Generations without modern technologies often experience a divide with today's generations. For example, I had to teach my mother how to use facebook. The divide between the earlier generation is even greater; I had to explain what facebook is to my grandmother, and struggled to do so. It's like when you are asked to define a word so engrained into your life that it is impossible to put into words, like the word "the." Should technology be this engrained into our daily lives? The difference between the technology accessible to generations contributes a lot to the communication problems between the eras. Technology has progressed so quickly and left so many generations behind that the gap is widening every day. Not to mention, the older generations are the ones making decisions in this country since the younger generation doesn't vote and can't get elected to office. How is our country supposed to solve today's problems without the people of today? The new brains developing and using today's technology should be included in the debates concerning the role of technology in government, how technology and government interact, and restrictions on what powers technology can take over. Until this happens, our laws will never be able to keep up with the progress made by technology.
Technology today is all about dividing people. When radio and phonographs were invented, they were about being used by the family and small groups. Computers, however, are all about being personal. Portable technology is very much geared towards personal use. This naturally separates people. So, by its very nature, today's technology is dividing people and making them more distant. The image portrayed by pop culture of a family all on computers in different rooms, texting and iming each other instead of interacting face to face shows a frightening picture of what technology could do to human interaction. What would be the point of ever leaving your house if you can socialize on facebook, work from home, hold skype conferences, and watch videos of events around the world?
From the outside looking in, technology has pervaded every part of our daily lives and, apparently, made it better. It now takes seconds to cook food, video cameras can record every movement of an actress for a movie, and it only minutes to download said movie onto a computer (yet another recent development). One area that technology has been completely revolutionized is business. Transactions involving millions of dollars can now be sent at the click of a mouse. Paper money seems to be an oddity and plans have even been made for the cessation of the minting of pennies. The recording of different aspects of business takes multiple Microsoft programs and are impeccable down to the last thousandth of a decimal point. Our new system of recording, using a complex web of computers, calculators, programs and the internet, has made billionaires of millionaires and vagrants out of those too unfortunate to afford such technology. This is worlds apart from nearly one hundred years ago, when owning your own store was commonplace and the world wasn’t ruled by corporations (powered by computers). Transactions were recorded in a notebook and if your computer crashed, you could live on.
Many people seem incredibly perturbed by the sudden occurrence of technology into our lives. “Consequences” has a negative connotation, but I believe that the “consequences” of this new system of business is simply the change of society over time. I’m almost positive that when papyrus scrolls were introduced, it had more than a couple critics but look how society has adjusted to it now. It is true though, that not all new forms of business and recording have completely positive consequences, nor make life easier. Without the crutch of “human error,” people are held less responsible for their own work. People begin to stop recognizing money as an actually, tangible thing but as numbers on a computer screen. Important decisions are made on the dime, which sometimes ends in unsavory results. Technology, which is constantly shaping the way we live our lives, can create disaster just as quickly as it can make tedious jobs easier.
I often find myself wondering at what cost technology comes to us. Not necessarily cost from our pockets physically but from our persons’ morally, ethically, and characteristically. Technologies are created for ease, efficiency, and overall success. There is no doubt that all advances have achieved these goals but they have at the same time altered those who use it in irrevocable ways. The advent of the internet, for example, was intended to be used as a quicker transfer of information, which it is. Who would have guessed the internet would become what it is today? The beauty of the effortless methods of gaining access to the world’s information has backfired and created lazy users who are distracted by the allure of mindless social networking, online shopping, and other services provided by the World Wide Web. The television also had the same intentions of transferring information in a quicker and more pleasing, personal manner than the radio. Television has evolved into an entirely new monster, created by those who allowed the “consequences” of the new technology to be negative after abusing its purpose. Comparatively, one could argue that the printing press produced massive consequences upon its arrival in the 15th century. Previous to this phenomenal apparatus, the traditional method of transferring knowledge was either to write copies by hand or share through oral transmission. Like any sort of written technology, the ability to remember vast quantities of information is ruined by the simplicity of writing it down and storing it until it is needed again. I am not arguing that the printed word was a detrimental development. However, I am arguing that as technologies become more advanced and cater to the habits which cultivate laziness, the gap between the pros and cons of new technologies will only grow farther apart and the consequences will soon outweigh the advantages.
