Technology Autobiography

                For me, the three most influential technologies of this day and age are the internet, phones, both mobile and household, and television. The reason these technologies are so influential is because, first and foremost, they all promote the spread and growth of information and knowledge. This reason alone is why I rank the internet as the most influential. The internet allows for peoples across the world to share and relate information quickly and at any hour. Because of this, it is possible for ideas to be worked on day after day without the need for breaks. Important problems can be worked on for 8 hours, their results emailed across the world, and then picked up and worked on by someone across the world. In mathematics, my field of study, new research is posted daily on forums and archives, readily available for any mathematician to look at expand upon and there are databases one can use to search for any sequences of numbers one might come across. In these ways the internet has played a fundamental part in the shaping of our world and the information we have available to us.

            In this same way, phones have perpetuated this constant growth of information. Through emailing, text messaging, and wireless browsing, your phone is a constant medium through which you can access information. If you ever need something explained to you, a colleague is only a phone call away; if you ever forgot an assignment at home, someone may be available to email it to your phone; or if you forgot how to spell a word, your phone may have a dictionary application that you can use to look it up. On top of that, with the recent addition of camera phones, front facing cameras, and an open source marketplace for applications, it is possible for anyone to do anything they put their minds too.

            Finally, television also plays an important role in the dissemination of information in our world. News companies, MTV, local broadcasting, etc. all have a means to convey information to the public in a quick and easy way. Using audio as well a visual means to convey this information puts television ahead of radio, but slightly behind the internet. Nonetheless, television and the internet often work together to bring the public information quickly and easily. It brings information of far away countries as well as local events into our homes and makes us constantly aware of the world around us.

            Watching the video "Learning to Change, Changing to Learn", was a lot like watching a video of myself and my friends testimonials about technology. The points brought up by the students were all points that I would make and have heard made in the past. Specifically the way in which homemade websites, or blogs, can help define you as a person, how the knowledge of technology helps you think about problems in a different way, and how technology has become such an integral part of our identities that without it we may not have anything to define ourselves by. In this way, technology can be a bad thing. Without a constant outlet to communicate by, we may feel lost or unfulfilled, and sometimes if we are unhappy with the attention we are getting online we may feel sad. These things however are just a side effect of our world adapting to technology. If you think about it 20 years ago the internet was barely even an idea and now it is something that we take for granted. With new technologies and new information we need time to adapt, to bring it into our society and understand it, and our own, place in the world.

            However, technology, for better or for worse, is a part of our society and so it is always important to look on how drastically it has helped our society. Parents are now able to work from home and share more time with their children, cures for diseases are worked out every day, while clusters of computer processors work out mathematics problems we could never possibly count. Sure, we may all use technology to varying degrees, with varying intensities, and with varying intents, as explained by the video, but technology has changed and shaped our world for the better and by using it, I believe it can truly help the way we think.