Technology : Thriving Vs. Surviving

Before I took this class, I thought of myself as being fairly confident with my technological skills. After all, as a freelance writer, I use the computer for basically every aspect of my job. I perform research on the computer. I write the actual articles on the computer. I email my work or post it in the appropriate online places, etc. I guess I thought that being able to use the internet and basic computer programs made me technologically literate. Now, though, my eyes are being opened to all of the technological things I wasn't aware of before.

Podcasting is a great example. I thought, okay, this won't be a problem at all. I can have that done in no time flat. I'd never tried it before, but I felt confident in my abilities. Things did not, however, go according to plan. First of all, I didn't have the right sound devices to create a podcast on my computer. Then, I couldn't find a way to get them into the format I needed, because I was dealing with a computer that wouldn't allow me to download a new program. Whenever I encountered even the smallest of technical problems, I was at a real loss as to how to fix it. I learned that I generally expect various programs and shortcuts to do all of the work for me. When that is the case, I'm fine, but when things don't work the right way, I don't have a clue.

This led me to question whether I was thriving with technology or just merely surviving. To me, thriving means using technology to get things done and using it to make your life easier. It is similar to surviving with technology in this way, but the difference is that thrivers are confident in their abilities. They know how to deal with problems that pop up. If they don't know how to deal with a particular problem, they will figure it out. Unfortunately, my lack of confidence and my inability to fix issues makes me a mere survivor, not a thriver.

I think of my mom, who is neither a thriver nor a survivor. At 63, she is just someone who chooses to ignore technology. She has never sent an email. The only gaming system she's ever played (and poorly) was an old school Super Nintendo. She still has a VCR, and she has never owned a mobile phone. I bet though, at one time, she was a survivor too, in her own generation. But then, things got too hard, and she just gave up one day. In other words, I think it's easy to make the leap from technology survivor to being totally ignorant of modern technology. I don't want that to happen to me.

That is why I am going to, from this point forward, seize every opportunity I can to learn about new technologies and to increase my skills and comfort levels in dealing with existing technology. I want to make a leap forward--from survivor to thriver--instead of backwards. Though this class is challenging for me, I'm glad for the opportunity to become a more technologically skilled person and to learn how to put technology to good use in the classroom.