Leanring is Changing
Going through the first chapter of Postman's "Technopoly", the phrase that I found most striking throughout this chapter came from page 17 where Postman is talking about the two types of students. He gos on to state, "In time, the type of student who is currently a failure may be considered a success. The type who is now successful may be regarded as a handicapped learner-slow to respond, far too detached, lacking in emotion, inadequate in creating mental pictures of reality." Right now technology, specifically television, plays an important role in the cognitive development of children, and when they get to school this thinking that they have received from television clashes with the education they receive using the written word, causing them to struggle greatly. But, like Postman states, "they have become failures because of the media war going on right now...and there is no reason to suppose that such a form of knowledge must always remain so highly valued." At the end he is referring to the possibility that learning may be in the process of changing more from written word to reality.
One new technology that came to my mind right away is "Facebook." As many of us know, like all technologies Facebook can have its benefits and it definitely has its downfalls. On the good side it allows people to keep in contact with each other, such as old classmates or distanced friends or relatives, and it can be used for file sharing for things such as photos. However, I do feel that, like text messaging, Facebook helps people avoid personal communication and a willingness to not converse with their peers. Now this isn't bad if you are just sending a friend a quick message, but for example, I know of a story where someone ended a relationship by changing their relationship status to "single" without personally talking to the person they were breaking up with. Now, I don't know about you, but how can people expect truthfulness from interpersonal communication when there are instances like this happening? Is a genuine one on one conversation ever going to be the same again?
Comments
On NPR the other day there was a segment about Facebook. It was really interesting to listen to because loads of people calling in where trying to convince others that facebook is a bad thing. Their main argument was that you lose the personal touch if you communicate through the computer. I feel however that it is good because it allows you to keep in touch with people you wouldn't normally talk to over the phone. I also think that it is good for other things too.
Posted by: Kathryn N. | February 23, 2009 7:16 PM