Embracing new technology era

Written by | Tristan Pinter |

Technology is a beautiful tool but sometimes our worst enemy. We are currently in the information age. It’s an age when personal knowledge is not as useful as the ability to search through a seemingly bottomless information pit that is the Internet.

Some would say the Internet is our greatest tool because it allows us to search specific topics at the click of a button. Others would say the Internet is our greatest enemy because it pressures us to be completely transparent in our social lives and persuades us to forgo our privacy in favor of more communication.

That being said, the older generation has begun to resent technology while the younger generation embraces it. The older generation definitely has reason to resent technology because they have been the ones forced through the most changes at the hands of technology, which has caused a lot of adapting as well as confusion on their part.

The younger generation has been much more tolerant of technology because most of it has been around long before we were born. Because of that, technology is seen as a tool to be manipulated and less of an amazing feature compared to our older counterparts. What young people want the older generation to understand is that we use technology every single day. and because of its longstanding relationship in our lives, we have incorporated it into almost every aspect of our everyday routines.

Whether it is to look up a word’s definition or to settle a fight over which celebrity has died most recently, it has become a huge staple of almost every millennial’s life. It is time for the older generation to begin to understand this. It is time for us to be allowed to type notes on our phones, laptops and tablets in class.

It is time for us to be able to use our technology during tests. Tests should be based on application rather than memorization. Unfortunately, the bare-minimum philosophy has infiltrated many schools across America, basically eliminating the entire reason students attend school in the first place: to learn.

The philosophy that students should learn concepts and not learn to apply them is incredibly unreasonable. I can assure you, they are not making NASA’s top scientists do their work without calculators, and it is absurd that schools teach otherwise. Employers let their underlings use technology because it makes us more efficient and more productive.

If that practice were repeated in schools, it would allow us to teach at a more advanced rate and allow us to bring the average level of intelligence up. So teachers and students, do not be angry that people are using their phones every hour of the day. That is the purpose they were designed for.