Not So Fast: Is Technology Diminishing Our Quality of Life?

Anyone who has been reading this blog knows that I am an advocate for the appropriate and effective use of technology in our personal lives and in our schools.  I am not a Luddite.

Nevertheless, I also share the conviction that technology, like many good things in our lives, can become an obsession and a cruel master.  Any addiction, even to good things, is harmful and unbiblical whether it is sex, food, work, or technology.

I recently came across a beautifully written article by John Freeman in the Wall Street Journal.  You can read the entire article here.  If the link is broken, you can access the article in PDF format here.

Because the article is copyrighted I will not post it here but I am providing a short excerpt with the hope that you will read the entire article. 

Not So Fast (August 29, 2009) WSJ Online

… We will die, that much is certain; and everyone we have ever loved and cared about will die, too, sometimes—heartbreakingly—before us. Being someone else, traveling the world, making new friends gives us a temporary reprieve from this knowledge, which is spared most of the animal kingdom. Busyness—or the simulated busyness of email addiction—numbs the pain of this awareness, but it can never totally submerge it. Given that our days are limited, our hours precious, we have to decide what we want to do, what we want to say, what and who we care about, and how we want to allocate our time to these things within the limits that do not and cannot change. In short, we need to slow down.

Our society does not often tell us this. Progress, since the dawn of the Industrial Age, is supposed to be a linear upward progression; graphs with upward slopes are a good sign. Process­ing speeds are always getting faster; broadband now makes dial-­up seem like traveling by horse and buggy. Growth is eternal. But only two things grow indefinitely or have indefinite growth firmly ensconced at the heart of their being: cancer and the cor­poration. For everything else, especially in nature, the consum­ing fires eventually come and force a starting over.

The ultimate form of progress, however, is learning to decide what is working and what is not; and working at this pace, emailing at this frantic rate, is pleasing very few of us. It is encroaching on parts of our lives that should be separate or sacred, altering our minds and our ability to know our world, encouraging a further distancing from our bodies and our natures and our communities. We can change this; we have to change it. Of course email is good for many things; that has never been in dispute. But we need to learn to use it far more sparingly, with far less dependency, if we are to gain control of our lives.

In the past two decades, we have witnessed one of the greatest breakdowns of the barrier between our work and per­sonal lives since the notion of leisure time emerged in Victorian Britain as a result of the Industrial Age. It has put us under great physical and mental strain, altering our brain chemistry and daily needs. It has isolated us from the people with whom we live, siphoning us away from real-world places where we gather. It has encouraged flotillas of unnecessary jabbering, making it difficult to tell signal from noise. It has made it more difficult to read slowly and enjoy it, hastening the already declining rates of literacy. It has made it harder to listen and mean it, to be idle and not fidget. This is not a sustainable way to live. This lifestyle of being constantly on causes emotional and physical burnout, work­place meltdowns, and unhappiness. How many of our most joyful memories have been created in front of a screen?

If we are to step off this hurtling machine, we must reassert principles that have been lost in the blur. It is time to launch a manifesto for a slow communication movement, a push back against the machines and the forces that encourage us to remain connected to them. Many of the values of the Internet are social improvements—it can be a great platform for solidarity, it rewards curiosity, it enables convenience. This is not the mani­festo of a Luddite, this is a human manifesto. If the technology is to be used for the betterment of human life, we must reassert that the Internet and its virtual information space is not a world unto itself but a supplement to our existing world, where the following three statements are self-evident …

Remember, click here to read the full article or if the link is broken, you can access the article in PDF format here.

Welcome to the Library. Say Goodbye to the Books

Things are changing!  For many years e-books have resided in the back waters of publishing.  Early adopters and gadget freaks have read them but the vast majority of the population were either unaware of them or didn’t care.

The lowly status of the e-book may be about to change—and radically.  David Weir, in a BNET (a business and management blog) article outlines five reasons why he believes e-book publishing and use is reaching their tipping point--becoming widely accepted and on the way to outpacing printed books in popularity.

1.  Screen reading now rivals paper reading, and for those of us in the over 40 set, screen reading is often easier on the eyes thanks to adjustable font sizing.

