Digital Wisdom
Based on our discussion and readings, I would say it is difficult to tell my relationship to "Digital Wisdom" because I am always confused by the question of who plays the dominant role between me and the interface. I will try to explain this relationship by giving some of my personal experiences. Unlike many of my friends, I don’t like to follow new technologies or any new things. However, it already became a crucial truth that one has to learn these new digital technologies in order to survive in this era, especially for teenager.
Microsoft PowerPoint was introduced to me when I was in middle school, although I didn’t realize how useful it means to me in the future, I was so excited every time my teacher gave us a project, the reason was that I could spend more time on the Internet by telling my parents that I was doing my project. In the meantime, my parents always complained at that time. They said they didn’t have so many distractions when they were in school. Nevertheless, I have already known how to use PowerPoint. The fancy tool at that time has already become a very basic skill that everyone could use nowadays. Do we choose the tool? Or does the tool choose us? I can’t imagine what if I still don’t know how to use PowerPoint, but when my computer breakdown, I can do nothing. Moreover, when more and more people prefer to use a Mac, iWork became another choice for people. In this situation, are we facing more distractions?
When somebody talks about the distractions brought by digital technologies, a social networking tool which is similar to Facebook called Renren always came to my mind. To explain the reason why people like Facebook, somebody’s answer is very interesting: “It is amazing because it feels like you’re doing something and you’re not doing anything”. For me, it seems more serious, I always lack the self-control to favor schoolwork over the computer. Checking my Renren account frequently while studying has become my habit. Moreover, like what the article describes: “He clicks over to YouTube, meaning that tomorrow he will enter his senior year of high school hoping to see an improvement in his grades, but without having completed his only summer homework”, I always write down the same wishes without taking any actions. Usually after I write down my wishes, I will check every few seconds to see if there’s any commons on it. I found trying to sustain or concentrate my attention on one thing is becoming more and more difficult. As students, it seems we will easily lose our control over the interface.
Finally, while everybody enjoying their iPhone4, I find something more interesting. A couple of weeks ago, I lost my iPhone4, I thought it was easy to track my iPhone back. As long as I signed the iPhone with Rogers, I called them to ask whether they can locate my iPhone, the operator’s answer made me like a stupid fool. He said: Are you kidding me?! That only exists in the movie!” Then, I reported both to the Apple store and the police, what they told me was that they actually can track it but don’t have the right to do that. It made me so sad. I was thinking the definition of wisdom: It is “the ability to find practical, creative, contextually appropriate, and emotionally satisfying solutions to comlicated human problems” However, It seems sometimes certain human problems cannot be solved by certain technology. Since then, when my friends talk about the fancy software on iPhone4 like iMeet and iPool, I don’t feel excited anymore.
Nevertheless, I still believe H. Sapiens is right. “Just as we have begun to confront the ethical, moral, and scientific challenges presented by genetic medicine, we will have to confront the issue of digital wisdom sooner or later, and we will be better off doing it sooner.”
