Baron, Chapters 1-3
Summary
Baron
discusses the history of writing and how it fits in with technology in Ch.
1. Going back to our reading of
Phaedrus, Baron reminds us that writing itself is a technology, and one that
has not always been welcomed. He reminds
us that writing was once feared for its effects upon memory. In the second chapter, “TecknoFear,” Baron
discusses how new technologies have always been associated with an element of
fear. For example, he discusses the case
of Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, and his dislike of technology and relates this
case of a luddite to those that claim Thoreau was a luddite as well, abandoning
technology for Walden Pond. However,
Baron points out that Kaczynski was incorrect in citing Thoreau in his cause
because althought Thoreau did often escape to Walden Pond, he was also in the
pencil industry, a technology that is more complicated than we perceive it
today because, just as the case with writing, we often take these technologies
for granted as we have become so accustomed to and reliant upon them.
Critique
I liked Baron’s writing style as he
is somewhat easier read than our previous chapters, but is still well
researched and academic. I especially
like his discussion of technology through the perspective of what he presents
as almost case studies. For instance,
for his discussion of technofear, he uses Kaczynski as his case study, and for
his discussion of technologies we take for granted, he uses Thoreau, both
people that I have not thought of in light of the discussion of writing as a
technology.
Connection
Baron made a few connections in his
discussion of society’s seemingly innate fear of technology, at least by some,
and education: “Even the deceptively untechnological pencil became a victim of
the wrath of educators who feared the impact of new technologies. For much of their history, American schools
allowed no crossing out” (Baron, 2009, p. 44).
He mentions other examples of education resisting technology as well.
For instance, he discusses teachers who went back and forth about whether or
not to hide or introduce the spell check function of word processing. In addition, he also discusses teachers’ fear
that calculators would decrease students’ ability to think mathematically. I wonder why education has historically been
slow to adapt technology and how this has effected education. In my research on technology and literacy
there is much discussion over the inability to use technology because of access
to technology, a lack of hardware, software, or inefficient internet
connections. However, this chapter made
me wonder if we are not also trying to overcome a luddite ethos in education. If this is the case, how might education be
changed if the system of education saw technology as a priority?
Your post is very similar to some of the questions I had with social media. It is interesting to think about how social media has taken over the world, but yet, there still seems to be a lack in it being taught to younger people in the school system. In my opinion, I think that it should be a facet of the education today. Social media is a great way to connect, post ideas, promote companies, etc. but with these positives come negatives as well. Having the freedom to say whatever you want has its consequences and I think how to "properly" use social networks should be engrained in the youth's minds. Social networks are a great way to connect, but it also can hinder many opportunities therefore education needs to see technology as a priority so that we can gain the most positive experience from social media.
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