When I was growing up there were no computers, cell phones or online games. My children however did benefit from early computers with floppy disks that were inserted into a drive that would produce what would be considered now limited results.
My youngest Daughter, when she was learning her multiplication tables we purchased an Apple I compute 1976. At that time the games on floppy disks were basically like the pong games, very simplistic. In an effort to help both my daughters we began purchasing educational games to help develop their computer skills and education at the same time. On such game we purchased was a game that had small meteor like objects falling from above. The metros contained a multiplication problem, like 2X2 and so on. Below the falling meteors was a spaceship where you would enter the answer and then shoot the meteor to prevent it from crashing into the ship and destroying it.
Now that she has a family of her own, I noticed that when the grandchildren were learning their multiplication tables, she had purchased the old fashion flash cards on which her older sister had learned her multiplications tables. My curiosity got the better of me and I asked, “Sweetheart, why are you using flashcards when they can learn them on the computer?”
My Daughter with a look that could kill said, “Dad. I have a great disdain for computers. Ever since that stupid multiplication game on that first computer you had, my hatred has grown for technology. The kids get too much screen time now. I’m going back to the old way of doing things. No more screen time. They need human interaction.”
As I heard my daughter speak my thoughts went to the fears that people have about technology. The science fiction movie TRON. A 1982 movie in which a computer engineer was drawn into a computer was the first that came to mind. Then Resident Evil with that evil little AI girl. There are over a dozen science fiction movies that are really scary concerning computers and other technology. The disdain and fear of technology is real. It is as real as the love for it and the benefits it produces But as Glenn Ford said in the first Spiderman movie, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Technology is a great power and with it we need to exhibit great responsibility in the use of that power.
Don’t forget to check out my Science Fiction four book series: A Saga of Dogs of War-A Story of Mercenaries. Paperback is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B08JQRR122 My eBooks are available at Books2Read at https://books2read.com/u/4Dglpg . They make great gifts for only .99 cents each. what a great Christmas present for the Science Fiction reader in your family or in your circle of friends. You can’t buy a coffee for that.
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I agree with your daughter, which is a very strange thing for a hard science fiction author to say. Remote education, masks that hide emotions, no group interactions, media censorship, they add up to a seriously dehumanizing environment. You don’t hear much about this issue, but it’s been on my mind and in my latest stories. Those stories are Peter’s Head, about a cyborg that becomes a leading critic of artificial digital experiences (“Esthetics”), and Tethered, two people across the cultural/political divide that are “tethered” by neural implants and forced to act as one person.
Of course, they are all in your category, Short stories….
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