$(document).ready( function () { talk_rendercallback({"enabled":"1","islive":"0","eid":6007,"total":"165","discussion":[{"nm":"manou","rs":"0","ms":"Maybe we not seing the bigger picture but i think it nice being able to have all the information you need it your finger tips. ","pt":"Feb 17, 2010 09:38"},{"nm":"jai10","rs":"0","ms":"after viewing these video blogs, i can understand more why social networks are becoming more popular as a way of communication. facebook which is one of the most popular social networks on the internet at the present time and people of many different ages are becoming hooked to it and living most of there lives vicariously through it. creating false or true avatars and allowing themselves to be of public use freely. why is that? we all have done it and will soon adopt the fad but with regards to the way people use to communicate is becoming more impersonal...... ","pt":"Feb 17, 2010 08:56"},{"nm":"SammiZ","rs":"0","ms":"I can see it coming. The future is all depend on internet. With the high demand in techology, we are progressing revolution manny times faster than our ancestor. The world change rapidly, and we all have to keep up.Internet and online games, are these really addictions? I just found myself reading books till late and non-stop till next day morning 4 o\'clock. so, is reading an addiction too? do i have to see a shrink??Anyway, the world now is dependent on internet very much. Imagine if there is a serious internet outage occur now, what do you feel? If I have an internet outage, i will freak....Oh god! Are you kidding me? I am typing a massage to digital nation....","pt":"Feb 17, 2010 08:54"},{"nm":"Demetris Smith","rs":"0","ms":"Actually looking at some of the videos from people that are incuded in the social arena. true it is coming to where communication has went from the level of face-to-face meetingto where you would meet someone on a social network. th problem with that is that you are passing the stage where you would decode if you fimd someone attractive or would you even be intersted in pursing any type of relationship. how can we solve the matters of broken communication? computers and technology generally has taken the world into a new era of living and social stauts. now people can create their own identity through myspace, facebook, twitter an other social networks, avatars i think its called. a persons true indentity is at risk when you start making others believe in a false since of identity aslo the real you is being lock in a prison well you false identity roams the world. ","pt":"Feb 17, 2010 08:52"},{"nm":"Martha R. ","rs":"0","ms":"There were a few aspects that I found very interesting. Technology has taken over our life, it makes our life easy but at the same time it takes us away from the people around us, like family. In one the storys I read, Hower is her name, she mentioned that one day she stay in some kind of house in the middle of the montain, no electricity, no water, just the real world, she found herself doing things she never thought would do again, like meltin water in a pot on a fireplace so she can flash the toilet. WOW that we have moved on in life. can you imagine doing those kind of things again? or living in a world without this technology? I can\'t. I am sorround by technology, I love it. Everything i need is there. Internet, Google the best way to do researchs, facebook keep you conected with people. But just don\'t forget about the actual people around us.. ","pt":"Feb 17, 2010 08:51"},{"nm":"Norberto P.","rs":"0","ms":"Very interesting. Technology has come along way. More and More technology devices are being made nowadays and everybody gets addicted to them like drugs. But things get so simple now with one of these new technological gadgets such as the iphone or the blackberry. ","pt":"Feb 17, 2010 08:50"},{"nm":"Alex","rs":"0","ms":"How healtly is to live in a virtual life? can we develop better social skills? is there any healtly implications I think everything is based on preferences but if you ask me, i prefer the real word, i don\'t reject the idea of internet as a trainig tool or as a communication aid, but i think is better and has more significance to met or have a relationship in real life as I said is just my humble opinion.","pt":"Feb 17, 2010 08:49"},{"nm":"Ferdinand Velasco","rs":"0","ms":"A NYTimes.com article profiling how the availability of free wireless Internet access turned a school bus in Arizona into a mobile study hall nicely complements the segment about Intermediate School 339 in the Bronx, NY. \<a href=&quot;http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/education/12bus.html&quot;\>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/education/12bus.html\<\/a\>","pt":"Feb 12, 2010 09:00"},{"nm":"Max","rs":"0","ms":"This did not teach me anything i already didn\'t know. Some people will be sucked into the &quot;virtual world &quot; and some wont. This all depends on the person.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 15:05"},{"nm":" Harry Johnson ","rs":"0","ms":"I wrote the book KIDS, PARENTS & TECHNOLOGY: AN INSTRUCTION GUIDE FOR YOUNG FAMILIES (see www.mydigitalfamily.org )precisely in response to the events this show describes so well. My clinical work with parents and families over the past decade showed me the problems technology is creating for them and helped me identify the type of information they need to make certain that these devices contribute to family life in a positive way. I wrote it to help parents turn technology into a positive family resource rather than a threat. The book\'s goal is to help parents lead youngsters towards beneficial and positive uses of the Internet, videogames, smart phones, and other electronic media. My hope is that as they grow, kids will form better habits than today’s media-soaked teens. Family life and childhood development itself are being weakened by technology use. A recently released Kaiser Family Foundation study shows that older children are engaged with the media as much as eight hours a day; only 1/3 of families limit media; but even when parents do set rules, media consumption by kids drops by only 1/3. I wrote it to help parents turn technology into a positive family resource rather than a threat. The book\'s goal is to help parents lead youngsters towards beneficial and positive uses of the Internet, videogames, smart phones, and other electronic media. My hope is that as they grow, kids will form better habits than today’s media-soaked teens. I try to offer wise and comprehensive recommendations based on my lifetime of clinical experience and the latest scientific knowledge. It is the first comprehensive and practical child- or family-centered instruction manual offering step-by-step instructions on how to turn digital media into powerful parenting tools that enrich family life. The instruction manuals we receive with digital media devices don\'t teach parents the most important things -- how to use the new gadgets to fully benefit youngsters and family lives. I urge parents to be fully present with your children and avoid texting and cell phone use and give them practical advise about how to do this. Parents themselves may be damaging children when they are not fully present because they are online, on the cell phone, or texting. Not only are they rude or setting bad examples, but their distractions interrupt the vital bond necessary for healthy wiring of young children\'s brains. Kids, Parents, and Technology: An Instruction Manual for Young Families rapidly gets parents to start treating media consumption in the same healthy ways they already employ to manage children’s food diets. They can make children’s home consumption of media a safe and rich asset to family life through step-by-step guidelines and fresh and credible thinking that helps parents, educators, therapists, doctors, policy makers, businesses, and anyone else working with children. Finally, the book provides in-depth thinking about the uses of digital media as therapeutic tools, looks at its future uses, and an example of a non-violent, educational, value-oriented action game. By applying sound child-rearing and family support principles, parents can now create balanced media plans that lead youngsters to the values and orientation they will need to succeed in an increasingly media-rich world.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 14:57"},{"nm":"zismay","rs":"0","ms":"the iPhone feeling like an extension of myself, the joy of having information at my fingertips, and the stack of unopened games for fear of losing myself within the game.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 14:55"},{"nm":"Ty","rs":"0","ms":"To me the digital world is a place for people to get away from problems and let out stress meet other people and have fun living the life they want to.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 14:51"},{"nm":"abanob mikhaeil","rs":"0","ms":"I constantly see how communication is improved and generations connected by technology.......I recently researched Second Life users and their learning practices. In their 30s, 40s and 50s, they spent on average 30-45 hours a week in a fake world......","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 14:50"},{"nm":"(=","rs":"0","ms":" maybe some of us hate technology, but we all know we need it. some of us just take it way too far. like second lives on the internet? thats honestly pathetic, maybe its like youre comfort zone, but you gotta think about the bigger picture there. youre online life isnt going to get you very far, and you cant be successful playing games online all day.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 14:46"},{"nm":" Callie McClure","rs":"0","ms":"I think that there is a good and bad side to this argument. It\'s all a matter of opinions. My opinion is that we shouldn\'t have our entire life centered around technology. I don\'t mean don\'t use, just don\'t let it use you. People shouldn\'t get addicted to something that isn\'t real. I also think that the way the army is using recruiting through gaming can go both ways too. I believe that they may be taking it a little too far by doing on gaming, where it\'s digital. If they were to do it in some way that they could get physically into a simulation then it would probably give the people who are going to be recruiter a better picture at what they going to be facing in a real situation. They don\'t need to be doing it digitally where most of the people in my opinion, probably think that it\'s just a game. They never really think of the real dangers behind it.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 14:46"},{"nm":"DG","rs":"0","ms":"Technology is not a bad thing. We need to embrace it. It\'s become to much of our lives to not use it.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 14:42"},{"nm":"Terence","rs":"0","ms":"I found this to be a very interesting documentary though i think it missed out on some key points like how the internet is 80% porn. I also think they should have interviewed more average joes instead of these people who are involved in the projects they showed. In my own opinion I do believe that technology is advancing but not as fast as we think. I mean they thought that we\'d have flying cars in the year 2000. I dont know im just gonna wait and see what the future holds for us whether skynet happens or not lol.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 13:03"},{"nm":"AEA","rs":"0","ms":"Having soldiers work technology for war at home with no risk of injury is inhumane and pretty ridiculous. Sitting in a control room firing bullets and bombs thousands of miles away from harm takes the human part out of war. If this becomes the norm, that\'s all war will be. A bunch of citizens sitting at their &quot;workplace&quot; pushing buttons and killing each other. War will be never ending, and pointless. Waking up in the morning, driving to work in a uniform, killing a few people, then coming home to your family. That sounds like a sick, completely unattached way to go to war. And do these soldiers get the health care that normal soldier receive? That wouldn\'t seem fair at all, considering there are so many other citizens that could use those advantages and have more dangerous jobs than these special pilots.The advances in technology we have and are developing now could be used for so much more than killing people. They could be used for saving people instead. ","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 12:57"},{"nm":"Nathan ","rs":"0","ms":"I think we rely on technology too much nowadays. These internet meetings and games take away the actual feeling or experience of being with other people. Plus, it also creates a bunch of problems. How would u hire new people for jobs like that? How do you know if the person you work with is actually on the other side of that computer, like they could be an unknown person who just sounds like them. A problem with the video games is that they are kinda controling the way we do things. Nobody meets people outside of there home without technology anymore. Yes games are an easier way to meet and greet people, but the thing it deprives us of is really getting to know people from how they act. All the game does to show people is that you can talk and that you have game tactics. your not getting to know the true person. besides most people lie when they talk on online games anyway to make them sound good. If things keep going the way they are, no one is gonna leave home because we will probably evolve technology till we all have virtual reality  helmets and everyone just plays along. Yes, I like  playing video games and talk to people on them but I don\'t get out of hand with it like some.     ","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 12:57"},{"nm":"Jessica","rs":"0","ms":"I thought the documentary was OK, but they left out one main use of technology. The use of it in music. People don\'t even need to be good musicians to record an album anymore! You can just fix up their voice with computers. And in today\'s generation, music has basically became part of their lives. On the plus side though, there are still some very talented musicians that actually can sing and put on a good show. On the other hand, some music actually sounds better when you use a computer, such as techno-pop stuff. But their actual voices, I believe shouldn\'t be affected by technology and computers, unless it\'s for effect.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 12:44"},{"nm":"liam glenn","rs":"0","ms":"i think the internet is a really good thing. every good thing comes with its down sides also but none of the downsides can even come close to all the good things that com from it. the internet is becoming so big its its own world i think we should let it all grow and get even bigger","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 12:39"},{"nm":"terry","rs":"0","ms":"I think that should we be more conservative than this problem can be delbt with. I am good at doing many things at once as I also am at doing one thing. I like to read alot and i can tune people out totally but to do many things like read while typing while using google is hard for most people and if we as people can deal with the problems ahead of us than we should figer out what goes on try like 2 hours aday for computers an hour or two for tv just limit the users time with this stuff.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 11:49"},{"nm":"Mike Robinson","rs":"0","ms":"See RICHARD LOUV, The Last Child in the Forest.   The issue isn\'t whether technology is good or bad.  That\'s a false dilemma, like every parental choice since we left the caves:from &quot;which playmates&quot; to &quot;out afrer dark&quot; to &quot;sleepovers&quot; etc.  Louv shows us how the seductive nature of video games, online chatrooms and the charm of the Internet consumeso much of a child\'s attention that s/he loses on several fronts. Loss of solitude, time for undisrupted thinking and being; loss of a sense of where s/he fits in the natural order of things; loss of physical fitness.   This is complicated the the drift into isolation, each family member living in a technological cocoon, a creepy disease.   It\'s a loss of balance.   The longterm effect is anonymity even from those who live with us. We\'re all residents of a great big dorm.  Whoopee.   ","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 11:02"},{"nm":"venessa williams","rs":"0","ms":"I think that the amount that people spend on the computer is a bit much. Yea sure the internet is a great way to act more yourself or escape the harshness of reality. But even doing so the internet can also have its downs. It has predators and people who just want to use you or hurt you. Then again people fall in love over the internet and go to meet each other. So is it really as bad as people like to make out to be? I can see what everyone is worried about. Their children getting hurt or abused by &quot;chat or text&quot;. In my opinion i don\'t think that people should take a text as to something being offensive, But then again thats just me. Im just one person, not trying to speak for every body else, because everyone acts differently to different things. The internet is great and all but if you just turn it off for a while and look around outside you can see the beauty of nature and if you just stop and think its a very beautiful world that we are not seeing all the way we should. The internet and other technologies are a great way for people to keep in contact with one another. But even just talking or typing something out to someone is not all as great as actually being with that person or talking with that person in real life and not just on a game. A lot of people make relationships on the internet and miss the best part of being in a relationship, Physical contact or interaction.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 10:53"},{"nm":"James Stanford","rs":"0","ms":"I ca say that i am a part of the &quot;Digital Nation&quot; because the internet is a major factor in my life. My life doesn\'t revolve around technology but my life is influenced by it. The internet, games, and cell phones are not the ones pushing students away from &quot;old school&quot; learning, its the lack of excitement and fun teachers put in their planning. Technology can only influence a person negatively if that person lets technology consume their life. there are boundaries and limits that everyone should acknowledge. There is life outside of technology and it can also teach you plenty of useful things. People need to realize that technology is a big part of the future and its is not going away any time soon. It has made a great difference in the world and it will have a greater impact in the future.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 10:50"},{"nm":"Allyson Knorr","rs":"0","ms":"I think its cool, but I don\'t think I would want my kids to be in a school that only uses technology, because kids should read books, not go to a website that tells them what the plot is. Yes it would be a great experience, but I don\'t think adults should have to learn anymore stuff, because they are out of school and I\'m sure they don\'t want to go back..","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 10:43"},{"nm":"Felicia","rs":"0","ms":"To an extent I am on the fence about this whole technological age. Though it does serve as a useful resource for knowledge, you have to stop and ask yourself &quot;exactly how many are actually using it as a learning recourse?&quot; This answer of course being \'hardly any around my generation. I\'m a senior in high school, and every day all I hear is how none of the students want to work and how everyone wants to complain when a teacher gives even the smallest amount of classwork.I have some friends in one class who always copy work from me because I actually do it. Personally when it comes to reading I tend to lose my interest rather quickly. When it comes to learning I enjoy verbal lectures and stories. Most students use the computer as a game system while I sit in my computer class relatively bored on free days because I am not much of a gamer. I admit though I am decent at games, they just are not my fortay. ","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 10:42"},{"nm":"austin","rs":"0","ms":"Honestly technology, as far as it has come, has been a big help for humanity. Things like the internet has helped people all over complete alot of certain tasks such as completing reports for college on that one topic for science or as far as filling out an application for a job. Things like this people might look at and say that it is not true but if you look at it how many people have literally looked around for a book to look at to complete that report when all you have to do is take 30 seconds on the internet and find what your looking for, also even most jobs you cannot even apply for at the building itself, you have to do that online. Also things like the army recruitment, my opinion is that they just use games to show people that this is what you may get into in the army and also its the peoples choice and fault that they sign up, not the army\'s its not like they force the choice on to them, they are just doing they\'re job and showing people through games how it will be.