2.  Consumer awareness has increased dramatically.  A year ago, consumers were skeptical and resistant to e-books.  Today, consumers are doing a complete 180.  The early adopters have celebrated their Sony Readers, Kindles and iPhones to their friends, and now their friends want in.

3.  The amount of content is increasing.  Free books have served as a gateway drug to many early adopters.

4.  Ebooks are impulse buys.  I met a guy at the Las Vegas airport last month who told me he purchased a Sony Reader so he wouldn’t have to lug around 20 pounds of technical manuals.  Now he finds himself buying more fiction than ever before because it’s so easy and convenient.

5.  Value.  E-books are cheaper.

My Personal Experience

I love books.  My study is wall to wall books and I have spent thousands of dollars on my traditional library.  I love to read and I love the feel and smell of books.

Nevertheless, my reading habits are changing.  In fact, I recently finished reading Dr. Poythress’ excellent book, Redeeming Science (384 pages) on my iPhone version of the Kindle (Read a review: Amazon launches Kindle application for the iPhone).

After reading Dr. Poythress’ book on my iPhone, I have concluded that I would love to have the Kindle DX for the vast majority of my reading.  In fact, I would like to duplicate my printed library on the Kindle.

Hint to my wife: great Christmas present!

Although there are some drawbacks to e-books/e-readers relative to printed books (mainly sentimental), the advantages are numerous including:

1. The ability to read books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs anywhere anytime without the need to carry large books and dirty newspapers.  The Kindle DX for example is just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines.  This is particularly an advantage when traveling or when in waiting rooms.

2. The ability to literally carry a library in my pocket or laptop case.  I could carry to 3,500 books, periodicals, and documents in the Kindle DX.

3. For those of us who are a little older, the ability to adjust font size is a big advantage (yes, pun was intended).  The Kindle DX has a 9.7" diagonal e-ink screen and reads like real paper and boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and sharp images.  Additionally, the device has a display that auto-rotates from portrait to landscape as you turn the device so you can view full-width maps, graphs, tables, and Web pages.

4. I can read PDF documents enabling me to read my personal and professional documents on the go.

5. With wireless 3G I can download books and magazine to the Kindle DX anytime, anywhere; there are no monthly fees, no annual contracts, and no hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots.

6.  Currently, Amazon has over 300,000 e-books; many of which are only $9.99.

7. I can have subscriptions to U.S. and international newspapers including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal (both of which I read), magazines including The New Yorker and Time, plus popular blogs, all auto-delivered wirelessly.

8. I could have an electronic backup of my library.  If there a fire in my house, I would find it hard and probably impossible to replace many of my out of print books.  If my library was on the Kindle, I could re-download my library from Amazon, Project Gutenberg, etc.

According to the Kindle Review, a lot of the books available at Project Gutenberg are already available in Kindle .azw format at ManyBooks (if you’re using your laptop). There are 19,505 eBooks available at ManyBooks and they’re all free! When you get to the page for an individual book, just click on the dropdown at the top right that says ‘Free Download’ + ‘ Select Format’ and the FIRST option is Kindle.

Note: You can browse and download Manybooks on the Kindle. @ mnybks.net

For Project Gutenberg books that are not available at ManyBooks, you can go to the Project Gutenberg Website. You can download EVERY book on Gutenberg to your Kindle for Free. No conversion required. This is a good page to start at Project Gutenberg to get Free Kindle eBooks.

Potential for Our Schools

I am not prepared to go as far as Cushing Academy (see below) but I am reviewing the potential of using Kindles, netbooks, and other electronic devices to supplement our library and textbooks.  One of the great advantages for our students would be that they would not have to carry heavy book bags around all day.

Welcome to the library. Say goodbye to the books.

Cushing Academy embraces a digital future

By David Abel, Globe Staff  |  September 4, 2009

Boston prep school nixes all the books in its library, replaces them with 18 e-readers

ASHBURNHAM - There are rolling hills and ivy-covered brick buildings. There are small classrooms, high-tech labs, and well-manicured fields. There’s even a clock tower with a massive bell that rings for special events.

Cushing Academy has all the hallmarks of a New England prep school, with one exception.

