While technology is supposed to make things simpler, it can also severely complicate things. Besides the computer viruses, dreaded blue screens of death, software compatibility conflicts, Internet connection failures, and standard technology hiccups, I find the lack of personal interaction enabled by technology to be the most frustrating. I watch my son increasingly prefer to chat via pictochat on his DS with another player sitting next to him, versus talk out loud. At school, I see students sitting side by side text messaging each other. Kids these days would rather sit and play computer games than play outside with their friends.
Are we losing our ability to communicate with other humans directly? When I ask a student in class to put up their phone, I might as well have asked them to detach their hand and lock it in a box. I appreciate technology, but I feel that it is a cold means to live by. I have never been a fan of phone conversations when I can meet and talk to a person face to face. I feel that we should be enabled by technology, not disabled by it.
Now people say, "Why should they learn this fact or learn to solve a problem when they can google it?" Well I do not think that we should stop personal learning, if we do not use our brains they will atrophy. Is not allowing a student to cease to learn to think for himself and use google instead just another form of enabling? So my greatest frustration is that I feel too much technology will result in the loss of our ability to think and generate original ideas for ourselves. I also feel students resist learning more these days because they would rather take the easy road and GOOGLE it. So next time you think about text messaging, or calling someone versus going for a visit think of this... can your phone make you feel as good as seeing a person smiling and laughing in person?
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