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 10:42"},{"nm":"Zach Johnson","rs":"0","ms":"My view on the whole online topic. is kids are going to get online and get in chat rooms ,and yeah teachers and parents know that their is a way to get around them. Like trying to block web sites on the computers and now you got internet on the phone so they can just use their phone. and how the army is trying to recruit that just doesn\'t seem right making gaming spots for kids and trying to influence the kids that its that easy to kill someone.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 10:40"},{"nm":"Dave","rs":"0","ms":"I think technology is a good learning tool. For instance, I\'m typing this at school on a mac right now. Some believe that the military is abusing it by using video games, but we aren\'t stupid. We do know it isn\'t real; in fact, I could never actually shoot someone (I\'m not a pacifist or anything though,) so I DO know the difference. I mean, even 5-year olds play these games (even though they piss me off online.) and can tell the difference. So take it up the... well you know the rest, you anti-technologic adults.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 10:35"},{"nm":"calvin McKinney","rs":"0","ms":"I feel at sometimes digital technology does get a little frivolous excessive and plain old ridiculous in how we, the consumers, use it and what the producers will make next.I definitely agree with a quote I heard in the video, the internet is neither good or bad its powerful and just as we evolved from letters to phone calls we will continue to evolve.I  would just hope that we don\'t loose the nuances of personal communication entirely and rely on a separate world that we  cant fully access like the one  we are actually living in and forget how to live.I don\'t care how realistic the internet world is  it can\'t in any way substitute first hand experiences.In a world where all you have to do is hit the undo or backspace button how would we learn from the mistakes that we made. Like There are younger kids who probably don&quot;t have the comprehensive spelling skills they need because they rely on Spell check and then there are those  who might have superior spelling skills because they learn from spell check. Its evolution and we can\'t grow and evolve and please everyone its just something we will have to adapt to but it will be years before we can determine if it was for the better or the worst","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 09:46"},{"nm":"Olivia Hannalla","rs":"0","ms":"I thought this documentary was very interesting. I do agree that we\'ve become more dependent on computers that ever. It not healthy! It does make life easier though.  Two days ago Opera had a show on Nuns. I was shocked to know that even they have blackberries and aren\'t as conservative as people would think. Technology is a great thing but even great things can become dangerous.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 09:42"},{"nm":"Jordan Main","rs":"0","ms":"Okay i just watched this with my class and i got to say that i liked it. This shows how kids these days are all into are they\'re phones and games, that is not all bad. But where is the line and how can set that line. See I\'m a kid how really is not high-tech, i have a nice phone, i can get online whenever and there nothing much i can\'t do (if i put my mind to it) but the point i getting at is this world we all are slowing falling into is a world that is not like anything anyone has seen. But it is a world of are own we made it, we know most of the limits. Some make bad moves but to put it short. We got this man. ","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 09:38"},{"nm":"Jordan P.","rs":"0","ms":"As a student, I have grown up in the digital age. I\'ve been around computers for most of my life. There is no turning back from it. It is the future of our civilization. I see no point in trying to prevent people from using it. It\'s what kids today want to use. We are a different generation.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 09:37"},{"nm":"David ","rs":"0","ms":"I think that we need to find the right balance between our technology and our life in the real world. We don\'t need to so dependent on technology that it does everything for us but to be there when we need it. Why do we fear technology in the first place? Because it always changes, like our languages. Does anyone honestly speak in the 18th century way today? No, because the language has change to where it is now. Why fear technology\'s changes but not our own language changing? Because we all are afraid of the unknown. We need technology to help us discover the unknown, but also be able to help ourselves when technology is offline and no use for anyone. We must remember that it\'s only a tool, that\'s always changing, always evolving, always helping us to grow and to learn. ","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 09:04"},{"nm":" Peter Somsanith","rs":"0","ms":"The good side most definitely outweighs the bad side, it provides us with all of these advantages for communication, storing data, etc.  It helps us do things we can not do such as chat with a family member over seas.  As well as do some research without going through numerous books, I\'m not saying it is the best but it most definitely makes our lives a bit easier.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 08:48"},{"nm":"Dylan","rs":"0","ms":"I think people are making a bigger deal out of this than they really have too. Our world is rapidly growing into a technology based world. Instead of parents complaining about how much time their kids  spend online, they should limit how long they let their kids spend online. There was another segment about an army recruiting center that was using video games to recruit kids to the army. I see nothing wrong with this, almost every kid plays call of duty rather it\'s at their house or a friend\'s. If they\'re playing war games like call of duty shouldn\'t they at least play it with people who actually fight in wars so they can teach them what war is really like?","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 08:44"},{"nm":"Thomas","rs":"0","ms":"I am very impressed. Although I already knew everything in the video, but for the comment &quot;the dumbest generation&quot; that wasn\'t a bright thing to say. All these older people don\'t get as time moves on, more things are being invented. This is the future not the past anymore. Pus video games are a great thing for all generations. Games don\'t dumb kids it improves them. As I have proven in my MLA paper.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 08:41"},{"nm":"Vanessa Antonio","rs":"0","ms":"i think the virtual world was the most interesting thing out of everything. to be able to do stuff without actually being there is pretty interesting. The parents that were protesting about their kids playing war is is very stupid. they have to teach their kids and let them know that the games can\'t even compare to the war in the real world. No child is dumb enough to think that this is how the war is in the real world. I personally like to read a lot and never really use the computer that much. It is fun to have computers to help us study and do other stuff but adults need to also let us once in a while use something other than technology because we are all starting to rely too much on technology and it can get worse if we don\'t act on it now. ","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 08:41"},{"nm":"Karla Padilla","rs":"0","ms":"Personally, i find the internet useful. It was created for a purpose, and it went beyond that purpose. People should be happy that we can do so much with one small creation. Yes, there are bad things that can also be shared in the internet, but there are ways of blocking it and keeping it away. It also helps to talk to your kids about it at an early age. As for the military, they have a right to do what they do. I myself, don\'t like wars, but that wont make them go away. The military just wants good fighters, people that are willing to fight for their country and have the guts to. If kids can\'t tell that their video games are NOTHING like real life battles, then that\'s the parents fault for not teaching their kids about it. THe military isn\'t forcing them to do anything, it\'s up to those who sign up if they want to join the army. It\'s time to stop blaming everything or everyone else, and start blaming ourselves for what might go wrong.","pt":"Feb 11, 2010 08:39"},{"nm":"Joseph Tucker","rs":"0","ms":"Recruitment Center - As a Vietnam veteran, I do believe that we as individuals can become militarized in our thinking.  Although I believe that the military provides a plethera of positive opportunities for young people, I disagree with these sorts of activities being permited until young people are old enough to enter the service.  ","pt":"Feb  9, 2010 20:45"},{"nm":"Pat Powers","rs":"0","ms":"The funny thing is, the Frontline production\'s Second Life segment missed the most intriguing element, the very thing it is famous for: the quasi-sexual relationships people form in Second Life, and in fact within various other games as well, though not so well or so, um, frequently as in Second Life. Would seem kind of relevant to the theme of changing human relationships thorugh virtual worlds. Don\'t know if it was self-censorship, failure of nerve or what, but it made the whole episode seem kind of lame and dowdy and out of it.","pt":"Feb  9, 2010 15:56"},{"nm":"Kate S","rs":"0","ms":"As a twenty-something inhabiting some purgatorial station between digital native and naturalized citizen, I found portions of this program quite interesting. I was particularly struck by the segments that addressed the education and experience of digitally native children. The school teacher, Ms. Salen, seems to see the distinction between what is real and what is virtual or digital as vestigial, a construct of an older generation for which the difference was tangible. Berleson\'s research suggests that perhaps this difference is no longer experienced by those native to this culture. Children remembering virtual experience as actual experience is one example. From an outsider\'s perspective, it\'s difficult for me to understand what this digital/analog transience would feel like and I await with interest the findings that will come from the natives, the insiders, in the next 10-20 years.","pt":"Feb  9, 2010 12:00"},{"nm":"LM","rs":"0","ms":"The images of the empty IBM offices made me wonder about the changes that our physical landscape will experience as society further embraces technology.  Will working and purchasing goods from home become so prevalent that real estate will change to reflect a more insular physical world experience as virtual environments expand?  I pessimistically envision the replacement of the barren parking lots of big box stores with South Korean style PC bars instead of something aesthetically pleasing like green space.","pt":"Feb  9, 2010 09:19"},{"nm":"EWH","rs":"0","ms":"Like many participating in this discussion, I too am a current student and (shamefully) must admit that I agree technology is facilitating a move from active to passive learning among students.  The segment about brain usage while surfing google as compared to reading a book particularly hit home for me; oftentimes I finish up a google search and see so many various &quot;hit&quot; and &quot;miss&quot; articles that I quickly forget the minute details of the topic I had just searched for.  This happens even during times where I intentionally ignore facebook, email, and chat correspondence with others.It seems that not only the availability of information, but also the extremely varied content of information available at only a few keystrokes and a single mouseclick is what &quot;dumbs&quot; us down.  The complexity of this information might ultimately be what drives us to attempt to find shortcuts such as sparknotes.  Combine this with the pervasiveness and distracting nature of websites and online media and effective productivity as well as long-term learning in our modern society might seriously be taking a turn for the worse!","pt":"Feb  9, 2010 02:37"},{"nm":"John","rs":"0","ms":"I just finished watching the program and I must say I was a little disappointed by the lack of counter arguments from those working in technology. Where were the interviews with men and women actually working to deliver cutting-edge internet technology? Who cares about people using Second Life at IBM... I\'d rather see interviews with actual engineers defending their positions.This program also gives the mistaken impression that computer technology is something new that we need to be aware of lest it devour our precious children. As a successful 33 year old software developer that grew up on Nintendo, I can safely say that nothing I saw in this program struck me as alarming. I would also love to know why this program focused almost exclusively on young people, when it\'s pretty obvious that the modern PC technology revolution dates back to at least the mid 70s when companies like Apple took the world by storm. There are plenty of 30, 40, and 50-something hackers out there that are ever bit as steeped in technology as kids are today...In many ways more so.  ","pt":"Feb  9, 2010 01:18"},{"nm":"AC","rs":"0","ms":"I appreciate the variety of stories that were featured in the film. I think it is useful to keep a balanced perspective of the variety of effects that the Internet is having on society, and perhaps what we learn from one story can be applied to another situation somewhere else. To that end, I would have appreciated more stories about what is going on elsewhere in the world.The idea that print caused people to lose the ability to remember things, but has also brought a great deal of richness into our lives is an interesting point. Accepting the present is one thing, but there is still something to be said for steering…","pt":"Feb  9, 2010 01:06"},{"nm":"Whitworth Interactive Journalism ","rs":"0","ms":"This phenomenon is an interesting one to watch as a journalist. In some aspects, it is certainly beneficial. Technology has turned journalism into a dialogue, where the audience has the power to respond to the news they are fed. This not only allows the media to shape their publications to meet the audience\'s need, it also holds journalists accountable. If a journalist claims something is true, fact-checking said journalist is just a Google search away. The dialogue technology has created between the media and the public is a good thing that will continue to develop as news organizations learn to utilize technology in more powerful ways.On the other hand, embracing the digital revolution with both hands holds risks. Several people interviewed said that the benefits outweigh the costs of moving forward into the digital age. However, we would make the argument that while technology holds many benefits for the journalist, the digital revolution should be regarded with some caution.The analogy of the microwave is appropriate. When the microwave oven first arrived on the scene, people thought it would revolutionize cooking and replace the conventional oven. Today, everyone has a microwave, but it usually sits on the counter right next to the conventional oven. Instead of replacing existing methods of cooking, the microwave complemented them. The digital revolution should be seen in this light, particularly in the arenas of journalism and social networking. There are some things that the internet, blogs, Facebook, etc. do very well, but there are many other things that they do not.The digital revolution should not replace current ways of doing things. Video games should not replace books; Second Life should not replace face-to-face meetings. But used appropriately and with wisdom, technology such as this opens new avenues for interacting with people that will benefit humanity and the discipline of journalism as a whole.","pt":"Feb  9, 2010 00:29"},{"nm":"matt t","rs":"0","ms":"I feel like I\'m at the older end of being a &quot;digital native.&quot; I find a lot of the comments here really disturbing. I think that it\'s a mistake to loudly denounce technology as the ruining of America\'s youth. Similarly, I think it\'s a mistake to loudly espouse it\'s benefits. As a species, the desire to build more and more powerful tools is at the heart of our existence. With computers, phones, the internet, etc. we\'ve built the most powerful tool ever created. More powerful than the atom bomb, the automobile, the printing press, or Penicillin, this network has the ability to connect people around the world instantly and give them access to near infinite information. More than that, it allows them to manipulate, create, and contribute new information back to this network. If anything, this documentary shows the variety of good and bad outcomes that can come from this new technology. Like any tool, it\'s up to us to decide how to use it. Those who reject it outright will be left behind by those who manipulate it. ","pt":"Feb  8, 2010 23:51"},{"nm":"JamesA","rs":"0","ms":"Just like everything else that leads to excess, technology will limit itself. Once we can no longer focus on the complete solution to a technical problem, technology will crumble. I just wonder how many planes have to drop, trains to crash, auto brakes fail,  or throttles to &quot;stick&quot; before we realize that the problem of fragmented thinking due to multi-tasking is quite serious...Wait, what was I saying, I had to stop and answer my cell!","pt":"Feb  8, 2010 23:02"},{"nm":"MP","rs":"0","ms":"As a community college instructor I do believe the good does outweigh the bad however I see students using technology as an excuse.  They say that they couldn\'t access the website, couldn\'t attach the file,  could respond in the discussion forum, etc.  The majority of the time it\'s not true.  No one else including me is having trouble doing what they are trying to do.  I make it very clear that technology is not an excuse for not completing your assignments!","pt":"Feb  8, 2010 21:55"},{"nm":"Mary Shaffer","rs":"0","ms":"I am a parent, have been an educator and am a therapist.  I found myself disatified with the overall documentary of digital nation.  I felt it focused on what is happening, some research of the effects/affects and ways in which the reality of living in the 21st centurly is &quot;digital&quot;   But I would really have liked seeing somebody tackle the dilemma of how boundaries are being blurred.  How limits need to be set and of how this need for constant &quot;connection&quot;  has a definite level of superficiality and destructivness.  When I was done watching this documentary I felt punched in the stomach, disturbed and frankly, pissed off.  Does anybody have the courage to confront the down sides of this &quot;new age&quot; ?!  Kids seem to be living in a time of constant &quot;entertainment&quot; versus the value of boredom, real life conversations or getting out and being in their bodies.  I dont\' see gaming as any kind of viable substitute for true companionship or intimacy.  I think the level of desensitization is alarming and scarey and I for one, am really going to do my best to regulate my children\'s entrance into that world.  Where are the guide posts?  What happens when we take time to turn everything off?  Immediate gratification is terrorizing our society at large.   That said, I don\'t think olbiterating what we have gained from technology is where I\'m headed.  I just think we need to get real and not feed &quot;screen time&quot; to people, not just children and teens, but to PEOPLE as an acceptable way of being in the world.   I\'m tired of hearing people\'s private conversations in public places.  I\'m abhored by people texting so continuosly that they are broke.....etc... and what is happening with all the wiring and the power that eminates from this technology to our health?  ","pt":"Feb  8, 2010 18:53"},{"nm":"Matt Jernstedt","rs":"0","ms":"BODY LANGUAGE!  