Okay, in thinking about it, I do have other goals for doing this 23 Things, especially since I already have my Technology credits for this continuing ed go-around. I really do want to learn some of these technologies better so I can do a better job with helping customers. I know just enough about just enough to make me dangerous -- I would like to be as comfortable with helping customers find music online, for example, as I am setting up an email account.
My aversion to setting goals for this -- and fair warning, my intermittent antipathy towards new technologies -- comes from the belief that our culture tends to deify technology when, in fact, technology is simply a bunch of TOOLS. Neil Postman (Amusing Ourselves to Death; The Disappearance of Childhood; Technopoly; Crazy Talk, Stupid Talk; but ESPECIALLY The End of Education) is my muse for these thoughts... he writes that technology, especially in education, has become a god that fails us as opposed to a god that serves us.
If there is a larger goal for using the technology, as opposed to just knowing how to plug something in and use it, then I'm down with that. It's the content-less use of technology for technology's sake that irks me and that is WAY too easy to drop into.
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Yeah, I think for many it's all too easy to fall into the traps of technolust or the status that a piece of technology will bring (see abundance of iPhones in south Tulsa). I do, however, think most types of tech should be examined,even if just a cursory glance, in regards to their potential application for one's life or their job.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there is a steep 'novelty curve' on techie tools. I think eventually the stuff that is badly designed, difficult to use or just plain useless will be left behind for more useful things... or just newer shinier versions.
ReplyDeleteI still maintain that technology is marvelous. What might be bad for one is the greatest thing in the world to another. School use or personal use, it's all up to the user, imo. As with most things, a lot of humans tend to go overboard with a good thing, or with a new thing. It's kinda like when I was growing up. Women wanted some height to their hairdos, so they began ratting the top for a little fullness. Could they stop when they reached a slight peak of perfection? Oh, no. They had to construct the biggest beehive. A small army could get lost in some of those. Give me the option to use that technology or not. Like the long gone beehive, the good technology will stay, the rest will get lost along the way.
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