To Eric Chianese:
In your Thursday column, you argued that "some advances in technology," generally in the field of mass communication, "cause just as much harm, if not more, than they do good."
To a certain extent, I agree with you. Technology has provided a means for which people can entirely sequester themselves from others, as illustrated by your reference to the iPod shuffle or the kids of the future "hanging out" but recoiling into their separate digital worlds. Technology, specifically SMS and texting, have replaced centuries-worth of appreciation for vocabulary with a :P or a >:/ to convey a particular feeling.
However, the same advances in technology that you criticize for inhibiting communication are actually the same vehicles that facilitate broader communication, develop new sense of communities and even help developing nations. In this way, I argue that they do more good than harm.
In countries with governments that provide little to no infrastructure or with terrain that limits Internet penetration, cell phones provide the masses with a way to effectively conduct business and stay connected. Fishermen in the Philippines use cell phones and texting to find out the market-rate price of fish before selling at markets. Residents of unstable countries in the developing nations use cell phones and texting to acquire news and information normally unavailable to them because of military regimes or state-imposed censorship.
Cell phones have also fostered political discourse and civic participation. Because of the popularity and feasibility of e-voting, the Hungarian government conducted SMS elections in 2002. That same year, China enabled its citizens to text to 2,987 deputies of the National People's Congress to voice their concerns. In 2001, a circulated text message calling for the ousting of corrupt Filipino President Estrada was instrumental in organizing protests and his subsequent removal from office. These examples represent the tip of the iceberg for the positive changes that can come from technology.
Contrary to your argument that texting limits social interaction, teens in Japan and Hong Kong use texting to build romantic relationships.
Because their cultures heavily survey them and limit their private time, teens in those societies resort to technology to build interpersonal relationships. In certain patriarchal societies, texting has encouraged females to be more aggressive and outspoken - patterns of expression that are characteristic to Western culture.
Technology does not completely displace traditional modes of communication; instead, it creates a new mobile culture that is capable of transforming gender roles and altering interpersonal communication.
During the dawn of the Internet, critics feared that the Internet would make people more anti-social. Because many day-to-day activities could be done without ever leaving the computer, they hypothesized that people would become more distant. Instead, the Internet has had the opposite effect for those individuals who utilize its wider communication capabilities. The same can be said for cell phones and texting.
In this sense, technology is a double-edged sword: it can be the means to box yourself in your own little world, or it can make the world your oyster.
It depends on your motivations for using it.
Kayla Gutierrez is a mass communication graduate student.