It accounts for the majority of communication in the real world.  It is not only crucial in fully expressing ourselves, but also in &quot;feeling out&quot; another person.  It is very helpful when making important decisions like &quot;do I trust this business associate&quot; or &quot;how do I feel about killing this person&quot;.  How did Frontline miss this?  ","pt":"Feb  8, 2010 02:54"},{"nm":"Alvin","rs":"0","ms":"What I found interesting was the juxtaposition of technology and human behaviour. The discussion focussed on the good and evil of technology in our Digital World, yet it missed entirely the cause beneficial use versus evil use. &quot;The fault, dear Reader, is not in our technology,But in ourselves&quot; - stolen from Shakespeare who didn\'t have a Blackberry. So I wonder - Are human beings evolving or improving as fast as technology? I don\'t think we humans are getting smarter in solving the really big problems in the World like over population, global warming, disease and poverty.  Oh well..just a paragraph, not an essay, so back to my video game.  ","pt":"Feb  7, 2010 20:07"},{"nm":"Sue Anderson-Lenz","rs":"0","ms":"I am a high tech marketing writer, so part of me believes that the good does outweighs the bad. However, I am concerned that the younger generation isn\'t learning basic grammar and writing skills they will need to survive in the workplace.I already see numerous, obvious writing errors in books, on websites, and in marketing collateral, and I can\'t help but judge the companies that commit these errors.  Since I haven\'t been able to find any research that examines whether writing errors influence buyer behavior, I created my own brief, 5 question survey to see if a link exists.If you have one minute, I\'d love to hear what you think. The survey will be open until Feb 28th, and respondents can remain completely anonymous.Follow this link to take my survey now:\<a href=&quot;http://bit.ly/6yXttb&quot;\>http://bit.ly/6yXttb\<\/a\>Thanks in advance for your insight.Sue Anderson-Lenz","pt":"Feb  7, 2010 16:17"},{"nm":"Justin","rs":"0","ms":"I agree with Judee.  The research the show presents is far from definitive and has only shown that more research needs to be done and that the methodologies employed need to do a better job of keeping up with the technologies.  Because of this the program was mainly des\criptive.  It outlined how new technologies and the internet interact with physical space.  While there is some merit to this (and I enjoyed watching the program), it really doesn\'t present anything new.  There is nothing explanatory about this special because there has been no research that can explain.With this lack of research, I find it astonishing what some of the schools shown in the program are doing.  While there are benefits to using technology for learning, it seems like most of these schools are employing teaching techniques and tools that aren\'t proven.  They are so in need of ways to engage students that they are willing to try anything, regardless of what the long term effects might be.  Until substantial research in done in a lot of these areas, I wouldn\'t feel entirely comfortable sending a child of mine to one of these schools.  In the end I might decide to because there might not be a better choice, but much like the host, it would be a tough decision.  Something that resonated with me was when one of the commentators said that school is one of the last places where you can regularly have an extended conversation.  I completely agree and this is one of the reasons I enjoy going to graduate school because I can be surrounded by people that are capable of having intelligent conversations.","pt":"Feb  7, 2010 14:21"},{"nm":"FGD","rs":"0","ms":"This show fascinated me as I am a middle school Science teacher using computers and 21 Century tools in my curriculum as a foundation.  I am in my second year of a three-year looping with 80% of the same kids.  Finishing a masters in Technology Integration, I have been able to workup some older machines to allow a computer/student.  Students assignments are online in a closed wiki and all their classwork, save assessments and notes are electronic.  My population is 97% Hispanic and the majority of students are high-risk in every category we talk about in education.  Poverty, second language, lack of family support, violence, and most have cell phones!  The technology pervades the entire planet, cell phones alerting rural Africans of medical services and availability of medicine.This show is important and I will show it to my students in chpters after testing this year and let them react to each portion.  Frontline is a key series as it regularly presents a wide variety of viewpoints and doesn\'t condescend to hammer in a particular point of view.  Commentary is mostly factual with thoughts that can be analyzed and discussed by students for them to take their own meaning.Personally, I find the military recruiting segment to be very dangerous and in many ways disturbing.  Aside from the discussion of allowing students to become numbed to violence and the real effects of war, we know that recruiters are infamous for misinforming the youth they interview, and the idea that they would be &quot;helping&quot; these students without actually recruiting them is absurd.The virtual environment is the key landscape in my opinion, and the popularity of the &quot;Avatar&quot; movie is an indication of how it will attract people. However, I am also lucky to not technically be a digital native.  I have spent time reading long books, hiking for days in the wilderness, and despite the power of the media I &quot;mono-task&quot; to write this reaction and to write my essays.  Despite the observed seeming chaos in the oval office of our president with all sorts of media and devices, I know his speeches are not created there.  Perhaps the value of the digital age will be the appreciation for the focus we can and need to give somethings that require deep thought.  I expect there will be compromises we will find that we don\'t quite expect as well.","pt":"Feb  7, 2010 11:51"},{"nm":"Karl Hoff","rs":"0","ms":"Frontline is one of my favorite shows. Digital Nation was very difficult to watch. The computer does a great job for police and medical, but the internet is a disaster. I am fortunate to have lived before TV and phones, so I know that life didn\'t start with WWW. The idea that the internet is even a speck real, is like saying that because a picture went from a stick drawing to a color photo or a stuffed pet is like a real one is just as absurd. The reason that the people spend so much time online is because when they leave it they have left with nothing, whereas when I do my chores or gardening, I leave with the feeling of achieving something real and can relax, as well as something to eat or can. In my time we called our devices televisions, tape recorders and telephones. If named by computer people of today, they might be named &quot;diggety dogs&quot;, &quot;boopper bumper&quot; and licky lacker.  It is almost as if the age of computer fanatics simply stops when they become addicted. Using the computer operated drones in war has been counteracted by IEDs and other low tech devices. Who\'s winning? I would love to see Frontline do a show that focuses on the terrible cost in the energy the digital world uses. I have heard that by one quarter way into this century, that one quarter of all electricity will go to this confounded machine that I am using. When you count all the people that work to build and maintain and create new total unnecessary digital devices, it is staggering.","pt":"Feb  7, 2010 05:18"},{"nm":"Kevin","rs":"0","ms":"To Lisa who posted today, Feb 6th.:Just some constructive criticism: This series overall message is pushing one of tolerance with an open mindedness towards what the virtual future holds. Let\'s try to also foster the same on this forum. Also, and I am not focusing all of my comments just on yours for any purpose, if I believe that I am always \'the driver\' in the virtual world, that I am in control of my multi-tasking, then I would be missing a fundamental aspect of both the design of the virtual world (it is a social technology, created for the sole purpose to extend the breadth of understanding, both good and bad, positive and negative, helpful and harmful, to all of the worlds societies), and also the inter-dependence of what multi-tasking means - managing multiple activities that are independent of myself, but which are having a direct impact on how I live my life, and therefore require conscious effort on my part to manage (aka, who really is the driver?).Criticisms of posts aside, a suggestion for the functionality of this forum:-Please allow rating and recommendations of posts so there is some sort of metric in which we all can sort by? Reading every post and trying to reply to any so that a running dialog can be established is impossible.My children beckon, but I will log on again to post a more thorough response to the topics presented on Dateline Digital Nation.K~","pt":"Feb  6, 2010 22:04"},{"nm":"Mt","rs":"0","ms":"I liked seeing the bits where education was taken to task for being a &quot;desert&quot; in the modern world.  The point isn\'t made enough: educators need to engage with the real world and prepare students for today and tomorrow.  We have billions spent on media and technology with the goal of gaining our attention - so why do educators think students should still be able to listen to one person lecture for a whole hour, take notes with pen and paper and retain the material?  ","pt":"Feb  6, 2010 22:03"},{"nm":"MCM","rs":"0","ms":"I found the show very interesting.  I would really like to see the same show done by correspondence with a technical background.  Much of the discussion was focused on what was being lost.  I guess if you have a LAS degree that would be your perspective.  If you have a technical background however the perspective is different.  I didn\'t write BETTER, I wrote DIFFERENT.  It would be interesting to see the difference in perspective. ","pt":"Feb  6, 2010 21:29"},{"nm":"Liza","rs":"0","ms":"Am I the only one who noticed that the multi-tasking experiment on &quot;chronic&quot; multi-tasking students was fundamentally and fatally flawed? &quot;Chronic multi-taskers&quot; do what they do as the &quot;drivers&quot; of what they are doing. An experiment that bombards them with varied inputs from multiple &quot;sources&quot; and requires corresponding output does not at all replicate the dynamic of multi-tasking as they are doing it! This matters! These students maintain that they can do five things at once; the unspoken but critical premise is that they are driving all five tasks. Nowhere does their multi-tasking find them bombarded in rapid-fire fashion with inputs from various sources, and yet that was the premise for the study that was supposed to prove or disprove their effectiveness as multi-taskers. How does a---Stanford, was it?---professor from a renowned university not catch an error as serious as this one, when an experimental premise so far removed from the real-life situation it intends to simulate has a virtually nullifying effect on the experiment?? I was annoyed that no one else in the show caught this or asked about it!","pt":"Feb  6, 2010 13:21"},{"nm":"Jack Rosenberry","rs":"0","ms":"Built-in irony department: I had recorded this Frontline episode on DVR, then watched it with my laptop in front of me,and I\'d be lying if I said my attention never wandered from the show to look at my e-mail or Twitter.The show opening with producer Rachel Dretzin talking about her home with her husband and son on two different computers, and younger kids playing a game on her i-Phone looks a lot like mine much of the time. As I watched the program, with laptop at hand, my daughter was on the other computer, working on a project of her own and now, 90 minutes later, my wife is on the same machine.My favorite part was the juxtaposition of MIT professor Sherry Turkle and MIT student Lauren. I also teach college, in computer labs about 2/3 of the time, and set very strict rules for use of the computers for ANYTHING other than assigned classwork. If I catch students violating that rule, I dismiss them from class and mark them absent. I think the students are sometimes resentful of this stern, zero-tolerance attitude. But I stand by it because I agree with Turkle in her assessment that students do themselves a disservice by believing that they can pay adequate attention  when multitasking. I\'m with her in thinking that  &quot;There really are important things you cannot think about unless it\'s still and you are thinking about only one thing at a time&quot; (Turkle quote).I wholly disagree with Lauren\'s statement that: &quot;I feel like the professors here do have to accept that we can multitask very well and that we do at all times. If they try to restrict us from doing it, it\'s almost unfair because we are completely capable of moving between lecture and other things and keeping track of the many things going on in our lives.&quot; She portrays it as some kind of new generation gap, but I consider it a hubristic display of third-person effect for her to say that SHE can do it because she\'s young and the older generation just doesn\'t get it. I just don\'t think it\'s possible for divided attention to be effective attention to the degree that she believes. ","pt":"Feb  5, 2010 17:53"},{"nm":"M. Ulrich","rs":"0","ms":"A universe robbed of its senses -                                                 There are those among the creators and inhabitants of the ‘cyberverse’, or more correctly ‘cyberperverse’, who would have us believe that virtual worlds enhance our possibilities as a species.  But what those very demigods and denizens fail to realize is that an environment of multi-tasking, social network linked, digital device leashed, obsessive compulsive e-lemmings, has robbed us of our senses.In a world plagued by alienation, we now accept that state as the natural order of things, substituting virtual relationships and communities for actual ones – while anointing the enabling technologies and distorted personal connections with the labels of ‘progress’ and ‘proximity’ – even ‘intimacy’.What we have created in fact is a social matrix absent of responsibilities and obligations from which we can disconnect with as little compunction as unplugging a toaster from the wall.  While there may be “rules of engagement”, depending on the e-habitat in which one is playing at any given moment, the virtual world lacks the substance and fabric which characterizes a true society, even a culture – customs, rituals, habits and belief systems built up and reinforced over millennia.  In an ‘evolve on the moment’ and ‘make it up as you go along’ world, the refinements of tried and true, tested and discarded practices never have a chance to take root.  What some may see in these technologies as innovative and motivating, is in fact chaotic and opportunistic.  And our greatest failing is that we never take the time to evaluate the impact of these ‘improvements’, or rather novelties, before we allow them to proliferate.  We have cast ethical oversight to the winds, in favor of an overwhelming fascination with the ‘wow’ factor.  Worst of all is our dependency on this way of life, devoid of touch, taste, smell, and personal contact – which surely are in the process of being simulated somewhere – which ultimately deprives us of the capabilities of real interaction – the things that make us truly human.  The substance of who we are is in situ, in one-on-one, flesh and blood relationships, which may be overwhelmingly frightening to some who seek dissimulated refuge in a synthesized universe.We need to take heed in the fact that these invented environments, while absent of feelings, are not devoid of consequences for us as a species. ","pt":"Feb  5, 2010 12:33"},{"nm":"Claire","rs":"0","ms":"In response to MIT students always being connected to their technology devices: as a current student, I often have the debate with myself about whether to bring a computer to class. Usually I don\'t, because I know it will be too much of a distraction if I have there in front of me, its too easy to just open up the internet. I find that taking notes with pen and paper is more effective, because I\'m forced to concentrate on what is being said as I\'m writing it down. Having a computer in front of me, as a student, is too much of a temptation, because even if what is happening in class isn\'t that boring, its the fact that looking for something on the internet, or checking e-mail, is more entertaining, and it makes the time go by quicker. I think that if students are allowed to have computers in the classroom, as was said in the documentary, teachers need to employ different teaching methods to capture the attention of the their students, whether these are different uses of technologies or more interactive teaching methods, like group work or class discussions where students wouldn\'t need their computers. At some point though, it seems like it needs to be up to the student to have some self control, and know when the computer is preventing them getting what they need to out of school. This might not be said for k-12 students as it would be for college/graduate students. ","pt":"Feb  4, 2010 21:36"},{"nm":"Cindy","rs":"0","ms":"We watched most of the program last night and found it interesting.  However, there was no focus in the program, proving M. Bauerlein\'s point that distraction (and inability to do one thing well) is a major problem.","pt":"Feb  4, 2010 19:33"},{"nm":"Don Homuth","rs":"0","ms":"The portion I found most significant was the IBM innovation team virtual meetings.  Taken to its logical conclusions, it means we no longer need office buildings and we no longer need universities or schools in specific geographical locations.Now that matters!  Online games don\'t even come Close to that significance level.I give it 10-15 years at the very outside before we see the fruits of that.","pt":"Feb  4, 2010 17:51"},{"nm":"David Rabius","rs":"0","ms":"Great Program (saw it last night). I wanted to expres my feeling about how we can incorporate technology and also get back to the basics ie: nature and human interaction. My wife is a 8th grade school teacher at The West Side Waldorf School. There is no technology/Media (tv)at ALL. The kids graduating are INCREDIBLE! Obviously they are surrounded by technology but they have very limited use  ( we are talking about tweens here). They are restricted from television/Disney/PCs from the pre-school to age 9 in which the parents might allow (time restricted)media. There is a time and place for technology. Dont let it control your kids natural creativiy and brain development.","pt":"Feb  4, 2010 16:07"},{"nm":"Felicisimo Requiro","rs":"0","ms":"I\'m afraid that I am not at all impressed with defining yet another facet of consumerism as multi-tasking. Your program did not mention even once how much being connected costs an average user. My wife and I have a land line and DSL through AT&T. These cost us about $45.00 a month. We both use Outlook for mail and IE for browsing. If we have to make a long distance call we use Google Voice. We both use Facebook, though my wife only logs on only when I find something of interest. I use the digital edition of the New Yorker while my wife reads the hard copy. Every now and then I log in to MySpace. We both use online brokerage and banking. ","pt":"Feb  4, 2010 15:54"},{"nm":"Henry Hertz Hobbit","rs":"0","ms":"The disturbing thing about this program was some of the sadistic mentality that exuded out of this program at the start.  Fortunately it didn\'t end that way.  Is WarCraft all that bad?  It didn\'t seem all that bad to me.  Do I want to play it?  No.  I prefer playing Mahjongg Tiles occasionally because it enhances my memory. Does that mean that others that find WarCraft fascinating shouldn\'t play it?  They seem to be making good friends with each other.  They aren\'t out harming people.  What is wrong with that?  I will say that texting while driving may not be a very good thing to do if it has the same forced concentration that using a cell phone has. Wasn\'t that the complaint of some of the educators - that they don\'t want people doing multitasking? If you can\'t multitask to a certain degree you aren\'t going to survive.  But I also think anything taken to an extreme could be bad.  The thing I see about educators is that they seem to feel this or that or the other thing is the hot thing to do and just few years later it is out and awful.  There seems to be no middle road for them. What we really need is to instill a less vindictive, more cooperative way of working with each other.  