Just read 2 articles from Module 1 that were fascinating and rang a few bells for me. Both by a gentleman called Kevin Kelly.
The first, Ethnic Technology, is about the uneven adoption of technology around the world. I had assumed that when you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. However, to my great surprise, technology improvements do not naturally spread
based on their usefulness. Whole countries do or do not adopt
technology based on cultural influence or some other mysterious force. And by doing so this creates and reinforces
an identity.
The second was an interview with Kevin Kelly. Apart from other interesting things what struck me was that we form and shape our identify not so much by the technology we choose to adopt, but more so by the technology we refuse to adopt. We define ourselves, build our identity more and more
by what technology we refuse to use rather than what we do use.
How true this is for me. I have made several conscious decisions refusing to buy or use technology. I resisted mobile phones for ages, didn't see the point in an iPhone until my brother gave me his old one, and am still trying to find a use for Twitter and the iPad my employer gave every teacher. Yet I love my laptop WiFi.
Hmm....I wonder what my technology choices and refusals reveal........
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