I am looking forward to reading this book when it arrives.
The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age stupifies Young Americans and Jeopardizes our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30) by Professor Mark Bauerlein.
I have felt for a long time that the dependancy on Technology is changing society in drastic ways, some good, some bad. The home computers and probably cell phones now have more computing power than what was used to send the Apollo to the moon. The dependance on this power envelopes now every part of life from creativity, communication, analytical and computational skills, shopping and recreation. Kids no longer ride their bicycles around, hang out at the local swimming pool and play kick the can. They live at a computer screen playing Runestone or doing My Space. The computers are used to cut and paste or edit an image. No one picks up a paint brush or charcoal pencil to sketch something right from their mind.
The computer gives answers without doing the reasoning or thinking, The answers are taken as fact without researching or validating them.
I think that too much is being lost with the dependency of computers. 10 years ago we were able to work around and think out and solve a problem. I can't tell how many times I have witnessed the hysteria when the computers are down and the stores have to close, you can't do your banking, you can't book an airline ticket or check your bids on EBAY or worse yet you can't get on to MYspace or Email. Everything just shuts down including thinking and creatively thinking or manually working around the problems or even finding something else to do while the technology is down. There is the disparity where those that do not have computers or know how to use them are now forced to do so. Employment applications, Fafsa, Health Insurance claims, Immigration papers, the list goes on and on are all done via the computer now and many of those requireing these resources do not have the means to use them. To top it all they are told to go to the library for the resources and support.
We need to incorporate technology into our lives and education but not blindly depend on it. Print materials need to be retained to compliment electronic mediums not be replaced by electronic mediums. A diverse population needs to be helped not just those that are computer literate. Natural human skills need to be retained and nurtured and not replaced by a computer.
Web 2.0 is great but it is already moving into 3.0 or beyond and many are still in pre web or 1.0 and as we advance on we have to educate and provide resources for everyone not just those that are ahead in the curves. We have to balance technology with traditional resources. How we use technology is just as important as knowing when or how not to use it. The physical world has so many things to learn from, I hope the Cyber World does not replace it with a holodeck.
