Technology and Time

Did you know that in 2013 the internet was ruled to be an "essential" part of life in a German federal court? We use it for virtually everything, after all, but I scoffed at this ruling initially. Later, about two years down the line, I realized with the looming net neutrality argument that that ruling made good sense. It's an interesting story, and you can read more about the German ruling here. In 2016, Canada made the same decision, but expanded the argument to include high-speed broadband internet access.

I was at first surprised to discover most of the course takes place outside of Canvas, the undoubtedly expensive learning management software used by our university, but upon considering the type and nature of this open-source classroom, the limitations in Canvas become apparent. However, the real reason provided (that we will never use Canvas again following graduation) makes even better sense. When I was about 13 years old, my technology skills were fairly limited. Xanga, AIM (AOL Instant Messenger, if anyone reading this is too young to remember), and dial-up internet were the bees knees back in the day. While telling you this immediately indicates that I am a wee bit older than a traditional college student in this day and age, it also allows me to explain how bewildering so many options can be to someone from an era before Twitter, Tumbler, and Snapchat. 

The options provided for technical/web development and learning in this class are phenomenal. I had no idea I would be able to learn how to craft a semi-professional blog, or discover how to properly organize thoughts, events, content and images in such a fun environment. I am especially looking forward to creating a website for the first time, something I never really learned before. At the risk of sounding too much like an elderly ancestor, when I was young most people didn't have cell phones, not unless they were really rich or they really wanted to look that way. Even home computers were regarded as luxuries, and owning a pager was much less common than renting one. It's truly amazing how much has changed between now and fifteen years ago. The only really difficult part is remembering to disengage and go outside sometimes.

Image Source: Giphy