Technology has definitely been a revolution, especially in the Twenty-First Century. It has led to many advances in medical procedures, discoveries, and even to education. However, it has also hindered the creative mind in some ways, limiting the brain to think only in terms of technology. My mom, for example, is a kindergarten teacher. Similar to our generation, her students are given free-time to play and be creative, though this free-time is not as expansive and consistent as it use to be. In the free-time that her students are allowed they will often be at a loss of what to do, asking my mom, "What should we do?" In reply, she would say, "Pretend." And they would follow with, "What is pretend?" or "How do we pretend?" Though I'd like to say that this is a made up story, this in fact has happened on numerous occasions. Children of today are so plugged into their video games and television shows that they do not experience what the kids of the 1990's did in respect to being a child. Instead, they do not allow the expansion of their mind through ideas that are not technological, such as an imagination, but rather grow up too quickly. I am not saying that technology is necessarily horrible, but I do believe that society has taken a sick twist into relying on it for every aspect of life. What ever happened to playing tag outside until the sun sets? Or jumping in piles of leaves? Or even taking an adventure to the moon in your own backyard? I blame technology with this obvious divide.
Technology is part the modern American culture. It is not only linked with literature but also with politics, health, sports, relationships, and different academic subjects. For example, at The Florida State University a student cannot take a math class or any class without being literate with computer technology. I feel as though literature is the only subject that is not in favor of technology because language is one of the topics that is under the scoop. The link between literature and technology is a weird relationship, but it is also one of the most dynamic relationships technology creates because digital text is thoughts made public and the computer makes this simple. My example of technology divided engendered via technology is location difference. In America technology is a fundamental skill. But in other countries it is considered a luxury. For example, my family is from Nigeria and over in Africa technology advances are late compared to world powers like China. When my grandpa comes to visit my family and I in America he is always shocked by the new advancements technology has made. When I was 12 I was texting on my phone while I was sitting next to grandpa and he told me to stop making lost distant phone calls because it coast more money. Little did he know I was sending a message to a friend and it was free. I explained to him what text messaging was and he fell in love. When he was my age cell phones didn’t even exist and he is behind the technology literacy rate in America because he is from Nigeria. The consequence of this divide is that not everyone will gain the knowledge of technology advancements and this puts them behind other individuals around the world. A person can be very smart but have a lack of resources and be considered an imbecile.
A perfect example of a divide due to technology is my grandfather. As a radio sports caster and a spanish magazine sports writer the most technology use out of his day was the system he used to broadcast his show and the printer when he first started 40 some years ago. Technology since then has changed more quickly than his ability to grasp any of this forward going movement. The magazine changed from printed press to a website where he has to learn how to work a computer, the younger employees of course grew up with the knowledge of computers which forced my grandfather to have to try a lot harder than the others in order to keep his job. He had to learn how to check his e-mails when most of the other younger workers were receiving them on every type of technology such as phones computers laptops ect, without difficulty. He had to change a lifestyle he had become so familiar with in such little time in order to guarantee himself a career in the future or those who could better understand the new technological advances would take his position. Not only did he have to understand how to work different programs on the computer but it was also about using the internet. Without his ability to quickly grasp this knowledge of posting on the website or emailing a submission for a post, a lot could have been lost.
Because technology has been growing and spreading so rapidly without really having a moment for any one to breathe and enjoy one item, its cause a bigger divide in the generations than I think anything in the past has. My grandpa was able to learn how to use all these different technological devices because he "needed" to, but try and teach my grandma and that is a completely different story.
The rapid development of technology is astounding. A new, better version of the iPod is released practically every 6 months, camera models are improved at this rate, phone companies introduce similar models every few months, etc. It is all about the competition and being able to keep up with the competitors.
