Posted 10th February

MODULE 8

Things you can’t live without

Topic 5. Things we can’t live without nowadays. Are you “techie” or “technophobe”?

TECHNOPHOBIA

Dealing with technology

Match the names (1 to 8) to the pictures (a-h).

1. A laptop

2. A mobile phone

3. A digital camera

4. A technophobe

5. A sci-fi novel

6. An icon

7. A keypad

8. A menu

a) b) c) d) e) f) g)

h)

Read the text. Write out the words connected with technology.

Posted 10th February

Discuss your techno-related problems here.

Dear Max. Please help. I live in Germany with my wife and three kids. My parents live in the UK. I want my kids to have as much contact with their grandparents as possible. The kids all use e-mail, Skype and SMS but my parents won’t. I’ve bought them a laptop, paid for broadband, given them both mobile phones and a digital camera, but they won’t use them. My parents say they hate computers and new technology. My kids call them “The Technophobes”. What can I do?

Daniel, Nuremburg, Germany

You should give them a copy of the film Witness, starring Harrison Ford. The film shows the life of the Amish people, who are genuine technophobes. The Amish are a Christian people of Swiss-German origin who live in the US states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana. They live simple lives and do not usually use many types of modern technology like cars, telephones, and electricity.

Corey, New York, USA

Actually, Corey, the original technophobes were the Luddites, a group of cloth workers in 19th century Britain during the Industrial Revolution. The Luddite cloth workers, who traditionally made cloth by hand, were worried that machines were going to take away their jobs and way of life. These machines were mechanised looms which could make cloth much faster and cheaper than humans. In 1811 and 1812 the Luddites attacked and destroyed the machines that they hated so much, but the British government supported the factory owners. Many Luddites were arrested and executed. Charlotte Bronte’s novel Shirley will tell your parents all about it.

Laura, Valencia, Spain.

There is a more serious side to this. Technophobes can be divided into two groups, those who hate technology because they can’t use it, and those who are afraid of the effects of technology on the modern world. This second group of technophobes have some important points to make. For example, when atomic bombs were used to end the Second World War, many people were worried about the future of the world now that the human race had the power to destroy it. This led to the beginnings of environmentalism and campaigns against lead in petrol and the role of technology in the destruction of the ozone layer. Perhaps your parents are sensible.

Joe, Edinburgh, Scotland

You’re not alone, Daniel. There are millions of technophobes out there. A recent survey in the UK found that 23% of the adult population in the UK are technophobes. Of that group 54% are men and 46% women. 55% are over 55 years old.

Rex, Oxford, UK.

Joe makes some interesting points, I think. Technophobia has been a common theme in literature, especially science fiction. Frankenstein, one of the first sci-fi novels, is a warning of what could happen if humans begin to experiment with human life. The films Bladerunner, Terminator and Matrix also deal with this.

Freda, Copenhagen, Denmark.

One thing you could try is to find hardware that is designed for older people to use. An example are the mobiles made by the US company Jitterbug. Instead of icons and menus the Jitterbug phones ask users simple “yes/no” questions and have larger keypads. The company realised that there are potentially 100 million older users in the US alone and that designing technology for them to use was a good business idea. Graham, Patras, Greece. Buy them a copy of the Technophobes' latest album. They’re a guitar synth band from Glasgow and are brilliant.

Bennie, Glasgow, Scotland.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 861