Current mood:

awake

How can this be positive?
After completing both required readings the first thought that came into my mind was, how people can get so involved in these types of technological communities. I can’t say that I am very comfortable with the idea of cyberspace and the ability to assume a persona of our own creation. MUDs, which are worlds of imagination that allow us to assume these personas, are a new and intriguing idea to me. Although interesting I do question how healthy it is to get so caught up in these types of fantasies.

One of the most shocking parts of the reading was when Turkle (1995) stated that some individuals lose grips with reality. The fact that people go as far as challenging the idea of giving priority to reality or real life is frightening. These types of technological communities are JUST programs and will always be JUST programs, they should not have precedence over one’s REAL life.

Turkle speaks frequently about the social interaction that MUDs allow individuals to have. I would have to strongly disagree with this particular point. Although individuals are interacting, I would not go as far as saying that they are socially interacting. In my personal opinion for true social interaction individuals have to be face to face, person to person…NOT person to computer screen.

As a future educator I will definitely be incorporating computers into the classroom but I believe that there is a thin line that can be and often is crossed. When used appropriately technology is definitely an asset to education but when technology is abused it is not a benefit to anyone. I am a true constructivist and believe in hands on learning, which includes interacting with objects, one another and the environment. A computer and various programs do not meet all of those needs.

I have said this before in my journals, too much of something is not good. When an individual gets to a point where he/she is devoting all of his/her time and energy on a program like MUD, it’s a problem.

Everything in moderation!!!