I went out of town last weekend. You can see what my dog thought of the whole thing. My husband stayed home with her, but from the sounds of her cries as I pulled out of the drive way, you would think her heart had broken.Anyways, I went without my laptop or my iPod touch. From Friday to Monday I was without access to my usual technologies. Before the weekend was over, I had to borrow someone else's computer to check my e-mail.
MILI has taught me that there are almost unlimited tools online. Some are best used in the education setting, others for personal use, but all require us to spend more time in front of a screen. While I have greatly enjoyed this and have used many of the tools, a question I have to ask is how much time should we be spending with our computers?
I worry personally, because I want to have balance in my own life and I worry professionally, because I know students who can text message, IM, e-mail, and facebook, but they cannot hold a face to face conversation. How do we determine good guidelines? For me at this point, it is a rhetorical question that I am struggling with. If anyone has a good answer, please feel free to let me know.
1 comment:
The average person is now spending 8+ hours a day in front of a screen. Is that not scary for us a society of social beings? Don't just take my word for it: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/business/media/27adco.html.
We had techno-cheating today in an AP exam. I would no sooner be a Web 2.0 "groupie" than a "groupie" of other educational tools.
Like all other tools, we need to remain the "masters of the machine" and not the other way around. Enthusiasm for new tools is great, but means nothing without the insightful choice of what is of value...or not.The principles of fung shui, older than ALL of us, would agree..
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