Something that has been repeated throughout of classes is that as much as things change nothing is new. Chapter 2 of Nancy K. Baym’s book, Personal Connections In the Digital Age, compare the words of Plato who thought writing things down would cause forgetfulness and Nick Carr who thought that the instant gratification of technology is deteriorating our attention span. As technology progresses, it is in our nature, and especially our major to compare things to how they used to be. 

My comment on the blog “Avoiding Technology: Is it possible” I began to think about how I used technology as a kid, how I use it now, and how kids use it now. I wrote that, “Back then, in fourth grade, technological life had not encapsulated my life like it has now. In those days the highest piece of technologies we cared about were our NintenDogs, portable DVD players and the fancy new Smart Boards that all the teachers raved about, but none of them seemed to know how to work. Technology was not in our back pocket yet”. This thought that technology has changed so much since fourth grade made me begin to think about the advancements with multiple perspectives

First I thought about it with a technological determinism perspective. We still played outside as kids all the time when we went to dinner we either behaved or we were dragged out on time out. We always had to ask how to use the school office phone and were so excited when our grandparents rented video cameras. These days children have Ipads that distract them into behavior at dinner tables, they all know exactly how to use technology sometimes even more than we go and they must just be staring at screens all day right? Are the machines changing them? Will those darn kids these days grow up without learning good behavior or social skills that they need? My thinking on that after reading is kinda, sorta. We had TV and the generations before that had radio. There are always changes in technology and they will always be open for critique. I remember doing homework on different things on the news and other educational Television shows as well as having computer classes in elementary school. Folks from older generations may have thought these things were going to melt our brains in the same way I started critiquing the fourth graders these days with their Fortnight and Kindles. There is yet one example of things changing, but not so much.

Next I tried to think of myself and children these days in relation to technology with a Social Construction perspective. This means that society changes technology. I was thinking about the Razor Phones and Ipods coming out and how our “attractive peers” as Baym calls them, all had them and made us all want them. Then came phones with Ipods right on them and we all had to have them. I thought this is a classic case of supply and demand. As people want certain things, and think certain things are cool and impressive, they are improved and created more. From a child's standpoint, if I tell the child I am babysitting that something is the dumbest thing ever, they are going to refuse to try it and tell their friends it's the dumbest thing ever. But when fortnight came out, they said it was the coolest thing ever and the company continued to improve and the kids were more and more addicted to it. It goes on like this.

Overall Technology really can only be viewed with a “social Shaping Perspective. This is a middle ground for the two. Technology becomes part of our lives and it grows with society. As much and as fast as things change, it's all comparable. As Dr Mary Elizabeth Ray said in class, “These critiques are as old as the alphabet”.