Douglas Rushkoff makes some very interesting point within the text “Program or Programmed”. The chapter that stuck out to me the most was chapter three because it seemed to be the most interesting. When you think of having a choice you might think of it as a kind of freedom. However, as the increasing of digital reality occurs, we must learn to not just how to use the programs that are created but also how to make them. In the future, networked activity could soon offer us access to shared thinking — an extension of consciousness which is still inconceivable to most of society.

In this digital realm everything is made into a choice. When I was reading chapter three, I automatically thought of hyperlinks within a certain website, and having the choice which ones to click throughout to explore something different. As I kept reading I became more and more intrigued on how a choice really is not a good think in the digital world. A choice does not allow us all this freedom, it actually stops us by requiring we make a decision to move on. Using the term choice means selecting one option while letting ALL other choices go. Each option passed is an opportunity lost. By doing this, you do not know what you are missing.

Yes, you can click the “back” button but then this just becomes a web of opportunities. This web then becomes unmanageable due to trying to figure out the best way to overcome and get a taste of all the opportunities. In an actual real world experience our pursuit of choice has the effect of making us less engaged, more obsessive, less free, and more controlled. Yet, these terms do not come to mind when you think of “Choice”. I feel as if this makes humans always want more and the idea of something they cannot have or they want it all available at once. These choices draw us from this conclusion that we cannot have it all at once.