Fr. Richard OMOLADE

Technology was supposed to be the mark of our civilization, a testimony to our advancement and an indication of mankind’s accomplishment in the course of human history. However, it has quickly become the bane of our life.  With everything happening around us, technology is fraught with grave consequences as well as benign impacts.

Truth be told, technology has brought significant development to human affairs, making a lot of things easy to do, such as traveling, farming and communication which can now take place instantaneously across vast distances. But there are other areas of human development that the application of technology has become more destructive and intrusive than beneficial. Education is currently struggling to align technology to essential educational goals, but it seems to be losing the battle especially with the advent of Artificial Intelligence. Prior to this time many countries have even gotten rid of books in preference for technology-based learning tools. This has led to the displacement of such books as Dictionaries and Encyclopaedia as the information they contain can easily be sourced online.

That education has benefited from the introduction of technology is not in doubt. Technology has made teaching and learning better since information and essential learning materials can easily be accessed, processed and utilized in the production of more and advanced knowledge. Easier access should translate to better knowledge and more output. But what we have today is the reality of low productivity in many areas and lack of creativity as many students rely on ICT to do the bulk of the learning demanded of them.

While students who are expected to be creative rely on the ease of Computer to aid the learning process, computers are now relied upon to do the job and AI has even made it a lot easier and faster such that critical thinking and some decision-making processes have become causality of the introduction of AI into teaching and learning process. What then is the usefulness of education if our children are unable to think critically or complete simple task without the aid of ICT?

For far too long we were deceived because we saw how easily our children master the computer and a host of tasks they could carry out even at tender ages. The question begging for answer is, what is it that our children have mastered with the use of computer? And the answer is simple, computer games, economic hacking and content creation.  Many children and young adults could be seen spending long hours on their computers, IPAD and phones playing games, or in communication with people in faraway lands, not because they desire effective learning collaboration but because many exploit the safety of distance and use emotional blackmail to despoil people of their wealth or offer nonexistent comfort and relationship. This way of life seems to be the only thing some of our children know how to do. Thus, screen time is now believed to be contributing negatively to the intellectual growth of many children. For many, the ease of access to computer and related technology is positively correlated to deviant behaviours and poor academic achievement.

To combat this problem, some school districts and even entire nations have decided to restrict the use of computer learning tools to after school programmes, in other words, they are now being looked upon as tools to reinforce what has been learnt rather than the major teaching tool. Hence, this approach is to cut learners’ screen time and increase their interaction with the world of books, which provide more opportunities for personal thinking, reflection and application of what has been learnt. Even when technology is not used for educational purposes, its positive influence in people’s life is now seriously in doubt as screen time is now closely related to such vices as pornography, masturbation and internet fraud.

The onward journey of ICT cannot be stopped, but it is even harder to educate many today on the responsible use of ICT. This is where the involvement of parents in the education of their children becomes non-negotiable. Parents must be involved in the choice of technology appropriate for their children and wards and must see themselves as the first safety valve in the consumption of ICT by their children.

Too much screen time has also contributed to social maladjustment of many children and young adults who because of the comfort and privacy offered by ICT prefer to distance themselves from their peers or other adults. Lack of essential interaction and loss of social engagement could be seen in increase in deviant behaviours, depression, and lack of etiquette and public decorum.  The problems we have highlighted so far are not the only thing to be said about ICT.

There are of course, many good things that we know, but these are pointed out now so that we can realign our focus and train our children appropriately in order to function much more effectively in society rather than just efficiently. Screen time must be curtailed so that learners can have time to learn other life and essential skills. This is the difference between refined and depraved personalities.