This year, after having amassed a collection of more than 20,000 books, officials at the pristine campus about 90 minutes west of Boston have decided the 144-year-old school no longer needs a traditional library. The academy’s administrators have decided to discard all their books and have given away half of what stocked their sprawling stacks - the classics, novels, poetry, biographies, tomes on every subject from the humanities to the sciences. The future, they believe, is digital.

“When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books,’’ said James Tracy, headmaster of Cushing and chief promoter of the bookless campus. “This isn’t ‘Fahrenheit 451’ [the 1953 Ray Bradbury novel in which books are banned]. We’re not discouraging students from reading. We see this as a natural way to shape emerging trends and optimize technology.’’

Instead of a library, the academy is spending nearly $500,000 to create a “learning center,’’ though that is only one of the names in contention for the new space. In place of the stacks, they are spending $42,000 on three large flat-screen TVs that will project data from the Internet and $20,000 on special laptop-friendly study carrels. Where the reference desk was, they are building a $50,000 coffee shop that will include a $12,000 cappuccino machine.

And to replace those old pulpy devices that have transmitted information since Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 1400s, they have spent $10,000 to buy 18 electronic readers made by Amazon.com and Sony. Administrators plan to distribute the readers, which they’re stocking with digital material, to students looking to spend more time with literature.

Those who don’t have access to the electronic readers will be expected to do their research and peruse many assigned texts on their computers.

“Instead of a traditional library with 20,000 books, we’re building a virtual library where students will have access to millions of books,’’ said Tracy, whose office shelves remain lined with books. “We see this as a model for the 21st-century school.’’

Not everyone on campus is sold on Tracy’s vision.

They worry about an environment where students can no longer browse rows of voluptuous books, replete with glossy photographs, intricate maps, and pages dog-eared by generations of students. They worry students will be less likely to focus on long works when their devices are constantly interrupting them with e-mail and instant messages. They also worry about a world where sweat-stained literature is deemed as perishable as all the glib posts on Facebook or Twitter.

Liz Vezina, a librarian at Cushing for 17 years, said she never imagined working as the director of a library without any books.

“It makes me sad,’’ said Vezina, who hosts a book club on campus dubbed the Off-line Readers and has made a career of introducing students to books. “I’m going to miss them. I love books. I’ve grown up with them, and there’s something lost when they’re virtual. There’s a sensual side to them - the smell, the feel, the physicality of a book is something really special.’’

Alexander Coyle, chairman of the history department, is a self-described “gadget freak’’ who enjoys reading on Amazon’s Kindle, but he has always seen libraries and their hallowed content as “secular cathedrals.’’

“I wouldn’t want to ever get rid of any of my books at home,’’ he said. “I like the feel of them too much. A lot us are wondering how this changes the dignity of the library, and why we can’t move to increase digital resources while keeping the books.’’

Tracy and other administrators said the books took up too much space and that there was nowhere else on campus to stock them. So they decided to give their collection - aside from a few hundred children’s books and valuable antiquarian works - to local schools and libraries.

“We see the gain as greater than the loss,’’ said Gisele Zangari, chairwoman of the math department, who like other teachers has plans for all her students to do their class reading on electronic books by next year. “This is the start of a new era.’’

Cushing is one of the first schools in the country to abandon its books.

“I’m not aware of any other library that has done this,’’ said Keith Michael Fiels, executive director of the American Library Association, a Chicago-based organization that represents the nation’s libraries.

He said the move raises at least two concerns: Many of the books on electronic readers and the Internet aren’t free and it may become more difficult for students to happen on books with the serendipity made possible by physical browsing. There’s also the question of the durability of electronic readers.

“Unless every student has a Kindle and an unlimited budget, I don’t see how that need is going to be met,’’ Fiels said. “Books are not a waste of space, and they won’t be until a digital book can tolerate as much sand, survive a coffee spill, and have unlimited power. When that happens, there will be next to no difference between that and a book.’’

William Powers, author of a forthcoming book based on a paper he published at Harvard called “Hamlet’s Blackberry: Why Paper is Eternal,’’ called the changes at Cushing “radical’’ and “a tremendous loss for students.’’

“There are modes of learning and thinking that at the moment are only available from actual books,’’ he said. “There is a kind of deep-dive, meditative reading that’s almost impossible to do on a screen. Without books, students are more likely to do the grazing or quick reading that screens enable, rather than be by themselves with the author’s ideas.’’

