this story originally appeared in the philippine daily inquirer on September 9, 2000.
Forty girls in blindfolds and with huge paper bags over their heads, pounding with all their strength on the heavy keys to the beat of Milli Vanilli’s “Keep on Running.”
No, that scene wasn’t from some war camp where prisoners were being forced to do intense labor. That was our typing class when I was still a high school freshman 10 years ago.
Back then, that method didn’t seem so funny. It was the only way we could be taught how to type with the right fingers and without looking at the keyboard. But in this day and age, when every single person I know has an e-mail address and is armed with a cell phone, that scene certainly looks primitive.
We are in the digital age. We are living in these times when everything can be accomplished faster and easier. With just a click of the mouse, everything becomes possible: a letter is sent, information appears, terrorists are blasted and even love blooms.
Our entire lifestyle has been changed. A few years back, we went to the library and rummaged through archives of books for research, now we just type in a keyword, click on “search,” and a deluge of information flashes before our eyes. No longer do we run to the post office, lick stamps and pray that our letter doesn’t get lost with the inefficient postal system, we just type the letter, click the “send” button and in a matter of seconds, the other party will hear “You’ve got mail!” And do you still remember those days when we were asleep by 10 p.m.? Now time flies by so fast, and though our red eyes are starting to pop out of our heads, we don’t notice that it’s 4 a.m. and we’re still playing those I-can’t-stop-till-I-win-and-get-to-the-next-level video games.
The changes are unceasing. One day soon, we’ll be having those things that we only see in sci-fi movies and the Jetsons. The digital revolution is seen as the solution to all problems. The microchip, some say, is the best invention of the last century. And yet, is technology as great as it seems to be?
There may be downsides to the highly acclaimed digital age. Even a few media gurus say that technologies such as e-mail, the Internet, online business and shopping, multimedia learning, etc. produce shallow communication, downgrade the quality of education, remove the process of learning to do things, trivialize relationships and dull the skills we have to employ in everyday life. Others believe that technology has been flooding us with information, and because of its huge and chaotic amount, people have no control over it and don’t know what to do with it anymore. We have probably seen how kids these days prefer their computers to books, resulting in the mangling of the English language and a shallow level of thinking. We are sometimes guilty of getting impatient with minor mishaps because we have become used to speed, simplicity and comfort offered by technology. We have also observed and maybe even have experienced how new forms of communication, such as e-mail and cellular phones, can easily make or break relationships. We see an even greater disparity between those who can afford technology and those who can’t. There is also an evident discontent among those who can afford technology and yet are clamoring for more.
Given all this, is technology something that we should applaud or curse?
Every day, I spend 80 percent of my waking hours in front of the computer. I spend at least an hour surfing the Net. I send email to an average of 10 people. I know the workings of various programs from word processing to multimedia authoring, and I still crave to learn some more. Not to mention that I don’t leave the house without my cellular phone, I’m saving up for a Personal Digital Assistant and a laptop and upgrading my PC, which is already a part of my life cycle.
I know that technology is not always good. I know that my PC could crash any time (knock on wood!) and my life, which almost wholly depends on it, would be shattered as well. I am aware that technology has simplified a number of tasks, consequently blunting some manual skills and aptitudes, and turning people, including myself, into lazy geeks. And of course, I feel (quite heavily) that I am losing money on account of technology.
So am I a “technophile” (someone who loves technology so much) or a “technophobe” (one who fears and abhors it)? Neither. Call me a fence-sitter, but I just don’t think I can be put in either of the two extreme categories. My great interest in information technology does not blind me to its limitations, but its drawbacks do not make me swear off technology completely.
The mishaps of technology, whether big or small, come with the package. Nothing is foolproof and perfect. Yet one should not be suspicious, apprehensive, or even hostile to it. I once read that, “Because technology can be ethically and responsibly used, there is no reason to fear it.” We therefore should know how to control technology, not the other way around, and the only way to hold its reins is to comprehend what it’s capable of doing–both from the technophile’s and the technophobe’s point of view.
Welcoming and accepting the “digital age” is the best thing to do because of its inevitability, but it shouldn’t make us totally stop doing some things the traditional way. See what would work best for you. If you think that you will learn to type best the paper-bag-and-Milli-Vanilli way, so be it.
