In December 2021, Naval Garg and Sarika Kumari published a paper entitled Dear Technology, You are not Welcome: Exploring Ungratefulness Towards Technology. Its title resonates on many levels. How can technology not be a welcome part of our lives? It is essential, ubiquitous, omnipresent. Yet, though I hesitate to confess it, after two years on Zoom I harbor a little resentment toward my laptop, at times seeing it as a barrier, not a conduit.

The article itself is fascinating and well worth the read. Garg and Kumari use three studies to investigate the attitudes of tertiary students to technology: “The purpose of this study is to investigate the difference in gratitude for the technological and non-technological aspects of life.”  I’d be interested to hear if you find the results of their study surprising or not. Comment below.

All three studies concluded that the student respondents were relatively less grateful for the contributions of technology than non-technological aspects of human life. This perceived division between technological and non-technological aspects offers an important context. It is unsurprising, perhaps even reassuring, that there was a greater sense of appreciation amongst students for the people and opportunities in their lives, than for technology.  It is confusing that technology was seen as something separate from people and opportunities.

My questions are these:

• Does the study reinforce a binary opposition between the human and technological aspects of our lives?
• Is it helpful to do so? 
• How can we encourage students to see technology as an intrinsic part of reaching people and taking up opportunities?  
• How can the decisions we make in the selection and use of digital tools reflect and reinforce our humanity? 

Katrina Cutcliffe