This week I wrap up my series on technology with seven final applications. 1)    Knowing About Things ≠ Knowledge, Understanding, or Wisdom. In a culture that values entertainment and that has the ability to instantaneously transmit information, knowing the facts takes on new meaning, for knowing the facts does not require one to understood implications, background, or …

Technology and Education (10) – What to do in response? (Part II – Seven Applications) Read More »

If we knew how to restrict our lives’ appurtenances to the right and natural limits, we would discover that the greater part of the arts and sciences as now practiced are of no practical use to us. -Montaigne   There were two great dystopian authors in the twentieth century: George Orwell in 1984 and Animal Farm and Aldous Huxley …

Technology and Education (9) – What to do in response? (Part I – Five Applications) Read More »

The biggest problem with modern parenting is that far too many parents don’t parent their children. Adriana Stacey is a psychiatrist who works primarily with high school and college students. In her practice she routinely asks new patients to swipe open their phones and show her how much screen time they’re clocking per day. In a recent …

Technology and Education (8) – Parenting Read More »

It used to be that if someone wanted to view pornographic material he would have to go to a seedy place to procure it. There was a natural fear of being seen in one of these places and this fear kept many people from viewing pornography. This has changed. The internet has made pornography accessible …

Technology and Education (7) – Romantic Relationships Read More »

Sahar Dahi is a twenty-two year old Tic Tocker that gives relationship advice to millions of her followers. Specifically, she gives advice as to when someone should be completely cut out of another’s life. When interviewed by The Atlantic about her advice she was asked if she practices what she preaches. She claims that she …

Technology and Education (6) –Friendships and Familial Relationships Read More »

It is Postman’s contention that modern communication, with its emphasis on the visible, has transformed American culture from a typographical mind to an Instantgram mind. In one memorable example Postman pointed out that it is now implausible to imagine that anyone like our 27th president, the multi-chinned, 300-pound William Howard Taft, could be put forward …

Technology and Education (5) – Education in an Instantgram World Read More »

Two weeks ago I ended my message by stating that that the form in which ideas are expressed affects the content of those ideas. I think we can take this further and assert that the forms of discourse regulate, and even dictate, what kind of content can issue from such forms. For example, it is perfectly …

Technology and Education (4) – All Discourse Becomes Entertainment in an Instantgram World Read More »

The typographical mind, grounded in words and ideas, is worlds apart from what I will refer to as the Instantgram mind, a mind formed by images. To understand the distance between the two, consider the following. Postman asserted that until relatively recently, public figures were known largely by their written words and not by their …

Technology and Education (3) – The Rise of the Instantgram Mind Read More »

In Amusing Ourselves to Death Neil Postman relates how on August 21, 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas met for the first of their seven famous debates. The arrangement provided that Douglas would speak first for an hour, then Lincoln would take an hour and half to reply, and then Douglas would get half …

Technology and Education (2) – The Typographical Mind Read More »

It is my conviction that the greatest threat to education is the breakdown of the family. The family is an institution ordained by God to welcome new lives into this world and lead them into maturity. Our society, even when we retain the form of the family, has largely rejected God’s plan and purpose for …

Technology and Education (1) – Introduction Read More »