In “Visible”, there is a man, Tom, whom is visually impaired and solely depends on technology to accurately define objects and surroundings around him so that he can gain a sense of “vision” since he can’t see. This comes into contrast when the technology device/ visual aid couldn’t do exactly what he was looking for & he has to turn towards a human to help him achieve exactly what he wanted. I analyzed that technology initially can be beneficial to aid us but we can’t fully depend on it for everything & that sometimes we have to revert to old-fashioned techniques to get what we truly need which is in-depth answers that involve emotions that technology can’t provide. He conveys the message throughout the text in such a way that he doesn’t say that technology can’t be beneficial, but that sometimes we overly depend on it too much. This can also be further emphasized throughout the podcast by the excessive use of sound effects to help the reader gain visual insight on what’s going on throughout the podcast as well as to put the reader into the perspective of the main character, Tom.

Initially in the beginning of the podcast, the visual aid was assisting the main character to start gaining a sense of vision by telling him exactly how far away he was from certain objects, telling him the colors of the objects, and many other functions that helped Tom. The sound effects help to emphasize his surroundings. For example, when he stepped outside and he asked for descriptions of everything outside and the technology/visual aid gave him a vivid description of the trees and the birds. As the podcast proceeds, the main character comes to an intersection where he has to cross the road. This is the moment where the sound effects come to play and help the reader gain the point of view of Tom. The sound effects include beeping car horns, voices of angry drivers, the visual aid still telling him what’s ahead, etc. In this instance, the visual aid/technology is doing what it’s suppose to do & assisting him in the area that he needed help. What the podcast is trying to convey in this sense is that technology can be beneficial to assisting people in their everyday needs.

Tom finally reaches the destination that he’s been trying to reach which is the art museum. When he enters the art exhibit, he asked the visual aid to describe the painting that he approached on the wall. The visual aid gives Tom a description of the painting but it’s not exactly what he was looking for. He proceeds to ask the visual aid for another description and it continues to say that it’s giving him a full, complete description of the painting on the wall. Based off the tone of his voice, I inferred that Tom was becoming agitated because he yelled, “You have to make me see it”. Eventually he gives up and turns to the lady that works inside the art exhibit for her assistance. The lady gives him basically the same description that the visual aid gave him at first, but then he decides to ask the lady something the same question, but in a different way. He proceeded to ask the woman how does the painting make her feel, and she gave a description that the visual aid couldn’t. By her adding a sense of feeling to the description of the painting, the woman was able to convey his own painting to himself and gave an accurate description so that he could actually imagine and visualize the painting of his own that he was looking at. I interpreted that “Visible” is conveying the message that sometimes we rely on technology too much and they can’t give us what we truly need. The podcast is trying to convey that technology is reliable but not 100% the answer to the problems. Sometimes we have to go back and depend on old-fashioned techniques or relying on human resources to get what we really want, need, and desire. In this podcast, the main character, Tom, was trying to get an original description on his own painting and tried to turn to technology to get it. Despite technology being as advanced as it is, it still didn’t give the description that Tom really wanted because the visual aid didn’t express any emotions that the painting evoked. When turned to a human, the human could give him the descriptions with the feelings that she felt by looking at the painting. It’s important that he feels the emotion of the painting because since he can’t visually see it, he needs to “feel” it emotionally so that he can view the image to its full potential. Without the emotions, the painting lacks a real description for Tom. 

By closely analyzing this podcast, I inferred that technology could be useful but we can’t always fully depend on technology for everything; sometimes things have to be done old-fashioned. Despite technology always being there for us when we need it and giving us information on the spot; we can’t solely rely on technology for our every day needs and that sometimes technology can hinder us from achieving the actual goal. In this case, the technology hindered Tom to obtain an accurate depiction and description of the painting and he had to revert back and rely on old-fashioned techniques (in this podcast, it was the woman who worked at the art exhibit) to receive the visual that he actually wanted. The podcast is not saying or trying to convey that we can’t trust technology; but that we are over-invested in technology when technology does not have the capabilities of giving us what we need all the time. All in all, technology is essential and beneficial, but sometimes we can’t fully place reliance on technology.
