Where are we going? Will the
world be totally grey, made of steel and rocks, led by robots? Would not there
be any beautiful, natural oasis, where to rest from the mechanical world? Will
we eat modified food from tubes like astronauts were doing?
More and more similar questions
come in my mind thinking of digital culture.
Actually, it does not mean that
world should become extreme world of technology. Technologies are often the
sign of development – we can produce things faster, easier, often in better
quality. However, there is a dark side too again – people should learn how to
work with these technologies and not always it is easy for them, technologies break
down, they make mistakes and then there is no talk about qualitative products
or faster work anymore.
One day I had to meet my friend
in Riga who was hitchhiking from Vilnius. On that day I had forgotten to charge
my phone and it was almost charged off when my friend should be in Riga. He
managed to call me to say that the driver would not take him till the bus
station where we arranged to meet and that he does not really know where is he
and that he also does not have Latvian money to take a bus. When I began to ask
questions what is around him, my phone charged off. I was desperate. I asked
one guy to give me a call, but while the talk I just understood approximately
where my friend is, but not how to get there. Afterwards, I found the right
transport, went there, but I could not find my friend. It was long bridge where
I was walking back and forth hoping to see him in some of the bus stops. No
sign. It was already getting dark. There were few more people whom I asked to
give a call, but not all of them understood the need of it. In the end I got a
phone from one nice couple who also knew the names of the bus stops around the
place. I found my friend after 1,5 hours of distraught walking on the one of
the bridge access roads. This was the time when I valuated the power of
technologies.
If I think about the future,
present and past in everyday life, then yes, of course, I wouldn’t like to
write essays by hand, I wouldn’t like to go to the post office and stand in the
queue just to send a message that my friend can meet me next Monday at 11:00
next to the Monument of Freedom. However, now it is a bit terrible – I get up
in the morning, awaken by alarm clock in my mobile phone, I push the “Turn on”
button of my computer – even before making breakfast or having shower, I have
20 mails in my e-mail, half of them are advertisements and spams, what take my
time to sign them as Spam, I call my mom through Skype, I chat with my friends
on Facebook, I work using just a computer and internet and so on..
What about education? It is
fantastic that we can study online and we can learn together with people all
around a world. But what if children in schools will really have a need to have
Ipad for studies, books will be something
forgotten, children wouldn’t learn how to write, they would do more and more
other things (surfing on internet, playing games etc) while they should listen
to the teacher. Actually, similar talk was on news in Latvia before some time –
one little Ipad would replace books
thereby children shouldn’t bring 15kg to school and then back home. But they
didn’t think about poor people, children activity, smashing or stealing cases
etc.
Is it good or bad? Is it good
that I can be wherever I want and I can work, chat and speak with my closest
people whenever I want? Is it bad that everyone can follow me, seeing my IP
address or coordinates? And where are our natural needs – being outside in the
fresh air, being physically touched by other people, laugh together in real
life, where are the beauty of nature? Is it all in the photos, videos and
virtual connections? No, it’s outside!
I like the development of
technologies while it doesn’t ruin our lives, while it helps us to live easier,
and the main thing – while it doesn’t make us totally DULLS. Using technologies we should get smarter, we should know our past and understand the present. What do you think about the development of technologies and e-learning?
