Between CEP 452 and CEP 416, I've learned a lot about different types of technologies and ways to incorporate them into my future classroom. It is amazing to me how many different types of technologies there are out there, and how each of them offer so many different possibilities. As a result of this, however, our society has become incredibly dependent on technology. Personally, I have no idea what I'd do without it. I've recently fallen in love with online shopping, simply because of its convenience and my ability to get my holiday shopping done in my apartment. If I want to order food, instead of calling, I can now view the menu, schedule delivery, and pay online. Instead of talking to a friend face-to-face or scheduling a time to meet for lunch, I can Facebook, text, email, etc. to get in touch. Instead of going to the library to rent books for a research paper, I can look up almost any book online and read it, or find online sources in order to get my papers written and homework done without leaving my apartment as well. In fact, a lot of classes and homework and exams are administered online as opposed to having a scheduled class time and meeting face-to-face! Why are we so dependent on technology? Two (or maybe even one) generations ago, our grandparents had absolutely nothing technological to rely on, sometimes not even a TV. Even still, my grandparents openly refuse to touch cell phones, computers, the Internet, etc. and solely rely on a home phone and TV.
According to the New York Times, technology is taking a toll on society. The first line of the article stood out to me the most: "Are your Facebook friends more interesting than those you have in real life?" It is almost entirely true of my generation, because the word "technology" for my generation is typically nowadays defined by "Facebook."
Almost everything we do utilizes technology, so, as I asked before: Why are we so dependent on technology? More importantly, what would we do without it? I, for one, can't imagine living in my grandparents' generation, and find it interesting that they similarly want nothing to do with my generation that is so dependent on it. Unfortunately for them, however, I don't think society is ever going back to the time when technology didn't exist. At this point, we are forever dependent on technology.
I completely agree that our society, especially today's youth has become tremendously dependent on technology for their daily tasks and routines. I do not know however if this is a bad thing. Think of all the amazing cross cultural, cross generational communication and collaboration just in the realm of Education and then Special Education that has occurred simply from technologies such as blogging on the internet. Social Networking has been taken to the next level, and it is crazy to even imagine what will be the newest form of social networking when we have been teaching for 20-30 years.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
Interesting idea about facebook-I feel as though I rely way too much on technology. What did we do without cell phones? I think it's a pity that we are losing hold of simple things like a book...a newspaper. One of the things I loved doing when I was little was going to the library to pick out a book, well now there are things like Kindle and ebooks that are taking the 'need' for things like books away. I love technology don't get me wrong, but I don't want to see things like books disappear.
ReplyDeleteYou raised a lot of important points in this post! I was thinking the same thing just not long ago. We use facebook, twitter and blogging to express to others some of the different thoughts we have about things and it's become such a dependable form of entertainment that without it I don't know what I'd do! The point you made about our grandparents not being as "into" this stuff as we are is another good point you address but it made me think of some of our parents who weren't as into the high tech world but has "fallen victim". Neither of my parents do, but I have plenty of friends who have parents on facebook and twitter! I always find it interesting how even at older ages, they are still learning and adapting to the new things that our fastly evolving tech world has to offer!
ReplyDeleteI find the development of technology very interesting. I think that it is definitely very beneficial but that it has negatives as well. For example you talked about how you know longer have to call someone to order food or to have a get together and that you can just text or facebook. I find this interesting because I find myself always texting people instead of calling them and I hate talking on the phone, however my parents always get on me because they say it is a skill that I am going to have to have in my professional life and that I am not going to survive by texting or using facebook. However sometimes I wonder if this is true, in that I wonder if facebook will turn out to be the main form of communication and if social network sites and other technologies will continue to grow.
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