Oh, that’s what that is!

“The great myth of our times is that technology is communication.”

— Libby Larsen

Communication technology: sounds like a mouthful. I mean, over three syllables per word? My attention span is so brief I barely made it through reading aloud. (Millennials these days, am I right?) But what if I told you that you use them daily? Have you ever texted your friends, posted a status update on Facebook, or emailed your boss that you’d be sick tomorrow? *cough cough* If so, you’ve just caught yourself red handed and guilty of partaking in communication technology.

But what happens when that communication technology disrupts other forms of communication? Riddle me this: you’re sitting in class and your phone goes off. First of all, you’ve just been humiliated for having Celine Dion ring out for everyone to hear, and secondly all your peers just lost a valuable moment in their education. Most of us have been guilty of causing an interruption at school at some point in time, but only a mere 20 years ago this would have never occurred. With the adoption of cell phones, tablets, and interactive apps, our education system has both excelled and taken a blow.

As technology advances, our opportunities for the re-invention of education are seemingly endless. Children and adults alike now have access to all different means of learning. Professors use learning management systems like BlackBoard to reach out to students and make important and organized announcements. Graduate students can obtain knowledge on virtually any topic with the use of Lynda and YouTube combined. The occasional outburst of Mrs. Dion is not the end of the world, and with all the resources now laid at our feet, I’d easily say our opportunities and benefits that come with communication technology vastly outweigh our cons. I look forward to seeing how our education systems evolve over time as I get older, and have high hopes they will continue building and growing from the use of communication technologies to achieve a higher learning. My greatest admiration will come the day my generation can look back and say, “Wow. I wish we had that back then.”

— Shayli Tharp

contributing writer