Assignment 1 – Turner (S.Jeannot)
Part 2 (hybrid). Elaborate on the shift that Turner points to. What might have caused our views of technology to change so dramatically? Even though we don’t yet have an answer to this question, we can speculate.
The shift that Turner points to from the excerpt from From Counterculture to Cyberculture was caused by time and knowledge. Our views of technology changed so dramatically because we have more knowledge on how technology can be used. Initially, when computer technology was introduced in America it was used by the military and little was known about how it was being used. Also, there was the Vietnam War and subsequently the Cold War. As Turner says in the article, “computers loomed as technologies of dehumanization, of centralized bureaucracy and the rationalization of social life.” Technology in the mid-90’s, and now, has now minimized our world. Information that was hard to get when computer technology was first introduced is now readily available at our fingertips. We now live in a world where digital media functions in more ways than it ever has. A lot of people now have grown up with technology. It’s not as much of a mystery as it once was. There are toddlers that have iPads at an early age that can use digital media and technology better than people a lot older than them.
Just like anything in life, once you get a better understanding of the subject it’s easier to comprehend. When you educate yourself it opens the doors to more possibilities. Technology is no different. Once Americans knew more about the possibilities of technology they were willing to allow themselves to be part of a “digital generation.”
