Trying to understand how new gadgets, iPads, smartphones, tablets, Kindles, and whatever else you can name are changing the way we learn, I’m prompted again with an annoying error message: Technology.
Sure, back in the day, when regular mail became electronic, remotes were without cords, and phones could actually be carried “mobilely,” using the word ‘technology’ seemed appropriate. It made sense to know that ’technology’ in Greek meant ‘art,’ since we were witnessing new forms, with the world acting as its gallery.
But now, the term ‘technology’ seems too formal, sounds too weird, mechanical, a ’technical’ abstraction— separated from reality.
Technology used in the old way reminds me of how my mother uses the word, computer. She speaks about it as so different, distant, disjointed, and always foreign from her real world.
But in reality, ‘technology’, is ever-present, seemingly integrated naturally into our daily lives. Emerging innovations makes it a lifetime companion, a new edition to the family, again and again. It is already a common language shared around the world, speaking many tongues with variety.
So, I think we should find a better term to reflect just how well it functions today, labelling it in the right way to fit its continuing leading role.
You know, if I told my mother that I will order a new refrigerator to be sent tomorrow (never reminding her that a ‘computer’ will make the order) she would appreciate how it made her life easier, rather than having to make a special trip all-the-way to Sears.
