Secondly, another similarity is Chaplin and I also have addited to do something.

Sometimes, I was addicted to computer games or watching movies on the Internet. It just likes Chaplin to concentrate on tightening the screws continuously. Although he had kinks and nervous breakdown, he still liked to tighten all the things which look like screws. Definitely, Chaplin cannot control himself anymore.

On the other hand, there is one difference I discovered. That is our digital technologies such as laptop computers is new and modern. The most important thing is that many digital devices such as notebook(small computer) is portable. You can carry it anywhere. You would see the feeding machine is too big and even bulky. It is difficult to move or carry although it is movable.