I was talking to my dad the other day, on my cell phone..., when he told me about this new gadget he saw at the store that he really wanted. This gadget works for iPhones, iPads, or Androids and allows the owner to swipe his credit card and pay for things online or make direct deposits into his bank account. It's a small square that simply connects to your phone, and BAM!- a payment is made with 2.75% interest.
When I saw the prompt for this blog, I immediately thought of this small gadget and how it can divide vendors at a flea market, as a crude example. If one flea market vendor only accepts cash, but another has this technologically advanced card swiper, the consumer that has no cash on hand will make his way to the vendor with the card swiper. There has been a divide in the consuming of goods due to this new technology. Even though this example serves to be minuscule on a global scale, it still shows how technology affects our daily lives in the smallest ways.
Because we have embraced technology, it has seeped into every facet of life and advanced at lightning speed. In some ways, we were right to embrace it. Technology often makes our lives easier and more enjoyable. We have cameras to record and capture our memories. Because we have the internet, we have easy access to a wealth of information about any subject. Computers and programs have revolutionized business, medicine, education, and the world at large. Still, there are large issues with technology, especially as it advances and begins to advance at a faster and faster rate. We have embraced technology to the point that it has all but infiltrated our life. Our lives may be easier and more enjoyable, but with ease, we miss out on vital life experiences. We cross lines of privacy and propriety, and we create divisions.
It is quite clear that technology creates a divide between generations, but it is changing so rapidly that these divides have become even more drastic. At the risk of sounding overly critical and much older than I actually am, I think the true extent of this change can be seen by looking at children today. Having taught a class of them in Sunday school, I found them extremely unimaginative and easily bored by the childhood play I used to enjoy. They begged for media stimulation (i.e. to watch television, to use the instructor’s laptops), and had gaming devices checked at the door. There was no “make believe” to speak of. Mostly, when left to their own devices, they talked about television shows, and bragged about who was getting a new MacBook, or an iTouch (neither of which I even own, or care to own), or whatnot for their next birthday. Because technology is so advanced, so widely used for entertainment purposes, and so widely available, childhood, and consequently life itself, looks different than it did ten years ago. It has permeated every aspect of life; by looking at these children, who have never known a world without gadgets and lightning fast computers, we see just how much it has infiltrated our society. Additionally, I’ve had my younger sister come home from school and tell me that students in her class used internet slang and “chatspeak” in their essays, and had to be lectured extensively about it. Where grammar was once painstakingly taught in schools and was once considered common knowledge, children, with their access to instant spell check combined with their obsession with the internet, not only fail to learn the rules of the English language, but abuse language completely. Technology has changed the way we think, write, and process words and information, and clearly, not for the better.
I think that technology has always been about bringing people together. With so many advancements, we see it easier for the world to become a smaller place. People communicate across oceans within seconds, where there would have been no possible connection between the two centuries ago. This has brought people together from so many different places and I think that it encourages acceptance throughout cultures. People have larger mindsets knowing that their lifestyle is not the only one.
With so many benefits, has there been a divide created because of technology? I think so. There is so much technology around us, we absorb everything, the media, the social “interaction”. I think it is harder to connect with the ones around us. It is harder to focus in the moment when you are thinking of the rest of the world and what is going on and what you are missing. Computers are something you usually sit at by yourself, even though you might be interacting with others, it is a personal thing. This will always be a divide between a person and the people around them.
