Drive, fly, go to a movie, sit in the park, eat at a restaurant. Listen for the unmistakable high-pitched ring of a mobile phone traveling over the muffled chatter. Watch as teen-agers pull from their pockets brightly colored pagers, checking to see who is trying to call them-probably from a cell phone.
People, computers, even toys, increasingly are talking to each other. Internet access and a car phone are as normal today for most children as Sesame Street and Pac-Man were for kids 10 to 15 years ago. Society is constantly changing and evolving technology, but how-and with what consequences-is technology changing and evolving society as we enter the new millennium?
“I think there needs to be a user revolution rather than a technology revolution,” said Mike Maternaghan, business development manager for British Telecom North America. “The opportunity now is to bend technology in ways to suit people, and not the other way around.”
Maternaghan, a psychologist who is responsible for introducing new products to the U.S. market and developing new technologies for BT, also specializes in the human reaction to technology and technological advances.
Today, Maternaghan said wireless modems, the Internet and mobile phones all make it possible for people to work from a virtual office, yet millions still spend large amounts of time and money on cars, buses and subways to get to work everyday.
“I firmly believe there is something about physical proximity, chemistry between people, establishing trust and sharing ideas and concepts,” he said. But despite people’s efforts to work in a centralized location with others, Maternaghan believes there still exists a widespread loss of collaboration in the workplace.
“Why come to the office when everyone is working on one machine?” he asked.
Technologies such as the Internet and e-mail are making the sharing of information much easier, but they also encourage isolation, allowing people to communicate in brief, nonconfrontational sentences, rather than through human contact and one-on-one conversation.
This increasingly popular method of communication can be especially dangerous to children learning a computer is the easiest and most fun way to interact with others at a time in their lives when the development of sharing, coping, listening and compromising skills is essential.
“Kids spend a lot of time playing computer games and surfing the Internet rather than reading, playing board games, etc. Kids are missing out on the more traditional childhood activities,” said Dr. Leslie Rescorla, professor of psychology, chair of the Psychology department and director of the Child Study Institute, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa. “It is now sometimes harder for kids to enjoy more social activities.”
Rescorla said technologies such as the Internet often encourage passivity, and traditional activities, such as sports, don’t seem as stimulating or exciting. She questions whether the increased emphasis on social behavior problems in children in the past 20 years is more of a natural step in psychological research, or a direct result of the environment children are growing up in.
Society is creating adults who are learning to use their own interests to entertain themselves, which is leading to a homogenization of the culture, she said.
Children also are learning that technology can eliminate what most adults see as normal and essential human thought processes. Maternaghan told of an 8-year-old boy participating in a research study for BT who was asked to draw a picture of a future PC. He drew a computer with a big button on it that said, “Do homework.” Maternaghan laughed, but also noted children realize the vast potential of technology, and comprehend a function like that is not entirely impossible.
“Technology to me is about augmenting human processes,” said Maternaghan. “It is advancing at a blistering rate. The problem lies with human systems-political, social, organizations. They change very slowly. It took two or three years for the European community to even come up with Internet law.”
Which is why Maternaghan emphasizes society must bend technology in ways to suit people. People will not be able to keep up with the changes, and perhaps fall even further behind if they allow technology to dictate human evolution and interaction.
Future technology will bring communication to an even more intimate level. BT believes the belt will be “one of the greatest areas of real estate” on the body. Pagers, computers, phones, organizers, all will be able to fit on a person’s belt, and hopefully will be consolidated on one device.
Development of batteries for mobile devices also is advancing rapidly. Maternaghan said BT is working on a battery that can weave in to the fabric of clothing. The motion or heat of the body is the energy source.
Whether it’s through a better battery, or a faster modem, as a society, “we will constantly strive to become more effective at the things we do. To do more with the life we have. To give more choices,” said Maternaghan. “But I believe we should go electronic only if it allows you to do the things you can’t do today.”
