Saturday, January 15, 2011

Digital Nation Reflection

I found the movie very interesting and I thought it touched on a lot of interesting points.  One of the most interesting and shocking topics was about multi-tasking.  I found it interesting how multi-tasking does not create the best learning environment and I found the Stanford study produced some interesting results.  I did not think multi-tasking has such an impact of each task’s performance, I always thought that some people were good multi-taskers and others were not.  I was also surprised to see the brain images of someone reading a book versus someone on Google.  I never expected such a difference in what part of the brain was working and how much more some parts had to work.  I never considered the long term effects of technology on our brain and the permanent changes that could be made. 
The other portion of the movie that really surprised me was the part about virtual worlds.  The extent to which these virtual worlds exists really surprised me and I definitely did not know that companies such as IBM were using programs such as Second Life to hold meetings and conference.  The video also mentioned how much the virtual world and the real world are coming together and I feel it is important for people to distinguish between the two.  I agree that young children who are digital natives can easily distinguish between virtual and real because it has always been around them, but for others it may be more difficult. 
Korea and their “public health crisis” of gaming and digital technology also shocked me.  It is clear for some that it is a true addiction and it is interesting to me how technology can create new successes in medicine, but can also create new diseases.
A final thought I had as I finished watching the movie was that no matter what, there are going to be positive and negative consequences to technology.  What the video made me believe was that as with many things in life, technology needs to be used in moderation.  Towards the end of the film, a professor from MIT talked about finding a balance between our world and technology and I find that to be a perfect way to look at it.

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