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It would be highly ironic if I was to identify myself as a Luddite given that my background in teaching encompasses educational technology and pioneering technology projects for NYC and the state of CT. Yet, I shall be the first to admit that the misuse of technology can compromise learning. Am I a Luddite? Perhaps to a small degree I am because I have observed in my own work experiences that technical systems have evolved to control us rather than to serve us. More and more students are becoming overly reliant on spell and grammar checkers and on Internet web sites that provide them with a plethora of information they have no idea how to sift through. I also remember asking a dad in one of my children's extra curricular activity if he got lost finding the site of the activity (I think it was a NJ Special Olympics event). He said no because he always relies on his GPS. I have a GPS and appreciate the convenience of automated navigation, but I still would like to have a general feel of the map of a particular destination I might be going to.

 

 

"THE MACHINE STOPS" by E.M. Forster (1909) is a chilling, science fictional, short story  about the role of technology in our lives. Written in 1909, it's as relevant today as the day it was published. It begins with a conversation between a mother named Vashti and her unhappy son Kuno some time in the distant future. People no longer live on the surface of the earth but in air-ships. Vashti lives in a single room which consists entirely of technology and machinery. She spends all her time in an electronic arm-chair and is grossly overweight. The ventilation, lighting and also the music in the room are electrically controlled. When Kuno calls her, he tries to explain to her his dissatisfaction with life as it is. He says he would like to see and to hear her in real life and not just through a technical communication machine. Kuno asks her to pay him a visit. But unfortunately Vashti does not agree with his idea. She is of the opinion that it is sufficient to see one another through the phone machine. Besides she has no time for visiting. When they cannot agree Kuno´s image in the machine plate fades and Vashti is alone again. http://www.gs.cidsnet.de/englisch-online/klasse11/foster_machinesto...

The moral is escalation of technology could isolate people.

 

Luddism

Cultural change necessarily involves resistance to change. The term Luddite has been resurrected from a previous era to describe one who distrusts or fears the inevitable changes brought about by new technology. The original Luddite revolt occurred in 1811, an action against the English Textile factories that displaced craftsmen in favor of machines. Today's Luddites continue to raise moral and ethical arguments against the excesses of modern technology to the extent that our inventions and our technical systems have evolved to control us rather than to serve us and to the extent that such leviathans can threaten our essential humanity.

http://carbon.ucdenver.edu/~mryder/itc/luddite.html

Tags: Luddite

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Replies to This Discussion

Am I a luddite? Maybe, I don't think all change is for the better. It merely reflects what goes missing sometimes. I miss manners and making change, I miss the time and thought spent on a thought, I miss a lot of the things that require time and reflection that today's attention addled world misses --- like baseball pitching duels, like taking the time to go home and study your multiplication facts, like saying "by the way" instead of BTW, like long hand written letters in your post office box, like one income households so one parent can stay home, like men opening doors and taking off the woman's coat, like the courtesy and class of saying please and thank you, like teachers wearing nice clothes in school, like saying sir and mam, like not calling a teacher Mr J or Mr D ... Yes I don't all "cultural" change is good. I like genuine style and class like a young person giving up his or her seat for an older person, like stopping to help somebody in need, like not blaming your parents for all the ills or neglect you feel, like hard work, like merit mattering ...

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