Technology
Oh how technology is changing the face of America.
Being young and dexterous, students are text-messaging faster than a 1950’s secretary on a Royal typewriter. Public and private schools, which reluctantly allowed cell phones inside the classroom post-911, are hustling to keep up with the inventiveness of youngsters. Teachers have to make out different tests for each class because students take photos of the test and send it to students who have the class later in the day. Teachers aalso have to stay in the classroom and actually circulate among the students, like a hawk watching for the least little movement, rather than sitting at the front of the classroom reading a favorite author, for fear that nimble fingers will text-message which circle to bubble on the Scantron for numbers 4, 12, 13, 19, 26… et al., and every wireless kid in class will make the same grade.
But whose fault is that? The role models are in coffee shops and restaurants right now: two adults sitting across from one another and talking. Except they are not talking to each other; they are talking on their cell phones, thanks to the latest unisex accessory: Bluetooths hanging from earlobes.
The dating game has been powerfully influenced by technology as well. Now that the Baptists and recovered alcoholics have banded together in an unlikely alliance to defame drinking establishments as a place for meeting the opposite sex, adults and youngsters are turning to the Internet for matchmaking and hooking up, respective to the generation. eHarmony and Match are the more popular adults sites while MySpace is the established turf, or “Main Street drag,” for tweens and teens.
Is all this bad?
No, just different. And worth noting and reflecting upon.
Writing prompt: Compare student cheating in the 1980s (or earlier) to cheating nowadays. Or, compare dating practices “back in the day” to those of today.
Being young and dexterous, students are text-messaging faster than a 1950’s secretary on a Royal typewriter. Public and private schools, which reluctantly allowed cell phones inside the classroom post-911, are hustling to keep up with the inventiveness of youngsters. Teachers have to make out different tests for each class because students take photos of the test and send it to students who have the class later in the day. Teachers aalso have to stay in the classroom and actually circulate among the students, like a hawk watching for the least little movement, rather than sitting at the front of the classroom reading a favorite author, for fear that nimble fingers will text-message which circle to bubble on the Scantron for numbers 4, 12, 13, 19, 26… et al., and every wireless kid in class will make the same grade.
But whose fault is that? The role models are in coffee shops and restaurants right now: two adults sitting across from one another and talking. Except they are not talking to each other; they are talking on their cell phones, thanks to the latest unisex accessory: Bluetooths hanging from earlobes.
The dating game has been powerfully influenced by technology as well. Now that the Baptists and recovered alcoholics have banded together in an unlikely alliance to defame drinking establishments as a place for meeting the opposite sex, adults and youngsters are turning to the Internet for matchmaking and hooking up, respective to the generation. eHarmony and Match are the more popular adults sites while MySpace is the established turf, or “Main Street drag,” for tweens and teens.
Is all this bad?
No, just different. And worth noting and reflecting upon.
Writing prompt: Compare student cheating in the 1980s (or earlier) to cheating nowadays. Or, compare dating practices “back in the day” to those of today.
posted by Joyce, of course at 10:46 AM
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