I believe that it is important to make knowledge relative and keep in in the realm of human capabilities. I think if you spent too much time showing what technology can do, we run the risk of students not caring to construct any knowledge of their own. In math for instance if we only teach children what to type into a calculator or how to manipulate a spreadsheet they won’t have any knowledge as to what is being calculated. There is also a risk of technology limiting creativity if it is used as a tool to find answers for questions. Research is a great skill but critical thinking is far more important. Technology definitely affects the way children interact socially. Youth today practically send their every thought on their iPods through twitter or facebook. There is also no longer any social forgetting. If a kid does something embarrassing and it makes it to facebook it is kept there forever making them feel embarrassed and bullied for years and years. I think that the idea behind social networking can become very dangerous in the future. I don’t think we need to wait 10 years to see what Turkle’s research implies about the impact on relationships and society (1997). The overuse and reliance on social technology is already showing as many, if not more negative impacts as there are positive ones on society in general. Perhaps it will fade out and come full circle, people might get fed up and “revolt against the machine”?
References:
S. Turkle (1997), Seeing Through Computers, The American Prospect, Vol. 8, Issue 31