Living Without Technology
Sometimes technology seems to be a double edged sword. Now that we are dependent upon it, what do we do when we no longer have access?
I am on vacation back home in a small town in Ontario, Canada. Due to the location of the cell phone towers, cell phones love dropping calls here, unless you are standing in the middle of the busiest street in town. I finally bought my computer, but had no Internet service. Luckily my cousin who is good with computers set me up on a temporary account, but dial-up is sometimes sporadic. Add to that my frequent visits with family and friends, and my computer access here is negligible. Many of my aunts and uncles don't even own a computer, let alone use email. And I'm going crazy without my daily email fix, news headlines, weather, Harry Potter fanfiction etc. Not to mention the access to my course websites. When did this happen that I became an Internet junkie?
I wasn't always this way. I started school in the late 70s, and remember record albums, films, 8-tracks, filmstrips. The teachers were so happy when videos came out because they no longer had to set up the projector, thread the film through, and then rewind it laboriously when it was finished. I had a TRS80 computer which I used to make a school newspaper on with the dot matrix printer. Compared to what our students have today, this is definitely ancient.
Maybe I'm luckier than many as my generation is essentially the bridge between the emerging analog technology of the 80s and the digital technology of the 21st century. My mother who was a teacher did not deal well when computers came out. She could make use of some of the software and could do basic Internet searches, but balked at doing report cards online. Then again, she didn't have a computer at home because she could not afford one at the time. And look at my aunts and uncles with no computers. My cousins are all online though. And my niece's generation? At five years old she can do word processing, wants to go online (but my sister does not approve of that yet), has lots of games she plays, can work a digital camera...
This is the same as our students. They have not witnessed the continual development of digital technology. Instead, it has always been there for them. They do not have the learning curve we do as we must continually adjust (cassettes no longer work in your car, must buy cds instead, now must download MP3 files to the iPod) as we remember the older technology, sometimes with a nostalgic fondness. No wonder our students sometimes look at our technological prowess and shake their heads. They have always been in a technological society. We must adjust and adopt to technology that does not always come easy for us.
Media Specialists are at the forefront of this adjustment. In my previous Media Center I used a Smart Board, dvd player hooked up to the projector, audio enhancement, document camera, digital cameras (still and video), computers... I was next in line to receive a tablet computer. This helped push (pull?) me into the digital world and I was considered one of the "techies" on staff. Add to that my online courses and I was continually wired. Until this vacation. 3 days in a car with no Internet! Help!
I am on vacation back home in a small town in Ontario, Canada. Due to the location of the cell phone towers, cell phones love dropping calls here, unless you are standing in the middle of the busiest street in town. I finally bought my computer, but had no Internet service. Luckily my cousin who is good with computers set me up on a temporary account, but dial-up is sometimes sporadic. Add to that my frequent visits with family and friends, and my computer access here is negligible. Many of my aunts and uncles don't even own a computer, let alone use email. And I'm going crazy without my daily email fix, news headlines, weather, Harry Potter fanfiction etc. Not to mention the access to my course websites. When did this happen that I became an Internet junkie?
I wasn't always this way. I started school in the late 70s, and remember record albums, films, 8-tracks, filmstrips. The teachers were so happy when videos came out because they no longer had to set up the projector, thread the film through, and then rewind it laboriously when it was finished. I had a TRS80 computer which I used to make a school newspaper on with the dot matrix printer. Compared to what our students have today, this is definitely ancient.
Maybe I'm luckier than many as my generation is essentially the bridge between the emerging analog technology of the 80s and the digital technology of the 21st century. My mother who was a teacher did not deal well when computers came out. She could make use of some of the software and could do basic Internet searches, but balked at doing report cards online. Then again, she didn't have a computer at home because she could not afford one at the time. And look at my aunts and uncles with no computers. My cousins are all online though. And my niece's generation? At five years old she can do word processing, wants to go online (but my sister does not approve of that yet), has lots of games she plays, can work a digital camera...
This is the same as our students. They have not witnessed the continual development of digital technology. Instead, it has always been there for them. They do not have the learning curve we do as we must continually adjust (cassettes no longer work in your car, must buy cds instead, now must download MP3 files to the iPod) as we remember the older technology, sometimes with a nostalgic fondness. No wonder our students sometimes look at our technological prowess and shake their heads. They have always been in a technological society. We must adjust and adopt to technology that does not always come easy for us.
Media Specialists are at the forefront of this adjustment. In my previous Media Center I used a Smart Board, dvd player hooked up to the projector, audio enhancement, document camera, digital cameras (still and video), computers... I was next in line to receive a tablet computer. This helped push (pull?) me into the digital world and I was considered one of the "techies" on staff. Add to that my online courses and I was continually wired. Until this vacation. 3 days in a car with no Internet! Help!
posted by Jodie Delgado @ 10:45 AM
1 Comments:
At 11:08 AM,
Jenny Beyer said…
Jodie, I know what you mean. If I even spend a day where I can't access the computer, I have this underlying feeling of panic, like I'm missing something critical. That's one tough thing about online classes. It's not like you just attend class twice a week and complete assignments. Instead, it sort of feels like the class is always in session and you're missing something! That has been one thing that's difficult about this summer.....so much traveling leads to Internet-access challenges. However, since you were my group member, I can assure you that you are doing a fine job of maintaining contact. :-)
Your story about family members made me think of my 78-year-old grandmother. I saw her at the beginning of the summer and we began talking about computers. My aunt is really pushing her to purchase one so she can check the news and email family. I think computers are a great tool to keep the elderly (and everyone else too!) in touch and still learning....a great way to "stay sharp" no matter what your age. However, my grandmother is very reluctant to have anything to do with computers as she feels her life is totally fine without one. Anyway, I gave her a brief introduction on how to navigate on a news website. It was really interesting for me because my grandmother had never used a mouse, never clicked on a hyperlink, and never gone to a web address. I have never tried to teach someone with absolutely no knowledge of computers, so it was really interesting. You don't realize how much of technology use becomes intuitive after a while. For example, the concept of moving the mouse arrow around the screen was really hard to my grandmother, as was the concept of right/left or double-clicking the mouse. This little lesson made me slow down and think about technology at the most basic level. I would probably be a much more effective media specialist if I were as patient with my students and teachers as I had to be with my grandmother!
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