BSU Blogfest {technology}

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As I mentioned yesterday, this is an exciting week

at Bridgewater State University

as we hold Blogfest as part of our Social Media Week 2011

[to follow on Twitter, search #BSUsmw].

Today's prompt: technology

While I may not be the most up-to-date when it comes
to technology, I do my best to embrace it in my day-to-day life.
The thing that stands out to me most is the rate at which
technology has impacted and mostly changed our lives.

Considering the life of the average college student in 2011
and contrasting it with one from ten years ago, in 2001
[when I was still in college], I can find some pretty drastic differences:
- cell phone use has nearly doubled
[when I got my first cell, I was embarrassed to talk on it in public]
- access to email & the internet [and more] is now available
on a mobile device [it's common to have multiple computers in a home]
- social media networks have been introduced
[there was no  facebook, twitter or even myspace back then]
 - movies are available in disc form & online
[I remember going to pick out a movie to rent at a store]
- banking services are online, including deposits
[I haven't been to a physical bank to conduct business since 2008]
- music is still sold on a compact disc, but is often downloaded
as an mp3 & played from an iPod or similar device
- directions were usually to be found by looking up an address
[often in a phone book] and consulting a paper map

home work station in 2001 {source}

home work station in 2011 {source}

Just for fun, here's a list of the technology I used daily
{circa 2001}
- email to a friend from my desktop pc
- phone call on a landline in my apartment to my mom
- cash withdrawal from an ATM in the student union
- paper printed from the library & handed in hard copy
- call to campus bookstore to see if they stock a book
- episode of Dawson's Creek recorded on the VCR
- pizza ordered using my cell phone

my first cell phone circa 2000 {source}

..and technology used in the life of a college student today
{2011}
- chat via facebook with a friend
- text message from mom
-tweet about the weather or clothing choice of the day
- deposit check into bank account using desktop scanner
- check-in to campus using foursquare
- quiz taken via Blackboard
- purchase book for class on Kindle
- watch an episode of Modern Family from ABC online
- order pizza online using mobile phone from Papa John's

iPad in 2011 {source}

While some would argue such changes bring chaos,
I believe the changes improve efficiency overall.
I can't complain about fewer trips to the bank,
ordering a meal from my computer, or
looking up directions from my phone & using my GPS.

Do you agree with this statement?

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