The best example of a technological divide has got to do with my grandfather and his cell phone. Granted, he is a solid 70 something by now, and yet is now an owner of an iPhone. Not that he needed the technology that an iPhone has to offer (the apps, music, internet access, emails, etc) but it is the phone that his service provider suggested as the "best they had". Keep in mind that once he got it home, I had to teach him how to simply unlock the screen with the slide. Technology has changed the way that we process information and has revolutionized nearly every aspect of our lives. Though my grandfather only needed the phone as a phone, to make and recieve calls on, he still bought the iPhone for himself and his wife because that is what the technology provided for them. Where can you find a phone currently that only makes calls, with no service plan or touch screen? With the constant change and evolution that is technology today, teaching him to use his iPhone this summer with that software will be null and void by Christmas. The "latest and greatest" item only lasts as long as something better doesnt come out to replace it. The consequence of this kind of technological divide is that we are constantly in a losing battle to keep up with the newest advancements society is implementing. While the salesman had convinced my grandfather that the iPhone 3G was the best he had in stock, it has now been replaced twice over with new updates and features. Technology has a way of making us forget that at the end of the day, it is still a phone..
The greatest divide may be the generational gap between people who were raised with current technology and those who were not; however, I have seen huge gaps in geographical use of technology. America is seen as this hugely technology based society, which it usually is. Unfortunately even in a country as advanced as America, there are areas that are years behind others when it comes to technology.
In particular, I'm thinking of my family's home town in North Carolina. Compared to most cities in America, this town is full of elderly people and lacks the same rapid technological growth that other places have seen. Many of the restaurants are owned by "average" small business owners and still don't even accept credit/debit cards. Hotels there still advertise that they have color TVs, not wireless internet or even cable. Many of the older people that I know there have not bought a computer and many of them probably never will.
I think of this geographical gap within our own country and then think of the fact that other countries are far behind even our small towns. Technology has made life more connected and faster paced, but there are definite areas that it has yet to revolutionize.
Technological advancement has created a divide between different countries of the world. In places like America, Asia and most countries in Europe we are more advanced than other countries. There are some countries that do not even have consistently running electricity like we do. This makes it hard for anything technological to develop there, let alone good medical care, food and clean water. We hear about these countries all the time. We always see the commercials asking to donate so they can have clean water and enough food to survive. But even in countries with technological advances there is a great divide similar to this in their own back yard. There is the divide between the wealthy and the poor. The poor cannot afford the technology or the comfort that technology has brought us. They have to live without some of the comfort even if it means not heat in the winter or no car to get to work.
We live in a digital age. Technology is everywhere, and all around us. It helps us to stay in touch with our loved ones, and finish tasks quickly. It helps teachers to communicate concepts to their students, and it allows students to complete better projects. With all of these positive things, it would seem hard to believe why anybody could ever complain about the ever growing relationship between man and machine.
The real question is, is technology creating a divide in modern culture? And I believe the answer to be yes. With the development of texting, instant messaging, and social networking sites, I believe that it's easy for people to interact with one another, and still never see another living soul. In short I believe that technology is creating a divide between the personal and impersonal. People with access to the newest technological devices, mostly people in first world countries, would rather text someone instead of calling them and having a conversation. Another perfect example would be if a friend arrives at another friend’s house, and instead of walking up to the front door to knock and let his friend know that he has arrived, he will send a text message instead.
"My junior year, I took a literature class with a professor who was about 80 years old. She was extremely intelligent and had been teaching for 50 plus years. When she was going over the syllabus, she explained that she did not use email; therefore we would have to go to her office with any questions or concerns. She found no problem with this but the class was extremely confused. We all, immediately, felt disconnected from her.
New forms of technology have replaced traditional forms of communication and technology is only growing. Most student/teacher communication is done through email and this has proven to be both convenient and beneficial to all parties involved. Because of my professor’s either lack of computer literacy or refusal to adapt to this new age, a disconnect was created between her and her student."
I noticed the difference between technology and it's consequences. Throughout my early education, technology was only sparingly used in class. The teachers were not sure of how to use digital equipment to enhance the learning experience. And of course, when they don't support something, people rebel. All of middle school was characterized by cell phones in class. But once i was in high school teachers started using technology to advance their points. Although people still texted in class, I noticed it was surprisingly different. People didn't text to rebel, they texted to text. Bizzare banter, but fun for a blog lol
Generations without modern technologies often experience a divide with today's generations. For example, I had to teach my mother how to use facebook. The divide between the earlier generation is even greater; I had to explain what facebook is to my grandmother, and struggled to do so. It's like when you are asked to define a word so engrained into your life that it is impossible to put into words, like the word "the." Should technology be this engrained into our daily lives?
