Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

Choices

By Jeni Meyers

By Elizabeth Appleyard

eaappleyard@vwc.edu

jlmeyers@vwc.edu

Man’s first creation was fire. As he evolved man was able to begin thinking in a more critical fashion, and began to test the current boundaries of reason and strive for the impossible. Then came the printing press, electricity and the telephone. These were all extraordinary inventions for their times – but they weren’t enough. We needed more, we needed faster and we needed better. Then came the airplane, the car, the radio, motion pictures, color pictures, television, VCR, satellite, DVD, etc.

But the standard television (whose horizontal resolution is 480 lines) isn’t good enough, the picture isn’t clear enough – we want better, so we created HDTV (whose horizontal resolution is 2,000 lines) which will become the new industry standard in 2009. Now that we have HDTV, our old DVD discs aren’t compatible with the different resolution, so now we are faced with the latest craze in technology - Blu-ray vs. HD DVD.

As technology is constantly growing, what happens to the older generations, who are used to the old standards? What about the generation that no one has the patience to work with and to teach them how to work these new technologies? They will be left behind, confused. Even we, seniors in college who should be on the brink of this technology, find ourselves slightly confused with how to work some of these new contraptions.

Many from the older generation enjoy watching television programs, but what will happen when the industry standard moves over to HDTV? Many of the older generation will not understand the need to switch, because they are happy and comfortable with how they watch the programs. Technology plays an important part in the advancement of society and culture, but when does it become dangerous and begin to leave people behind?

Individually we have the choice to help ourselves become acquainted with this technology and involve ourselves in its development – or we also have the choice to be left behind, stuck in our old ways. I know I for one refuse to play Xbox 360 or Game cube – and am currently searching for a good old Super Nintendo, which is the only video game console. I fully understand how to play and operate.

However, the prospect of a battery-operated car that doesn’t rely on gas, or purchasing a flat screen HDTV when I get a new apartment makes me excited.

We have the choice to choose which aspects of technology we wish to work with.

As a society we also have the choice to help others who may not understand this new technology. We should be patient and willing to help whenever help is wanted – but the people must also be willing to accept, help and learn with an open mind. We need to erase the concept that you “can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Because if technological advancement is important to society and culture, it would be extremely harmful to leave anyone behind.