Frontline’s, “Digital Nation”

The Frontline video, “Digital Nation” we watched last week in class gave me a very different perspective on how technologically savvy, dependent, and advanced our society has truly become. I think the producers did a fantastic job of highlighting digital technologies and explaining to the viewers what these technologies are, who uses them, and how to go about using them.

However, what I think made the video so captivating was how it described our technologically advanced society. Until I watched this video, I was under the impression that digital technologies were really only affecting the world of newspapers and journalism. This might be because everyday, people all around me lecture me about how the world of journalism is quickly changing.

The other day, I was at my local HSBC bank branch and the teller asked me what I’m majoring in. When i told him journalism, he looked at me like i was nuts. He said newspapers are going to cease to exist and that newspapers are going to be online. He then sarcastically wished me good luck in finding a job in print (which is what I would like to do) upon my May 2010 graduation.

Frontline’s “Digital Nation” did a great job of showing how digital technology is affecting our every day lives. One part of the video that stuck with me was in the beginning, when a woman was explaining how her family is all in the same house, but because of computers and technology, every member of her family is in a different world. This to me is scary. How is this going to impact our family lives or our face-to-face interactions?

What I found most interesting in the video was when it showed how technology is causing teachers to change their teaching methods. I could not believe that there are schools that require students to have laptops and complete all of their assignments on laptops! Technology has definitely come a long way since I was in elementary school taking notes and completing homework assignments in my marble notebooks or on looseleaf pages!

What Are Fantasy War Games Doing to Our Workforce?

As great as all of these digital technologies are, it is a little concerning. The video mentioned how some people have become so obsessed with fantasy war games that they have quit their jobs to play them! What are these games doing to our workforce? To our face-to-face social lives?

Finally, I have to raise one question that the MIT student study about multitasking got me to thinking. Is multitasking going to be a job requirement? Are job postings going to require potential applicants to possess the ability to type, work in teams, speak in front of large audiences, and multitask?