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Wow, that is ironic, that people so involved in the technology industry would deliberately remove it from their children's lives in school. I can see the logical aspect, of technology being a distraction, and it certainly is a flood of information but in a way I don't think such a quantity of information is *bad*—it just depends on the content. (The problem with the Internet is the excess brain power used to "sift through" what information is fabricated, and what's legitimate.)

I sort of see the idea behind this though -- the Internet is full of useful and useless information. Teaching kids basic mathematics and reading and writing skills prior to teaching them how to operate technologies, especially those with Internet connectivity, does seem in their mental/developmental interest. And I agree that "iPad apps teaching kids to read or write" definitely are excessive, and almost wasteful or inefficient use of such technology. (The iPad is entertaining because one can write on it, but for young children it makes no sense to give them a $500+ tablet, which is really an oversized iPhone, to do what they could already with a small chalkboard, or a pen and paper.)

However I think by the time children, and students, have successfully developed their reasoning, critical thinking, and problem solving skills, technology can be an incredible extension of the way they learn. Given access to Wikipedia, there is a near-infinite amount of information one can learn without even using outside links (assuming that information has valid sources and is not forged, etc. etc.) -- a student could learn literally anything, in any depth, on any subject, within a matter of minutes—it just depends on how *effectively* they are able to transfer this information into LTM...

and therefore, setting aside the integrity of the information itself and the chore of sorting it, the Internet can be used, especially in schools, to provide useful information that can somewhat easily be transferred into LTM. (There are definitely facts that are forgotten after a short period of time; however, consider some of the various things that you might decide to search for on the Internet, in a given day or two. At least in my opinion it is relatively easy to recall bits of information—phrases, sentences, pictures—that you might have only seen for a minute or less.) In effect I think good Web sources can in fact extend someone's LTM development and ability to store information.

After learning how to absorb such information in great quantities, I compel the consideration that possibly our "thimble", bridging the STM and the LTM, could grow larger through use; maybe the "bridge", in effect, can grow (considering its plasticity) and develop, allowing us to dive deeper into such a sea of information.

note: if this post shows up more than once, it's because it didn't previously, using Opera, so I switched to Chrome... (and Alex, don't say it...)

— George A
I agree with George that technology can be a distraction with both "good/useful" and "bad/useless" information. I think one of the reasons why kids are being sent to tech-free schools is because their parents are probably not used to their children spending time on technological devices that connect the user to the outside world. Adults may want to prevent, or at least minimize, the exposure their kids have to new and constantly improving technology. In my family, my younger sibling is in a private school because my parents want him to have less exposure to technology. My mom finds technology unfamiliar, so she naturally wants to "protect" her kid from something she is not comfortable with. Adults may seem "old-fashioned" to teenagers because they can't keep up with the renovations of "old" technology (eg: new iPhone apps, new ways to communicate like FaceTime).

I also think it's kind of funny that technology has evolved into such a large impact that parents make efforts to send their kids to school that's techno-free. This just shows how technology is quickly taking over our society and becoming more and more prevalent.

— Helen D
Do you know how long it took me to realize that it's a chalkboard, NOT an LCD screen at the front of the room? :)
— Spiro Bolos
I think that this is really interesting, we've worked so hard to develop more and more technology and now that its become such a necessitate some are now trying to escape it. I agree with helen that adults are probably trying to minimize their child's use of technology, because it is so foreign to them. However, I also believe that no matter what technology and "screens" are only going to become more and more prevalent in our society and to try and block them out seems ignorant to me.
— Courtney K
Maybe it's because in a time of such rapid, large-scale, technological upheavals, people naturally become wary of major changes to their lifestyle.

Since the beginnings of humankind, the rate of technologic advance has been increasing exponentially. Language evolved roughly 100,000 years ago. Writing developed in ancient Sumer around 3000 BC. The lightbulb was perfected in the early 19th century. The automobile was created in the late 19th century. In the early 20th century, we lifted people up in the air with airplanes. By the mid 20th century, we'd sent people to the moon and learned how to destroy cities with a mere press of a button. We've moved from timespans of millennia, to centuries, to decades, and now we're experiencing a major breakthrough every couple of years. So now, instead of becoming gradually acclimated to new technologies, we're being submerged headfirst into a new world of flashing screens and glowing lights. And it's no wonder that some people naturally want to keep things the way they are, because change truly is scary.