Can you force that to occur? Didn\'t you just see that went against the what I just said?  The one teacher that emphasized respect for each other is on the right track.  Before you go down this virutal aisle too far, what am I using to communicate this message to who ever may read it?  If you ask me the technology is making it possible to communicate with people I would have never met in real life.  Not only that but the poor have a real hard time if they don\'t have the newer digital technology on their side to find information that will help them survive in what I consider to be an increasingly hostile world.  If you ask me, as long as people treat everybody with the same degree of respect and consideration that they want to be accorded in either the virtual or real world, that is far more important than which one you are in.  Actually, what is the difference between the real and virtual world if you are interacting positively with others? I do find the use of unmanned drones by people who have no knowledge of the effects of their actions highly disturbing as opposed to children playing games.  They may as well say, &quot;the person I am killing is bad and I am good.&quot;  I wish the world was that black and white but I also wish they could know everything about the effects of their action before pulling the trigger and a total judgemental summary of what the other people are like.  The person they just killed was playing with children at a play-ground?","pt":"Feb  4, 2010 15:39"},{"nm":"UN Owen","rs":"0","ms":"Get 100 \'experts\' in a room, and you\'ll get 100 DIFFERENT opinions. What\'d I get out of most of this? Better ways of alienating ourselves. The kids in Korea, and here all look like zombies. The ONLY interesting person was the 82 year old woman who has an internet cooking show. But all that showed was her ability to adjust to this rapidly encroaching UNreality, and it\'s tools. Otherwise, it was FRIGHTENING - to watch these people - IBM!!! having virtual meetings, with faux selves. There\'s a growing inability, discomfort with ourselves, our appearances. We are feeling more awkward engaging one another - even through the internet. Years ago, the \'video-phone\' was projected as a futuristic way of communicating. But, now, NO one wants their REAL selves to appear! Even the part about the military brought to mind that episode of STAR TREK, where a \'war\' was being fought between two parties using computers - and the \'casualties\' were \'virtual\' - though to prevent the destruction of anything (?!?!) people willingly walked into DEATH chambers. The \'experts\' are promoting this ...ROT - in ALL aspects, including the \'future\' of war.  (one women \'expert\' saying how video games are JUST as important as REAL interaction in helping the young develop. HUH?!?! These kids are MORE self-centered, , LESS interested in doing ANYTHING for ANYONE other than themselves. They live in cocoons! Their grasp of reality is tenuous at best. YES, technology DOES have the ability to offer us wonderous possibilites. But, this showed the dumbing-down, the desensitising, the disconnect that\'s taking place - and growing ever more prevalent. As far as Douglas Rushkoff - (what an \'expert\') I wouldn\'t trust his expertise on watching a goldfish. But the scary part is people LISTEN to him, and his ilk. And believe it. This whole show presents a VERY bleak picture of where we are, and the ROTTING of our enthusiasm to engage life on LIFE\'S TERMS. Sickening. (by the way - I\'m 29. I say that because someone might think I\'m \'old,\' and just \'afraid\' of something I \'don\'t understand.\' Wrong.  I grew up with this, and I DO see what it\'s doing to us as a society.)","pt":"Feb  4, 2010 15:33"},{"nm":"Richard","rs":"0","ms":"references to early childhood developmentFundamental concepts regarding early childhood development help explain young children’s fascination with the “magic box.” During a long period of physical helplessness complex neurological networks are established in our brains. Repeated stimuli strengthens the networks associated with those stimuli lack of stimuli causes them to atrophy. I learned from Evolution’s End: Claiming the Potential of our Intelligence, by Joseph Chilton Pearce that at specific chronological intervals, inadequately established neurological networks are reabsorbed. (Think,“use or lose.”) Computer use and TV time during early stages of childhood development limit neurological network growth controlling essential physical and mental functions.define learningThe term “learning” was being used with little definition. For example, a student recalling and repeating a strategy or an answer is not learning as much as a student interpreting or revising knowledge. The pioneering work by J. P. Guilford on the Structure of the Intellect and its subsequent embellishment by Mary Meeker reveal how a complex variety of thinking skills precede even elemental learning. Six or seven subskills need to be present and functioning even before reading can occur. fear of lackThe rationale that we must prepare children for future technologies seems to associated with anxiety that access and use of computer, communications and schedule management technology will increase exponentially. There are economic (ex. price) and political (ex. intellectual property) barriers to technological dispersal. As always the concern is about appropriate technology. Yes the transitions from buggys to Buicks and trains to planes were alarming to some but those transitions are not as profound as the ones associated with “computerism.”virtual reality or cognitive illusionsFor example our species has never had to transition to a virtual reality on this scale. Cultures have virtual realities in their visions and myths but entre to those realities was limited. Now a subject can clap on a headset and visor and see themselves in an alternative reality.Of course virtual eating engenders satiety and virtual war causes the same neurological and physical responses as reality. Common sense dictates that virtual violence bleeds into reality just as virtual eating does.on the cusp of evolutionThose who claim their driving is unaffected during texting or cel phone use are simply admitting they can’t perceive shifts in their brain functions. This inability is revealed in the research being done on heuristics and cognitive illusions. For more on this I recommend, Inevitable Illusions: How Mistakes of Reason Rule Our Minds by Massimo Piatelli-Palmarini. Before we try to accommodate the results of our computers’ CPUs I think we should understand our own. ","pt":"Feb  4, 2010 15:09"},{"nm":"Michael Villalobos","rs":"0","ms":"This was an excellent program. I was thoroughly transfixed. Kudos to PBS, Frontline. and the producers and contributors. I had the same visceral reaction to Digital Nation that I had after the first reading of Toffler\'s Future Shock. Instead of being dismayed over what &quot;hooked on \'tronics&quot; means now, I encourage my fellow educators to envision what will it mean and how can we use it to better engage learners.","pt":"Feb  4, 2010 11:39"},{"nm":"Michael Maffett M.D.","rs":"0","ms":"This show was interesting in that as an overview, it hinted at the social and perhaps biological implications of going digital.  Technology is progressing faster than biology and thatthe results of this change may take years to evaluate fully (the tobacco argument).  The most disturbing of the bits was the impact of virtual experiences on a child\'s memory.  This is BIG brother.  One important point not stressed is the sheer volume of data now available.  Whereas Leonardo may have had a few hundred books/papers/letters to read, now there are millions of books alone and the number are growing daily.  Search engines and the internet make some sense of this.  Time will tell.","pt":"Feb  4, 2010 09:52"},{"nm":"Lorri L Davis","rs":"0","ms":"I am a 53 year old visual artist. It has taken years to develop my skills in painting and I feel as if I am still learning as I spend time everyday painting. It takes hours of high level concentration and time with no interruptions to produce a piece of art worthy to show. It takes the same dedication with musicians. I can see the struggle in my three college age children to pull themselves away from the computer and phones which have become extensions of their hands. The patience and dedication to developing gifts and talents seems to be diminishing. As I watched your program I could not help but wonder if we are going to be losing masters of the fine arts to technology. No technology could ever replace the Rembrandts\' or Bachs\' in the world. ","pt":"Feb  4, 2010 05:38"},{"nm":"Caitlin J.","rs":"0","ms":"I was mesmerized by your program and it has been fascinating to read the full interviews and viewer comments on line. One observation I had while watching the program, (and by watching the children and youth around me) was this: the vast majority of video game players shown were male. The majority of video game players ARE male. Why is this? I know there have been studies done about this phenomenon and I would be interested to learn more about it. Is it because the games are predominantly designed by men? Is it something inherent in the medium that is more appealing to men? What does this say about men? Women? What are the implications for society if one gender is so much more consumed by and engaged with new technologies than the other? I was also outraged by the military\'s sleek ploy of having video gaming recruiting centers. The folks  interviewed there said that the kids could tell the difference between gaming and reality.. but the Stanford research seems to be saying that no, people actually can\'t tell the difference. If the content of the game doesn\'t matter (because it is not &quot;real&quot; or doesn\'t affect reality), then why not have the kids at the recruiting center playing peaceful games? If gaming behavior doesn\'t affect real life behavior then why is the military using gaming technology as behavioral/emotional therapy for soldiers with PTS? And of course, in playing the games, the children are developing the skills they need to engage in real warfare as was evidenced by the section about the drones. Any claims of innocence/ignorance on the part of the military about the purposes and affects of their video game recruitment centers is pure rubbish. Lastly, I wish to add to the chorus of voices reminding us that we have a BODY. Our bodies have evolved over millennium to be wonderfully complex organisms capable of giving and receiving so much information; sound, odor, subtlety of movement, energy flow, weight, timing. Our bodies have their own ways of  communicating with other bodies, with ourselves,  and with the natural world. Why would we ever wish to abandon or disregard that? No virtual world could EVER come close to the real world that my body experiences. And by the way, your head and fingers are actually connected to it. ","pt":"Feb  4, 2010 02:00"},{"nm":"Kabir","rs":"0","ms":"A vital piece of this conversation must remain the very real and physical world from which the resources to construct this virtual world arise.I was saddened to see that this did not enter the dialogue. As much as I can envision sitting on a beautiful bluff in the Northern California redwood forests, overlooking the sea... reading a book, I can also imagine using a digital device in the same setting...Both the book, or the iPad draw on resources kin to that setting... I can feel both in my hands... is my relationship to that setting changed by the medium I am engaging? Does the &quot;natural&quot; world have a place in this discussion? Is our concern merely what would we, as humans, like to shape our &quot;reality&quot; to reflect? I think there is a dangerous kind of narcissism in these waters we tread. To say nothing of the concerns for &quot;real&quot; world social systems, governance, and controls that might arise as our focus turns to our digital rights...Now I am going to investigate Second Life as a collaborative and engaging platform for learning community which seems to be arising. If we do end up meeting there, I\'m definitely planting a garden ;-)","pt":"Feb  4, 2010 01:23"},{"nm":"udit patel","rs":"0","ms":"i think in next 3-4years there is not going to be books in highschool because i think that all school will charge money for an ipad and give students one ipad. and students dont need to carry their books or bagpack. all they need is their ipad. i cant wait to see these change. i hope it happens as soon as possible....i;m currently in highschool and i have to write a college paper about 15pages long. and im kinda interested in technology stuff. so if you have any topics where i can write my paper about please send me an email with all topics that you might think will be good.","pt":"Feb  4, 2010 01:05"},{"nm":"Mark L. Taylor","rs":"0","ms":"Of everything shown in this piece the most disturbing to me was the use of drone aircraft used to kill people on the other side of the planet. Let\'s be clear, playing with a drone joystick takes no courage, little real skill and frequently kills innocent people. When a nation goes to war with professional mercenaries like Xe (Blackwater) and distances its &quot;warriors&quot; from the reality of their actions through long distance technology it makes warfare and state sponsored murder too easy. When the one drone &quot;pilot&quot; claimed he had not killed any innocents you could see the uncertainty in his whole being. How nice he can go home to his wife and children at the end of the day. An increasing number of innocent non-combatants in Pakistan and Afghanistan are not so lucky. We all carry a dark mark of shame for this high-tech killing. While we like to delude ourselves that it is antiseptic, as a nation our hands are sticky with the blood of innocents. Our morality has gone digital  - and cold. I shudder to contemplate the price this nation will eventually pay for taking killing so high-tech.","pt":"Feb  4, 2010 00:03"},{"nm":"Solomon Hoasjoe","rs":"0","ms":"Technology is all around us. Since the 1980s when the personal computer began its debut, some people were anticipating some form of digital future. Not all of it is negative. There was a documentary on computer in education in the CBC archive (from Canada) from 1982. Back then some parents enrolled their kids to computer camps. Some kids even program their computers to do multiplication tables (seemed like a big thing then). Some parents were saying this is where the future is heading and we wanted our kids to have the best job opportunities. Now the world is wired as never before. Where do we go from here?The technology with the biggest impact is probably the Internet. It is changing the way people interact with each other (even those half way around the world). I talk to all sorts of people by E-mail that I would normally not write letters to or even send Christmas greetings every year. 2 years ago I started communicating with a lady in Europe with a common ancestry (the same last name). We never met before and exchanged a few photos images online.And the Internet is changing the way people work. Computer software are encoded in various places around the clock simply because the Net is allowing people to send computer codes to different time zones. And the post office is processing more packages than letters since all documents can be send via E-mail. Even some newspapers send their news stories to India by the Net to be edited because of lower wages.Many people take their laptops when they travel such that the office is just a keystroke away when connected to the net. Everybody apply some version of multi-tasking to their daily lives.Another unintended consequence of the Internet is long-distance phone conversations. Many people who have high-speed connections at home are also users of Skype. You talk to your friends or relatives overseas like you always have but the connection is not through the phone company. Being more economical allows people call more frequently and talk longer per call.There is definitely a social aspect where people don\'t communicate with each other directly. Last year we had a family reunion. My brother & sister came from the US to Canada for a visit. My brother and his wife were completing their office work in the bedroom, the 2 kids were playing computer games in the living room. My sister and I were surfing the net in another room. It was supposed to be a family reunion but we had 4 PCs running in the house. Everybody was busy doing their thing.Computer gaming is 1 aspect that can be time-consuming. Some people may even think of it as unproductive. The documentary did show a social aspect where people who never met before communicate as players in the same game.Some positive aspects to technology include TV broadcast news from all over the world, computer software tutorials on various subjects. Online access to a library of information that can be updated easily. In the old days people relied on printed encyclopedias as &quot;The World Book&quot; or &quot;Britannica&quot; that gets updated just once a year. Even the early disk copies of encyclopedias as &quot;Encarta&quot; you get 1 update a year. And digital cameras allow people to shoot unlimited numbers of images with instant replay and no chemical processing. As low-tech as some of our gadgets, there are very few appliance we use that do not have a microprocessor of some sort including the cars we drive to children\'s toys. Around 38 min. into the documentary: &quot;Mike\'s kids still read books but will that stop being the case when they become more immersed in technology?&quot; The father is seen reading a book with the daughter. In the next room the son plays a piano keyboard. We tend to think of a book being made of paper. What about reading materials that are downloaded online? Some people carry the content of several novels on their portable E-book gadget when traveling. It is technology but at the same time doesn\'t take away the value of reading (only that the content is delivered in another form). A piano keyboard is a portable device as well. We generally think of piano as a wooden box with 88 keys and many strings. The keyboard keys look the same as a real piano and people accepted the sound being somewhat artificial. The portable version allows us to carry the device with us that was not possible with an upright or a grand piano.We live in a wired world with technology everywhere. Many of the gadgets we carry around made our lives easier. We make choices which devices we carry and the way we use them in our daily living.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 23:37"},{"nm":"H. Utz","rs":"0","ms":"This was one of the more sad and sobering docs I’ve watched in a long while. Although I use computers far more than I’d like, due to owning an Internet-based business, I keep a few toes in the Luddite camp on the issue of digital technology and how it has severed some key elements that used to make life fun. To wit, the tangibility of physical objects and the joys of eye contact and in-person human relating.As old, cranky, and out-of-touch as I may sound, it’s hard to be middle-aged and have known another way. Life used to have much more time in it. Much more serendipity. And much more pleasure. Relating the majority of our time to a machine has made us, as a society, much colder. More calculated and pragmatic. We want exactly what we want, and we want it NOW.  Just as technology serves our every whim, we expect people to do so as well. It has fashioned us into digital creeps.As I own an online bookstore, I frequently get requests for shipment information from students late on a Saturday or Sunday night. And woe to me if I don’t respond until I am done having what used to be called a weekend. Honoring shabbat. Resting my eyeballs from their backlit data baths. Trying to take in some nonvirtual reality. These kids utterly cannot grasp that I don\'t own a joystick that will make USPS planes fly fast enough to wing them the text they need on Monday morning. I’m sure that in Second Life this is standard issue, but here in First Life, I actually experience human limitations, such as those imposed on me by the snail-like United States Postal Service. Forgive me. I sometimes forget that, in the new culture of supreme entitlement, there is no limitation that the book-monger cannot surmount, as the digital kingdom confers master-of-the-universe status on all.I\'m not sure where we\'re heading with all this. I try not to be xenophobic toward these &quot;natives&quot; of cyberspace, but it\'s tough to not feel some apprehension sneaking in. If we have ostensibly gained so much from the glut-of-information age, then why don\'t I feel happier? Smarter? Kinder? As effervescent as pink champagne? Why do all my most cherished memories not involve sitting around staring at a screen? Yesterday I stood on a long line at the PO, where everyone had tried to endure the wait by whipping out their smart phones. A 6-year-old boy whose mom had left for a few minutes was wandering up and down the line aimlessly, searching in vain for someone to look up from their screens and acknowledge him.Some days it feels like that for me, too.