I am a technophobe.
So much that is vaunted as huge technological advance is just an excuse for us all having to buy and use yet more machines.
This is especially the case in education.
A simple class quiz on the whiteboard, or even blackboard, that children needed a pen and paper to take part in, now requires every child to have a smart phone or tablet, the teacher to be able to project the quiz onto a very expensive smart board and the results to be generated and stored on an electricity guzzling cloud .
We are told this is environmentally better because no paper is used and we are supposed to be stupid enough not to recognise the enormous environmental impact of requiring every child/teacher/classroom to have a computer and to be using google or any of the thousands of other platforms/ browsers that store and send information, at real cost from cloud to heat belching super computer, across the whole globe.
This does not make children smarter or happier. It just makes money for the technology giants and we have all been suckered in. It is the ultimate emperor’s new clothes and teachers have been too afraid to point out the pitiful nakedness of the emperor for fear of being called old fashioned and ultimately of losing their jobs.
I am soon to leave the teaching profession after a very long time teaching English literature and language and there is nothing at all that electronic technology has added to the teaching of my subject.
It is however useful for protecting turtle eggs on tropical beaches.
I watched huge leatherback turtles deposit tiny translucent ping pong ball eggs in the sand in the wonderful dark of a Costa Rican beach years ago and I was delighted to read that technology is helping track those who steal and eat the eggs today.
We may have been colossally duped into swelling the coffers of computer companies on a global scale, but at least a few more turtles might make it to the sea.
- Lead days
- Retirement squirrel
- Holding on to the good news.
- Disposable masks can be reused 10 times says French group
- Today sounds of robins and catastrophe.
- No
- Good news!
- They shut…….
- Fly away home …
- The tendril goes on …
- Big world.
- Technology is an environmental disaster in education, but good for turtles.
- Books read in September and August
- Sliding on by.
- Utrecht restores historic canal made into motorway in 1970s | World news | The Guardian
- Praying Mantis
- Second spring.
- Memory
- Swallow.
- Honesty .
- A solid home…
- A Delicate home.
I’m not a technophobe but agree that the electronic industry is pretty disastrous for the environment because of the carbon emissions released from factories and the resources used to make phones and tablets in particular, and with an economy based around upgrading every 18-24 months. It’s hard to imagine life without them now, everything is online now and it’s so convenient to have access to maps, banking, news and a hundred other apps all on one portable device. It’s nice to read a positive story about the turtles though, feels like the news has been fairly negative recently, thanks for sharing.
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It has been useful for a few things like WordPress and Wikipedia, but pretty much everything else was being done before perfectly well without electronic machines in education.
Put some clothes on over that scrawny butt!
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Such an interesting article! I feel a lot of the enviromental message is preaching to the converted, it is so important to trace the elements that are not hearing the message.
We are being pushed towards technology. Alot of the paperless services we attempt to use are only possible if you receive a confirmation by SMS. On a Smart phone, of course. Amelia
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You are right, the tech companies are leading us all by the nose and
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We don’t seem to have any choice about it!
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Interesting, and thoughtful, post. So am I to a certain extent and have mixed thoughts about how it’s supposed to improve our lives when in many respects it clearly doesn’t. xx
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It is good for some things but for my subject and teaching in general, it has been a huge con trick and it only when one is liberated from the work place that one has the chance to be honest. Xx
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I have decided that when someone calls me “old fashion” my reply will be “Thank you. I take that as a compliment.” It throws them off and they don’t know how to respond. 🙂
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A gracious response! I think I might use it too!
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