ReplyDeleteThe difference between the technology accessible to generations contributes a lot to the communication problems between the eras. Technology has progressed so quickly and left so many generations behind that the gap is widening every day. Not to mention, the older generations are the ones making decisions in this country since the younger generation doesn't vote and can't get elected to office. How is our country supposed to solve today's problems without the people of today? The new brains developing and using today's technology should be included in the debates concerning the role of technology in government, how technology and government interact, and restrictions on what powers technology can take over. Until this happens, our laws will never be able to keep up with the progress made by technology.
Technology today is all about dividing people. When radio and phonographs were invented, they were about being used by the family and small groups. Computers, however, are all about being personal. Portable technology is very much geared towards personal use. This naturally separates people. So, by its very nature, today's technology is dividing people and making them more distant. The image portrayed by pop culture of a family all on computers in different rooms, texting and iming each other instead of interacting face to face shows a frightening picture of what technology could do to human interaction. What would be the point of ever leaving your house if you can socialize on facebook, work from home, hold skype conferences, and watch videos of events around the world?
From the outside looking in, technology has pervaded every part of our daily lives and, apparently, made it better. It now takes seconds to cook food, video cameras can record every movement of an actress for a movie, and it only minutes to download said movie onto a computer (yet another recent development). One area that technology has been completely revolutionized is business. Transactions involving millions of dollars can now be sent at the click of a mouse. Paper money seems to be an oddity and plans have even been made for the cessation of the minting of pennies. The recording of different aspects of business takes multiple Microsoft programs and are impeccable down to the last thousandth of a decimal point. Our new system of recording, using a complex web of computers, calculators, programs and the internet, has made billionaires of millionaires and vagrants out of those too unfortunate to afford such technology. This is worlds apart from nearly one hundred years ago, when owning your own store was commonplace and the world wasn’t ruled by corporations (powered by computers). Transactions were recorded in a notebook and if your computer crashed, you could live on.
ReplyDeleteMany people seem incredibly perturbed by the sudden occurrence of technology into our lives. “Consequences” has a negative connotation, but I believe that the “consequences” of this new system of business is simply the change of society over time. I’m almost positive that when papyrus scrolls were introduced, it had more than a couple critics but look how society has adjusted to it now. It is true though, that not all new forms of business and recording have completely positive consequences, nor make life easier. Without the crutch of “human error,” people are held less responsible for their own work. People begin to stop recognizing money as an actually, tangible thing but as numbers on a computer screen. Important decisions are made on the dime, which sometimes ends in unsavory results. Technology, which is constantly shaping the way we live our lives, can create disaster just as quickly as it can make tedious jobs easier.
I often find myself wondering at what cost technology comes to us. Not necessarily cost from our pockets physically but from our persons’ morally, ethically, and characteristically. Technologies are created for ease, efficiency, and overall success. There is no doubt that all advances have achieved these goals but they have at the same time altered those who use it in irrevocable ways. The advent of the internet, for example, was intended to be used as a quicker transfer of information, which it is. Who would have guessed the internet would become what it is today? The beauty of the effortless methods of gaining access to the world’s information has backfired and created lazy users who are distracted by the allure of mindless social networking, online shopping, and other services provided by the World Wide Web. The television also had the same intentions of transferring information in a quicker and more pleasing, personal manner than the radio. Television has evolved into an entirely new monster, created by those who allowed the “consequences” of the new technology to be negative after abusing its purpose. Comparatively, one could argue that the printing press produced massive consequences upon its arrival in the 15th century. Previous to this phenomenal apparatus, the traditional method of transferring knowledge was either to write copies by hand or share through oral transmission. Like any sort of written technology, the ability to remember vast quantities of information is ruined by the simplicity of writing it down and storing it until it is needed again. I am not arguing that the printed word was a detrimental development. However, I am arguing that as technologies become more advanced and cater to the habits which cultivate laziness, the gap between the pros and cons of new technologies will only grow farther apart and the consequences will soon outweigh the advantages.
