Technology and Society

Technology’s Impact on Social Relationships

Hai Lamb

Northern Arizona University



Abstract


This paper discusses the role of technology in education socially, historically, and educationally.  This paper will also discuss the impact of technology and society socially, using examples of Myspace and Second Life.
Technology’s Impact on Social Relationships


         Our ever-changing world will continue to change and it has changed rapidly due to technological advances.  Educators will need to understand the role of technology in education to successfully integrate it into their classrooms to promote future successful citizens.  We will discuss the social, historical, and educational implications of technology in the classroom and also the implications of websites on social interactions.

Social Implications of Technology Use in the Classroom
According to Wikipedia, socialization is “the process of learning one’s culture and how to live within it.”  Through the process of education, we find socialization a key role in learning.  From a constructivist viewpoint, collaboration and communication between peers helps develop a learning model where students problem solve and construct meaning.  However, in education there is a need to understand and cultivate healthy social skills.
Kirschner (2004) suggest that groups possess attributes such as norms and values; rules and roles; and beliefs and ideals.  Environments do not create social space but people and their activities allow social potential, and the higher the social potential is, the more cohesive, collaborative, and sense of community the group will have.  However, educators are not aware that when grouping students they focus on the cognitive aspect of using groups but not the affective domain of group forming that effects the group dynamics.
For example, in Tuckman’s (1965) model of group development, Tuckman discuses four stages of group progression to include forming, storming, norming, and performing.  The forming is when groups are established.  Storming is when there is an imbalance in interpersonal issues and there is group conflict or a negative emotional response to the task.  Norming is when the resistance is overcome and group cohesiveness begins, personal thoughts and opinions are shared, and there is a presence of sensitivity to other group members.  Finally, performing is when the group’s interpersonal issues are dissolved, roles are redefined to include more flexibility, and the group can focus its energies on the task.  Therefore, educators need to take into account what will be successful for group integration in their classrooms and not to expect that groups will automatically be cohesive, which can take more time for different groups.
Technology has advanced so much that it is no longer just a machine, but it also branches out to a social aspect.  Cambre and Hawkes (2004) suggest that the social interplay of technology has led to the narrowing of the gender gap of computer use between girls and boys.  Technology has been used as a communication tool such as radio, television, and telephones, but communicating via personal computers has grown tremendously since the advent of the World Wide Web, for example, emails, blogs, instant messaging, etc.  Interaction has even formed in a virtual sense, which will be discussed later in this paper.  Furthermore, technology in education and social collaboration go hand in hand.  Using Vygostsky’s idea of the zone of proximal learning, students are grouped heterogeneously so that different perspectives are available and students become resources to one another (Applefield, 2000/2001).  Therefore, students can work collaboratively on content tasks as well as strengthening their technological skills to produce webpages, collages, portfolios, spreadsheets, programs, databases, etc.
Kent and Facer (2004) studied the use of computers at home and at school and found that when students used computers at home they used instant messaging to collaborate with their peers and share ideas; whereas in school students worked on lessons in a room with a look of other students but no social network was occurring.  One explanation that Kent and Facer offer about students not collaborating at school is because when students worked cooperatively, they performed tasks using a division of labor, which was not seen positively by educators.  Unfortunately, some educators have been unable to understand collaboration and its effectiveness in the classroom.

