OPINION: Tech continues to change

For the past week, we’ve been working on a couple stories in preparation for our teacher appreciation issue on Friday. For the story I’m writing, I’ve been focusing on technology in schools and how it’s changed over the years.

While I am part of Generation Z and have had internet be a part of my entire schooling, in the three years since I graduated from college, a lot seems to have changed. I’ll leave the specifics of that discussion for Friday’s paper, but I do still want to take a look at the rapidity of tech changes as of late.

I have two specific memories related to tech from my grade school years.

In my small school, Friday was always computer day. Though the time differed depending on what grade you were in, it was always Friday that we would clamor into the media room, taking our respective places in the rows of desktop computers. We would go back and forth on the topic, one week practicing typing on Mavis Beacon, the next week learning Spanish on Rosetta Stone.

I also remember the excitement of getting my first cell phone. Around fifth or sixth grade, my dad’s work started providing them with cell phones. That meant my dad no longer needed the phone he had been using, so he gave it to me. I was one of the last of my friends to get a cell phone, so this was a big event for me. Now I too could download Temple Run and Facebook, which I had just turned old enough to use.

Since then, there’s been plenty of comings and going for tech in my life. In high school, we all had individual computers distributed to us. These were used for presentations, research papers and even access to more books from the school library.

I bought myself a laptop with graduation money the summer before starting college. That computer lasted me about four years, after which I got the updated version of the same computer. I still use this now.

Every couple of years, it will be time for me to update my phone. I’m not someone who feels like I need the latest and greatest iPhone, usually settling for a few generations back. I’ll occasionally use my Nintendo Switch, generally for cozy games like Animal Crossing or Disney Dreamlight Valley.

Despite my job focusing on a lot of digital media, I’m really not a tech-savy person. I have to ask Cheyenne for phone help all the time and just learned a couple new keyboard shortcuts that would have made my life a lot easier when I started here. I might be seen as the tech person in my immediate family because I taught my parents how to take a screenshot and logged my mom into Libby with her library card, but that’s as far as my expert knowledge goes.

Maybe that’s part of why some of the upcoming technological changes scare me.

AI has been a huge thing for the past few years. What started out as a simple new science that could help solve math equations and play you in a game of chess is now taking the jobs of creatives around the world. Thankfully it’s still pretty easy to spot when AI has created digital art or a badly written movie script. However, with AI continuing to improve exponentially, I’m sure it won’t be long before the changes are indecipherable.

There’s a lot of good that is being done by artificial intelligence, but I’m not always sure it’s enough to combat the negatives. However, as I said, I’m far from a tech genius.

If I had it my way, we could pick and choose more than we do. I love a physical book, but I appreciate utilizing my phone for digital copies when I’m out and about or to listen to an audiobook. I love the idea of an electric vehicle, but I think they should all have the capability to add gas in case the tech fails.

In terms of AI, please use it for the menial tasks that no one wants to do. Let artificial intelligence go through the thousands of genes to find the discrepancy, but don’t take away the passions of real human beings.

Who knows what will actually happen in the future. Either way, I’m sure I’ll be just a few generations behind what ever’s current.