ReplyDeleteTechnology has definitely been a revolution, especially in the Twenty-First Century. It has led to many advances in medical procedures, discoveries, and even to education. However, it has also hindered the creative mind in some ways, limiting the brain to think only in terms of technology. My mom, for example, is a kindergarten teacher. Similar to our generation, her students are given free-time to play and be creative, though this free-time is not as expansive and consistent as it use to be. In the free-time that her students are allowed they will often be at a loss of what to do, asking my mom, "What should we do?" In reply, she would say, "Pretend." And they would follow with, "What is pretend?" or "How do we pretend?" Though I'd like to say that this is a made up story, this in fact has happened on numerous occasions. Children of today are so plugged into their video games and television shows that they do not experience what the kids of the 1990's did in respect to being a child. Instead, they do not allow the expansion of their mind through ideas that are not technological, such as an imagination, but rather grow up too quickly. I am not saying that technology is necessarily horrible, but I do believe that society has taken a sick twist into relying on it for every aspect of life. What ever happened to playing tag outside until the sun sets? Or jumping in piles of leaves? Or even taking an adventure to the moon in your own backyard? I blame technology with this obvious divide.
ReplyDeleteTechnology is part the modern American culture. It is not only linked with literature but also with politics, health, sports, relationships, and different academic subjects. For example, at The Florida State University a student cannot take a math class or any class without being literate with computer technology. I feel as though literature is the only subject that is not in favor of technology because language is one of the topics that is under the scoop. The link between literature and technology is a weird relationship, but it is also one of the most dynamic relationships technology creates because digital text is thoughts made public and the computer makes this simple. My example of technology divided engendered via technology is location difference. In America technology is a fundamental skill. But in other countries it is considered a luxury. For example, my family is from Nigeria and over in Africa technology advances are late compared to world powers like China. When my grandpa comes to visit my family and I in America he is always shocked by the new advancements technology has made. When I was 12 I was texting on my phone while I was sitting next to grandpa and he told me to stop making lost distant phone calls because it coast more money. Little did he know I was sending a message to a friend and it was free. I explained to him what text messaging was and he fell in love. When he was my age cell phones didn’t even exist and he is behind the technology literacy rate in America because he is from Nigeria. The consequence of this divide is that not everyone will gain the knowledge of technology advancements and this puts them behind other individuals around the world. A person can be very smart but have a lack of resources and be considered an imbecile.
ReplyDeleteA perfect example of a divide due to technology is my grandfather. As a radio sports caster and a spanish magazine sports writer the most technology use out of his day was the system he used to broadcast his show and the printer when he first started 40 some years ago. Technology since then has changed more quickly than his ability to grasp any of this forward going movement. The magazine changed from printed press to a website where he has to learn how to work a computer, the younger employees of course grew up with the knowledge of computers which forced my grandfather to have to try a lot harder than the others in order to keep his job. He had to learn how to check his e-mails when most of the other younger workers were receiving them on every type of technology such as phones computers laptops ect, without difficulty. He had to change a lifestyle he had become so familiar with in such little time in order to guarantee himself a career in the future or those who could better understand the new technological advances would take his position. Not only did he have to understand how to work different programs on the computer but it was also about using the internet. Without his ability to quickly grasp this knowledge of posting on the website or emailing a submission for a post, a lot could have been lost.
ReplyDeleteBecause technology has been growing and spreading so rapidly without really having a moment for any one to breathe and enjoy one item, its cause a bigger divide in the generations than I think anything in the past has. My grandpa was able to learn how to use all these different technological devices because he "needed" to, but try and teach my grandma and that is a completely different story.
The rapid development of technology is astounding. A new, better version of the iPod is released practically every 6 months, camera models are improved at this rate, phone companies introduce similar models every few months, etc. It is all about the competition and being able to keep up with the competitors.
