Mankind is still the master of its tools

In response to Richard Heule’s column, “Men Have Become Tools of Their Tools” (The Eagle, Feb. 6). I wish to maybe shed a different light on technological convenience in our time. Would you rather entertain your 4- year-old with a puzzle piece where pieces can get lost and be a huge mess or a tablet that is one piece and has the ability to turn down the volume on the activity in your visit to the burger chain restaurant? Technology is at our hands, not driving mankind to its knees, or the couch.

Sure we have a problem with kids playing too many games and having devices that can often consume our days, but we have other uses besides enjoyment. Technology is everywhere and it does not have to be digital or electronic. Technology can be a pencil or a piece of chalk. Trying to generalize technology as a “bad” thing is not the purpose of technological advances. Technology is meant to solve a problem.

I am currently enrolled in a course where we are discussing this issue that Robert Putnam has brought to attention in his article about American society becoming disengaged from civic society. Although there are a few points to his argument that help him, his blame on technology, television specifically, is not examined very well. Putnam uses this aspect of his argument and states that much of our civic duties have declined immensely. But he does not take in account for how technology connects us to the rest of the world. We can now fly across the Atlantic in a matter of hours rather than taking two months at sea like Columbus did. How can someone not marvel at this fact?

Could the Civil Rights movement in the 60s have been as successful without television? We can only guess, but since the invention, we can put some pieces together for a decent hypothesis. It all started with the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 1, 1863, with President Abraham Lincoln. Although African-Americans were free, they did not get the equal treatment the law had promised. The Civil Rights movement did not come until 100 years later and came with at a faster pace than ever before. Television did not become relevant until the 1950s and more so the 1960s. With television, Americans could not only read and hear about the rest of the country, but see exactly what many of the reporters see. We are able to make a better emotional connection when we see events unfold for ourselves, even if we are a world away.

As a future teacher, I will use technology to expand the four walls of my classroom. What would our classrooms be like without the internet, computers, or even televisions? Sure they used to do it in a not so distant past, but now-a-days kids can access the library from their own homes or dorms. Doing research projects the old way going through card catalogs was a process in itself, but now we simply type in a general name and find information within a second from anywhere in the world. Videos and research projects are not the real thing and nothing will ever replace physical experiences. I personally can relate to doing a research project and having an in-country experience in last semester’s Cuba Libre course and trip. But without a computer and the Internet, I would have visited a country without really knowing much about it.

So what would we do without our technology? Isn’t it human nature to want to make our lives easier? Sure we can often use these technologies too much at simplest level with mindless video games, but our society as a whole with technology has allowed for more individual expression and freedom. It’s fair to say technology is not as bad as some make it out to be, it just depends how and why we use it. We can all thank the parents that use these tools to keep their kids under control in public places. It’s your choice and the tools are at your disposal.