Too much tech isn’t a good thing
In a Town Hall South presentation earlier this month, technology columnist and author David Pogue spoke on disruptive technology. “Phone calls – isn’t that the last thing you do on your smart phone anymore?” Pogue asked the packed audience in the Upper St. Clair auditorium. “There’s a GPS, a gyroscope, 14 different types of radio antennas, and so much more in the iPhone. And the iPhone 6 has a barometer! Apple: clearly keeping up with market demand for atmospheric pressure!”
Indeed, technology is all around us. In fact, forget reading, writing and arithmetic. Students now concentrate on STEM – science, technology, engineering and math. Some of those coveted, can’t live without apps on your smart phone might have been the brainchild of … a child. Students are learning basic – not to be confused with BASIC – computer programming as early as middle school. In the South Fayette School District, first- and second-graders will soon be learning on iPads.
But does all of this innovation come at a price? Individual states have actually proposed and passed bills requiring students to learn cursive handwriting. That’s right – we live in a world where how we write has become political. Proponents of the bills cite Common Core standards as the impetus – Common Core does not require students to learn cursive – but others will tell you that cursive has been on its way out of the classroom for a couple of decades, as students no longer write papers with pen and pencil, rather, on the computer.
Moreover, are advents in technology grooming today’s youth to talk less and text more? It is commonplace to see a family or a group of friends out together, not interacting with each other, but their faces and fingers glued to their cellphone screens. We are living in an era where friendships on social media have more importance than real life relationships.
Call us old-fashioned, but a back-to-basics approach might just be in order – for every aspect of life. That’s not to say we don’t relish technology and the conveniences it has afforded us. Rather, we would like to lesson screen time in favor of more real time.