Reading Responce #6

English 100A

Reading response #6

In one part of Cynthia Self’s article, “Lest We Think the Revolution is a Revolution,” self takes a very negative and outdated view of how existing social forces will deal with new technology and be able to integrate it into their lives. Self argues “This optimism about technology often masks in a peculiar way, however, a contrasting set of extremely potent fears. Moreover, and more importantly, an exclusive focus on the positive changes associated with technology, often serve to distract educators from recognizing how social forces actually work to resist change in connection with technology…”

I think the social forces that Self is referring to is the previous generations of parents and older adults that hold the purse strings of the education boards. If this is true then she shouldn’t be worried because technology is being greatly accepted by these generations also. As stated by Erik Qualman in his video text “Social media Revolution,” “The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females” This to me is showing older women are willing to learn the latest technology just to be able to stay in touch. That does not show me a very resistant behavior toward technology. Qualman also stated that it took 38 years for the radio to reach 50 million users. But it only took 4 years for the internet to reach 50 million. Facebook had 100 million users in only nine months. Self also states according to Moore’s law microprocessors double in speed every eighteen months. This allows technology to take tremendous leaps every year. If the “social forces” aren’t willing to keep up they will be replaced by a newer and faster model themselves.

I do have to admit that a lot of the users on Facebook are teens, and would not be part of the “social forces” that were mentioned by Self. The teen users have to have the technology to be part of Facebook and that is usually supplied by parents who are part of those social forces.