\<a href=&quot;http://utzling.blogspot.com/&quot;\>http://utzling.blogspot.com/\<\/a\>","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 23:10"},{"nm":"anonymous","rs":"0","ms":"I think it is sad that all these lonely people need to reach out via the computer.  What happened to meeting people face to face and falling in love, etc.  This is not a healthy developement.  As far as schools go, they should be fighting this hyper trend instead of encouraging more short term, quick thinking.  Those morons at Chatham are really doing their kids a disservice.  They should be turning off the the gizmos, and reading and discussing in class.  I don\'t see how it is going to help the students develop &quot;real&quot; conversation skills by having them text the teacher right in front of them.  The students at M.I.T. are not the brightest in the world.  My good friends from IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) have visited M.I.T. and said that they were way behind what China and India are doing.  Of course the serious students in China are not playing on line games, or checking their facebook accounts every minute, they are studying!  Think about it.  We can choose to distract and entertain our kids to death, or we can try to force them to learn, write, read, and develop sustained thoughts.  Who wants to associate with people who know nothing, and have to lookup every fact. Ridiculous..  There is nothing positive about this stuff...","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 23:01"},{"nm":"Ross","rs":"0","ms":"My Brother has been involved with Second Life for 1.5 years, and his life is in shambles, and whether that is due to Second Life is debatable.  But his Avatar has a wife and his &quot;real&quot; wife found out and now he is in Divorce Court.  What are the moral implications of Second Life?  The episode does not address this issue.  My family are old school, and we are at our wits end trying to understand what is happening.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 22:40"},{"nm":"Joe","rs":"0","ms":"Rich topic with facinating facets--diluted only by the narrators\' annoying habit of constantly intruding and shining the spotlight on...themselves.  That part of it was lazy self-absorption--journaling rather than journalism.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 22:38"},{"nm":"Vickie Kettlewell","rs":"0","ms":"I can\'t help but wonder what differentiates the Somali child captured and made a warrior and the American child captivated and seduced into being a warrior. ","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 22:33"},{"nm":"Jack","rs":"0","ms":"I am a 16 year old high-school student and I found it extremely insulting to be classified as &quot;the dumbest generation.&quot; The very program informing me that overloading on tech is bad, was brought to me from a website which I found googling &quot;frontline&quot;, one of my favorite programs. With every new advance in society, there will always be those who oppose for some reason. The fact is, this exponentially increasing society that is modern technology will never go away. The internet is an amazing place. Yes, there will be people who let it consume their lives with programs such as second life, but those people would have been social rejects anyway. What if am trying to say is that there are some people, who with age, just don’t get it, and shouldn’t pretend they do. ","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 22:24"},{"nm":"Dr. Eitan Schwarz","rs":"0","ms":"I wrote the book KIDS, PARENTS & TECHNOLOGY: AN INSTRUCTION GUIDE FOR YOUNG FAMILIES (see www.mydigitalfamily.org )precisely in response to the events this show describes so well.My clinical work with parents and families over the past decade showed me the problems technology is creating for them and helped me identify the type of information they need to make certain that these devices contribute to family life in a positive way.I wrote it to help parents turn technology into a positive family resource rather than a threat.   The book\'s goal is to help parents lead youngsters towards beneficial and positive uses of the Internet, videogames, smart phones, and other electronic media. My hope is that as they grow, kids will form better habits than today’s media-soaked teens.Family life and childhood development itself are being weakened by technology use. A recently released Kaiser Family Foundation study shows that older children are engaged with the media as much as eight hours a day; only 1/3 of families limit media; but even when parents do set rules, media consumption by kids drops by only 1/3. I wrote it to help parents turn technology into a positive family resource rather than a threat.   The book\'s goal is to help parents lead youngsters towards beneficial and positive uses of the Internet, videogames, smart phones, and other electronic media. My hope is that as they grow, kids will form better habits than today’s media-soaked teens.I try to offer wise and comprehensive recommendations based on my lifetime of clinical experience and the latest scientific knowledge. It is the first comprehensive and practical child- or family-centered instruction manual offering step-by-step instructions on how to turn digital media into powerful parenting tools that enrich family life.The instruction manuals we receive with digital media devices don\'t teach parents the most important things -- how to use the new gadgets to fully benefit youngsters and family lives. I urge parents to be fully present with your children and avoid texting and cell phone use and give them practical advise about how to do this.Parents themselves may be damaging children when they are not fully present because they are online, on the cell phone, or texting. Not only are they rude or setting bad examples, but their distractions interrupt the vital bond necessary for healthy wiring of young children\'s brains.Kids, Parents, and Technology: An Instruction Manual for Young Families rapidly gets parents to start treating media consumption in the same healthy ways they already employ to manage children’s food diets. They can make children’s home consumption of media a safe and rich asset to family life through step-by-step guidelines and fresh and credible thinking that helps parents, educators, therapists, doctors, policy makers, businesses, and anyone else working with children. Finally, the book provides in-depth thinking about the uses of digital media as therapeutic tools, looks at its future uses, and an example of a non-violent, educational, value-oriented action game. By applying sound child-rearing and family support principles, parents can now create balanced media plans that lead youngsters to the values and orientation they will need to succeed in an increasingly media-rich world. ","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 21:57"},{"nm":"Paul","rs":"0","ms":"The link all human technologies have is language. The advancements in digital technologies are just another step in the evolution of language beginning with the first symbolic sounds in pre-historic societies. We are questioning the value and impact it will have in our lives because we have no adequate baseline to judge.We do live in an age of great transformation and intellectual curiosity. Personally, I am wholy commited to building and bringing together online communities, so our members can share and create freely without social constraints. My real fear however, is humanity\'s capacity for inhumanity, and what new terrors this dependence on these technologies will bring to us.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 20:00"},{"nm":"Dr. Suzanne Aurilio","rs":"0","ms":"I recently researched Second Life users and their learning practices. In their 30s, 40s and 50s, they spent on average 30-45 hours a week in-world. You can read the study here. \<a href=&quot;http://tinyurl.com/yjojsu3&quot;\>http://tinyurl.com/yjojsu3\<\/a\> I spent upwards of 30 hours a week in-world prior to and during the study and during that time, observed how my sensory relationship to the physical world changed. What\'s real about a mall? Or faux bricks you buy a Home Depot? I didn\'t feel socially isolated because I had a rich social and romantic life in-world. But I would become easily disheartened with the actual experience of these relationships. What I mean is that yes you can feel &quot;very close&quot; to someone, through text-chatting, dancing, going on adventures etc., but ultimately I don\'t want to have significant relationships in this fashion. It\'s a surrogate for the actual which for me is tied to being in a body. I\'m convince though, that when I\'m 90, in 40 years, I\'ll be sitting in front of a computer screen or some technology, living experiences I can\'t. Because I\'m 90 and the body is gone.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 19:51"},{"nm":"Robert","rs":"0","ms":"sorry, I did not find this film very helpful.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 19:41"},{"nm":"Sandi","rs":"0","ms":"Im a 47yr old college student & today a book publisher salesman was trying to sell software-My Accounting Labs to the Accounting Dept.Supervisor. I wanted to find out the advantage of using the software over textbooks.Benefits are-extremely lightweight,very user friendly with lookups and easy to find subjects.Cost for both Acctg1 & 2 is less expensive than buying the used book for both classes & you can resell it at the end of the class.Im a tough sell,but its time to go to the digital age.Another point is that most all of my teachers still use overhead projector & dry erase board,but us students arent stimulated like in the documentary.I did a report on Second Life about IBM using it for meetings & bringing fellow workers together.It was awesome to see my report played out in the  documentary.I believe that the workplace needs to change to this concept of working from home & being close to our family,pets and our life.Its important!","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 19:05"},{"nm":"NewPhoenix","rs":"0","ms":"Science and technology is an aid of life not a way of life. Its when you become to dependent on something that you make yourself more vulnerable to its demise. Also its easier to control a social site or program then it is to control an actual social establishment and cheaper. ","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 18:58"},{"nm":"D. H. Smith","rs":"0","ms":"Mr. Rushkoff\'s comment in the program about whether immersion into the digital/virtual world further isolates us or brings us or brings us closer together reminded me of a wonderful quote by Elizabeth Kaye, &quot;I no longer expect things to make sense. I know there is no safety. But that does not mean there is no magic. It does not mean there is no hope. It simply means that each of us has a reason to be wishful and frightened, aspiring and flawed. And it means that, to the degree we are lost, it is on the same ocean, in the same night.&quot;","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 17:45"},{"nm":"Mike in Atl","rs":"0","ms":"Interesting that the smart college kid multi-taskers do not comprehend at the levels that they think  that they do. Would have liked to see more on the impact of social media. Texting and other preferred forms of digital communication, especially as used by teens and young adults negates the need for face to face conversation. We are raising a generation of people who do not have the social skills to talk to one another.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 16:44"},{"nm":"John Graham","rs":"0","ms":"I appreciated Frontline\'s survey of many aspects of the growth of the use of digital technology as a social phenomenon.  A ninety-minute examination of so broad a topic may be a useful prelude to further discussion, but it seemed to me that (uncharacteristically for Frontline) it was a an example of a problem that one of the speakers identified early in the program: a collection of paragraphs with little integration.  Is the quality of modern undergraduate students academic output declining, as one of the speakers suggests?  If this is so, it is an ominous development.  Could it be that the manner in which we apply electronic technology (including television) tends to reduce the expression of comprehensive concepts and articulate detail in the manner Orwell\'s Newspeak?  Certainly the unfolding of our current financial crisis bespeaks an unwillingness or inability to connect the dots, and our national dialog on climate change is anything but reassuring.  In many ways our ongoing national political dialog more closely resembles a preadolescent food fight than responsible debate of the virtues and flaws of alternative strategies to manage our many problems.  Perhaps we don\'t hold still long enough to hear deeper analyses.As always, the impact of our tools depends on how we choose to use them, but by nature, they magnify the consequences of both our wisdom and folly.  As the power of that leverage continually grows, so too does our need for expanded awareness and responsible choices lest our actions spawn injury that is costly, if not impossible, to undo.  This topic in itself is worthy of substantially more discussion.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 15:42"},{"nm":"N. Impey","rs":"0","ms":"I\'m an aging baby boomer who embraces technology and appreciates what it can do to improve our lives.  That said, I think the young &quot;multi-taskers&quot; that were interviewed are confusing their ability to simultaneously text, email, and check their face book/twitter pages with being productive.   What occupations require texting, cell calls, and updating face book as useful skills?  There’s a sense of entitlement that being a multi-tasker gives one license to tend to personal affairs during school, work, or while driving.  Technology is not an excuse for poor manners and rude behavior.  There was a lot of discussion about multi-tasking but little about accomplishing anything of substance.At the end of the day, we’re flesh and blood and intelligence and ability comes from within.  It’s not the brush that makes the artist or the instrument that makes the musician.  Whether you use a laptop, calculator, or pencil and paper, one needs core skills to succeed.  My impression is that a multi-tasker is a jack of all trades, a master of none.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 14:30"},{"nm":"Patricia","rs":"0","ms":"As an English major and a person who likes books, I was upset by the reported decline in interest in reading lengthy works and the difficullty many students seem to have of getting beyond the paragraph when they write.  I also was disheartened by the man who said things were changing, we might not need books one day, and that &quot;flowery language&quot; was a thing of the past.  It seemed to me he was equating literature with flowery language, which is certainly an uninformed statement.  I believe he was in school administration, which is rather upsetting.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 13:45"},{"nm":"Nitty Rao","rs":"0","ms":"I had a couple of thoughts after seeing the program.  I wonder if the MIT students that claimed that they could effectively multitask between their academics and emails, Twitter, Facebook etc. would react if a doctor performing a delicate surgery on them or a loved one was constantly checking his iPhone in the operating room. Or if the pilot of the aircraft they were flying on did likewise.  Would these students be multitasking say during the last 30 seconds of a close and exciting football match ? Or in the middle of an intense, intimate moment with a boy/girl friend ?Secondly, about IBM\'s drive to use SecondLife to bring people working in different parts of the world closer.  There was a situation where their employees from Brazil, Germany, US and other parts of the world were in the same virtual conference room.  I wonder if this virtual reality brings in the fact in that one person was in this meeting way past his lunch, another was working in the middle of the night and yet another badly needed to run to the bathroom !","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 12:44"},{"nm":"Shailesh","rs":"0","ms":"It was great topic, but little disappointed it didn\'t match expectations. Something was missing, not conclusive enough, that technology is useful when used for good cause, as the Kids sang in Korean school. In teenagers and college students it is mostly time wasting activity, peer pressure, and for not to have a feeling to left out. Forget about gaming, is multitasking an addiction ? Why would someone need to check Twit while doing their school or college work/project? I question. Also, the story about grandma feeling good was not because she was on net, but because someone, from her family , was able to spent time with her, I think.@Debby Lanka Feb 3, 2010 09:46&quot;Did anyone else notice that at the gaming convention, about halfway through the show, that most of the players were overweight?&quot;Yes, I did notice that, and very high number of people were Overweight, probably \>50%.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 12:38"},{"nm":"Brian","rs":"0","ms":"I found the show to be mostly one side - and not on the pro-technology side, whether that is tech in education, military, home life, gaming, etc. The show was mostly ominous and slightly discouraging; full of negative attitudes, stories, examples, etc., and really focused more on accentuating those negatives and not showing many of the positive impacts technology has had on our society. The cases showing technology in the military were deeply one-sided. Where was the balance, for example, between showing how soldiers use technology to take out bad guys and to coordinate relief efforts? And, to have an editor from Wired magazine commenting on the use of tech in the military without countering his comments with someone actually using tech in the military was disingenuous and showed the agenda behind much of the show.The show just keep harping on the fact that our society, and children in general, or constantly &quot;wired&quot; and &quot;always-on&quot;. That\'s not the fault of technology; it\'s because of poor parenting and a school system that fails to appropriately address use of technology...both the good and the bad. Do schools teach students how to text-message? When it is appropriate, when it becomes excessive, when it is rude, etc. No. They simply state don\'t so it in school. Do the majority of parents know how to text? I would suspect not and they probably have no clue what students can do on their web enabled phones. Don\'t give them the phone until you, as a parent, know what it possible on it.  Just an example of what I see as an educator and where the disconnect is between actually educating children about using technology. There are so many positive experiences children can have w/technology and so many great things (for lack of a better word) that children can create with technology. That was lost in this broadcast as it was a chaotic exposure to the &quot;digital life&quot;. The show was all over the place, and as others have stated, could not focus on any issues. So what people are immersed in World of Warcraft? Some people are immersed in working out excessively, going out to bars, working on fixing the car, collecting trivial things, writing, reading, listening to music, talking on the phone, eating, etc. It is not the fault of technology. Behavior, parenting, and other factors come to mind.