Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age?
Posted under Computer Science, Tech, The Internets, This is AWESOME! on Aug 24, 2009.
I just read an interesting opinion column about technology illiteracy over at TidBITS. The author, Adam Engst, argues that as technology becomes easier to use and hence more transparent, society has lost the ability to converse about technology.
With that, comes a generation of people who can find information on the Internet proficiently, text message at ridiculously high speeds, and do any number of standard computing tasks (word processing, email, IM, etc.) fluidly – until something goes wrong, at which point they become completely helpless and haven’t the slightest clue how to fix the problem on their own.
At this stage, these people will probably throw away their “broken” iPod and buy a new one, or bring their computer into the shop for costly repairs. Even if they realize that the problem is fixable, they lack the vocabulary to express the problem clearly and so they find themselves unable to coax Google into giving them useful search results that help them to fix their problem.
Here are some highlights from the article, but I recommend reading it for yourself:
Dissatisfaction is the mother of exploration – only if Safari or Internet Explorer isn’t meeting your needs do you have much impetus to learn about and switch to Firefox. So the better technology works, the less we’ll learn about how it works.
I’d argue there was a more insidious effect from the loss of manuals – it caused an entire class of users to become technologically functional while remaining technologically illiterate. When I asked my mother-in-law, Linda Byard, what browser she used, she became somewhat flustered and guessed at Outlook. This is a woman who uses the Web fluidly and for all sorts of tasks far more sophisticated than simply browsing static Web pages. And yet, the fact that she used Internet Explorer to do so escaped her.
. . . Being fluid with technology doesn’t mean you understand how it works or can fix it when it breaks. Being able to dash off text messages on a mobile phone demonstrates fluidity; being able to troubleshoot a dead Internet connection down to a corrupted preference file or flaky cable demonstrates understanding.
Before Apple, before the IBM PC, we had mainframes and minicomputers that we interacted with via dumb terminals. You couldn’t do all that much, and you were sharing resources with many other people, but you also didn’t have to worry about things going wrong as much, because when they did, the computer operators would fix them.They were the gatekeepers, the wizards who controlled access and could say who was allowed to do what. Personal computers were supposed to democratize computing so anyone and everyone could do their own work. While that’s come to pass in some ways, it seems to me that we’ve returned to the days when you need a wizard to solve problems or do anything beyond the norm. It’s a somewhat uncomfortable situation, since those of us who grew up with personal computers are finding that we’re the new wizards.
via TidBITS Opinion: Have We Entered a Post-Literate Technological Age?
Update 10/07/2009:
I just stumbled upon a cool video from Google that attempts to explain what a web browser is to non-techies. Props to Google for mentioning Chrome competitors Firefox, Safari, and even Internet Explorer in the video! I love Google!
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thekeesh.com » Technology Literacy
October 7th, 2009 on 3:39 pm[...] also read a really interesting post by my friend Feross (read here) where he talks about technology making things so easy that people no longer have the vocabulary to [...]
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Feross Aboukhadijeh - Stanford, CA
Hi, this is Feross. I'm a computer science student at Stanford University (class of 2012). I'm interested in almost every aspect of CS, especially Internet technology, web development, and search engines. I like running long distances, basketball, video games (especially retro games), and shiny gadgets.
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What am I up to?
See the full stream...March 9th
"Almost surely" - This article made me laugh for some reason. I love Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_surely [FreeTheFeross]
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Kill Dash Nine -- Download the MP3!!! http://www.monzy.com/intro/killdashnine_lyrics.html [FreeTheFeross]
How to Construct an Informative Presentation - LOLz http://bit.ly/buWGTJ [FreeTheFeross]
Census: A Little Too Personal http://bit.ly/cuahfV [FreeTheFeross]March 7th
The Jobs Of Yesteryear: Obsolete Occupations : NPR http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124251060 [FreeTheFeross]
Cartoon characters cut out of paper and put into real life. These are so cute. http://bit.ly/apoVLW [FreeTheFeross]
Slow It Down http://englishrussia.com/?p=9400 [FreeTheFeross]
12 Embarrasing Street View Shots on Google Maps http://www.uphaa.com/blog/index.php/12-embarrasing-street-view-shots-on-google-maps/ [FreeTheFeross]March 6th
Opposite of fail http://shar.es/mHglQ [FreeTheFeross]
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I support
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Meta
October 7th, 2009 on 1:00 pm
Feross, it’s been at least 8 years since we’ve talked, but I liked your response to the article. I can’t pretend to be nearly as educated with computers as you, but even I’m surprised when my friends have troubles with their computers, and the second I bring up vocabulary like display drivers, etc, I get blank stares.
With companies like Apple making things simple enough for my little sister to use, not that that’s wrong, people stop learning why and how their computers are working the the first place.
October 9th, 2009 on 3:20 pm
SEAN!
I guess it just makes people who DO understand their computers (like us) that much more powerful and productive.
Conversely, it makes people who DON’T understand their computers that much more dependent, unproductive, and weak (which isn’t very good for society as a whole). If you don’t understand your technology very well AND you are unwilling to learn, then you can’t make your technology do what you want, and you’ll be helpless and easily taken advantage of (think online phishing scams, fake “you have a virus!” pop-ups, and the like, which harm so many people every day).
To some extent, you’re right. It’s awesome that my 5-year old cousin can use the computer to surf the Internet and play games, without help from anyone. Yet, it doesn’t mean that people should just STOP learning about the most important tool (other than their brain) that they will ever use during their lifetime. It’s something that’s really worth learning.
By the way, it’s great to hear from you. We haven’t talked in so long! I still remember how all of us used to play two-touch football on the field outside Mr. Harrington’s room. And I think in 4th grade you and I flushed an army man down the toilet and made it overflow!
Those are good memories.