“As technology advances in complexity and scope, fear becomes more primitive.” ―
I’m back at the car dealership. My OnStar works on some days, on other days it doesn’t. Usually it’s decided not to work when I need directions late at night in deep dark downtown Houston or when I’ve got a flat tire. I have already spent three days here with the experts assessing the vehicle computer, ordering the right new part and then installing it. I have to go back to start all over again because the new part is defective. Technology is our liberator and our enslaver – all at once.
In the dealership waiting room we all have to watch the now overly formulaic house flipping television programs. My eyes are rolling back in my head. Customizing a dilapidated house has become a quick fix (with a quick crisis for some drama) that fits into 30 minutes. We long for this kind of predictability but when our technology fails us and the formula won’t produce life’s answer, we get stuck without knowing how to move forward. That’s the real problem.
They have now installed a giant vehicle scanner that I am to drive through (like a carwash) when I come to the dealership for service. When I was growing up, to make extra money on the side, vehicles were repaired in our driveway all night long. The sights, sounds and smells are imbedded in my growing up memory. As I drifted off to sleep, I could hear that power socket wrench whining away. As I drove through that space age sensory device last week, I couldn’t help but remember how simple so much was in my own distant past.
That’s all Dark Ages now. When we first moved to Sugar Land 30 years ago, our auto repair guy told us that just to open the hood would cost $100. All the technology in vehicles required layers and layers of specialization. Up on a jack, late at night, in your driveway fifty years ago is impossible now. Buy my vehicle can tell me when its tire pressure is low!
Recently I spent three days communicating with a customer service technician in India to get my laptop back in working order. After a normal update, it crashed. My contact was very helpful, but it took a long time to get me back to working order. These rare events remind me how dependent I have become on technology to do my job. Learning today has become so dependent on a digital experience.
My wife and daughter were/are digital learning experts. Their everyday mission is to help educators navigate this ever changing landscape and make sure it remains a working tool – not the other way around, a tail wagging the dog. They each love/d guiding others through the confusing dark woods and into the bright light of learning new skills. I’m so blessed to have entered the new frontier with these two. I wish I was a better student! Too often I wait until my hair is on fire.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” ―
As each semester starts I approach my new classrooms with fear. Will the technology work or not? Will I be able to plug in and go with what I’ve got planned? It’s usually hit and miss. The real point is that I’ve become so dependent on my “PowerPoint karaoke set-up” that I don’t really have a Plan B in my back pocket. That’s my problem that I need to solve. I don’t like to do all the talking in classes. I like to use technology to trigger discussion and learning. When my plan is working…
In my Bible Study class this week, for some reason, I couldn’t get my laptop to hook up and “present” on the television screen. Like it does faithfully every week. I turned it off and on, plugged and unplugged, tried to update, even stood on one foot. All of a sudden, the connection happened. Like a three loaves and two fishes miracle. All went according to plan. The whole time I’m trying to figure out my Plan B. Using technology has become a fun new addition to our class each week. But now, I’m very dependent. How does that happen to us?
When we all crossed that river into technology oriented courses I learned the difference between digital immigrants and digital natives. I was an immigrant, my students were natives. I still know just enough to survive, not really enough to thrive. I always resist putting the cart before the horse. Lessons sometimes get lost with too many bells and whistles. I promise, I’m not being a grump.
Do you know that high school students where I am no longer read books in their classes? When they get to college they have real difficulty understanding how to read based on that kind of format. Their instructors assume experience they probably don’t have. It’s a “technology” they don’t know how to work, they’re becoming literary immigrants.
The Atlantic: The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books
“To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.” ―
- I just flew across the country using my phone to access all the critical information necessary.
- Paid a doctor’s bill without ever having to find my checkbook (what’s that anyway?)
- Received payments from friends (from all over) for football tickets this Fall. Put it in the bank, click, click, click
What’s the point of all this? My point here is not to rant but to reflect. Our technology has liberated our lives and at the same time it has enslaved us in many new ways. Especially difficult for those of us who are stuck between transitional shifts. I’ve got to go now and figure out how to file my taxes online this year…do we still have an IRS?
“Our civilization is first and foremost a civilization of means; in the reality of modern life, the means, it would seem, are more important than the ends. Any other assessment of the situation is mere idealism.” ―
The Invisible Man 