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 12:28"},{"nm":"Doug","rs":"0","ms":"I grew up in the 60\'s and went to Woodstock. It was a very profound experience that changed my life. It was a physical experience, the sights, the sounds and smells, being connected with 400,000 people for four days that made the experience unique. I was only 15. I have grown up in the digital age from its\' inception and watched the development of technology all around me and how it has affected our lives. For the majority of my adult life, I wrote software for a living and how, for the most part, viewed technology as good for humanity. However, there is always a dark side to everything and I have always been a little leery of it at the same time. I saw this coming and the program has just confirmed my suspicions. It\'s quite scary to me to see how prevalent and accepted the Internet, gaming and virtual reality have become and the monster it has the capability to create, and how several people in the program were &quot;caught off guard&quot;. I believe that technology has its\' place, for instance to help those that can\'t experience the world due to a disability, but we seem to be heading in a direction that is not healthy to us as a specie. If anybody remembers Max Headroom you will know what I\'m talking about. It has become a reality. I can see a day when the &quot;system&quot; crashes and people won\'t know what to do. We will be lost. And what is to become of Nature? I fear for the future. Technology needs to be tempered and not allowed to get out of control. Is anybody out there? Is anybody listening? This reminds of the Twilight Zone!","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 12:27"},{"nm":"Jeremiah","rs":"0","ms":"Fascinating show. It\'s interesting how few of my fellow commenters can form coherent thoughts in writing, or even write a grammatically correct sentence. And these are the people who are watching PBS!","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 12:13"},{"nm":"Linda Oliver","rs":"0","ms":"Does the good of new technology outweigh the bad?  That\'s like asking if the good in human nature outweighs the bad.  Technology is a tool like any other, and its outcome depends on the actions of its user.  Gun powder can be used for either fireworks or bullets, create beauty or death.   Like any new thing, it takes getting used to, and with practice we will get better at controlling it, rather than letting it control us.  The newness factor will wear off and its intense neurostimulation will lessen, maybe even spark an urge for people to have actual interactions in Real Space.  They may have close friends in Second Life, but in the end they are still just sitting alone in a room.  Why else would gamers have conventions?","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 12:03"},{"nm":"Steve Smith","rs":"0","ms":"There are some strong doses of reality on the internet. As a person whogrew up in Erie Pa, a union town on Lake Erie, I found a strikingly similiar town while researching Boeing in Everett Washington. I don\'t need an avatar to ride a bicycle through the streets of Everett for me.I know what that is like by looking at weather, news, demographics, mapsand crime reports.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 11:22"},{"nm":"Anthony W Chambers","rs":"0","ms":"To the research finding that students think in short paragraphs is nothing new to me. I have been in goverment service for all of my adult life (now age 56) and I am required at my level of employment to write in quick, to-the-point and short messages. When I started college, the habit followed me. I had to learn how to string paragraphs togething to make an essay work. please extend your research to include people like me.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 11:09"},{"nm":"Judee ","rs":"0","ms":"The show raised many interesting questions that beg answers. But in the absence of any definitive research, it ended up meandering across the digital landscape, like the Israelites lost in the desert. Perhaps that\'s why the show was &quot;padded&quot; with so many shots of the producer\'s family and herself. Where was the editor when we needed her/him?","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 10:55"},{"nm":"Sue","rs":"0","ms":"Unbelievable!!!  I think it’s a show that every educator and parent should see. It was a mix of being inspired and alarmed at the same time.  Having tried to help a 25 year old get back on his feet, we saw first hand what a digital addiction can mean.  He happened to be hooked on World of Warcraft and it was not uncommon to find him sitting at the controls at 6:00 a.m.  This bright young man, came to us 30 pounds under weight.  He found a great employment opportunity, gained the weight back while living with us, paid his debts and acquired an apt.  Only to blow through 2 great jobs, losing 40#\'s and back in debt.  Emaciated and destitute he is now a welfare case.  As an educator, I am very concerned.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 10:31"},{"nm":"person","rs":"0","ms":"I was a little disappointed by the fact that the show never once mentioned online gambling/poker as those site are becoming very popular these days.  The site I frequent usually has over 100,000 players during the day in the USA.  I believe this trend will change the gaming industry in the very near future.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 10:04"},{"nm":"jerry ","rs":"0","ms":"How about doing a show on the higher education’s lag in the use of modern technology to teach with? Lessons presented like frontline shows, visual, interactive, music and informative bring me into the learning experience.  Our school system still believe in individuals to teach each class. Let the best productions teach! Include game like interactive experience and see the child’s interest as something to fight for rather than complain about. Old teaching systems are not working as this show points out. TV shows on history, science, biology are all more interesting than listening to a professor drone on for hours. Let the teachers compete in making productions,use the best and pay royalties possibly.    ","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 09:58"},{"nm":"Debby Lanka","rs":"0","ms":"Did anyone else notice that at the gaming convention, about halfway through the show, that most of the players were overweight? Maybe too much sitting in front of the video game device is not good for us physically.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 09:46"},{"nm":"Dianne","rs":"0","ms":"I have a question. There was a lot of discussion about how the virtual worlds allowed people to live imaginary lives, but those are someone else\'s imaginations they are living in. The people I saw were not creating their own worlds the way a writer or painter creates, but depending on someone else to do the creating and then they just become dolls inside someone else\'s playhouse.  I don\'t quite understand why that\'s considered a great advance, or why people think multi-tasking is just an excuse to do nothing really well but do a lot of things in a mediocre way.  I guess I\'m too old for the digital age...I find myself withdrawing more and more. I refuse to buy the electronic toys. I don\'t Tweeter or expose my limitations on Facebook. This whole universe of living perpetually by pretending to be what you\'re not is something I don\'t understand. It\'s all very sad to me.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 09:36"},{"nm":"susan36912","rs":"0","ms":"My generation of &quot;over 50 year olds&quot; may have been known for its &quot;sex, drugs and rock & roll&quot; attitude as its socio-behavioral mainstay, but what can be said for this upcoming generation of digital age young adults? Maybe the digital age is even &quot;better than sex&quot;!? ","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 09:30"},{"nm":"eric","rs":"0","ms":"I\'ve noticed how science labs are being replaced by video demos.  Most of what I\'ve learned of a useful nature has been on my own.. reading, researching, asking questions and finally, experimenting.  Most of what I know of a practical nature I discovered in the basement lab.  The text might say: &quot;A + B = C&quot;, but then I wondered, what if D?  So I had to find out for myself.  Not an option in the preprogrammed world.  Actual skills:  tool usage, improvising in the real world, troubleshooting, design will be as important as building a &quot;friend&quot; list.  I\'m not a good writer, but an excellent photographer.  Can\'t create a poem very well, but I produce great lighting.  A balance of virtual abilities and hands-on competence is key. HTML and easyouts need to work together. Thanks for a fine, thoughtful and provoking piece.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 08:58"},{"nm":"Lee Fairbanks","rs":"0","ms":"For a look into where we are going in the future, militarily, watch the movie &quot;Sleep Dealer.&quot; It was an interesting foreign film from Mexico (I believe) about the future of virtual reality and how it feels to be on the receiving end of that &quot;virtual reality&quot; and it\'s weapons. It\'s a future where Mexican workers no longer need to cross the boarder because they can do any virtual task without having to be in the US. In this future, as we will see in our own, there are water wars and the companies that control the water are also backed by a virtual quasi-governmental military that can order strikes on &quot;terrorists&quot; at will. This becomes dangerous to anyone who appears to be guilty and without trial, these drones can attack anyone. This movies serves as a warning to what can happen because it\'s already being implemented. This Frontline show merely touched the surface of this issue. ","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 08:57"},{"nm":"Peter N","rs":"0","ms":"I only caught the last 30 minutes on TV last night, but I plan to watch the entire show on-line soon.I am a 48 year old that\'s worked in technology for the past 24 years.  My technology usage prior to that rose from my musical endeavors (and those still continue on today.)  As much as I can see the many benefits of all of the on-line and virtual offerings, I can\'t help but feel that the lack of actual face to face contact - same place, same time - will ultimately be a detriment to us as humans.  I think about it as a member of our society, as a father, as a member of our local community, as an active member in a church, as a volunteer ......  I hope we can harness these things as just tools as opposed to thinking that they are part of who we are.I think we all should go find the nearest meadow or mountain and take a walk - totally unplugged.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 07:29"},{"nm":"Esol Esek","rs":"0","ms":"I\'m old enough to have used electric typewriters and correction tape in college. The net allowed me to engage in some pretty wild dating in the late 90s, but then aspects of the way things worked in the beginning changed. The net has allowed me to improve the processing of my creative activities, but its also increased the competition\'s as well. Photography has been made so disposable, even more so than it used to be, that I\'m seriously tempted to take up painting. Music still requires ability on an instrument, at least in my opinion, even though there are many successes that don\'t use real instruments, but I consider most of it to be trite. I also feel like my ability to write and reason was hard-earned through tough schooling, and that young people are gonna find its not as easy as they think to be literate.  The same is true of the discipline and focus it takes to learn a musical instrument or any real skill.  Even travel is so much easier online.Then again, I could have been typing and researching a lot easier when I was younger, and it probably would have been more efficient. The distraction factor is definitely a problem. It is tempting to do anything on the net other than the work you need to be doing. I\'m also very disturbed by the ease with which I fall into a sort of fake work, organizing, screenpics, meaningless research, meaningless editorializing.  At least I\'ve looked up recipes, and fed us via online, although I did still real money to buy real goods. Can\'t get much more basic than that.  Recipes, though, like all information and content, is being driven into the basement in terms of value. I dont want books around.  They seem disorganized compared to computer files.  Then again, data is so vulnerable. It can be destroyed in a second. If it isn\'t tangible, it doesnt exist.I went through a video game phase a few years back with PS2, but I felt like I was not acting my age and had to call it quits. I really felt physically disturbed by the time that was passing. The ability to fly airplanes of all types and drive race cars, however, was very alluring, and I always thought my father and grandfather would have gotten a kick out of the simulations. Just the environments of the games were amazing, but ultimately its jus flushing your life away. Real life is just harder, but it always comes back to get you, so better face it now, not later.Also, thank god I have a great wife. This FRontline shows gamers getting women through the games, but that has got to be one in fifty maybe. I never met too many gamers with women around.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 06:41"},{"nm":"Dr. Frederick","rs":"0","ms":"Portland, Oregon  For several years now, I have wryly called myself a &quot;cyberphobe&quot; though I own a fine PC and use it routinely, mostly for personal email. However, this rather balanced program prompted me to wonder if &quot;cyberphobe&quot; is an adequate term. Also, by the middle of the hour and a half presentation of potent comments and the encounters with young people, I again felt fortunate to have retired 12 years ago as a professor of English and literature in a classroom in which  effective, basic,often creative essays were routinely written by my alert, eager students. Most of them loved to read plays and sonnets by Shakespeare silently or aloud -- or short fiction. No cell phones or laptops in that classroom! &quot;Digital Nation&quot; convinced me that I had made my professional contribution to Portland students before one commentator said, very bravely, &quot;It\'s not a game; it\'s a new reality!&quot; in 2010. Good luck to all teachers at all levels who continue to adhere to at least some of the tried and tested &quot;old&quot; traditions associated with LEARNING.   ","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 05:40"},{"nm":"Dave","rs":"0","ms":"The information presented correlating technological multi-tasking with lower productivity affirmed what I have suspected for sometime.  I\'ve also noticed as technology evolves, it becomes more intuitive making it more accessible regardless of age.  Meaning, pretty much anyone can now be consumed by multi-tasking between their hi-tech devices and social networking apps.  Much like the example of the Korean teenagers addicted to video games - it\'s not so much the technology, but our lack of discipline in how we so easily become slaves to it.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 04:02"},{"nm":"Dale","rs":"0","ms":"Overall I enjoyed this and agree with premises of both sides. We lose something yet gain something as technology evolves.  The creation of books and print probably impinged on our memory and storytelling skills, yet I welcome the newer technology as giving us more options. Interesting that the MIT and Stanford educators were so much against technology. And the public school educators were so harmonized to it and they seemingly reap the gains.Stanford\'s Dr. Nass\'s work purports people really &quot;time-slice&quot; quickly when they multi-task, so short-term performance and long-term memory suffers. And I’d love to see some of his material quoted to invoke stringent anti-texting-while-driving laws. But if our ability and propensity to read longer books and passages is being compromised, why will books be hot items on Kindles, tablets, and online?  While the psychological and societal impact is indeed awesome, maybe even more awesome will be the advances and benefits in science, medicine, and in so many areas of our lives. As we can bomb from miles away, we can also cure and do surgery.Prof. Turkle, the &quot;Killer Weed&quot; component of the show, spoke and emoted as a true psychologist, as she eschewed the distracting gadgets. The young people who she claims have done themselves such a grave disservice will help save the world. Have some faith, Dr. Turkle!The South Korean &quot;Internet Recovery&quot; school for children was hilarious. They confiscated kids\' cell phones and devices for two weeks, and have them chanting sappy songs like &quot;my Internet friend.&quot;  Yeah, take away people\'s appliances -- that\'ll cure them! Mr. Rushtower has written ten books about the internet for two decades, but I would have liked a more technically on the mark presentation. This was entertaining and fairly absent of the usually overly dramatic music that detractsso much from otherwise good Frontline presentations. Terry, who posted Feb 3, at 00:09, said the hodge-podge, de-focused nature of the presentation was itself an example of the downside of the digital age. I partly agree but could not have done as good a job creating a show like this on this big subject. Dale","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 03:57"},{"nm":"Joe","rs":"0","ms":"I came to the internet when I was 50.  Prior to that I had grown up spending as much time as possible in Public Libraries covering as much information as I could about the things I was interested in.  By University days I continued this endeavor in the stack rooms looking through back issues of favorite magazines and foreign magazines. I was entering the field of Industrial Design and it was the way I could seewhat was out there and had been done while limited to my hometown environment.  I used to dream of some way to better do these things as a kid riding my bicycle to the Library.Due to death in my family I had many years of looking out for the olderfamily members until they passed.  Then I was near 50 and at last shown this phenomenon everyone was talking about called the internet.  I couldn\'t believe my eyes as everything I\'d dreamed of was possible and being able to sit at home and have the world at my fingertips was finally a reality.  I was like Rip Van Winkle awakening with a computer before me.  It has to be one of the greatest things I\'ve seen in my lifetime as I\'m now 62.  Today I webmaster, work with graphic design, digital photography, AutoCad, and have NetMeetings with people all over the world.  But what\'s different for me is that I had a life before the internet and canswitch back to life with non computer using people when in public and rely on my old social skills.  But in the last 110 years we\'ve made the transition from horses to motor cars, to airplanes, radio to TV, and now the internet were almost any information we could want is at our fingertips.  And the Public Libraries are rising to the occasion in ways most people aren\'t even aware of yet.   I have so much more at this time of my life than I ever thought would be possible courtesy of this internet. It gives me pause to think of my Grandfather explaining  what his radio meant to him in the 1920\'s or Dad explaining how he saw the Newsreels at the Movies or even my watching the Andrea Doria sinking on TV as a child, yet today any of this could be called up on the net on demand.  ","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 03:44"},{"nm":"Jeff Bailey","rs":"0","ms":"My goal in what remains of my short time on this planet it to enjoy the world I\'m blessed to inhabit.  Every moment I\'m plugged into a screen somewhere is time I\'m not spending with my family or friends, walking through a redwood forest, playing a sport, going on a bike ride.  My goodness, have any of the kids in this show ever been outdoors in the natural world?  Played a team sport?  Thrown a ball?  Enough already!  Technology is addictive, no doubt.  But if you\'re unhappy with your own reality, a virtual reality is no solution in the end.  In fact it\'s pathetic.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 03:09"},{"nm":"Tom McCormack","rs":"0","ms":"Some important elements were missed on the Front-line virtualmentary program. The fact (reality) is that excessive synthetic light is shown to create a harmful impact on the pituitary gland, growth hormones...... not to mention the eyes. Now lets confront the cyber-worlds cost regarding it\'s impact on health.... specifically obesity, documented increase in the diabetes rate..... and a host of other debilitating degenerative diseases (this is a reality scenario and all the virtual hype will not change!).  