This semester’s first major speaker for the Center of Lifelong Learning predicts that our dependability on the Internet will only become stronger.
One day, he envisions, our whole house will synchronize to the Internet, from our toaster to our refrigerator.
Dr. Jeffrey Cole, a University of Southern California research professor and director of the Center for the Digital Future, spoke to the Garvin Theatre in a lecture titled “Trends, Fads, and Transformation: The Impact of the Internet.”
Cole is working on the World Internet Project, a look at the long-term effects of the Internet on all aspects of society.
“We found that people almost never lose their smart phones,” Cole said. “We access it so much, we can’t get far enough away from it to leave it behind.”
Cole, a former advisor on telecommunications issues for the George W. Bush and Clinton administrations, spoke to a nearly full audience at 7 p.m. on April 5 about the progression of past and current technological trends. There was no admission or entrance fee.
Cole opened his speech by acknowledging City College’s recent title as the No. 1 community college in the country, and then trailed into the adaptations of technology, recent fears and new trends.
“I don’t think any mass medium goes away or disappears,” Cole said. “They adapt, or change.”
For example, radio culture adapted to accommodate the new television phase and started working with music industries to keep the radio a competitive medium, he said.
Now, the newest technologies are being offered in pocket-sized phones and society seems to have a close relationship with technology unlike before.
To better prove this point, half of the diapers in America are bought online and half of America’s three-year-olds use the Internet, said Cole.
“If you’re stuck in the airport waiting for a plane, most of us don’t pull out our books or newspapers or magazines. We pull out our mobile phones [and] start calling people,” said Cole on the growing attachment to smart phones. “It’s only after someone answers that we figure out whether we really have anything we want to say to them.”
He continued by attributing our attachment to our mobile phones and other electronics to “the fear of missing out,” or F.O.M.O.
Society has grown accustomed to the benefits of technology likely because of the number of “screens” we are surrounded by today. As the number of screens around us increase, the less dependent we are without them.
Television, computers, smart phones and the newest tablets are acting as the current “screens,” but this will likely increase over time, along with our dependability on them.
Cole brought a bright round of applause at the conclusion of his talk, and some even gave a standing ovation for his work.
Andy Harper, executive director for the Center of Lifelong Learning, said that he believes our understanding of technological progression is important to our students.
“[Because] City College is recognized as No. 1 in the nation, we need to make sure we’re totally tuned into technological changes,” said Harper. “[Cole] is right on the forefront of change.”
The Center for Lifelong Learning will be hosting a series of influential speakers throughout the remainder of the semester. Their next speech will be hosted from 7 to 9 a.m. on April 12 at the Garvin Theatre with world-renowned economist, Dr. Sung Won Sohn.