History of Technology Use in Schools
Technology has been used in schools since the 1800’s in the forms of still pictures, lantern slides, talking motion pictures, television, and instructional television (ITV).  Technology has been used to teach a larger population especially with a shortage of teachers.  (Cambre and Hawkes, 2004)
However, distance education is an excellent example of how technology and education have been integrated.  Distance education began in England in the late 1800’s where tutors would visit students, who were unable to travel to university, from small villages.  The United States began implementing distance education in the early 1900’s through correspondence classes on printed paper.  This changed shortly after the Second World War and the advent of broadcast television.  However, the use of personal computers and the World Wide Web have surpassed all previous deliveries of distance education and dominated the field.  Today distance education has been popular amongst teachers pursuing professional development and parents who have chosen to home school their children (Cambre and Hawkes, 2004).
There has also been growth in the educational software industry that mirrors learning theories over time.  For example, Cambre and Hawkes (2004) mention that the behaviorist learning theory brought about programmed instruction which has a fixed curriculum.  These methodologies have been criticized because curriculum was dictated by the computer programmers.  Semple (2000) suggested that a new type of educational software came about during the cognitive revolution, where psychologists took into account the mental aspect of learning and not just observable behavior, Inspiration could be used to make concept maps which would externalize students’ thinking.  Jackiw (2007) discussed Geometer’s Sketchpad as an example of educational software that uses a constructivist approach because instead of giving students pre-programmed ready tools, the software application offers basic tools which the student uses to construct shapes.  However, in constructing these shapes, students need to understand the fundamental rules and definitions of shapes in order for them to be robust.  McDonald’s study (1997) exemplified a constructionist software program would be Logo in which student construct their own world.  Educational software has grown rapidly over the years and continues to grow today to reflect the needs of students for tomorrow.
Proponents believe that technology represents an element in our ever-changing world where students need to learn to adapt to change.  Therefore, educators need to use technology in their classrooms to develop skills that embrace change and dynamic situations.  Opponents believe there needs to be more for face-to-face human interaction that helps each and every one of us build personal relationships and personal characteristics within ourselves.

Educational Aspect of Technology in Schools
Multimedia tools have changed the face of education.  They use a constructivist approach to learning in the fact that students are given an authentic, complex task which they need to collaborate, reflect, and problem solve.  Learning becomes meaningful since multimedia technology can address all students’ learning modalities.  As a product, student can learn communication, higher ordered thinking, analysis, and social skills.  Students need to learn new ways of thinking and new ways of learning (Semple, 2000).
King (1985) suggests that with the advent of automated programming, the need for higher ordered thinking skills is imperative because industry is changing so that unskilled labor will be obsolete, workers will work shorter hours, and workers will retire earlier, which will allow time for changing and learning new skills.

The need then is for education to be anticipative and to prepare young people for life and work in a new type of society which is emerging and not for a world that is melting before our eyes (King, 1985).


Therefore, education needs to address these needs by implementing a curriculum that fosters skills to enable people to create attitudes that are flexible and construct learning that will adapt to new environments.  In order to do so, teacher education needs to develop so that educators learn about learning.
         In a similar argument, Bahr (2001) suggests that new computers are being developed that test the affective domain so that when using the computer, students who are struggling will be detected by the computer through heart rate, facial expressions, or sweating.  This advanced technology can then reconfigure itself so that boredom or difficulties can be addressed, which is tailored to each student needs.  Nevertheless, this suggests a new role for teachers from sole resource to programmer.  Furthermore, educators need to be flexible because the development of each student’s learning program would require individual time as well as their assessment.
         Technology and education are a much needed symbiotic relationship that cultivates students for success.  The need to learn technological skills and content are imperative for our students today to learn for tomorrow.  It is unfortunate if students only learned technological skills on their home computer because then there would be need for school.  In order to develop an environment that would create thinking that is needed for the future, technology must be integrated into curriculum and educators need to learn how to successfully implement it.
         