No it is not creating a warm fuzzy reality future..... but more alienation and splintering of thoughts, feelings resulting in phony shallowness - a running away from reality issues..... hiding in pseudo creativity and neo-imaginative virtual applications is a waste of time, energy and money. I prefer creating reality art, live people and physical activity in nature.Why do you think young women continue to mature earlier and earlier - and young men mature later and later??...... the scientific reality is hat excessive synthetic light impacts the pituitary gland (over-stimulating growth hoormones) and actually limits the pinealis function of the brain.The fact is the greatest deficiency in education is a student\'s inability to communicate effectively due to the cumulative impact of excessive virtual stimuli  (see NEA speech, public speaking and social skills stats) We need a reality future based on cooperative actions -  RESOLUTIONARIES. More on this process is at www.educationwizard.org.Tom McCormackEducation Learning Specialistand Founder of Synergistic Intelligence","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 03:02"},{"nm":"Art","rs":"0","ms":"Science Fiction?Fast forward a few years and we will be able to invade a country with no boots on the ground.  Instead of soldiers a hundred thousand small helicopters or similar craft with hovering ability, say small enough to enter a door or window, bristling with arms, each with a man at the controls back in the U.S.A.  Corporations making big bucks and the populace paying no cost in human lives.  Need another scary thought?  Sooner or later \'the other side\' is going to acquire such technology as well.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 02:41"},{"nm":"frank seitz","rs":"0","ms":" I am totally amazed at what I saw tonight.  What are we doing to our children?  We are putting our children in a make believe world.  What are they going to do when all of these virtual jobs in business and military are taken by 2% of the work force.  What will they be prepared to do. We already sold all of our manufacturing to the cheapest slave bidder (China). The manufacturing virtual industry brain washing our youth is for their greedy profit. It is truely an addiction of which I totally understand. Where is the moderation? I suppose the most disturbing section was on the military and the use of the drones. Murdering a hundred innocent people to get one bad guy because he talked to some bad guys after he rode his scooter and visited his friends.  How many people were in that building. We know these creeps are usin citizens for cover. We are no different than any despot of any lifetime. The end justifys the means.  What are we doing to these men when the truth is known. I was recruited in the aiforce to fly in undercover f111 flights to keep the trail open long eneough to keep the war going. I was only in training the guys were bring back film of villages being burned classified. As much as I wanted to be a pilot I totally rejected these horrible missions. I was able to get out but I lived a long time never knowing if something was going to happen. I left with no knowlege that I ever existed with them. Who know today I probably would have just diappeared, We need to put this tecnology in perspective.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 02:17"},{"nm":"Debi Doyle","rs":"0","ms":"What am I missing? I do not care how exciting a virtual world appears to be it is still virtual and on some electronic device. As a kid I tried to get my friends to quit watching the black and white adventure on TV to go outside and play. I do not see these new adventures as much different other than they are in color. But obviously the masses do -so what am I missing? I guess I just prefer the smell of dirt, the sounds of nature, and the weather upon my soul.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 01:48"},{"nm":"Janet Pielke","rs":"0","ms":"I just watched Digital Nation and sat in even more wonderment at so many of my colleagues, other college instructors, who are still fighting online classes!  If those folks watched this show, they must be apoplectic now.  Like the college instructors taking part in the show, and so many others, I too struggle with how to teach a generation which clearly seems to need to be &quot;engaged,&quot; &quot;stimulated,&quot; whatever you wish to call it.  Having grown up and been educated in the time when students sat still and were quiet, read books, it is definitely a challenge to look at a sea of students who wish to do nothing of the sort.  Online classes have provided one way to mitigate some of this struggle, for both students and instructors.  I was somewhat surprised that online classes were not even mentioned in this show.  The subject matter is WAY beyond something so mild - and yet something which causes such furor on so many college campuses, with some Academic Senates limiting the number of online classes instructors can teach, not allowing students to earn their degrees by taking all of their classes online and myriad other restrictions instituted not only by administration but by other instructors.Jan","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 01:47"},{"nm":"Jeff","rs":"0","ms":"Wonderfully interesting program. I question the idea of having to &quot;play with the next generation&quot; in order to engage them in an academic setting. I think the world could be a very empty place if people stop reading books and replace a good book digitally. It is also disturbing that as a society we accept remote control aircraft shooting missiles at people.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 01:36"},{"nm":"steve ehrlich","rs":"0","ms":"    I find it all amusing. Multitasking has made people zombies. They begin sentences with the word like. They don\'t speak English. They speak Geek. The digital universe is nothing but GIGO. It\'s a world of geeks tethered to their laptops and I-phones. Texting while driving is the norm. It\'s a drug, the new cocaine. It might not be as harmful physically as coke is with immediacy, but long term it is as harmful as coke. Geekdom is a disease. People don\'t have a normal reaction to anything. They have no concept of irony or humor. They have a blank look all the time. They don\'t have cognizance of their surroundings or any connection with nature. This is all leading to digital Armageddon, which will probably be a worldwide online World of Warcraft with 250 million players.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 01:34"},{"nm":"Anonymous","rs":"0","ms":"My entire life is virtual now. Three years ago I worked as a technical writer in silicon valley, but my work function was outsourced to Israel, and I was laid off. I got a few short contracts training people in India and Israel to do my old job, but now almost all jobs I used to do are outsourced overseas. My wife divorced taking as much money as she could, and as my family had equally fallen for her false charms, also sided with her, so I stopped speaking with them. I had enough to buy a ruined bank repo in a slum 200 miles away. Now, except for buying groceries twice a month, I haven\'t spoken to anyone for six months. My entire life is online, I write emails to old fiends regularly, but I never see them. The only sounds I hear of real people daily are police sirens and police helicopters chasing criminals. I started to wonder, how many other people are there like me in the world? I thought once maybe I was unusual, but recently I\'m not so sure. ","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 01:31"},{"nm":"Carol Lee","rs":"0","ms":"This documentary was interesting, but the negative tone was disappointing. There is a very odd underlying assumption that the past was better and people were more connected. I grew up in the 1950\'s in this supposedly idyllic time, and I could not disagree more. If everyone grew up in a perfect family with perfect neighbors and relatives available to talk, play with, learn from - that assumption may have been valid. The internet allows you to connect more than you ever could have before. The beauty, kindness and creativity of people all around the world is evident in Twitter, if you haven\'t tried it, you might! In fact, I would advocate kids learning about how to be social and what works by using Twitter. Thanks for bringing up this discussion. All the best! ","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 01:05"},{"nm":"Edward J. Dodson","rs":"0","ms":"My earliest introduction to computers was fairly painful -- trying to learn the fortran language and dealing with massive quantities of data input cards, etc. The world changed dramatically for the better when I purchased my first home computer, a Kaypro 10 (the 10 meaning it had a 10 megabyte hard drive!). From that to PCs and then getting online provided the opportunity to reorganize my environment. Gradually I was able to replace paper-filled file cabinets with electronic documents stored on my computer hard drive and backed up on an external hard drive. A researcher by profession, I began in 1997 the process of bringing together on a new website project a library filled with material myself and others with similar interests could search or browse in the most user-friendly way possible. A truly transnational community has grown since then in a way otherwise impossible. Now, we also have Skype to communicate face-to-face.The digital world has also made it possible for me to save music I acquired over forty years while allowing me to clear out some 4,000 vinyl record albums from my home. Now, all that music is stored on a 500 GB external hard drive. Now, I am slowly in the process of putting music from my CD collection onto the hard drive, and will sell the CDs to some &quot;record&quot; store.What may distinguish some of us from the young generation is a respect for privacy and solace. I have a cell phone but do not send text messages or have a presence on face book, etc. I am about as connected as anyone needs to be, I think. On the train, I prefer to read or take a nap rather than listen to music or the radio with an earpiece. When I am out for a walk or job, I get great pleasure listening to the sounds of the real world.Do I multi-task? Well, sort of. I do watch television, listen to music or the radio while I am working on the computer. But (as my wife reminds me) this sometimes causes me to lose concentration and make mistakes I have to later correct. Classical music or soft jazz in the background is exempt from multi-tasking, however.  ","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 00:35"},{"nm":"Olaf Brescia","rs":"0","ms":"During my years in the semi-conductor industry we discussed (briefly) the social impact of an ‘interrupt driven society’ from all these electronic devices. But ultimately we had to develop ‘more products’ to enable ‘more content’ for ‘more devices.’ I wonder if we will even recognize ‘social mechanics’ as we understand it – by the time our children are adults?Another superb program Frontline – just superb! ","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 00:33"},{"nm":"Jessica A Bruno","rs":"0","ms":"Thanx for doing these series (Digital Nation and Growing Up Online).  Both of them were interesting for sure.  As for me I found that torn on this because I love both worlds.  Trying to balance each of course.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 00:26"},{"nm":"Connie Muir","rs":"0","ms":"If we communicate soley withy technology, how do we learn important social skills such as reading body language or sensing tone of voice? I don\'t feel communication is effective without those kinds of emotional cues.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 00:10"},{"nm":"Terry","rs":"0","ms":"The inability of this documentary to settle on focused issue about our digital nation seems to be in itself an example of one of the many scary issues it whizzed by in its desire put it all out there. That is: the digital age has made it harder for people (including the filmmaker apparently) to create a work of any length that raises a definite set of questions and attempts to answer them by exploring them in a focused manner. This thing was a hodge podge of information with little direction, much like the internet.","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 00:09"},{"nm":"Katy Washburn","rs":"0","ms":"I too just happen to watch this show. I wa to donted to know what the writer of this story ended up doing in her own family after seeing that technology had led her family into their own worlds.It is easy to slip into this. My family has off and on. We talk about it and set new guidelines to try to get all of us more balanced. Easy said but very difficult but worth the effort.As I watched the show,the support of the world seemed to be leaning more towards living in a virtual world. I was shocked at some of the people\'s values and ideas.  We don\'t put medicine on the market until we know the effects. Why are treating our most valueable beings on earth, our children, like guinea pigs? Bottom line I believe it\'s about balance and some of the people on the show expressed that technology will come back into balance. &quot;Look at history&quot;, they said. Well I\'m sorry, I\'m not willing nor have I ever been, to accept what the world thinks is a good idea for my children, especially when their emotional health and physical health is at stake. It has been a battle to say the least to keep certain insanities out of our home. That\'s what I fought for. Are the children that grew up being inundated with computers going to grow up to be good people? The health effects and addiction part were very scary to me as far as children are concerned. They are the ones who are going to keep the world running and if they haven\'t experienced a good balance to what really matters, interacting with people, being a good person, knowing how to raise a family, etc., then what good is technology when being run and marketed by people who put their value and energy into what doesn\'t matter most. I spent the last 32 years raising 3 boys, 32 ,21 ,and 14. I was determined to be there for them because my family grew apart through divorce and alcoholism. I know I am fortunate that I didn\'t have to work and I wanted this life. My boys are very well balanced and good people because I made sure that was the priority in our family. Their emotional and spiritual life was what mattered most and interacting with them constantly,from what I\'ve studied, is how they learn and grow best. I\'ve seen 3 generations basically of video games and computers come into our lives. They use technology w,here is needed but balance their lives with music, art, learning, exercise, and maitaining family/ friend relationships. I\'m very proud of them and the work I\'ve put in to what matters most.  ","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 00:04"},{"nm":"Math Maestro","rs":"0","ms":"Someone smarter than me once said, &quot;Technology makes us more productive, but less competent.&quot;  A simple example is described in the show about memory being shortened because of books.  Another example would be the microwave oven, which makes me a less competent cook than my parents ever were.  We will evolve to less competence.  The question is &quot;are we content to evolve to less competence?&quot;","pt":"Feb  3, 2010 00:02"},{"nm":"geoff nolan","rs":"0","ms":"I\'m 64 yrs. of age & been doing the same job since 1986. My leverage on work life has exponentially exploded. I now make the same or more money than before I went digital but now I work about half as many hours. This revolution has been a &quot;perfect storm&quot; of good things for me. I used to be in the office for four hours a day and on the road for four hours. Now I\'m in the office one or two hours a week. I\'m on the road for three hours a day. The paperwork is done from home so the stress and fatigue is way down. Just amazing! The cautionary tale of tonights digital life was not lost on me. I use only a cell phone, not a smart phone. No texting, and I answer my emails when I get to the home office. ","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 23:54"},{"nm":"AJ Lowell","rs":"0","ms":"I really enjoyed this documentary. The only thing I felt that needed to  be addressed in more detail, was the current phenomenon of CGI in the movies destroying cinema related diciplines. For example; There were more make-up artists and set designers at work ten years ago, then there are now. Valuable skill sets are being replaced with motion-capture and lines upon lines of code. Is this really the direction we want the medium to go? What\'s next?...Writing?! ","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 23:40"},{"nm":"Dr. Magie Stuart","rs":"0","ms":"Fascinating program!  As a retired educator who started with the memograph with purple ink to laptops and smartboards in the classroom, I related to the changes we now see in the classroom.  Found the differing opinions about how students approach learning and life nowadays very enlightening.  I DO feel that if we do not prepare our students for the digital world, we are hindering their later employment options.  Thus school should, in my opinion, provide technology enought that ALL students feel they CAN learn the constantly new innovations.  If they do not, we have created the &quot;have nots&quot; in later life.","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 23:40"},{"nm":"daisy","rs":"0","ms":"I find this all very narcissistic, unwise, limiting, invasive, pretentious, shallow, uncreative and boring. The military &quot;soldier&quot;/pilots, etc., sound like children self-absorbed in their mythical self-importance, racist, non-thinking and crude.  To have them be human or real, I would like them to be actual recipients of what they do to innocent defenseless lives.  The is cowardly. This is a base, cowardly and racist institutional and systemic way.  I love technology and I love learning and a challenge.  But I dislike stupid, weak self-aggrandizing, insensitive, unwise thought and action.  This will never come even close to replacing the complexity of communication that uses all the senses. ","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 23:36"},{"nm":"Dr. Doug Duncan","rs":"0","ms":"At the Univ. of Colorado we do a lot of research on teaching and learning. Recent results: students in a large college class who take notes on laptops earn a FULL GRADE lower grade than students who use paper.In our well-taught classes almost no students use laptops during class!They also learn 20-30% more than a decade ago. SOME technology improves learning, and some lessens it.  Things that fully engage learning, on one topic, are good.  Multi-tasking reduces learning.  Here\'s the research: www.cwsei.ubc.ca ","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 23:31"},{"nm":"Daniel","rs":"0","ms":"Watching the show has been very interesting and I feel compelled to share my thoughts. I am a student in High School who has played World of Warcraft, and considers himself to be very much a digital &quot;native&quot; as the show has put it. Even right now as I speak I felt a sudden impulse to open a new tab and check out my face book account, which I resisted. I would like to mention that while many kids are definitely addicted to technology (me included) that does not mean we all like it that way. In fact I go to sleep every night with a horrible feeling that I have accomplished nothing that day. I can not recall who it was in the show it was that said it but they expressed my feelings very well: I feel compelled to use technology. In fact, I abhor texting, yet I find myself using it alot of the time, mostly because I recieve text and feel it would not be polite to not respond. I wish I didn\'t play video games, yet half of the time at school I find myself thinking about new strategies to use later that night. The main reason I even have a Facebook accounts is because friends have tempted me into creating it, and I am continually sucked into it every night because if I do not the next day I feel out of touch. I guess what I am trying to boil down to is that many times I wish not to use technology, but it is difficult not to when everyone else is using it. I can not even begin to explain how many times I enter a room and the first thing I do is pull out my I-Phone and stare a blank screen just because everyone else has their phone out. I may even open up a CNN page on the internet, but its not like I am reading it, I just stare at it so as not to stick out. I sincerely hope that the future grows less technology dependent, yet I fear that this is what the future holds, and that unless I stick with it I shall fall far behind then my peers. ","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 23:31"},{"nm":"Catherine","rs":"0","ms":"My mom has written me letters since I was in college, all the way back from the early 1980s. That\'s her version of &quot;texting&quot;. The letters remain a cherished keepsake. They\'ll never be deleted.","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 23:19"},{"nm":"don wonnell","rs":"0","ms":"  Believe it gets down to learning as a part of having well rounded attributes - personality, communication skills, values, listening skills, reasoning, physical attributes, and variety in ways you learn.We can learn so much from the internet, however the balance needs to be there.    