I love the meme. They say a picture says a thousand words and this is a prime example. Today, technology have made us into zombies essentially.

ps. Love the rest of the post as well

Yesim, This’s not my blog. But I like this blog as much as you do. It highlights the issues right now concerns parents, teachers and the governments. But my view on technology is that it is a tool, the key question lays on human, how we use these tools. If we use it wisely, we can benefit from it. Take E-commerce for example. It is huge in China. Several of the top E-commerce platform companies (Alibaba and Ctrip) were just listed in NASDAQ. Internet has been the savior of China’s economy.

Also, Yesim. I like your link about “China’s Web Junkies’. I personally know people who were there before. But the main reason of addiction is there is no other fun and engaging alternatives. Schools are boring. No teacher is concerned about inspiring students like we do in this class. Some kids who play video game are really talented. I believe, if we can care about more of students needs, make teaching as inspiring as the games, the kids can use their talent on to more creative things.

I think that is a great graphic that you included! Agreed, we are not getting dumber but maybe smarter in the ways that we can adapt to these it’s. I think that it is our imperative as educators to help our students realize that there is more information that is useful than what can be found in the first 3 google hits. Usually the 4th on google scholar settles it for me :). With anything, it seems obvious that the rewards reaped will correlate to the efforts put into the adoption of the DT classroom.

When I read your post, actually it is my current experience. Previously, I only thought the phone is used for call or texting message. Now with the new technologies, we can use the smart phone to listen to music, watch TV and call others freely using some communication apps. The advantages of new technologies provide some convenient ways to change my life.

As with all tools, the way we use them is what makes the most impact. Any cutting edge technology can be great or a paper weight depending on its use. Information access like you all are talking about is great. I think ,as I mentioned in my post, that being critical consumers of that information is what will lead to the success of those who can adapt to new technologies.

I understand your apprehension in having technology used in the classroom. I have sat in on too many lectures where the main purpose of the laptop is to Facebook and make a shield from behind which students text. I think that there is a great amount of teaching potential in many of the new formats, but will it be worth all of the up front work that it takes to make them run smoothly?

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Boredom is a positive factor to drive people to learn new things. However, with the development of new technologies, information overload also causes people to be boring for lots of noisy data, even some rumor news. Particularly, as a PhD student, we would like to concentrate on our specific research topic, we will be easily distracted by so much information that is irrelevant to our study. Therefore, I would say we should figure out where is the original source of the boredom. Otherwise, I can not concede that boredom can drive someone to learn new things.

Yes, technology allows to have our brains interconnected within a larger net. It is almost as if we are now, more than ever, a social supra-organism, a gigantic ant colony or bee hive. One concern I have, however, is: are we going to be able, as a society, to keep this supranet of information-sharing compatible with individual self expression? A few major lines of thinking are fast being established throughout this new communication and socializing environment, and the community can be brutal with those who dare dissent from that major stream of ideas. As with those ant colonies or bee hives, we can quickly be segregated into castes.

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I like your post. We can know it is really up to the human being’s decision for how to use new technologies such as internet, computers or other digital tools. Of course, we need to admit that everyone has his weaknesses. Only if do people recognize yourself smartly, you can use some strategies to avoid the bad impacts (e.g. loss of concentration) of these model tools.

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well, I agree with you but also disagree. I think one can get away with ‘distractions’ in some classes and not get away with it in others. A class in which a student has to learn a life saving medical technique should be free from any form of distraction even if the student is trying to understand this procedure using the device. He/she can do that later. Another example would be an Introduction to Biohazards lab. You would want all your students to be focused on you in these classes since any mistake they make is yours as well. However, there are also many good sides with technology since it can be used sometimes, with great success, concurrently with a teaching session. It just depends on the class.