This project was quite interesting because it made us think about how big of an impact new technologies have on society. My section ("Relationships") was very interesting, and there is so much that I would like to tell about it but I’m supposed to talk about the presentations other students made. I picked “Living Fast”, “Learning” and “Virtual Worlds” because I thought they were really interesting.
The first one, “Living fast” caught my attention because at first I could not understand the relation between the title of the section and what it was about. I learned that 60% of a little kid’s brain grows and is getting formed by what he uses it for… This person in one of the video said “What kids do or don’t do affect them for the rest of their lives”. We also debated in class how focusing is compromised by Internet because of the multitasking getting bigger. I think we could discuss that… Some people actually focus better when they read a computer screen than a book. That kind of scares me a little bit because I’ve always been told that looking at a computer screen to often and too long will affect the vision… And that would be why most of those persons wear glasses (that sounds crazy but I’ve read a lot of studies about it). Since a lot of things will become virtual, we are all going to have to adapt… Classes are already taken on the computer by a lot of persons, for example.
They say technology is invasive… My opinion? I totally agr
ee. The problem isn’t that it’s getting bigger and newer every day… It is that we have NO control over it. We don’t have another choice but get used to every new gadget they invent, because living in society disowning technology is just impossible. We have to keep up with it… What if we don’t want that for our kids? Because who knows what they will invent next…
The second topic that I picked was “Learning”. Is it possible to teach kids with video games or on the computer in general? Of the debate we have had over this, those that were the closest to my opinion were for example how real world doesn’t work like video games. And it doesn’t! Why would we be teaching things to kids that they are never going to use? Because the point of school education is to prepare to a job, and life after school isn’t it? In general, I don’t think video games are a good thing for kids. They start to play young and it becomes a severe addiction… I’m a book person. I think there is nothing better to learn. Even just reading a novel will teach you the grammar… On Internet our vocabulary is very limited, and the use of text messaging is ruining the grammar. Another thing is we don’t focus on information because they are too many… Adults cannot do it. How would a little kid be able to, when it is the age you have to keep an eye on him all the time because they are so impressionable?…
Finally I am going to cover my last pick: “Virtual Worlds”. The one was really interesting, and I remember the class debating over it for at least an hour. This guy in one of the video was talking about the videogames and said, “Neither good or bad, it’s the use that is intended to”. It is a great quote, and it sort of resumes the general opinion about video games but it is not mine. I think most of them are very violent, and shouldn’t be allowed on the market. The most popular ones are about killing people and… that’s it! What is there good about it?
Another thing was very interesting… When they used digital for therapy to an Iraqi soldier: they wanted him to revisit the terrible experience he went through. I thought it can be a good idea because it making people re-living bad things that happened to them makes them release all the inhibitions and things they have inside of them. We are like an iceberg: the most of us is hidden deep inside us. When the ex-soldier is experiencing that, he starts to sweat because he feels like it’s real. The big question is are we soon going be able to virtually feel?
My last point about this section will be video games addiction. Who defines it? I don’t have any question at this answer… I just know that when the kid starts to play 9hours in a row without a break just to finish his game, there is a big problem. Some people said: what’s the difference between spending time trying to get better at football or video games? Well here’s the difference: any human being cannot spend 9hours in a row playing football without ANY break. He has to sleep, eat, and drink. Do video games make you forget the basic functions? I think it does. And that’s what is sad about it… I sort of experience it myself when I start watching series online, when I’m into it I cannot stop. It’s miserable.
Like I said this project was very interesting, even if the debating part in class was not always easy… I learned a lot of things, realized a lot of things too. Now I think the main question after all this is: are our body and our mind able to keep up with technology??
