Thesis final draft: Modern Technology & Social Change

Society is always adapting and modifying to the environment around it. Technology has just helped it along in the past century; our modern generation thrives on it. All you need to do is step out of your home to see this. It’s impossible to go almost anywhere and not see people using cell phones, driving in hybrid cars, or listening to music through iPods, just to name a few. One of the most powerful questions I have recently asked myself is; what did people do before the creation of the cell phone? Our society has advanced past living in the technological past, going backward is not a feasible option for most modern individuals. We see these small technological advances, but how many individuals actually realize the cultural shifts as technology develops, devices are created and used more often and are become more relied on? The world benefits from this technology advancement; our societies and cultures are ever-evolving and allowing for new ideas and purposes for modern technology.

            We see this evolution of technology in our American school systems; in 1997, 98% of schools in the United States had computers in their schools, but the average ratio of a student to a computer was 24 to 1, an all-time low (Coley, Cradler, & Engel, 1997). This began changing with the introduction to the one-to-one or laptop computer program that has been crisscrossing our country since 2008, since laptops are becoming less expensive (Zucker & Light, 2009). Some computers are even being modeled for school children, such as the, “Intel Classmate personal computer” and policy-makers are investing in this new resource for our students (Zucker & Light, 2009). These laptop programs are aimed to bring computers to every student in every school throughout the United States, and those that have these programs, have seen an increase in their academic scores, a decrease in student drop-out rate and an increase in teacher technological aptitudes (Zucker & Light, 2009). They have also seen an, “increase in student engagement, improved technology skills and a positive effect on students’ writing” (Zucker & Light, 2009). These changes within our American education system demonstrate that schools and computers have been evolving in recent years, creating new purposes for the betterment of our students and therefore our society.

Some do not believe technology has made our society better for all and this has seemed to create a block between our society and some individuals, such as the American minorities and immigrants. Gómez-Peña has partially addressed this issue within his essay, “The Virtual Barrio @ the Other Frontier”. He states that the technological myth behind Mexicans and other Latinos in the United States are that they are incapable of understanding high technology, and that they are perceived by Americans as naïve within this category (Gómez-Peña, 2010). High Technology is defined as: “scientific technology involving the production or use of advanced or sophisticated devices especially in the fields of electronics and computers” (Britannica). Gómez-Peña has a unique perspective because he is Mexican-American, born in 1955 in Mexico City and not moving to the United States until 1978, when he was 23 and spending a good portion of his younger years within the Mexican school system (Gómez-Peña, 2010). Mexico is technologically a poor country, especially in regards to computer and internet access; “Mexico is lagging behind in the Internet age. Just 28 percent of the population has Internet access. That puts Mexico behind Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Chile and Argentina, where 30 percent to 40 percent of the population is connected online” (Villigran, 2011).  One conclusion a survey taken in 1996 established that, “Students usually learn more in classes in which they receive computer-based instruction” (Coley, Cradler, & Engel, 1997). This means most Mexicans, such as Gómez-Peña who grew up in Mexico, would have a hard time learning or understanding some technological advances that Americans are used to and have grown up with, such as daily internet use or school/home use of computers and computer software, because most of the Mexican population didn’t grow up with them within their schools and at home as U.S. modern citizens have.

Within American, we have been privileged to have a good deal of technological advancement; Dr. Benjamin Franklin’s experiments into electricity, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and more recently, the research done into nanotechnology, a very promising enterprise into science, such as healthcare. Dr. Chad Mirkin, the director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology (IIN) at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and an affiliate of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), was recently a guest speaker on National Public Radio (NPR). In this segment, “Hitting The ‘Off’ Switch On Antibacterial Resistance”, Dr. Mirkin explains the research his facility is currently working on into nanotechnology and medicine. Nanotechnology is defined as: “the science of manipulating materials on an atomic or molecular scale especially to build microscopic devices (as robots)” (Britannica).  In this recent NPR segment, Dr. Mirkin explains that in the past 15 years, they have been working on a specific Nano devices that can evolve along with bacteria, entering their cells, turning off switches, deactivating there damaging properties and ultimately causing bacterial death (Flatow, 2011). These devices can also target cancer cells, “The beauty of these constructs, they're part of a larger field called gene regulation, which actually has won the Nobel Prize for its promise, the idea that you could use this - a concept of switching off genes or down-regulating genes so that you could adjust protein levels and take effectively a diseased cell and make it healthy, or in the case of a cancer selectively cause it to die.” (Flatow, 2011). These advances in technology are the promise to our future for a better attack against bacteria, viruses and cancer, and the possibilities of finally destroying such things as the common cold or even helping physically and mentally disabled persons by altering DNA.

            These tidbits of scientific statements are important to others across the globe, but presently other nations are looking toward different technological significance. On December 17, 2010, an Arab man in Tunisia, North Africa named, Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in front of the governor’s building in protest to government policies (Cohen, 2011). His protest was recorded on a cell phone and sent via Facebook, “Al-Jazeera, the Arab TV network, was alerted through Facebook. Along the way, Bouazizi, who did not even have a high-school diploma, cyber-morphed into a frustrated university graduate that resonated in a nation where many graduates are jobless. This myth went round the world. Information moving this fast is inspired, rather than bound, by facts” (Cohen, 2011). This started the Middle Eastern riots and revolutions that continue to rage months later after the initial protest. (Louis & Sabah, 2011).

Because one man protested government rule, was recorded on a cell phone and sent to mass viewing by wireless internet, the politics of the Middle East may never be the same. Healthcare facilities in the United States are researching into areas such as Nanotechnology that may one day cure us of colds, influenza, bacterial infections and cancer. The American school systems are working to advance student knowledge through the use of computers and internet access. While Mexico, our southern brothers and sisters, struggle to meet the technological standards of America and some Central and South American countries. This gives pause to think what else technology may impact on other societies’ and cultures’ in the coming years, where these advancements and benefits will take the nations of our planet and if all nations will have equal opportunities to find out.

Works Cited

Britannica, E. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Merriam-Webster, Inc.

Cohen, R. (2011, January 24). Facebook and Arab Dignity. Retrieved from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/opinion/25iht-edcohen25.html

Coley, R. J., Cradler, J., & Engel, P. K. (1997). Computers and Classrooms: The Status of Technology in U.S. Schools. Policy Information Report. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service - Policy Information Center.

Flatow, I. (2011, 12 02). Hitting The 'Off' Switch On Antibiotic Resistance. Retrieved from National Public Radio (NPR): http://www.npr.org/2011/12/02/143055120/hitting-the-off-switch-on-antibiotic-resistance

Gómez-Peña, G. (2010). The Virtual Barrio @ the Other Frontier. In N. R. Comley, D. Hamilton, C. H. Klaus, R. Scholes, N. Sommers, & J. Tougaw, Fields of Reading (pp. 555-563). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Louis, M., & Sabah, Z. (2011, November 20). Hundreds Injured in Renewed Egypt Protests; 24 Killed in Syria. Retrieved from Bloomberg Businessweek: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-20/hundreds-injured-in-renewed-egypt-protests-24-killed-in-syria.html

Villigran, L. (2011, November 24). Mexico struggles to emerge from ‘digital abyss’. Retrieved from SmartPlanet: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/global-observer/mexico-struggles-to-emerge-from-8216digital-abyss/777

Washington, J. (2011, January 10). For Minorities, New 'Digital Divide' Seen. USA Today.

Zucker, A. A., & Light, D. (2009, January 2). Laptop Programs for Students. Retrieved from www.sciencemag.org