Sep 27, 2018
(Re-write) Can I Live Without Digital and Communication Technologies?
To discuss this question effectively it is necessary to define digital technologies as the development and practical use of digital or computerized devises for consumption and creation. For the use of this paper information communication technologies is defined as the devices and infrastructures that aid the transmission of information using digital technologies and processes. (Zuppo, C).
Australian citizens are worldwide leaders of possessing smartphones with 88% of our population owning at least one (deloitte, 2017). Australian’s use the internet at an alarming rate with access in the home steadily climbing since 2004–2005 with the rate remaining constant between 2014–2015 and 2016–2017 at 86%.
Sanga’ & González-Sanmamed (2010) agree that ICT’s are a vital tool for building smarter societies andserve as an educational tool capable of transforming the education system and it’s current processes, thus leading to educational equality for all.
Students in 2018 are using technology more than any other generation before, with two (2) out of three (3) year 6 students in Australia having access to a digital device when completing school based assignments (Morphitou, 2017).
I doubt I could live the same life I am living now, with the same access to banking and social security, the same ease when booking travel or ordering online services, with the same ease, regularity and opportunities as I have today, with the absence of digital and communication technologies.
Could you survive without those luxuries and how would yourday pan out without them?
My usual day goes like this?
I wake up with the aid of my smart phone alarm (which uses international time clocks and digital technologies), I jump in my car (uses computer parts), I drive down to the service station, through traffic lights and street lamps (that are controlled by digital programming), I get fuel (that was shipped from elsewhere using digital communication systems). Then I hit the yoga studio (which you book online), head for a coffee shop (cafe uses online shopping to order the soy milk I like). I then head to work (I work in a school where our year 6’s use I-pads and online work platforms to complete 90% of classroom tasks and homework activities). I then drive home through a toll bridge (which uses number plate recognition technologies), I have a surf (my wax was made in a computer run factory), I then head home to cook dinner (most food has been delivered and/or categorized at local supermarkets with digital barcodes, ordering and stocktaking systems), finally I lay down to sleep and put on Netflix (computer program).
I didn’t mention our emergency services, water and sewerage production and treatment plants and the electricity and utilities companies which are vital to our survival. These services would be difficult to live without and they all rely heavily on digital and communication technologies.
Yes I probably could live without technology if I lived on a deserted Island in Fiji…
Surfing all day, fishing, hunting pigs and birds, making clothes and shelter from palm fronds, mud bricks and rocks. Laying around in the sun relaxing, collecting rain water and chilling out. I could survive without digital and communication technologies if I lived there.
But I don’t, I live in a city…
REFERENCES.
Australian Bureau of statistics. (2016–17). Household Use of Information Technology. Retrived from
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/8146.0.
Deliotte. (2017). Mobile Consumer Survey — The Australian Cut. Retrieved from
Google Images. (2018). Image №1. Retrieved from
Google Images. (2018). Image №2. Retrieved from
Morphitou, R. (2017). The Use of Smartphones Among Students in Relation to Education and Social Life.
Retreived from: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7011155
Sangra’, A. & González-Sanmamed, M. (2010). The role of information and communication technologies in
improving teaching and learning processes in primary and secondary school. Retrieved from:
Waraba. (2018). Image №3, Chilling in Fiji. Retrieved from https://www.blakboi.com/.
Wollscheild, S. Sjaastad, J. Toemte, C. & Lover, N. (2016). The effect of pen and paper or tablet on early
writing — A pilot study. Retrieved from:
Zuppo, C. (2012). Defining ICT in a boundaryless world: The development of a working heirarchy.
International Journal of Managing Information Technology (IJMIT) Vol.4, №3. Retrieved from:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9c00/ff69df8dc109faccdba154f2768d93193f14.pdf
