"While it appears positive and celebratory, this characterization of young people is also strangely belittling: it assumes that young people spontaneously know everything they need to know about technology."
When I read this, it kind of made me laugh. To think that some people out there actually think that young people know everything about technology almost like they were wired from birth to know how to work every form of technology. Of course this is not the case. A young person has to be introduced to forms of technology in one way or another. Then it has to be learned by actually using the technology. There are young people out there that can get their hands on any form of technology and can probably use it without even thinking. There are also young people out there that are not so lucky and only see technology at school or from a friend.
Chapter 1:
"The current generation of young people will reinvent the workplace, and the society they live in. They will do it along the progressive lines that are built into the technology they use everyday-of networks, collaboration, co-production and participation. The change in behavior has already happened. We have to get used to it, accept that the flow of knowledge moves both ways and do our best to make sure that no one is left behind."
Green & Hannon, 2007, n.p.
If you think about this quote, it is so true. If you think of the work place 20 years ago to the present workplace is has rapidly changed. The way someone works and gets things done has changed through the use of technology which in my opinion has made things easier. If we need to get in touch with someone we can use cellphones, emails, text messaging etc... With meetings not everyone needs to meet face to face anymore, there is Skype, Facetime and other technology. These days people can also work from across the world because of all the technology that is available. Change is always occurring and it is not going to stop. The workplace will be different in the next 20 years.
Chapter 2:
"The distinction is, I think, much more about culture. It is about younger people's comfort with digital technology, their belief in its ease, its usefulness, and its being generally benign, and about their seeing technology as a fun "partner" that they can master, without much effort, if they are shown or choose to."
I think it is easier for young people to accept and use digital technology since they grew up with it all around them. With the older generations it was introduced into the world as this new thing that nobody knew really about. I have seen this with family members that completely will not use any digital technology. Before they even try in their minds they tell themselves its too hard or they will never learn. They also say that why go to something knew when the old ways work just as well for me, but I feel that they get left behind when they try not to learn new things. With the younger generations they see how beneficial digital media can be and it is fun to learn.
Chapter 3:
"Universities are losing their grip on higher learning as the Internet is, inexorably, becoming the dominant infrastructure for knowledge- both as a container and as a global platform for knowledge exchange between people- and as a new generation of students require a very different model of higher education."
Tapscott & Williams, 2010, p.18
If younger people are changing in the way learn than higher education has to change with the new generation coming in. If you look at higher education today it has changed because it is getting people ready for the workplace and if the workplace is changing rapidly then the new generation needs to be able to use digital technology with ease and taught parts of technology they don't know about. Higher education nowadays is pretty much completely online the computer and you must be able to know how to work everything.
Has my thinking changed?
I do feel that my thinking has changed on the use of technology and young people. I felt that I was easily swayed to think that technology has a negative effect on our younger generations and their education, but I feel now that this is not the case. I just feel that they are changing with the times like everything else around us. The younger generations are just more comfortable with technology and maybe the older generations can learn from the younger generations that technology is a valuable tool.
Visual Metaphor:
We are not born with the knowledge, we must learn to have the knowledge.
The image I chose was of the younger generation and technology. Technology has to be learned. The younger generation is not just born knowing everything about it. They learn from the adults modeling it around them and teaching it to them. Once they have grown up around it they are more comfortable using it.
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteYour quote from the forward made me chuckle, too! I couldn't agree more with you that (older, I feel) people think that younger folks know all there is to know about technology. How do they think younger people just KNOW it all? You're right; they have to learn it someway. Yes, I believe that kids are being introduced to technology at a younger age. Who is doing the introducing? Parents, older siblings, and even teachers.
I like your comments on how your thinking has changed. I suppose part of me could say that I thought some of the ways children use technology has a negative effect on them. But, realistically, I think that would could say that for just about anything. After all the reading and processing the information into my own thoughts, I have a better understand and a more positive outlook on technology and the way that different generation utilize it in different ways.
Also, your visual metaphor is spot on!
-Amanda
All of your quotes were interesting, but out of all of them I liked the one from the foreword the best. It explains that it is not just the fact that young people have grown up with technology which makes them good at it, but they also use and practice with it often enough to become good with technology. Awesome picture! He's obviously a hipster baby with that old school keyboard.
ReplyDeleteI love your visual metaphor. It perfectly depicts the growing rate at which children who use technology are younger and younger with each passing year. I also like that you spoke on the efficiency aspect of what technology has done for us. It has opened so many doors for long-distance communication as well as effectiveness for the multi-tasker.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your perspective on digital media being a positive outlet for young children, if they have someone guiding them in the correct way to use it. Awesome job!