The Generation Gap

I only started emailing in my freshman year of college and got my first laptop in 2005 - that's probably much later than my fellow SMACers!  Now I could not live without email or a laptop, and I don't see how other people do function without such access.  Nevertheless, I am perpetually behind the times when it comes to technology, and at this point I just joke about it and tell people I'm waiting for "the next big thing" before I commit.  The next step is a smart phone - I am growing weary of the horrified looks I get after fessing up to owning a phone that merely send texts and takes fuzzy photos.

I am not one to hate on the younger generations because a) they're younger, b) they are still on their parents' insurance, or c) they think I am super-old.  I would hope all aspiring high school teachers agree that teenagers are at an awesome age, adults in training that can be influenced in a positive way.  But the Klopperstuck and Kearns article really made me think about how different my world is from the younger generation's info-laden universe.  They, at least those with access, have a comfort level using new types of technology that I may never have.  Amanda's presentation about "math anxiety" had me reliving the horrors of high school and college math, but it also made me think about my "technology anxiety."  Well, podcasting is obviously not the zenith of this program's technology application, so I am going to have to conquer my anxiety.

Enough about my anxiety.  Even more interesting to me than Generation M's techno-savvy is their public/private distinction.  It bothers me that they (purportedly) so carelessly convey personal information to the public.  Even some social network "friends" are no more than acquaintances.  It also bothers me that they find it acceptable to freely give their demographic information to companies for marketing purposes...I still stubbornly refuse to give my zip code to department stores, etc., mostly because I am belligerent!

The public/private shift has had, and will continue to have, a large effect on our world.  The Klopperstuck article remined me of an essay I read by Jonathan Franzen, in which he discussed the concept of privacy.  He claimed that privacy is something:

"that simply by expecting it we can usually acheive it.  One of my neighbors in the apartment building across the street spends a lot of time at her mirror examining her pores, and I can see her doing it, and she can undoubtedly see me sometimes.  But our respective privacies remain intact as long as neither of us feels seen.  When I send a postcard through the U.S. mail, I'm aware in the abstract that mail handlers may be reading it, may be reading it aloud, many even be laughing at it, but I'm safe from harm unless, by sheer bad luck, the one handler in the country whom I actually know sees the postcard and slaps his forehead ansd says, 'Oh, jeez, I know this guy.'"

Franzen claims it is not the private sphere that is threatened, but the public sphere.  He wants to keep the private out of the public, not vice versa.  A man who decides to urinate on the sidewalk is not having his privacy violated - the man who has to walk past the urinator is having his public violated...and so on and so forth.  Just read the essay, it's interesting.  Imperial Bedroom.  Jonathan Franzen.  From the book How to Be Alone, the curmudgeon.

So what does this have to do with technology in the classroom?  I guess I'm getting at the need to not only use technology in the classroom because it's helpful and in this era part of a teacher's responsibility, but also to teach students to be aware of their use of technology, be metacognitive of their technological education, if you will.  We will have to teach students to use technology wisely, ethically, critically...and politely.