ReplyDeleteI was talking to my dad the other day, on my cell phone..., when he told me about this new gadget he saw at the store that he really wanted. This gadget works for iPhones, iPads, or Androids and allows the owner to swipe his credit card and pay for things online or make direct deposits into his bank account. It's a small square that simply connects to your phone, and BAM!- a payment is made with 2.75% interest.
When I saw the prompt for this blog, I immediately thought of this small gadget and how it can divide vendors at a flea market, as a crude example. If one flea market vendor only accepts cash, but another has this technologically advanced card swiper, the consumer that has no cash on hand will make his way to the vendor with the card swiper. There has been a divide in the consuming of goods due to this new technology. Even though this example serves to be minuscule on a global scale, it still shows how technology affects our daily lives in the smallest ways.
Because we have embraced technology, it has seeped into every facet of life and advanced at lightning speed. In some ways, we were right to embrace it. Technology often makes our lives easier and more enjoyable. We have cameras to record and capture our memories. Because we have the internet, we have easy access to a wealth of information about any subject. Computers and programs have revolutionized business, medicine, education, and the world at large. Still, there are large issues with technology, especially as it advances and begins to advance at a faster and faster rate. We have embraced technology to the point that it has all but infiltrated our life. Our lives may be easier and more enjoyable, but with ease, we miss out on vital life experiences. We cross lines of privacy and propriety, and we create divisions.
ReplyDeleteIt is quite clear that technology creates a divide between generations, but it is changing so rapidly that these divides have become even more drastic. At the risk of sounding overly critical and much older than I actually am, I think the true extent of this change can be seen by looking at children today. Having taught a class of them in Sunday school, I found them extremely unimaginative and easily bored by the childhood play I used to enjoy. They begged for media stimulation (i.e. to watch television, to use the instructor’s laptops), and had gaming devices checked at the door. There was no “make believe” to speak of. Mostly, when left to their own devices, they talked about television shows, and bragged about who was getting a new MacBook, or an iTouch (neither of which I even own, or care to own), or whatnot for their next birthday. Because technology is so advanced, so widely used for entertainment purposes, and so widely available, childhood, and consequently life itself, looks different than it did ten years ago. It has permeated every aspect of life; by looking at these children, who have never known a world without gadgets and lightning fast computers, we see just how much it has infiltrated our society. Additionally, I’ve had my younger sister come home from school and tell me that students in her class used internet slang and “chatspeak” in their essays, and had to be lectured extensively about it. Where grammar was once painstakingly taught in schools and was once considered common knowledge, children, with their access to instant spell check combined with their obsession with the internet, not only fail to learn the rules of the English language, but abuse language completely. Technology has changed the way we think, write, and process words and information, and clearly, not for the better.
I think that technology has always been about bringing people together. With so many advancements, we see it easier for the world to become a smaller place. People communicate across oceans within seconds, where there would have been no possible connection between the two centuries ago. This has brought people together from so many different places and I think that it encourages acceptance throughout cultures. People have larger mindsets knowing that their lifestyle is not the only one.
ReplyDeleteWith so many benefits, has there been a divide created because of technology? I think so. There is so much technology around us, we absorb everything, the media, the social “interaction”. I think it is harder to connect with the ones around us. It is harder to focus in the moment when you are thinking of the rest of the world and what is going on and what you are missing. Computers are something you usually sit at by yourself, even though you might be interacting with others, it is a personal thing. This will always be a divide between a person and the people around them.
