My use of technology

This is a picture I took on my technology devices.

Today I was observing my own use of technology. Well, I don't use many technology devices, I just use my laptop and I just got a smartphone some weeks ago. I use every day both of them; I use my laptop for many things, do my homework, listen to music, and chat with my girlfriend; I use my laptop mostly at home and at school. I use my smartphone for many things either; I call or text my friends or family, check my Facebook, listen to music, play some games, and many other things. I always take my phone with me everywhere. I almost forgot my camera, which I take with me in all the traveling I make. Today I was counting how many times I check my phone, and well, I expected more times but they were 11 times, but when I checked I spent some time playing or using it. I have to admit that since I got that new phone I don't stop using it. I think that my smartphone sometimes distract me in my classes because some simple as see what time is it can end in playing games, this just has happened to me once. However, I don't feel that I really need those things, but I can't remove them from  my life because with them I don't feel my girlfriend so far away, I think I could enjoy a life without technology, of course I would use it once, but not so much as I do today.

This is a video from Youtube.com, it's about how young people use technology.

AWC student's use

This is an image from Google.com; it shows how students don't pay attention because they are texting.

A couple days ago, I was observing how AWC students were using technology and I got really surprised. I have some classes as Music, Computer systems, Math, English, and one class about Blueprints. In some of my classes there are always students not paying attention because they are texting or whatever in their phones, especially on my computer systems class because we have a computer for each so some of them use the computers to check their Facebook or any social network. In the others classes is not too common to see it but there are students that always are in their phones. I have to accept that I used my cell phone sometimes, maybe to know what time is it but that can also distract me. Also in the computer lab, it's very common to find students that are not doing school work, as it is supposed; they are just killing time in the internet or in social networks.
One day I was in the school game room with a friend playing pool, and two girls entered and didn't say anything, they just sit down and used their cell phones without talking, and my friend told me: "Did you see? They are cyber friends!" and that is really sad see how to people are stop talking each other because they prefer to use their cell phones rather talk each other. That is one of the most impacting thing I've seen in my school because they didn't say a single word!

I got this video from Youtube.com, and maybe it is a good way to stop texting in class.

Faculty member's viewpoint

This is a video from Youtube.com about the importance of technology in American schools.

Days ago I interviewed a faculty member to know her viewpoint about technology; she's from the registration department of the college. She said that technology has a very important place in the school paperwork because students have the option of take their classes online. Although most of the students take their classes online, some of them prefer to go to the registration department, fill the registration sheet and give it to workers of that area. "My job", she said. "Mostly has focused on the new students because they are who sometimes do not know how to take classes, or which classes they have to take, in that case we ask them to see a counselor because he is the person that can say exactly which classes they have to take and when. There are students that although they have been in the college for a while, they prefer to take their classes with me, maybe because they feel that it's safer than take them online. That's how technology has helped us with the registration department. Unfortunately there are some disadvantages that we might face. For example, when the Internet or computers fails, things that we don't know when it can happen." This is true, I remember when I had to go to the college many times before the classes began because I wanted to know everything I had to do; I wanted to be very prepared. Fortunately, I think I did everything all right. I took most of my classes online but some of them I had to go to the registration department to solve some doubts I had. In this case technology has helped because it did everything easier and more efficient to the students and to the faculty members.

This is a screenshot I took to the AWC web page.

Student's viewpoint

This is a video I got from Youtube.com about how technology is harming us.

These days I was interviewing some students in my school about what they think about technology, if it is harmful or helpful. I interviewed some students around the campus and finally I found a girl with a very interesting viewpoint. She's a 19 years old girl from Mexico aiming for a biomedical engineer degree. The question was: What do you think about technology, is it helping or harming us? Her answer was more complex than I expected. She accepted that she uses technology everyday like anybody; she likes to use her computer when she can. But she also said that she's conscious about the damage that this can cause; she gave the example about medicine and the advantages it has thanks to technology. "Technology has made people live longer," she said. "Curing and preventing diseases, and even saving people that are about to die. But although technology has given people a longer and with a better quality of life, it also has harming people. At the beginning technology in medicine was only to save lives, but now it also it's about modify the physique of the people with all those plastic surgeries, all that are just unnecessary changes that people do when they don't like something about their bodies and want to 'feel  better' with themselves, but  what's next? A brain surgery because they don't like how they act? These changes that people do are wrong ethically for many people because they aren't accepting them how they are." This was something that I never thought about, she was right people ask for these changes just because they don't like something, ignoring the risk that this include.
She also mentioned a book called Robot Dreams by Isaac Asimov. "I really liked that book," she said. "It's pretty awesome because in a chapter it mentions a case, which take place in the future when man is able to create sophisticated robots, which were almost like a human, and once, one of these robots swear that he fell asleep and dream. But robots can't dream! Only humans can dream, so this means that the robot was getting a life, it was becoming a human and people didn't know what to do with it." I won't tell the end of this story in case that you want to read it. The point of the story is that in that time man does everything he wants to do, without thinking about the consequences this can means. This is just an example about what can happen if people don't think about all those unnecessary advances in technology, they aren't thinking about the consequences that their action can cause. We have to be conscious about it because we don't know when it can get out of control.

This is the cover of the mentioned book, Robot Dreams by Isaac Asimov. I got it from Google.com.