Multitasking can help, but there is a point of diminishing returns from any activity - when that point is reached you need to reassess and possibly stop that activity at least for a time. You need to have control over your own actions. If a person gets too much involved in one thing they can become something like a clerical worker, like a robot, then they have missed out on other activities they needed. We need balance, moderation, control of our activities and control of our own lives.   We need to stop what we\'re doing fairly often and see if what we\'re doing is going to reach our goals, if it\'s not using our time well, and if it\'s harmful. When you\'re doing something, will you look back and wish you hadn\'t been doing that? That\'s a test. The Digital Nation is a fantastic piece. ","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 23:04"},{"nm":"Jamila Diallo","rs":"0","ms":"I thought the program was really insightful and really enjoyed it, there were a few things i wish they had addressed though. First, in regards to the apprehension of children not being able to differentiate between the virtual world/technology and the real world, they voiced the opinions of those who thought it was just irrational fear, but failed to make the connection between that fear and the mention just 20 minutes before that a child who was shown himself swimming with dolphins in virtual reality later believed that this event actually took place. Shouldn\'t that be a pretty big indicator that this is not in fact just an irrational fear by those that are not \'digital natives\'?Second, in regards to the recruiting/gaming center, sure the kids know logically the difference between a game and real combat. But what happens when a game addict becomes a drone pilot? What happens when the person pulling the trigger has no ability to empathize with the reality of the situation on the other end of the gun, because he has simply never experienced it, and years of gaming has dulled his senses to shock?  In the end it\'s not about whether what we\'ve lost due to technology (like the ability to read a novel or write and essay) measures up to what we\'ve gained (the ability to connect to vast amounts of information and people on a whim.) It\'s about the overall mental and emotional health of our society. Anthropology measures the standard of living of a society not based on what technology they have or how \'advanced\' they are, but by how well they provide for their members and deal with their emotional, physical, spiritual needs. Just food for thought. ","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 23:04"},{"nm":"john","rs":"0","ms":"I am frightened by what seems to be another devolution in human culture. Yes, the internet and all associated technologies is with out a doubt the most powerful force in human culture, but I fear that like other advancements we do not have the wisdom to channel the power in a wise way.  An aspect of technology that was not covered in this enlightening program are the those who create content for the computer,perhaps they, like the tobacco companies, know what to sell to us to keep us coming back for more.  Is technology creating an addicted generation of computer induced ADHD children? ","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 22:59"},{"nm":"Scott","rs":"0","ms":"I\'m 52 years old, and I am currently trying to Break Out of 20th Century communications. I saw a video over the weekend that was recorded at the recent Sundance Film Festival that dealt with New-Media Arts and communications. The statement was made that online communications with the evolution of social media groups is akin to the revolution of music in the 1960\'s, and there was no more exciting time in The History of Humanity than right now. I Do Not buy into the concept that the world is becoming a darker place. Quite the opposite, really. In a weird way, it seems that a lot of my peers are like small third-world nations. They\'re allowing themselves to be completely left behind, while all of these incredible tools are being developed--And those who use the tools are creating better lives for themselves and for others. Great Program!","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 22:56"},{"nm":"Joseph Aveni","rs":"0","ms":"Just finished watching the program. Very compelling, and insightful.As an technology educator their was one oversight that was not mentioned regarding the gaming aspect of using technology within the classroom.It is a very powerful sight to see students who gain no respect among their peers until they display their personal gaming talents. A whole new level of respect develops once students acknowledge the talents of other students who they normally would ostracize during their daily routine in a traditional classroom. This changes the &quot;game&quot; if you will in moving beyond the traditional bullying that would normally occur within the halls and offers a new venue to which students can collaborate and get to see each other in new perspective. Truly remarkable and in-lighting to witness. ","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 22:55"},{"nm":"Barbara","rs":"0","ms":"Concerned that those who play military war games become more violent and lose the sense of the meaning of warfare.  Does war become a game?  Does solving emotional or troubling problems become a matter of aggressive responses rather than conflict resolution techniques? Is there any research on this issue?","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 22:52"},{"nm":"Mike","rs":"0","ms":"Excellent story. As a teacher I ask, &quot;How do we teach kids the skills they will need in the future; Communication, Collaboration, the ability to think and analyze, without the use of technology?&quot; Technology and web 2.0 allows students the opportunity to develop the skills they will need in the future. ","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 22:45"},{"nm":"Derek Belanger","rs":"0","ms":"I was born in 1973 and, as a result, I was on station when the digital age came upon us.  I have mixed feelings.  On the one hand I look back to 1914 when people cheered in the streets at the outbreak of the coming war.  In this age it is no longer possible (I would hope) to distribute pamphlets showing the huns spearing children on their bayonets to flame the passions of war.  I can speak in real time to anyone anywhere in the world this very moment.  In this sense I feel that the digital age may one day dissolve the sorts of nationalistic propaganda that has done so much harm in the past.  We seem content to replace it with all manner of consipiracy theory mongering, but I am not going to open that can of worms...In the same way that Guttenberg could never fully know what would come in the wake of his first press, we, and perhaps another generation or more, will never fully understand what is to come to our descendents.  I consider myself lucky to live in this moment.  I run the risk of the melodramatic, but I feel as though I live in a momentus a moment as when we settled into farming or when books entered into the hands of commoners.  I will admit that some of the things I see make me feel that humans are no better than animals, but this is not my final conviction.  I believe in our species and I also believe that we will continue to accomplish amazing things; this tool will simply become another medium.  Fear and awe are natural reactions in such an age, moderation and wisdom must be our guide.  Think how many books may never have been written without Guttenberg\'s press; think how much more might be created in a age when one can compose a novel on a cell phone if so inclined...  I think you did a good job with the program insofar as presenting multiple angles.  I fear I will end up writing a thesis if I were to share all of my thoughts.  I will close with a snapshot of myself.  I am soon to graduate with a BA in English Language and Literature with a minor in Humanities and the Arts.  I play World of Warcraft (perhaps more than I should), I have an iPhone; though I do not tweet or facebook as it just seems a little silly.  I also read an average of 500 pages or more each week for the three classes I balance between the military, a two and a half year old girl, a four month old son, and of course my wife.  I have two novels, a critque, and an essay I often dwell upon when I wonder why it is I am spending my free time playing World of Warcraft or fiddling with the Sims.  On the other hand, this game is the same vehical by which I maintain what I have left of my Mandarin.  I am a man of my age.  I do not know where it is all going, but I have every intention of keeping my eyes and my mind open as we ride the wave.We are all in it together, thank you for your contribution.","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 22:44"},{"nm":"Sherry","rs":"0","ms":"I, too, just happened upon this show.  I was totally blown away!!  I can barely verbalize what I feel -- I\'m just so glad the topics are being explored, and from so many intelligent and varied perspectives.    I am an educator, and I believe your show raises hugely important questions that we ought to be thinking about.  Thank you so much for a powerfully well-done program.Sherry","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 22:42"},{"nm":"Bob Guzauskas","rs":"0","ms":"Psychosis is the inability to distinguish realty from fantasy. And Pavlov taught us about conditioned behaviors. How can Sesame Street be a learning experience and violent gaming not be? How many multi-taskers shaped those things we admire, respect and cherish? Can gamers inspure and lead us? Are gamers as tough as Afghans. I don\'t think so.We are in deep shit!","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 22:42"},{"nm":"richard O.","rs":"0","ms":"I watched a portion of this program on PBS tonight, and I must say that I found it absolutely frightening. We are in a completely depersonalized world now. I didn\'t realize it before, but I see it clearly now after having watched this program. Intimacy, empathy, compassion, eye contact, touch all go down the drain. At 59, I have been enamored of all the new technology, but after seeing the program (I plan to finish watching it online), I have to rethink my approach to technology now. No longer will I see it as fascinating and intriguing, but now I will be careful to keep a healthy distance from it. I am a clinical psychologist, and I was truly saddened by the developments that I saw occurring through watching the program. It gave me an instant education in the mentality of people in the world today. Almost too much for me to bear. ","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 22:40"},{"nm":"Steve Wuesthoff","rs":"0","ms":"what about sunspots and their interference with connectivity. can that be a 2 steps forward 3 steps back situation?","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 22:37"},{"nm":"Amanda","rs":"0","ms":"I\'m really enjoying the program. What I wonder is--what\'s the fear? Why are people so afraid of kids not being able to write essays for example? Who said that was the gold standard? Maybe the world will be different if we can multi-task with ease and learn how to find everything we want with the click of a button, but who said that\'s a bad thing?? It seems that these thoughts come from fear--fear from people who are digital immigrants. Maybe if people were more able to open their eyes, to see that education NEEDS to change, that we can keep up with it, and that it\'s all a good thing, we could embrace the changes we see from the digital nation and actually learn from them instead of always expecting them to learn from us.","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 22:18"},{"nm":"Tom Denman","rs":"0","ms":"The des\criptions of gaming addiction are reminiscent of Cervantes’s Don Quixote, set in the 17th century.  Here\'s the Wikipedia plot summary:Alonso Quixano....has become obsessed with books of chivalry, and believes their every word to be true, despite the fact that many of the events in them are clearly impossible. Quixano eventually appears to other people to have lost his mind from little sleep and food and because of so much reading.","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 22:10"},{"nm":"Joey","rs":"0","ms":"I\'ve just stumbled upon this program after getting home from work. I\'ve only seen maybe five minutes of this program and I can agree with the fact that technology is greatly changing our culture. I feel that there are few truly wise people anymore, but rather with the ease of access of information we simply have knowledgeable people who can regurgitate information that they have memorized. I fear this may lead us to a point where no one thinks for themselves anymore, but just repeats the thoughts of a few outspoken individuals. On the topic of students and their academic performance, particularly college students, I would like to say that it\'s not just technology that may be having an affect on the performance of students, but also keep in mind that today more students have the opportunity to go to college today than before, which is awesome. However, this increase in the amount of students going to college doesn\'t mean that all these students will be able to keep up with the workload demanded by all their professors. You have a lot of students from the middle and lower classes that are now being admitted to colleges, but a chunk of these students probably have to work part or even full-time jobs to be able to pay for the expense of their education or other personal expenses (gas, phone bill, etc). I can\'t say that I am not prone to wasting time on Facebook, but even with the time I may waste on Facebook, I sometimes feel as though between working 20 hours a week, 15 hours of classes, and hours of studying, that I don\'t have enough time that I can just sit down and enjoy myself. It\'s hard to find a happy medium between studying enough to keep up my grades and having enough time to myself to keep my sanity. However, I am just one student and am susceptible to my own bias, so I cannot speak for all students.","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 22:06"},{"nm":"Jennifer Butler","rs":"0","ms":"Your program has been very interesting, particularly the sections involving schools.  I think your study could have been more interesting to include schools that do not insist on bringing technology into the classroom early on.  The Waldorf schools are one such approach.  It would be interesting to counter your stories with students who do not use excess technology and how they measure up as students and citizens.","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 22:00"},{"nm":"Bruce","rs":"0","ms":"I constantly see how communication is improved and generations connected by technology. As with everything else there are people that overindulge. The ability to garner and share information quickly is changing the world. We are no longer blissfully blind in a shell. There is no stopping it so becoming fluent is a necessity .","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 21:58"},{"nm":"Skiingdemon","rs":"0","ms":"I understand that for many people information technology is a hindrance because they are incapable of recognizing their limits or what they\'re good at. They are overstimulated in that they are not capable of thinking clearly while taking in so much information and, if you look at texting while driving as an example, they are totally unaware they aren\'t thinking clearly.For me,  I don\'t use twitter, I check facebook and my email every now and then to see if I have a message but I don\'t spend hours surfing through other people\'s profiles. They\'re tools to keep in touch with people I actually know, not sources of entertainment. On the flip side, when I watch this program tonight I will be playing Madden football on my laptop at the same time and it\'s really relaxing to me because it helps me not get too caught up in the news, which otherwise would take over my life. I\'m a small town reporter, I\'m a know it all and I\'ve always thirsted for information and loved spreading what I found useful or interesting and my struggle in life is to not get too caught up in important world, national, and state events and to be patient. Many people have the opposite problem, technology allows them to take in stimulus all day without any of it being of great significance to them. I multitask with video games because it helps me relax and be patient when hearing about the hard realities of life today, not in an attempt to ignore them completely.Some of my friends can\'t hold a conversation while playing that game and they know it and act accordingly. There isn\'t a cure all answer for how individuals should handle technology. No one thinks it\'s weird that skiing is therapeutic for me and terrifying for the person next to me so why is it that we think that all people will react the same way to multitasking? It\'s not voodoo or magic, it\'s just something else people do that will affect each person differently. I can\'t stand doing math, while some people can do it in their head without consciously thinking about it, for some reason strategy games including sports games don\'t occupy much of my conscious brain bur help me not get too worked up about something like political news which really require patience to keep you from going insane, particularly when keeping up with that news these days requires coming in contact with the pathetic political discourse we see in the national media today.The key is to know yourself and your limitations and what makes you sane and happy. Unfortunately That is one thing most people are very very bad at these days.Although Bannet seems to be expanding the topic here I will say that I do agree with him. Information technology isn\'t what\'s scary, it\'s our ability to produce and use that\'s alarming. We\'re making plastics and other pollutants at an alarming rate and as a species we seem totally incapable of realizing the scale on which we\'re operating. I\'m not that worried about multitasking compared to pollution of our air and oceans, let alone climate change. It only takes one of those to kill us (and much of the other life on earth that\'s large enough to see with the naked eye) and we\'re in denial about the scope of both.","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 18:32"},{"nm":"Al Bannet","rs":"0","ms":"The emerging digital World has merely raised the force of human instinct to a higher level of exploitation of the Earth\'s diminishing resources. After many lifetimes of warning, people are still addicted to the buying power of money, regardless of consequences. Thus, except for a miracle, self-extinction appears to be inevitable. ","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 15:29"},{"nm":"Jamion","rs":"0","ms":"I believe in the coming age we need to establish a true understanding of what it means to be an individual. In the chaos of the net it is like a thousand voices shouting.  We can easily loose ourselves as just another one of the masses, and yet still define ourselves as an individual.  The question becomes where do I as the individual end and the we as the collective begin?  How do we define ourselves? Do we compare ourselves to the collect or do we state individualism? And in such a way are my thought my own or a reflection of the desired will of the net? Do I retain individual thought? Or am I just part of the meme? A copy of a copy of a copy?These are the questions we are forced with in the ever evolving digital age.  How do we define self? Where is the genesis of our being? And in such a way can we really define ourselves as existing or define ourselves by whether other believe we exist?","pt":"Feb  2, 2010 15:18"},{"nm":"Kim Lacey","rs":"0","ms":"I heard your interview this morning and thought, wow, this is what I am struggling with as a college professor. How do we teach what needs to be taught? We as faculty need to learn how to reach our students in a different way. For some it is an easy transition, for others a struggle! I agree with what was said about &quot;getting down to the student level&quot; and negotiating, it seems like that is increasingly the way to reach them. When all is said and done, they need to be able to think critically and analyze information - but we need to convince them as to the why that what we are teaching or trying to teach is important!","pt":"Feb  1, 2010 19:33"}]}); });