For the last week I’ve been learning some of the hidden, unwritten tricks to use my Microsoft Surface Pro tablet more effectively. I’m always learning how to use new devices, particularly those with a potential to enhance learning and the access to information.
I’ve already gone through two iPads, one ChomeBook, and a variety of regular Windows and Mac laptops, all of which I use daily. Upgrades, updates, new apps, a constant flow of improvements and innovations takes part of my working day, and, yes some of my private time too… How else am I going to master the last versions of EverNote, Pinterest, or Instagram?
Yes, technology… that is, digital technology, keeps changing all the time: Google Glass now, Service Pack XX for Window 8 tomorrow… The rate of change is faster than at any other time in history. Just think — the first minicomputer I actually touched was the Altair 8800, in 1975 at an electronics hobbyist show in Miami.
In 1980 I was the proud owner of a Timex Sinclair ZX80 and learned to write a few BASIC programs, and in 1983 I bought a Commodore 64, wow! This helped me to learn fast the Apple IIs and Apple IIe computers, and when I got my own Mac in 1986, I was on top of the world. Fast forward and I remember a blur of VAX 1880s, Mac Plus, Tandy 120, Mac II, IBM PC Junior, HP, Dell. …
Fundamental technologies, like rope-making, pulleys, levers, the wheel, took years, if not decades to spread across tribes, chiefdoms, and kingdoms in the early days. Some of the oldest ropes discovered are about 8,000 years old, apparently were used by sailors in the Mediterranean, and this technology was slowly and gradually improved and was still in use at the turn of the twentieth century. Even with the use of artificial fibers, rope was still rope and knots are knots.
These are basic technologies that are still used in their very advanced evolution without needing a computer… And, as basic as they are, we are forgetting how to use them: how many young people tie their shoelaces using the correct knots? How many don’t even use shoelaces and instead secure their flaps with Velcro, or don’t tie them at all?
Question: can you tie a square knot? How about a bowline knot?
Yes, these are really basic technologies, but they allowed our species to survive by being able to construct clothing and shelter (tying their pelts and tree branches), capture their food (with snares, nets, etc.). Our ancestors developed them and learned them at a slow pace — adaptation was relatively easy.
Humans tend to resist change. We get comfortable with the familiar, particularly what we learned early in life. Change is a stress factor when it occurs fast. Alvin Toffler explained it well in “Future Shock” and when he wrote it, the pace of change was half of what it is today. Now, we watch for those reminders in our phones, a new update is due, you need to upgrade, keep up with those apps… or don’t, at your own peril. Are you ready to adapt, to keep pace with the changes that this newer technologies demand? Did you tie your shoes this morning?
Alberto Ramirez has a MS Degree in Oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, and graduate coursework from the University of Miami. He worked for nine years on oceanographic research in the tropical Pacific at the University of Mexico’s Mazatlan Research Station. He also worked as Science and Technology Coordinator at the Miami Museum of Science. He is currently the Director of Learning Technologies at Frederick Community College, where he has taught oceanography since 2004.
Human Tech 