Not long ago, I was discussing with our group of experts some of the challenges with all this new technology and all the information known to mankind literally on the palm of every student who was lucky enough to have a parent who bought them a smartphone. When they have all this knowledge at their fingertips, it is no wonder they feel like it is a futile effort to memorize something, “why bother, I can look it up!” Well, they are right, even if we know that there are some things that they need to know (memorize) and think about in order to survive in this world. Let’s talk.
Yes, the digitization of the world creates a different reality, one for which our brains and bodies were not necessarily evolved, therefore human-centered technology is the key, and we need it before we go too far. On the bright side, and it’s a huge PLUS, we open our horizons when we connect digitally in such abundance. And it is not the technology that is the only problem, but how it is used. That is the true digital divide. One person can use the technology to send images of “cats” to friends on Facebook, another can use it to collaborate with canine researchers around the planet to save big cats from extinction. Now the latter is much better, of course, but we must allow the freedom to choose how to use the gift of technology before them, right?
I read an interesting article the other day; “They promised us flying cars, all we got was 140 characters,” which means Twitter is worth $ 10 billion and for around $ 500 million we could have successfully perfected personal VTOL flying machines. Humans vote with their dollars, the average person wanted to have fun with distracting texting and self-validation as they were missing something in their lives, now they want more of that, why? Because they are so busy using technology that they feel even more empty inside, but again, their addictions to these technologies were a choice, who are we to argue about their freedom to choose? It’s hard to say, but yes, I usually agree with you. I’m not personally on Facebook, nor do I have a smartphone for the same reasons that most technologists have considered, but couldn’t do without.
How we teach our children amid all these social media, information, and technology will determine how they will use it in the future. Our entire human civilization is at stake and God forbid if all that technology were to stop working one day.