Technology to our world today is mostly referring to computers and digital technology; thousands of years ago it was the simple use of writing. With any sort of new technology, and stated by Walter Ong, that it does not degrade life, but enhances it. I believe that with writing thousands of years ago because it helped with the use of communication between people. Writing to past centuries was like the latest gadget coming out and we would have to relearn and redesign everything to fit this model. From the book it sounds like all technology has always enhanced life (i.e. military weapons technology is good for generally one side). For one person the next statement made more sense for technology being good interiorized, meaning to me that it is specific to that people.
Also from Ong’s book he stated “the use of technology can enrich the human psyche, enlarge the spirit, and intensify its interior life;” I’m guessing that he was referring more to the use of writing and expanding of knowledge for humans. For today’s world, I don’t believe that all technology, digitally based, is always “enriching the psyche and intensifying its interior life.” Although the connectivity of life can be useful, I believe we’ve become too dependent on it. It enhances it in the ways we need them to, as in healthcare and safety, but the far reaches of the Internet can suck some people in and they can become addicted to it. Knowing the difference between right and wrong of information can hinder the ability of having a good ‘web experience.’
And so technology can go either way with enhancing life, either used in a good way to help people but not in an over self indulgent way of sitting in front of a computer all day wasting your time.
No comments:
Post a Comment