Isn't it absolutely astounding how we, the young generation of tomorrow, are engulfed in the finite details of the modern technological age? Where is the line drawn between gorging ourselves on the tools at our disposal and retaining our privacy?
Every new generation of technology makes older ones more accessible. Example: the latest model of iPhone may be ghastly expensive, making one that is 1 generation older now affordable.
Everything is becoming digitized; which is probably a good thing. But, is it entirely a good thing to not retain a hard copy of data? What happens to businesses? When will the internet, remote-servers, networks, hard-drives, etc. become so reliable that we switch entirely over to electronic record-safekeeping?
Key word: safekeeping. How private are remote servers, or "cloud-computing" practices? For me, this is one of the most intriguing tech topics that is emerging (alternately, if you're in the tech world, this is old news). Do we trust that a third party will keep our secrets secret? How can they?
Technology runs every aspect of our lives. In fact, we have become so symbiotic with tech that we have no control over how it impacts our lives. Think about the medical field (automation and tools) and engineering feats (drawings, structural calculations); there's no way we're ever going back to the days of guess-and-check and multiple assistants, blueprints and algebraic scrawls.
That's all been left in the dust. Where do we stand now?
Ponderer,
ReplyDeleteThis is a question I've spent time thinking about as well, not only in relation to my personal online safety (my electronic chart at my doctor's office), but also in relation to education. First, many districts are moving toward managing students' files electronically - again, I am forced to wonder about your question and how "safe" these files really are. I have heard horror stories of comments teacher's have left in old paper files; I wonder of some will be lulled by a sense of security and have a lapse in professional judgment when maing statements about students. Finally, there are still a significant number of homes without computers; we need to be mindful of this when conducting classroom business online. Granted, these families have access to computers at public libraries, but that is assuming that they have the time and available resources to get to the library. Also, if we're asking families to use public technology, are we having them access information on the safest, most secure servers? While I agree that technology rules the day, I feel that, as an educators, a balance must be struck between electronic use and good, old-fashioned paper and pencil.