A paean for technology-free(?) childhood

 

My comment on article below:

I don't know about the article below. I find myself wondering how much more I would know and how much more capable I would be if I had access to the internet and fantastic tools like 4 core computers when I was a kid. I remember I had a hard time when I was young finding the books I wanted to read or watching a documentary. Back then video was not on demand..lol! You had to actually wait and see it by chance on TV. Now all the information a curious brain can ever hope for is out there…

However I dont know what impact it would have on my character. I am a person of technology who puts humans first.. the machines should be an extension of the mind.. a servant not the ruler. If I grew up immersed in technology I would not perhaps have the views I have now. It kinda bothers me that everyone seems to be holding and using a gadget all the time… everywhere!  People roam along silently or talking on gismos, and they never have the time to interact or even look each other in the eye. Sure they are interacting with someone on the phone or internet via the gadget but they are not interacting with the people around them. Its like they live in a bubble. I love technology but when do people stop being people and start becoming cyborgs?

 

 

Article: Photo and article (Credit: Matt Asay)

Technology keeps making its way into younger demographics, a trend that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. I caught my 3-year-old trying to send "text messages, Daddy" the other day.

I guess I should teach her the difference between cordless and wireless.

To be globally competitive, the United States does need to inculcate high-tech training earlier in life for would-be developers, and companies like Red Hat have targeted youth as young as high-school age with training programs.

But I don't want my kids immersed in technology too much, too soon. I was a literature major, and still prefer reading Dostoevsky to Ars Technica, much as I enjoy the latter. Technology can assist in learning, of course, including with literature, but I also feel that something is lost when our experience is intermediated by technology, because the rhythm of technology moves much faster than old-world academics and maturation.

Nick Carr wrote about this in his insightful "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" article in The Atlantic, and took a barrage of criticism for it. But there's some truth to the notion that the Internet's immediacy makes us impatient with books or anything that doesn't deliver information in soundbites and searches.

I make my living from software, so I'm not advocating that we dump it anytime soon. Rather, I'm just hoping (and parenting toward that hope) that my kids will grow up playing soccer rather than manipulating FIFA09 on their Wii; that they'll read Tolkien, Austen, and Dahl rather than Nick.com; and that they'll text less and write more prose. We still need people who can do those things.

Photo and article (Credit: Matt Asay)

Written by computerboom on November 20th, 2008 with comments disabled.
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