Changing Technologies
One of my grandfather’s favourite sayings is “The more things change, the more they stay the same”. I found myself thinking of this phrase a few times in the readings and audio programs. In the chapter The Judgment of Thamus, the title character expresses skepticism about the development of writing, and in the Cambridge Forum they touched on the concerns of people about the introduction of codex books and the printing press. Today we are concerned with the effects of digital technology. It seems to me that for every new technology there is a concern with the lasting effects upon ourselves and our society. I feel that it is appropriate to question developments occurring in our society while at the same time to remember that we as a species are always changing and evolving and so things are not going to remain the same.
One aspect mentioned by Dr. O’Donnell is that new technology does bring a change, and even though it could be a large change, it is not as calamitous as people had though, at least so far. He used as an example the introduction of the printing press which had a very large impact on society, especially in regards to diminishing the authority of the Catholic Church (Cambridge Forum, 1999). Postman (2011) also makes a good point about how we don’t know how our new technologies will be used in the future. His example was of the clock and how it was intended to be an instrument to assist the monks for the timing of prayers, and now the world runs on clocks and time management. I think this shows that there is no way to know for sure the outcomes of integrating a particular piece of technology.
Another aspect that was brought up in the Cambridge Forum was that of balance. That each piece of new technology comes with benefits and detriments. One example of this is the amount of information that is available through the internet. This can be a good thing, as noted by Willinsky (2002) the more information available to people the easier they can make informed decisions. He explains that an informed public will be to contribute more to the democratic procedures. However, it is also possible to be overwhelmed by all of the information that is around. It can be exhausting to wade through it all to find the authentic information. As mentioned in a response to a question about the validity of websites at the Cambridge Forum, there is good information out there but there is also a lot of trash. I really liked how they handled this question because they didn’t say how bad the internet was for producing this “trash” but instead explained how there has always been difference of opinions and interpretation of facts and all the internet has done is put you in more contact with these varying pieces of information. I think this is really where education comes into effect, to learn how to critically judge a piece of information and decide which sources are reputable.
On an episode of Quirks and Quarks, Dr. Zuk stated that something to the effect of “evolution is a continuous process with no perfection” (McDonald, 2013). Even though she is an evolutionary biologist and was discussing human evolution on a biological level, I feel that this comment is applicable to our changing society and the technologies that bring that change. Although it is right to be concerned about massive societal changes, I think it is also important that we learn from the paradigm shifts that have already taken place. In our culture writing is so commonplace it is almost impossible to imagine life without it. Are our memories worse because of it? Probably, but the human world keeps moving along. Above all, we need to be aware of our history but also move and change, hopefully with some critical thinking to which changes we would like to keep and which can be let go.
Sources:
Cambridge Forum. (1999). From papyrus to cyberspace.
McDonald, B, narr. “Paleofantasy with Dr. Marlene Zuk.” Quirks and Quarks. CBC Radio 1. April 17, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Quirks+and+Quarks/ID/2381902835/
Postman, N. (2011). The judging of Thamus. Technopoly: The surrender of culture to technology. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Retrieved from https://books.google.ca/books?id=gYrIVidSiLIC&printsec=frontcover&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
Willinsky, J. (2002). Education and Democracy: The missing link may be ours. Harvard Educational Review, 72(3), 367-392. Retrieved from http://pkp.sfu.ca/files/Democracy.pdf
“In our culture writing is so commonplace it is almost impossible to imagine life without it. Are our memories worse because of it? Probably, but the human world keeps moving along. Above all, we need to be aware of our history but also move and change, hopefully with some critical thinking to which changes we would like to keep and which can be let go.”
Nicely phrased, I totally agree. In fact, I personally think that as long as we keep critical thinking as a main goal, we should not be that worried about change in general. Thank you for your post.
Hi Catherine,
You make an excellent point when you say “there is no way to know for sure the outcomes of integrating a particular piece of technology.” People are always reinventing new ways to use things. Whether it be a drill in the workshop being adapted to be used by a dentist, a hammer being to break up rocks instead of hammering in nails, or digital technology to not only give information but now to gather info, there are always creative new ways to use what we have around us. I am finding my students to be particularly inspiring in their ideas for how technology can be used in different ways.
Last year I managed to get 7 iPads for my classroom. I was planning to use some simple math apps for basic fact reinforcement. The students started coming up with other wonderful ways to use them! They wanted to surf the ‘net to look for images of wild animals to draw, to look up “how to….” videos, to use the camera to capture photos of 3D geometric shapes around the school during our study of geometry. I think what is dizzying is that so many of us are trying to run the marathon of learning the basics of new technology and how it can be used when already there is something new being introduced. As a result, we are often under-utilizing our existing technology. My own children want to shop online rather than go to the store, telling me that they can find what they want far cheaper and faster, instead of settling on what is in stock. Never had I dreamed of shopping from my living room!
Change is certainly inevitable. It will be interesting to see what happens in the years to come.
Tina