I highly recommend it. I've talked about pendulums before. I know that I have a tendency to be on the side of technology as a positive thing. Therefore I always try to read any critical analysis I can find. This book is doing an excellent job of raising key issues that parents need to pay attention to when it comes to technology and children.
However, I was reading one paragraph and one sentence really jumped out at me. Here's the paragraph from page 64.
It's the last sentence that really struck me. "The immediacy of connecting as we do in texting interferes with the natural neurological and psychological process of communication." The word natural is what hit me. Earlier in this paragraph the author is referring to phoning someone and writing someone a letter. It appears to me that she is suggesting that those modes of communication are natural.
Except they are not. One is the product of the technology of a landline and the other is the product of the technology of paper, pen and the post office.
I wonder if so much of our fear, misuse, and misunderstanding of the newer digital technologies are just because they are new and we don't know how to handle them yet.
Fair point Alex. My thought would be more along the ability to see the reactions of the person we are talking to and minutely adjust to the others reactions. The immediacy of texting and sending doesn't allow for it. The letter does give pause before sending as it takes time to mail it. The phone has some reaction back you work with. Maybe it's the reactions the author is thinking about.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the author that there is a significant difference in how we communicate via text and email compared to phone and letter. It's why I'm reading the book! I just find it fascinating that phone and letter get thought of as "natural".
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