In all the globalization thought of this course from the first week it came to my attention, I am not global at all. Is this a weakness. No I do not believe so. I view this as a person that believes the best way to learn to trust a person is to build a relationship with them not over a computer or a skype chat but to truly meet and understand the person.
We often look to technology as a saving grace. We all love technology especially when we are looking for 10 articles for an annotated bibliography. However, I find the whole human absence very distrubing. I compare this to church on television. You can get the message but if God is in all of us what are we missing if we do not attend service. We are missing the people that can ask how we are or how our family is doing. Not to say some of the technology can give us the human contact.
Maybe I am off base here but as we lose contact with people could we be losing contact with our fellow man?
No Brad, I do not think you are off base. This very thought is addressed in Born Digital chapter 11: LEARNERS. The human connection is still important. Technology can enhance our experiences. How I see it...I see parents often hand their young children their phone when they get fussy or need something to occupy them. At school I put children in cars in the carline and the DVD is playing ready for the trip home. As the first grade teacher I want to hand them a book...the kind that has pages with words.
ReplyDeleteYour comment about church on television reminds me of the church in California (nationally televised) that has a "drive-in" feature where you drive into the lot in your car, hook into a speaker on a post, and listen ("attend"??) the service without ever leaving your car. Your point is well taken.
ReplyDeleteI think you make some valid points, Brad. I will tell you, though, that my 74 year old parents are overjoyed now that they know how to text. They used to talk to their grandkids about once a week, but now they hear from the kids every single day! These text messages have not replaced the phone calls, but they certainly happen much more frequently than the calls. I feel like it would be a shame for technology to replace other methods of communicating, but I also feel like it is a wonderful tool to support these relationships.
ReplyDeleteBrad - It is hard for me to get "on board" even using the word globalization. To me, it is political and in my mind, it is a bad word.
ReplyDeleteI think we are dealing with an ever-expanding technological society where everything we want is at our fingertips. I do think that is good, but not at the cost of giving up decision making authority to the "global" leaders, i.e. states giving way to federal mandates, nations trying to implement global standards, etc.
It is a double-edged sword, my friend!