But the benefits outweigh the risks. Sure, there are bumps in the road, but there always are when adapting to a new technology. Maybe we aren't absorbing as much information off computer screens as we do from books, and maybe we are bombarded with a waterfall of information that's hard to store in our long term memory. But our brains are plastic. We will adapt. As our children grow up, they will be immersed in these technologies and learn how to use them efficiently and effectively. Sure, it'll take time, and some people will adapt faster to these technologies than others, but you can't hide from them. With the sum of human knowledge in one hand, and the power of a million minds in the other, who knows what wonders we'll accomplish in the years to come.

But ignoring or attempting to resist this raging river of progress can't get us far. Imagine if Socrates set up his own classroom where there would be no books, all because he didn't believe in writing down information on paper. How ridiculous would that seem to us today? We are surrounded by written words, but how foreign would our classrooms have seemed to him? This is where we stand today. In a hundred years, people will laugh at how adults tried to shelter their children from what to them would be a ubiquitous and integral part of their everyday lives. Sure, it's difficult, and sure, it's painful at times, and sure, there will be some bumps in the road and people fighting against change, but when it's all over, I'm confident that we'll be able to say that it was all worthwhile.

— Alex Tamkin
(in response to Alex): You put forth a good argument, especially regarding past technology and how it's ultimately come to universal integration with society--books, the lightbulb, airplanes, etc. In addition, you proposed the thought of a classroom without books, for fear of that sort of technological change. This is where I partially disagree--the difference between this technological advance and literally all others is that it's a universal medium, for infinite information, on limitless topics. *This* is why people fear this sort of change. It's true that written language was an *enormous* advance in the way we communicate, and the way we record and share information. And arguing against those who opposed books--which have long been commonplace in society--now sounds logical; however, I think the World-Wide Web is something new enough and, in a way unnatural enough, to have disadvantages.

The idea of a universal medium, to record, transmit ("share" this with your friends! Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Google+!), and especially receive massive amounts of information, would be undoubtedly controversial. It's true that this new worldwide network creates an entirely new way of instant communication, and there are certainly great sources of useful information out there--but what, then, is the point of literally *everything* else in life, if you can find exactly what you need with a 4 second Google search, and in another few seconds (or with Comcast internet, another 10 minutes) you can share it with all your friends--immediately. It's a universal medium in and of itself, and the social aspect of it which has more recently become popular, creates a completely open world--cyberspace is virtually limit/less/; we can utilize it to hold as much information as we need--but we must remember that it is still limit/ed/ to a virtual dimension...

What I feel like people fear is going to be lost is true experience and true discovery--it takes *very* little effort to operate a computer, search for things on the internet, but then who would be motivated to make new discoveries, accumulate experiences of their own in the real world? (it's ironic to have to refer to the "real world" while discussing things in cyberspace...)

And in addition, the amount to which social networking is advertised, and pushed for, on the Internet is also somewhat frightening. If you think about it, nearly any article you read online will have the standard "share this article", or "email this article to your friends"; social networking is turning the Internet into not only a universal medium, but a form of social media as well. I'm not saying that every Facebook user uses it as a complete replacement for real-world (there's that term again) interaction with people, but it is a little discomforting how many people would openly admit to "Facebook addiction", even if you don't ask the question explicitly, who can't help checking it constantly--their profile, to see who's trying to contact them, and the *consistently fascinating* News Feed, to see who else is wasting their time telling the world about useless things, that no one cares to read.

Innovation is surely an incredible accomplishment of the human race, even more so in the past century, but it seems that as a society we're reaching a point at which innovative technology is a very high priority in our lives. At its current degree of integration with society, we still think of technology as a useful tool for learning and time-wasting alike, but the *fear* associated with such innovation is the level at which it will stop, if at all. Not that we'd necessarily modify the inner workings of the human brain within the next five years, but considering what's happened in the last fifty; there is know knowing to what degree technology will be integrated with the mind and common lifestyle, in fifty years to come.

— George A
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