We have never been as connected to each other as we are today. Technology has invaded our everyday lives and in the modern day it is almost impossible to not run into some type of computational device in our day to day routines. A large portion of us feel alone if we don't have our phone on us, even if its for a few hours time. We have become a culture were our smart phones or devices have become apart of us. Watching videos, updating statuses, shopping, or browsing the internet is so common that its becoming rare to see someone just sitting without an electronic device. It is super important to understand not only the benefits of technology, but also the consequences it has on our daily lives.
While technology has has an overwhelming positive effect on education, I do believe there are some negative effects that come from relying to heavily on this type of learning. Online interaction has one huge difference than that of face to face communication. The chance to read what you want to send before sending it. The possibility to perfect what you want to say, and have no regrets of misspeaking. It sounds like a great thing, but what if you take a person that is used to that type of interaction and put them in a room where they are forced to interaction without the safety net of the backspace bar.
One thing I have personally noticed that over the past few years it has become increasingly difficult to find employees with phone skills. Instead of finding those with customer support skills and teaching them technical support skills it has become almost a polar opposite. It makes me think that we only a few decades away from having to teach face to face communication skills in our online courses.
This talk by Sherry Turkle is incredibly interesting, and delves deeper into the topic. As someone that has worked in the IT industry for the past decade, this video really made me think "wow, I had never thought of it that way before". I encourage anyone that uses any type of technology in their day to day lives to spend 20 mins and watch this video.
While technology has has an overwhelming positive effect on education, I do believe there are some negative effects that come from relying to heavily on this type of learning. Online interaction has one huge difference than that of face to face communication. The chance to read what you want to send before sending it. The possibility to perfect what you want to say, and have no regrets of misspeaking. It sounds like a great thing, but what if you take a person that is used to that type of interaction and put them in a room where they are forced to interaction without the safety net of the backspace bar.
One thing I have personally noticed that over the past few years it has become increasingly difficult to find employees with phone skills. Instead of finding those with customer support skills and teaching them technical support skills it has become almost a polar opposite. It makes me think that we only a few decades away from having to teach face to face communication skills in our online courses.
This talk by Sherry Turkle is incredibly interesting, and delves deeper into the topic. As someone that has worked in the IT industry for the past decade, this video really made me think "wow, I had never thought of it that way before". I encourage anyone that uses any type of technology in their day to day lives to spend 20 mins and watch this video.
Corey,
ReplyDeleteYour post made me want to improve my post, make it better for everybody to read, I think you really have a way at getting through to your audience. You were able to make your point in a fascinating, emotional and direct way . I especially loved your insight on the backspace bar. How true!
When I was in high school I participated on the debate team and was in the drama club. I had a ton of self confidence and had no problem getting up in front of a crowd and speaking. Now days, it's not the same. I suffer from anxiety, and confidence issues. Whenever I have a class, I have to present in front of, I get extremely nervous and stumble over my words during my presentation. Even face-to-face, my body language is awkward and I have the same problem with anxiety.
This topic really hit home with me. I don't own a smart phone, by choice, and they didn't exists until I graduated from high school , so I didn't grow up with one. However, I ask myself, even though I'm not tethered to my phone, does the impact of my family and my friend's owning one have an impact on me too?
One thing Sherry touched on that I think everybody should be talking about is how technology is taking away from conversations with our children and in turn we are not teaching our children what makes being human so special. This may be the most detrimental part to having technology at our finger tips. This is a scary thought. Even for me, a person that has never owned a smart phone and has not sacrificed time with my daughter to use my phone. However, it's scary for me, because I live in a society where this is happening everywhere and I see it all the time. Out to eat, in my daughters classroom, everywhere.
This topic has yet been explored and in fact, we may not totally understand it for a long time to come. Thank you again Corey for a great post. It is posts like these that really make me understand the value in technology and it makes me curious to want to explore it more. Only in moderation though. ;)
Nicole Barnes
Thanks for the great insight Nicole! It's crazy to see how the younger generations are being affected by all this information. I was actually talking to my sister today who has a five year old and she mentioned that hes perfectly fine as long as he has some type of device to play with. Its hard for me to relate to this because I didn't get my first smart phone until I was entering college.
DeleteYou bringing up debate team actually makes me think of something funny. Back in the day before you could Google the answer I used to be pretty good at debating. Now my go to approach has become "that doesn't sound right, let me Google that".
Hey Corey,
ReplyDeleteI wish more people could see this video and understand that this is exactly what is happing to their lives. This video with be shared with people outside of my PLN to help those who need to reconnect as people.
Thanks,
T.J.
It's an interesting phenomenon that there is very little research on. Glad to hear your going to share it with you PLN.
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