Do you ever stop and think?

Do you ever stop and think about how much technology is around us and how much technology has already come and gone to a certain extent?  When we say technology our society assumes that it must involve a computer and the internet and that without those two items there is no technology.  Are they right?

There are so many technology items that we knew when we were younger and that everything about these items were cutting technology at the time they were mainstreamed.  For example take a record player, if you think about the first record player it was large and cumbersome usually with a large cone like structure attached to it.  When I was little my record player was a Fisher Price beige and tan plastic item that was meant to withstand all sorts of abuse from children.  Now today, I would love to know how often people still use a record player, and in some cases I'm sure there are people reading this blog that have no idea what I am even talking about.  But when I turned on my record player and I heard Bruce Springstein through the speakers I was living and breathing the best technology that I could have ever imagined.

When my brother and I finally saved up enough money to buy our Nintendo (yes, the original one) you couldn't tell us that there was better technology out there.  Our gaming console was not in 3D, it did not work through motion sensors, we did not actually jump around to get our little Mario to jump we sat on the floor because our controllers had wires that connected to the console and we hit the buttons that caused Mario to jump from brick to brick and gather the mushrooms to free the princess.  Now the gaming technology is of course far better.  Gaming consoles are created solely on motion sensors, and they are 3D and you have a plethora of games to choose from and you are able to get exercise while playing video games.  This technology floors me honestly.

I could go on and on in regards to technology that has come and gone so to speak and when it was here you could not convince someone that it was not technology or that it was not cutting edge.  So, take a few moments and look around you sometime to see the technology that you are missing that you use everyday.  When you get your phone out of your pocket, have you ever wondered what we did before cell phones (like wasn't that bad), when you turn on your IPOD while you are running have you ever wondered what people did before these?  When you turn your radio on in the car remember that not all cars came with radios for a long time.

Of course the standard technology is there and will always be there.  We are a lucky society that we are able to turn on a computer and have the entire world at our fingertips, that is something that I am sure some people thought would never happen.  But take a minute today and tomorrow and realize that technology is all around us.

Another day, another technology assignment

My oldest daughter is now in the 4th grade and with another year comes another month of technology projects.  This time around she has to create a PowerPoint presentation on entrepreneurship.  Teaching a child to use a computer program can be very tiring and can try on a parents patience.  Which brings me to my problem with technology in our schools today.  I have come to the conclusion that teachers make a big assumption that based on the age of parents with children in the elementary school that we should know all there is to know about technology and that we should be able to teach our children all about it as well.

My knowledge of technology is very limited when it comes down to it.  I am able to turn on a computer and check email, facebook, type a paper in Word.  I am also able to very basics in Excel along with PowerPoint.  I have had to teach myself over the last couple of months how to create a blog, how to use Google Docs, and what the heck Twitter is.  In all honesty I don't see much of a point in most of it.  I don't understand how there is so much assumption that every house has a computer and that every parent is able to help and teach their children how to use said computer.

I feel that teachers need to remember that our generation didn't grow up with computers, in fact, my parents didn't buy our first computer until I was a senior in high school and that was only 15 years ago.  In fact I still know houses in our area that do not own a home computer and who's parents have never been on a computer before.

At the end of the day I just suggest that our education field remembers that overall technology is still fairly new to a lot of our generation and it is trying to get these projects done at home.