Technology brings people together. It shapes the way how we, of this (privileged) generation, interact with one another. Phrases like “Google that” or “Facebook me” pretty much grew up with us. We probably didn’t realize such phrases gained meaning only recently. Ask Shakespeare or Aristotle. Then ask your 4-year-old niece. Consider where you are right now on this planet, reading this blog. You probably don't know who its author is. In a way, technology unites people of common interests and promotes community. If online communities do exist, how should such online communal relationships be cultivated? Can technology function like strong and deep roots to keep relationships growing? Isn’t technology amazing and scary at the same time?
Technology can keep people apart too. Some people would rather text or Facebook message their friends even though they live just down the hall. Could this be a cause of many people's fear of public speaking? If so, how are advocacy and lobbying affected? For its powerful society-shaping potential, those before our generation either have to learn how to keep up with technology so to keep up with their children or grandchildren, or they are left sitting on the sidelines.
Thanks to technology, human communication received a facelift. Shakespeare could have been a billionaire when he was alive; Aristotle could have started an online school. Wow.
CAVEAT: I have nothing against Facebook. In fact, I occasionally use it to ask people to lunch... and perform counter-intelligence on identified stalkers.
1 comment:
There are no simple answers to the question of how technology interacts with and affects human community. Lately, though, I have been thinking more and more about how the question of technology cannot simply be asked generally, but we must look further into how technology is used by different groups of people. Particularly I think there is a lot of work to be done in exploring the technology divide between developed countries and developing countries. A fascinating example of this has been the use of open-source software to get more technology resources into developing countries. Open source software is free, often highly efficient (look at the Firefox web browser), and is communal by its very nature. Open source software represents a powerful potential for many developing countries, and is a contrast to the proprietary software laden societies of developed countries. This is not to say that open source software is not being used in developed countries, it is, but rather that it has a different kind of meaning. For many in the developed countries, open source is still a geek's arena, and the majority still rely on traditional proprietary software. In developing countries, open source software is being offered as the default standard in some cases. All of this is to say that technology is being used in a myriad of different ways throughout the world, and rather than any single unified account of its affects, we should look to how different groups of people interact with technology, and especially to do so with any towards greater social justice.
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