Documentary Summary: Offline Is the New Luxury

The VPRO is a well-established broadcasting company in the Netherlands that broadcasts high-quality educational films and documentaries on current issues and developments. VPRO is the broadcaster and distributor of the show Offline Is the New Luxury, which depicts a planet hijacked by internet access. This paper contains a synopsis of the documentary.

The responses of the individuals used in the documentary differ. Some, such as Sri Lanka’s telecommunications minister, agree that Google’s internet access project, Google Loon, would be extremely beneficial to his citizens. Others including MIT Psychologist, Sherry Turkle believe that the internet has led to the disconnection of people especially for students in her class who are distracted from meaningful teacher-student conversations.

People have gone to great lengths to ensure they remain focused without the internet-connecting devices. In Brazil, one Jose Pedro Bortolino, a creative director has developed a Cellphone Nullifier which blocks the telephone signals in the bars to allow for people to have a people-to-people time. The rich run away to fancy hotels such as Baden-Baden, Germany where there is no Wi-Fi connectivity. Others, such as Aram Pachyan, an Armenian writer, lose their devices and run off to the mountains.

There is nowhere to hide from internet connectivity according to a Political Scientist, Paul Frissen whose sentiments are shared by Birgitta Jonsdottir, the founder Pirate Party and Internet Critic, Evgev Morozor. Together they agree that the internet has been turned into a spying and manipulating tool which has converted people into commodities. To hide from internet connectivity people have resulted in different measures. Amish people in Indiana, USA and the Vedda tribe in Ruthugala, Sri Lanka, for instance, have forbidden their people to use any form of technology that might expose them to the internet.

Works Cited

Offline Is the New Luxury. VPRO Backlight, 2016. Top Documentary Films. Web. 31 Jan 2017.