Yet students at Cushing say they look forward to the new equipment, and the brave new world they’re ushering in.

Tia Alliy, a 16-year-old junior, said she visits the library nearly every day, but only once looked for a book in the stacks. She’s not alone. School officials said when they checked library records one day last spring only 48 books had been checked out, and 30 of those were children’s books.

“When you hear the word ‘library,’ you think of books,’’ Alliy said. “But very few students actually read them. And the more we use e-books, the fewer books we have to carry around.’’

Jemmel Billingslea, an 18-year-old senior, thought about the prospect of a school without books. It didn’t bother him.

“It’s a little strange,’’ he said. “But this is the future.’’

Are You Getting Your Money’s Worth??

I stumbled upon a great site (Tiplet) that provides useful technical “How To” advice for laymen and techies alike. Click on the image below to go to the site. 

One of the “How To” articles was about how to test your broadband speed.  If you pay for internet service at home you will want to periodically check your speed to ensure that you are getting what you are paying for. 

The article is reprinted below to give you an idea of how helpful these tips can be.  You may want to pass this along to your staff.

How Fast Is My Broadband Internet Connection and What Does Connection Speed Mean?

February 1, 2009

by Gabe Goldberg

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) like to brag about connection speeds offered and speak glowingly about the wonderful “experience” their services offer. But how honest are their claims and how does connection speed affect what we do online?

The two most important words in any ISPs advertisement or service contract are “up to.” As in, speeds promised are described as “up to X megabits per second.”

(Megabits means “millions of bits” and “megabits per second” is often abbreviated Mbps. A bit is the basic unit of information or data, a “binary digit,” a single unit that is either 0 or 1. Everything on the Internet and all information and software on your computer is composed of bits.)

But quoting “up to” speeds is like saying that an automobile whose speedometer dial includes the number 160 can travel “up to 160 MPH.” When shopping for a car or an ISP, claims shouldn’t be taken as facts — though some are safer to verify than others.

It’s a pleasant surprise when ISPs deliver speeds faster than promised. That results from advancing technology and — in areas fortunate enough to have multiple broadband ISPs — competition. More common, though, is discovering that delivered service doesn’t quite match the 160 MPH sort of promise ISPs make.

So to keep your ISP honest and detect problems, and for bragging rights, it’s useful to occasionally measure connection speeds. Internet connections are usually described with two speeds: download and upload. For nearly everyone, download speed matters most — it’s the rate at which data, Web sites, email, sound files, video streams, telephone calls, and services yet to be invented reach your computer. This greatly affects your Internet experience, determining whether your browser responds quickly or sluggishly to Web requests, how quickly email arrives, etc.

Upload speed measures how fast your computer sends data such as email or Web requests to the Internet. Unless you frequently send large volumes of or huge email or other files — or run a server of some sort – this speed likely isn’t critical.

Speed test

A number of Web sites measure connections speeds. My favorite is SpeedTest.net; Googling “speed test” finds others. It opens showing you a couple of gauges, a small map of the world, and a large map of your region. Your local map will include many blue pyramids and one orange symbol — that’s the closest and recommended server for your test.

Click the orange pyramid to run download and upload speed tests. When they finish, click My Summary at top to see your download test results along with a number of comparisons — your ISP’s average speed and its speed in your state, your state’s average, and similar numbers for the USA, North America, and globally. Click Upload Results for that set of speeds. SpeedTest.net reports speeds in kb/s — that is, kilobits per second. One Mbps is 1000 kb/s, so an ISP’s promised speed of 5 Mbps would show as 5000 kb/s.

As you run occasional speed tests, your history of speeds achieved lets you can track trends and detect problems. If your speeds don’t match your ISP’s promises — or they decline — it’s worth investigating. Note that cable connection speeds often vary more than those of DSL or FiOS services, though cable broadband is usually faster than DSL. I’m pleased with my Cox cable service, usually delivering more than 20 Mbps download and about 2.5 Mbps upload.

Gabe Goldberg (tiplet@gabegold.com), a lifelong computer pro and technology communicator, has written three books and hundreds of articles for audiences including techies, baby boomers and senior citizens. He enjoys sharing tips and pointers that help people use and have fun with technology.