Lately I’ve had the overwhelming feeling that I’m leashed to my computer. This is a difficult feeling for those that really know me, as I love to be outside. I love everything about it, from the mud to the bugs, and everything in between. So, I am trying to fight back, if only in my mind.
Two things did it for me. First, it was a subscription to Twitter. For those that don’t know, Twitter is kinda like public instant messaging. It can be used for trivial matters (updating people on the status of your dog’s allergies), or for serious collective matters (most commonly, the usage of blogging as a pedagogical tool). Dina is studying how it changes language and relationships. It basically owned my soul on Sunday and I spent gobs of time surfing around and had nothing to show. So I quit Twitter. I’m sure it has great potential, but so do I when I’m actually doing something productive.
Two. This video:
I’ve seen this video in a number of different settings now, and it’s always bothered me. I get the message. The world is constantly changing, in our case exponentially, and dammit, we need to prepare kids better for that world. While I agree with this statement, this video is heavily laden with ideology. While I do think that technology is leveling the world of knowledge, I’m not so sure it applies to all aspects of our lives. The virtual drooling over economic globalization in this video definitely represents a specific value set. And I don’t buy it. It further promotes that whole “Hey kids, you will be competing with India and China for jobs, so you better study harder” mentality. No mention of the companies that ship jobs overseas for cheaper labor. You know, study harder though. It always seems more convenient to put the onus on the individual to attain everything in this world of ours. Classic neoliberal rhetoric. And it continues to promote more of the root metaphors (progress, individual autonomy) that I mentioned in an earlier post.
And, oh by the way, I love the suggestion at 6:00 that computers will soon be smarter than humans. Sweet. Why even teach the kids to think in the first place then? I can’t wait for machines to just take over the world and put us out of our misery.
My thoughts on this are incomplete, and I imagine that I’ll write more later about the confluence of humans (especially as we relate to the natural world) and technology.
And yes, I realize the irony of complaining about technology…on my blog. Ugh.
I got an interesting response to my initial Twitter critiques from Bill Ferriter at TLN here.
http://teacherleaders.typepad.com/the_tempered_radical/2008/01/a-twitter-pushb.html
[...] might go a ways towards explaining why my colleague Joe feels that Twitter is redundant in his life. He’s got the fare already– that is, a deep, admirable capacity for authentic [...]
Joe,
I blogged on the limitations of computers(thus far) after seeing Luis von Ahn’s video again online. Kids do get the wrong idea that technology can do everything-fix anything. I like to show them how languages cannot be understood in their complexity by a computer program. The video is worth the view.
http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/lbilak/
share some thoughts.~Linda
Get outside, Joe.
Technology can put you in touch with everyone else.
Nature can put you in touch with you.
Pete
Hey Joe and all,
One of the interesting things that I see happening in educational technology conversations is a trend towards “either/or” thinking. We either believe that technology is the end all or we think it’s consuming so much of our lives that we’re becoming socially inept and emotionally deprived.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. America, after all, is the land of either/or aren’t we? Heck, “You’re with us or against us,” was George Bush’s first words in the War on Terror.
Competitive dialogue seems to shape every interaction that we have—whether it be about instructional strategies, presidential candidates or favorite $3.00 coffee companies!
What I’ve been playing with over the course of the past few months is finding the balance between using tech as a tool that improves the quality of my teaching and saves me time versus as a time sink robbing me of “real” experiences (although, I’d argue that virtual experiences can be as real as face to face relationships.)
What has been interesting to me is that my online time hasn’t been stealing from areas of my life that were particularly valuable to begin with! Primarily, I’m finding that online reading and interactions are replacing time that I would have spent in front of the television or silent reading anyway.
I used to get home, turn on the telly, have a bit of dinner and stare—with my wife—at unfolding dramas on the boob tube (or within the pages of books.)
Now, I get home, have a bit of dinner, and jump into a digital conversation where I’m an equal participant in a knowledge-building process. I read and respond to blogs, send out a few tweets, moderate a few Voicethread comments…..and go to bed about 3 degrees smarter than I was before hand.
The best part is that these kinds of powerful conversations about my profession weren’t available to me before as I was sitting on my couch! I was limited by time and location. Now, I can tap into powerful conversations about teaching and learning on my schedule.
I’m less satisfied with experiences that don’t allow me to be a participant than I ever was before….and have found ways to participate in the digital world without feeling leashed to my computer.
The key is remembering that it’s MY SCHEDULE! Not the computer’s, or the people in my Twitter network, or the people writing great blog entries….If I want to engage, I do.
If I want to sit in the sun and read, I do that too. The control remains with me.
Enjoying the conversation…
Bill
Hi Joe
Twitter… that’s a weird beast. I have seen some educators get on that and rack up 3500 updates in less than 3 months. Bizarre. Sick. Obsessive compulsive disorder. They need a twitterectomy.
I came to your post via one by Dan Meyer. http://blog.mrmeyer.com/?p=708
Those 5 minute inspirational videos crap me off a little too. Especially the corny background music. Now, if there was a backing track by the Doors or the Velvet Underground then maybe I would pay more attention.
What annoys me the most is when they are used during conference presentations. One presenter showed an 11 minute video at a conference I attended last year. Crikey!
I go to a conference to see a human being and not to watch a pathetic home- movie that preaches an ideology and does not provide practical guidance. I must be in a stark raving mood today. I should start a new blog. “Crap 2.0″.
Like your post Bill. Good point.
Cheers, John
[...] Bill Ferriter just commented on one of my blog posts and then referenced that post on his blog. For those that don’t know Bill, he writes at The [...]