Stop me if you've heard this before, but technology is a double-edged sword.
Thanks to the technological innovations that have taken place during our lifetime, millions of people have found new jobs, important facets of science and other industries have been improved, and our way of life as a whole has been infinitely enhanced. Or at least it has gotten easier to get a hold of mom to ask her for money.
But as we are well aware, all good things come at a price, and up until about a week ago, my idea of a technological advancement was going to cost about $1,525 for a brand new Dell Inspiron Notebook.
Weighing in at less than eight pounds, my laptop was going to accompany me everywhere: to get-togethers with friends as a conversation piece, to the mall so I could make sure it matched with my new outfits, and like a growing number of students, I would take it with me to class so I could take lecture notes with it.
Yes, laptops are clearly becoming the hippest note-taking device, and since last year when Ball State finally installed its wireless Internet capabilities, you cannot help but find one in every direction on this campus. Hundreds of students here take pleasure in their ability to have access to anything they want, anywhere they are.
And that just might be the problem.
One day you'll find yourself in class sitting behind a person who has a laptop. As you struggle to take notes in between hand cramps, you are startled to find that not only is the person in front of you not taking notes but rather is instant messaging friends, downloading music and watching a "Family Guy" episode all at the same time. You begin to sweat, your eyes wander, and that is when the grades start slipping.
As many professors are shocked to discover as they walk up behind these students, technology is not improving our ability to soak up knowledge, it is distracting us. According to "The Flickering Mind," a book by Todd Oppenheimer, this equipment not only distracts us but greatly adds to our lack of performance. If more students jump on the bandwagon, professors will have a better chance of interrupting a game of Solitaire before they'll ever catch a student deep in thought about the course material ever again.
Meanwhile in elementary through high schools across the country, computers continue to be installed all over classrooms and libraries. Keyboarding is being taught earlier than before. Learning from E-books is becoming more and more common. Second graders now present their "What I want to be when I grow up" projects on PowerPoint slides.
The students reading this column are truly the last few people who were not raised on Windows. As billions of dollars are flooded into programs to promote PC-education for tomorrow's children, no one is looking at the short-term effects that it has had on the lecture-attending college student. These kids are doomed, but there is still hope for us.
Let us push for a return to the good old days when the DAILY NEWS was the only customary distraction during lectures and forget about that laptop. There's absolutely nothing wrong with pen and paper. Besides, mom's not returning my phone calls anyway.
Write to Gregory at gttwiford@bsu.edu
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