Tech in my life

Newer version of my phone, showing time which is apparently  very important to me

For one whole day I conducted and observation of my personal usage of technology and what I discovered was that I apparently use technology more than what I expected.  My whole day started with my phone ringing to inform me that it was time to wake up and get ready for the day.  After I became more aware I checked the Yuma Sun, the weather and my Face Book page.  I then checked the time three times before I left for school.  On My way to school I listened to music on the radio.  Once I finally got to school I went to the auto computer lab to check black board, toromail, and my webadvisor.  During the lab time I went on a program called alldata to look up some specs on an engine me and my friend are rebuilding.  During my class session I checked the time ten times in anticipation of going home.  After school I left to go home in which I listened to the radio again.  While I was home I went to help my mom clean while I was listening to my mp3 which died two minutes after.  After that I headed for my room to pick up my I-pod.  Once I was done cleaning I started up my computer and used I-tunes to update my I-pod.  Once it was updated I used Microsoft word and power point to do some homework.  After that I figured I would no longer be using technology for the rest of the day so I proceeded to do this post.  While I was busy typing this post I decided to take a brake and checked my Face Book once more.  Like I mentioned above I was surprised by how much technology I use on a day to day basis.

Tech Usage in the Auto Class and Shop

The most common miss-usage of tech in the auto program

For one whole school day I observed different places around campus to find out how technology played a role in everyday college students life.  Since I am currently studying automotive technology I paid closer attention to the usage of technology in the automotive class room and shop by my fellow classmates and friends.  What I found out was surprising, I would have never guessed how much technology was used in the auto class and shop.  Before class started I headed to the small computer lab in the class room and found that while some of my friends looked up school work other were on their Face Book page or YouTube.  After that I went outside of the class room and with another group of friends who were having a casual conversation.  What I noticed form them was that while the group was mostly engaged in the conversation every now and then one of us would pull out our phone to look at who knows what me personally to check the time.  During class my friend Adan sitting next to me answered his texts messages while my friend kris took pictures of the notes with his phone to avoid having to write them out.  During lab hours some of my friends used alldata to look up how to service certain motor vehicle air conditioning systems while others not surprisingly were on Face Book page, looking things up in Google or YouTube.  

Luis the Automotive Shop Technician

Scan tool, a piece of tech commonly found in a shop

I asked my friend Luis who works in Arizona Western College as auto shop technician the same question I asked my friend Rosalio.  How do you feel about technology and whether it is beneficial or harmless to college students and why?  His answer to the first part of the question was that technology is good overall but that he mainly enjoyed using things like his phone, his Face book account and YouTube.  He then went on to say that he was not as interested in other things.  His response to the second part of the question was that it depends on the time and place technology is being used that determines whether it is beneficial or harmful.  I then followed up by asking him to explain what he meant.  What he said was “well technology is beneficial when AWC student are using it to do school work or checking their toromail for school news but is very harmful when students use it during school time where it becomes a distraction.  My next question to Luis was what kind of problems you have encountered since he has been working in the college.  He said that the main kind of technology related problems were mainly students asking him the year one of the shop cars was to look up information on a program called All Data or retrieving diagnostic trouble codes using a scan tool.  He said the second main problems he encountered around the shop was from students going to him saying that they could not find information they need on All Data.

My Auto Tech Bud, Rosalio and his view on technology

A Piece of technology students carry around campus

I interviewed some of my friends in my automotive classes and found out that my friend Rosalio has a very positive view toward technology.  I asked him what he thought about technology in and if it was helpful or harmful.  His response to the question was “technology makes all of our lives better and that there is no negative side to it.”  I then proceeded to my next question, in which ways do you use technology?  He said that he used technology in school to do homework, his school email and Facebook when he is on brake.  He then added that he is mostly using technology during this time of the semester to register for the courses he wants to take next semester at Arizona Western College.  I then proceeded to ask him how he believed that technology was either helpful or harmful to college students?  His response was “technology is very beneficial to college students because they can use programs like blackboard to check their grades or school work they need to do.”  He then added “by using programs like webadvisor college students can register for courses and avoid the long waits and hassles that take place at the registration office.  My finale question to him was if you had to choose one way technology is harmful to students what would it be and why?  He told me that he believes that technology is harmful only as a distraction.  He then added that because of this distraction some students lose focus in the class and miss out on what could be potentially important information for a future assignment.

Technology, is it good or bad?

I asked myself this question: is technology good or bad?  Technology is extremely helpful tool to everyone who knows how to use it and it is a huge pain in the ass when the individual lacks the knowledge on how to use it.  Technology brings many good things to everybody but it does cause people to forget how to do other things.  Since the web was made available to the general public it quickly became a way to help people stay connected with family and friends who were far away.  As the video Digital Nation says that with the introduction of technology the world has forgotten some of the once common skills in the past.  Their example was when writing was first created and how the people lost the ability to remember their history trough songs.  To me technology is both a good and a bad thing but it definitely is more helpful than it is hurtful.  It is a great tool when it comes to school work and professional life and an excellent way to pass the time in a personal setting.  In school technology helps students by allowing them to carry their school work in small portable thumb drives and access their work form any computer and not have to carry piles of papers around.  So going back to the question, is technology good or bad?  Does it help us or hurt us?  The answer is complicated and simple at the same time it hurts us it also helps us.  But all the advantages it brings makes technology both useful and helpful to everybody.

technology in my life

In this generation technology plays a major role in many of our normal every day lives.  I am personally connected in many ways outside of school, however when I am in college my technological life changes to a somewhat more professional setting.  When I first started attending high school I had figured that as long as I had a high school diploma I would be at a point where school was no longer important.  Somewhere along the way that all changed and I looked forward to attending college.  I am currently attending college in the automotive program.  My goal at this moment is to graduate college and obtain a career in the automotive field preferably at a dealership level.  Although I sometimes claim to not use technology much I am positive that I use it more than I think.  In my personal life I mostly use technology to check my Face book, my e-mail account and the local news.  In my college life I use technology to check my college e-mail, what assignments are due or that I have to do and most importantly of all I check the time.  Even though I believe that I can live a life happily without technology it would definitely be extremely difficult for me to live without it.  I am convinced that almost all other college students feel the same way when it comes to technology and staying connected.  technology has always held some sort of appeal to me and I know that it plays a very important role in my life and will continue to play this role as the years pass.