The best example of a technological divide has got to do with my grandfather and his cell phone. Granted, he is a solid 70 something by now, and yet is now an owner of an iPhone. Not that he needed the technology that an iPhone has to offer (the apps, music, internet access, emails, etc) but it is the phone that his service provider suggested as the "best they had". Keep in mind that once he got it home, I had to teach him how to simply unlock the screen with the slide. Technology has changed the way that we process information and has revolutionized nearly every aspect of our lives. Though my grandfather only needed the phone as a phone, to make and recieve calls on, he still bought the iPhone for himself and his wife because that is what the technology provided for them. Where can you find a phone currently that only makes calls, with no service plan or touch screen? With the constant change and evolution that is technology today, teaching him to use his iPhone this summer with that software will be null and void by Christmas. The "latest and greatest" item only lasts as long as something better doesnt come out to replace it. The consequence of this kind of technological divide is that we are constantly in a losing battle to keep up with the newest advancements society is implementing. While the salesman had convinced my grandfather that the iPhone 3G was the best he had in stock, it has now been replaced twice over with new updates and features. Technology has a way of making us forget that at the end of the day, it is still a phone..
ReplyDeleteThe greatest divide may be the generational gap between people who were raised with current technology and those who were not; however, I have seen huge gaps in geographical use of technology. America is seen as this hugely technology based society, which it usually is. Unfortunately even in a country as advanced as America, there are areas that are years behind others when it comes to technology.
ReplyDeleteIn particular, I'm thinking of my family's home town in North Carolina. Compared to most cities in America, this town is full of elderly people and lacks the same rapid technological growth that other places have seen. Many of the restaurants are owned by "average" small business owners and still don't even accept credit/debit cards. Hotels there still advertise that they have color TVs, not wireless internet or even cable. Many of the older people that I know there have not bought a computer and many of them probably never will.
I think of this geographical gap within our own country and then think of the fact that other countries are far behind even our small towns. Technology has made life more connected and faster paced, but there are definite areas that it has yet to revolutionize.
Technological advancement has created a divide between different countries of the world. In places like America, Asia and most countries in Europe we are more advanced than other countries. There are some countries that do not even have consistently running electricity like we do. This makes it hard for anything technological to develop there, let alone good medical care, food and clean water. We hear about these countries all the time. We always see the commercials asking to donate so they can have clean water and enough food to survive. But even in countries with technological advances there is a great divide similar to this in their own back yard. There is the divide between the wealthy and the poor. The poor cannot afford the technology or the comfort that technology has brought us. They have to live without some of the comfort even if it means not heat in the winter or no car to get to work.
ReplyDeleteWe live in a digital age. Technology is everywhere, and all around us. It helps us to stay in touch with our loved ones, and finish tasks quickly. It helps teachers to communicate concepts to their students, and it allows students to complete better projects. With all of these positive things, it would seem hard to believe why anybody could ever complain about the ever growing relationship between man and machine.
ReplyDeleteThe real question is, is technology creating a divide in modern culture? And I believe the answer to be yes. With the development of texting, instant messaging, and social networking sites, I believe that it's easy for people to interact with one another, and still never see another living soul. In short I believe that technology is creating a divide between the personal and impersonal. People with access to the newest technological devices, mostly people in first world countries, would rather text someone instead of calling them and having a conversation. Another perfect example would be if a friend arrives at another friend’s house, and instead of walking up to the front door to knock and let his friend know that he has arrived, he will send a text message instead.
"My junior year, I took a literature class with a professor who was about 80 years old. She was extremely intelligent and had been teaching for 50 plus years. When she was going over the syllabus, she explained that she did not use email; therefore we would have to go to her office with any questions or concerns. She found no problem with this but the class was extremely confused. We all, immediately, felt disconnected from her.
ReplyDeleteNew forms of technology have replaced traditional forms of communication and technology is only growing. Most student/teacher communication is done through email and this has proven to be both convenient and beneficial to all parties involved. Because of my professor’s either lack of computer literacy or refusal to adapt to this new age, a disconnect was created between her and her student."
I noticed the difference between technology and it's consequences. Throughout my early education, technology was only sparingly used in class. The teachers were not sure of how to use digital equipment to enhance the learning experience. And of course, when they don't support something, people rebel. All of middle school was characterized by cell phones in class. But once i was in high school teachers started using technology to advance their points. Although people still texted in class, I noticed it was surprisingly different. People didn't text to rebel, they texted to text. Bizzare banter, but fun for a blog lol
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