Double Entry Journal #8

1.     What was the term “Digital Native” meant to be used as?

The “Digital Native” was intended to be a metaphor for describing the differences that many people observed, around the turn of the twenty-first century, between the attitudes of younger and older people regarding digital technology (Thomas).

2.     According to the author what are the characteristics associated with Digital Natives?

Digital Natives have more comfort with digital technology, their beliefs in its ease, its usefulness, and its being generally benign, and about their seeing technology as a fun “partner” that they can master, without much effort, if they are shown or choose to (Thomas).

3.     Do you consider yourself a Digital Native?

I do, but with a certain amount of reluctance. Compared to my parents I would say that I am very much a Digital Native, but compared to my peers I would say I fall in comparison. For a long time I have considered myself computer illiterate, it wasn’t until recently that I have started my interest in the advancements of technology. Only when I expressed an interest in a career as an educator has technology as an issue come up. And so lately I have worked harder to become more tech savvy.

4.     What is Digital Wisdom?

Digital wisdom is a twofold concept, referring both to wisdom arising from the use of digital technology to access cognitive power beyond our innate capacity and to wisdom in the prudent use of technology to enhance our capabilities (Thomas).

5.     How does the author define “wisdom”?

The author defines “wisdom” as the ability to find practical, creative, contextually appropriate, and emotionally satisfying solutions to complicated human problems (Thomas).

6.     How can technology enhance our Wisdom? Give three examples from the chapter? 

As unenhanced humans, we are limited in our perceptions and constrained by the processing power and functioning of the human brain. As a result, we tend to go astray in our thinking in ways that limit our wisdom (Thomas).

1.)   Enhancing Our Access to Data: The human mind cannot remember everything; detailed, voluminous data are quickly lost. Digital technology can help by providing databases and algorithms that gather and process vast amounts of data far more efficiently and thoroughly than the human brain can. One example of such a system is the Acute Physiology & Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) system, which help doctors allocate scarce intensive care resources to those patients most in need (Thomas).

2.)   Enhancing Our Insight into Others: One of the greatest barriers to human understanding and communication is that we cannot see inside another person’s mind. Already, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), using digital computer analysis of brain patterns captured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans, are able to tell what a person is thinking about (Thomas).

3.)   Enhancing Our Access to Alternate perspective: The world is full of things we cannot perceive with our unenhanced senses, things that are too small, too large, too fast, too abstract, too dangerous, or too far away. Technology can help in many ways from manipulable three-dimensional simulations to digitally monitored biofeedback controls that enhance mental and sensory states, which may also enhance memory and emotional control, to sophisticated digital playing, using simulations in which people can experience difficult and critical situations from various points of view (Thomas).
 

7.     What concerns did Socrates have about the technology of writing?

In Plato’s The Phaedrus, Socrates objected to writing on the basis that it undermines the memory, that writing would diminish ones memory (Thomas).   

8.     How can teachers practice Digital Wisdom?

Educators are digitally wise when they recognize that technology is imperative and prepare the children in their care for the future-educators by letting students learn by using new technologies, putting themselves in the role of guides, context providers, and quality controllers (Thomas).

9.     The author states that he is “…opposed to those who claim the unenhanced mind and unaided thinking are somehow superior to the enhanced mind.” Are you? Why or why not?

The author feels that to claim this is to deny all of human progress, from the advent of writing to the printing press to the Internet. Thinking and wisdom have become, in our age, a symbiosis of the human brain and its digital enhancements (Thomas). I personally believe that the claim itself is sort of absurd, I feel the act of enhancing or the intention of enhancing already holds one superior to one that is unaided and unenhanced because it’s an effort to improve oneself. Someone may be naturally gifted in a certain medium but one who strives to achieve that gift holds more respect because they’ve earned it and worked for it, that is something that a naturally gifted person would not be able to understand. 

Quote:

“Every enhancement comes with a tradeoff: We gave up huge mental memory banks when we started writing things down; we gave up the ability to tell time by the sun when we began carrying pocket watches. But we gained a set of shared cultural memories and a more precise notion of time that fueled the Industrial Revolution (Thomas).”

Response:

I was somewhat surprised by the above quote. I never thought of the technological advancements throughout time as a tradeoff, but now I agree with the notion. It seems with every advancement a compromise has been made between natural capability and convenience. And with any tradeoff you have to accept the bad with the good. Progress can’t be stopped or slowed down due to the seemingly negative side of its effects, viewing the positive and seeing which outweighs the other is now not only necessary, but it’s a necessity.

Resources:

News Article on Technology Tradeoff

Above is a link to a news article that analyzes the effects of the Internet on the human mind. I felt it appropriate sense I was speaking of the tradeoff that technology poses in peoples everyday life.

Thomas, M. (2011). Deconstructing the Digital Natives. New York: Routledge.