Pew Research: The positives of digital life

Pew Research just released a report on Digital Life.  I’m generally a ‘glass-half-full’ person when it comes to technology.  I recognize that, like any tool, the impact is related to how you use it (good or bad).  There is so much potential in digital connectivity that we overlook, from economic development and social access to exposing the bad guys.  How long would it have taken to find out that the government was keeping immigrant children in tents in the desert without social media or to generate a “critical mass” of attention to give enough voice to #BlackLivesMatter, #Parkland or #MeToo to change the conversation of a nation?  Besides, there are so many technophobes frantically trying to prove how awful technology is (phones, games, social media– if it electronic, it’s bad), that I figure the topic is more than well-covered.

The recent report from Pew was fun in that it includes anecdotes from people’s experience, rather than just “expert opinions.”  Now all my students will know that personal experience is not generalizable (!!!), however, this particular report warmed my heart because it included my anecdote about my Dad, who passed away at age 91, used ALL CAPS in every email message he sent (he did not get the  yelling concept), loved to share jokes and used Facebook regularly to stay “in the know” of what the family was up to.  I would have loved to see him take on Snap and Instagram.  He would have been out taking pictures of flowers and leaves and posting his unique, if not occasionally snarky, commentary on the world.  He wondered about a lot of things and saw beauty everywhere.  I hope that I wonder about a lot of things and see beauty everywhere until I’m 91 (and longer!) too.