Impact of Technology on Social Relationships
Referring back to Wikipedia’s definition of socialization, the term is stretched to include the world of technology because it has its own culture.  Socialization no longer needs to include face-to-face interaction as it was once before seen.  However, new dimensions have evolved to include social interaction asynchronously, synchronously, and virtually which goes beyond the classroom walls and may help break down cultural misunderstandings.  New websites are developed to accommodate social interactions such as Myspace and Facebook.  However, we will also discuss Second Life to exemplify virtual interactions.
Myspace and Facebook are two examples of web-based platforms that allow people to interact socially.  Both sites incorporate blogs, personal profiles, pictures, music which people may share with the world or make it private to only their friends.  When Myspace launched, it was a popular method for bands to get their music out to the public.  Also, Facebook was originally developed for college students but recently incorporated everyone.  Although both are used more frequently as a way for friends to interact, World Wide Web social interactions also have a downfall, predators.
Dateline (2006) aired an episode about Myspace using an experiment where a detective went online as a nineteen year old male who was new to an area.  He created his profile to match his undercover personality, and he targeted kids in a small town.  Within a week, he made over a hundred “friends” and many of his friends allowed him onto their space without hesitation.  Although Myspace requires its users to be fourteen years old or older, users can easily lie about their age by typing in a different birth date.  Once a person is a friend, they have access to personal profiles that include names, residences, interests, schools, etc.  Predators can use this information to easily locate victims.  During this experiment, the detective had access to numerous kids’ personal information to also include being added to their bulletins that got sent out and chatting online with them.  In one bulletin, one girl wrote a message about where and when she was meeting with her friends.  On a different occasion, through an online chat with a girl, the girl suggested for her and the undercover detective to meet.  Both of these situations are what predators look for when searching for their victim.  The detective showed the parents of the girls the information he found out, and the parents were completely shocked at what they found.  They did not know this was going on in their home and one parent said she and her daughter specifically spoke about Myspace and the dangers.  The detective also met with the girls who were enlightened by the experience because the girls did not know they posted anything that was unsafe.  In fact, the girls said that they looked over the detective’s profile which looked normal and they were ignorant to think anyone would lie on their profile. 
Another medium that people may interact socially is through Second life which was developed by Linden Research to allow users or “residents” to interact with one another virtually through avatars or their online persona.  Residents can manipulate objects through script writing because they are given the tools in the software to create in virtual space.  Therefore, the resident’s world is completely created by the resident making this software a wonderful platform for residents to be creative and construct their own world around them, similar to a constructionist view of educational software.  Furthermore, Lester offered some bidirectional examples where residents interacted with one another.  Instead of watching a movie by oneself in their living room, residents can watch the movie online with other residents.  Bands can play in real life streaming their music via audio, and other residents could listen to the band.  Lester also exemplified the power of creativity and economy of Second Life using a game designed by a resident called Tringo, which is a cross between tetris and bingo.  The resident who designed Tringo sold the program to other residents and it became so popular that Nintendo purchased the game from the resident to sell for its Gameboy.  This web-based platform allows people from all over the world to interact with one another opening the doors to a completely interactive world. (Lestor, 2007). 

Concerns
Myspace and websites similar to it exemplify how dynamic communication can be, making social interactions more frequent.  However, there is a negative aspect to sharing personal information on the World Wide Web.  Nevertheless, precautions can be made to avoid dangerous situations.  Parents seem to understand that their children will participate in online socializing so it is a moot point to ban children from using it.  Therefore, there needs to be more communicate with children about ways to use Myspace and other social networking websites to keep in touch with friends, but also inform children about their misconceptions what the word “safe” means.
Second Life is a powerful tool to inspire people to be creative.  However, there are no boundaries in Second Life.  There are no age restrictions, no action restrictions, and no guidelines to follow.  Therefore, real social norms and virtual social norms can differ, allowing children to get a false sense of reality.  Furthermore, the issue of time is in question.  People can be so consumed in their virtual life, but they should focus on their real lives.  In addition, Second Lifers may be successful in their virtual life, but this does not promote real life social skills.  It is easier for people to be more confident behind a computer and in this case masked by their synthetic physical image or avatar to interact with others.  Unfortunately, their inner thoughts and feelings may become alive in a virtual world, but these need to also transfer to the real world for healthy social skills.
King (1985) also mentioned in his article that socialization amongst a family may develop so that it is solely through computers.  This would be unfortunate.  There is a dimension to face-to-face human interaction that can not be replaced.  A hug from a loved one is more powerful than an X on the computer screen.
Finally, problems with obesity may rise.  The American Heart Association states that 11 million American children are overweight and that 13 million are at risk of being overweight.  With the amount of inactivity children partake in a day because of technological entertainment, this does not surprise me.  The American Heart Association also gives advice to parents to have kids be more active and limit TV and computer time.  It is a disappointment that we have to be told this obvious information.

Conclusion
         With the advent of technology, there have been many useful applications in the educational field to include educational software that promotes constructing meaning in students’ learning.  Students learn to be more collaborative and learn skills that are needed for future success.  Technology has many advantages that cultivate human creativity.  Furthermore, we see a lot of convenience and utility with technology which has been a catalyst to opening the world to everyone.
         However, there are many disadvantages to technology in society such as too much personal information being given and too much time spent in front of the computer.  Nevertheless, as with everything in life, there needs to be a balance.

References

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