The digital divide is something I have been aware of, but never really thought about in great detail. I am part of the digitally privileged generation. I have grown up having access to computers, telephones, cell phones, the internet, ipods etc etc etc. They are part of my everyday life, I use these things all the time. My laptop is usually on, my cell phone's always somewhere handy and the internet is a readily available world i can access easily from the comfort of my own home. How much do i use these technologies? Daily- definitely, hourly- yep, minutely- may be not quite, but certainly not far off. For me the one I use the most would have to be my cell phone. It is my primary way of keeping in contact with my friends and family, email comes a close second. Its a way of communicating with friends around the country and the world, that is free and easy. Having pondered whether I could go without these things for a day, I think I could, but it would be hard, very hard. Any longer than a day and I would be getting a bit edgy I suspect. I am a technological dependent. This is interesting considering these things are a relatively recent edition to my life. Up until the age of 13 I didn't have a cell phone, if I wanted to communicate with my friends outside of school I would ring them at home. Nowadays this seems like a thing of the past.
I realise I am digitally privileged, but if I didn't know any better, for example, say I had grown up in a remote village that had none of these things, I don't think my life wouldn't be any less fulfilling. My priorities would be different, cooking dinner, looking after my brothers and sisters and community life and duties would be what my day was filled with. I have to say I think that in this day and age technology is important, but it is not necessarily essential. The 'essentialness' in participating in it depends on the society one lives in and whether a person wishes to remain a part of that society. I believe Porush's law is correct in that aspect.
Are laptops as important as food? I am for OLPC, I think it is a great intiative. Sure laptops don't replace food, but if making these children technologically aware and skilled helps leapfrog these countries that are sorely lagging behind the rest of the developed world into a position where they can begin to have a relationship with wealthy countries that doesn't just entail them getting aid, then surely this is a good thing! Food is important to live, but technology is important in getting the food. Like the proverb 'give a man a fish and feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.' Giving these children technology will enable them to be on a more level playing field with those who are born digitally privileged. They will have greater opportunities in life and be able to provide for themselves. I know this is a very idealistic perspective, but I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing.
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2 comments:
great post - interesting to see you reflect on how deeply intertwined technology is to your day-to-day life, and I liked how you used that to engage with the basic OLPC debate.
Nice work!
it's kind of scary to think about how immersed we are in technology, and how we "need" it on a daily basis... just another example of how much luckier we are in comparision to others, and how much we take for granted. the fact that we can access virtually any piece of information whenever we want puts us at such a huge advantage
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