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Connecting with Connectivism

  • Alissa G.
  • Feb 10, 2016
  • 2 min read

In one of my graduate school classes, we were recently asked:

"What is your response to the following quote from George Siemens?

'Technology is altering (rewiring) our brains. The tools we use define and shape our thinking.'

In what ways do you agree with this quote, and in what ways do you not agree with it? How does social media and social networking play into this?"

After thinking about the question for a while, my response was:

"I agree and disagree with the quote in that I think it's not a matter of technology changing how information flows through our brain or how this information defines how we think. I think that technology is expanding and increasing the number of pathways that our brains have available to use to process and respond to information. The pathways were always there but were the information was only channeled in a few set pathways and the amount of information the average person had access to was limited by the resources available. Now that there are additional sources of information, the brain is activating these dormant pathways to process additional details, conflicting facts or opinions, visual or sound imagery that builds up to an almost 360-degree image of an event that previously was only two-dimensional.

Social media plays heavily into the new almost 360-degree view of information and events. Viewers and participants now have instant coverage from a variety of sources. This coverage is sometimes raw and sometimes filtered through the individual's personal lens. An event that may have been overlooked in the past or received little coverage can now become an avalanche of tweets, posts, photos, and video. It seems to me sometimes that the lack of filter in social media can all-too-often lead to a lack of perspective on the severity or importance of an event or piece of information and context for viewer of the information being shared."

So what do you think? Is technology rewiring our brains and reshaping our thinking?

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© 2024 by Alissa Galyean

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