It is incredible the way technology has changed the way I
learn, there’s always a way to find the answer to a question I have. Just the
other night, I was sitting there with some friends and we started talking about
dissecting different animals in our bio classes in high school ages ago. One of
my friends mentioned that he had dissected a shark that was pregnant and that
sparked the question of “how do sharks give birth?”. No one at the table knew,
so I immediately pointed to the “phone”, which I now call The Oracle, to get
the answer. We found out that sharks deliver their young in 3 different ways,
amazing! It took less than a minute for someone to get online, read Wikipedia and
then share it with the others. Would that have happened 7 years ago? Nope! And definitely
not 10 years ago! That’s when the most exciting thing you could do with mobile
phones was change the ring tone to a funky song with maybe some flashy lights
across the screen.
My learning network is amazing right now, it is so mixed. I
never know when knew information will be introduced and by whom or what, it’s
almost overwhelming. With various influences in my life and varying
perspectives, I wonder how my mind filters and retains the information I REALLY
need. I can see how convenient it is to always be connected, always be able to
get the answers, but I also miss the days when I wasn’t connected. The days
where I would leave the house and not immediately check to see if I had my cell
phone in my purse. To truly disconnect was a luxury that I didn’t even know I
was experiencing. Yet, now that I know what life is like in the connected
world, I wouldn’t want to go back to being disconnected – all the time, but
vacation disconnecting is a MUST.
Technology has created connected junkies, so much so that
there are rehab clinics around the world focused on helping those that are
addicted to their smart phones, ipads, virtual video games and more. It has
become as damaging to some people’s lives as a drug or alcohol addiction, an
out of control connector can bring chaos to a family, who knew?!
Also, living in bigger cities allows for a variety of
networks to form. Not just through technology, but through social networking. I
don’t mean through FaceBook or LinkedIn either, I mean good old fashioned
networking. The kind of networking where you go to a social gathering, shake hands
and get to know people in a real and not a virtual environment. In larger
cities, you have people from diverse backgrounds that can quickly contribute to
your learning by simply introducing a new perspective or piece of information familiar to them, but not to you.
Nowadays I can't just say I learn "something" new every day....nowadays I am learning MANY new things throughout the day!
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