My Reflections on Digital Literacy….
I have seen the world change dramatically across the last 50+yrs, and much of that has been with a front row seat with new technology. From the time of preschool, technology was changing the world, and as a youngster I watched men land on the moon and return to earth. I was blessed to have television, radios, and record players, and good old fashioned books as media and would get caught up in the dreams for the future concerning technology, the world, and the universe. From watching The Jetsons to NASA Specials to Star Trek, I felt as a young child, I would one day be able to take part in an unbelievable time in history. I honestly believed that by 2000, much less 2020, we would see inventions and technology much like in the movies and books. While there are no flying cars, phasers which eliminate people, or spaceships exploring the final frontiers, looking back, I see many innovations and inventions from those dreams like home & laptop computers, computers in vehicles, cell phones w/computers and video, microwaves, precooked heat & serve foods, robots (even though most are actually vacuums instead of humanlike units performing vacuuming), the Space Shuttle Program, the International Space Station, the Hubble-Telescope, Tasers, driverless vehicles, Pin-Point Missiles, Drones and other weapons, communications, & transportation, that are part of everyday life. However, what I have noticed is that it seems for every technological breakthrough, society as a whole is still behind. Many are either not interested, can’t afford it, or can’t understand what to do with it. Some of the technology we have experienced has even been misused. Overall, we are still lacking in reality versus what men and women dreamed of for nearly the past 100yrs.
I was fortunate to be exposed to early computing through calculators, word processors, TI’s, TRS80s, Commodores, and even the Apple, and by the time I graduated high school, Honeywell, Unix, & IBM were not just office machinery, but computer companies. This caused me to start classes for computers and I started learning programming such as Basic, RPG, and others. I have used computers and been exposed to the importance in every job description I have had including grocery, credit bureau evaluations, insurance, pastoring churches, and law enforcement. I have also seen people in every field I’ve worked in completely lost, scared to use a computer, or locked into one simple task because of their lack of desire to learn more, or their background being different from mine. Some have lost out on advancement and some just gave up opportunities because they either didn’t have the talent, skills, and abilities or felt they were too far behind. Some were just backward in their thinking and refused to change; even to this day. I currently work with someone who has a degree and they all but refuse to learn anything new in regards to computers, even job related. They won’t even voluntarily learn how to sign on to websites to help in everyday work because that wasn’t necessary years ago.
As stated in the short video, Digital Literacy Explained Clearly, “the world is much more difficult to navigate and understand” by someone failing to read and write, and so it is with the one who has little to no digital literacy. Every career field is now affected by the digital age and from people digging ditches, to designing computer and health systems, to small children learning in pre-school, to farming in small African towns/provinces. People have to become computer and digital literate to compete in the job market; and every industry has a need for technology and workers to “navigate, evaluate, and create information” that is useful in industry and life. I need this class, as it is an area I’ve dabbled in but never really put full effort into nor taken advantage of some of the opportunities it affords. As noted in the video, knowing how to use a computer and a few programs is not enough for today’s world. Hopefully others will take advantage of opportunities and learn as technology is made available to them as well.
David Warren 