Sunday, November 25, 2007

techno-dependence

alright folks, this one is short and sweet.

we are so dependent on technology. knowing about it and how to use it has become a very critical aspect to our daily lives. just the other day, we were providing our students with time during class to type up their papers that were soon due. not all of the students have computers at home. the question that arose for me as an english teach is this: english class has always been there to teach students about communication and language. but technology has taken that definition to the next step. a student who cannot type will fare very poorly in today's english classroom, while he or she could have done perfectly fine twenty or thirty years ago. have we become too dependent on technology?

a conversation in the grad lab the other day poked some light hearted fun at this issue. we were talking about our thoughts concerning what we have learned thus far in MAC. among the comical responses we were offering up, someone said that one thing they've learned is that before MAC, they were able to live without a laptop, but now they cannot survive without one. we all agreed that we would most likely purchase macbooks in june.

2 comments:

Erdmann said...

Larry,

Your exact last remark has been bothering me for the last few months - the idea that I have to give this MacBook back in June. I'm not sure that I will be able to part with the thing. Also, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I sure would be interested in knowing which "decisions" led to us getting MacBooks (instead of a different laptop) in the first place...
Coincidentally, UM students can get a discount on Apple computers in the basement of the Michigan Union (should we want to replace our beloved MacBooks in June), so strong is the university partnership.

allison said...

I'm so proud to say that i have not yet crashed my macbook yet. Just for that, i will purchase a macbook after MAC (that is if the school that i work at doesn't offer it). but i do think that i've become overly attached to it. it's the first thing that i turn on in the morning and the last thing that i turn off before i go to bed. and other than when i'm walking, i am on my laptop or within 5 feet of it.... i do think there is such thing is over-dependence that come with its negative effects (health and relational)...as well as withdrawal symptoms (rachel seems to be exhibiting it) :P