I *heart* technology. Really. It’s amazing how man has come from making fire to Google. But sometimes, this dynamic technology just drives me up the wall – especially when I have paid for an older model just six months ago or have learnt the older version of the software. It makes me livid, I tell you.
But as usual, I digress. As some of us type our way into a digital future, others are still wary of sinister electronic gadgets taking over our lives. I confess that I am one of them. I’m paranoid because I’m slowly going online. It’s like the Matrix. And eventually, there will be no spoon! I’m scared that I’ll meet friends for a drink in Second Life or start conducting interviews on Skype or Facebook!
But then again, there are those who use those very electronic gadgets to sort their lives out and enhance the way they spend their time. Malcolm Brynin and Robert Kraut, in their paper, Social Studies of Domestic Information and Communication Technologies, wrote about “the effect of these new technologies, as they enter our homes and our daily lives, to change the activities we pursue, the way we perform old activities, our relationships with other people and our personal and economic welfare.” Eventually, someone figured out that computers also had a place in our homes. Soon, the computer became another household appliance like a toaster or iron box. And after the household appliance stage, came the concept of digital divides. And then came issues including privacy and censorship.
It’s frightening to look at how much we have achieved as a species. From fire, we went to the Industrial Revolution. Then came computers and the joke that it could possibly be in every household. It looked like science fiction then, but look where we are now.
It’s no longer about who has access to the Internet and who has access to a computer. If you don’t have either, you are road kill on the information highway.
PS: Now you know why I call myself LadyParadox - I possess the amazing ability to contradict myself.
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