Technology – where would we be without it?
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Smartphones have become central to the lifestyles of the majority of the population of the industrialised world – and in such a short time.
It is only 10 years since Apple sold the first iPhone, the product that ignited demand for a device that has become ubiquitous and has changed the way people communicate, create, access information, record and share data, make photography and video, consume news and entertainment and much, much more.
The smartphone is the most important mainstream product in recent history.
A powerful handheld computer, it has given us instant access to the internet's gigantic cache of knowledge and data. It has enhanced, expanded and facilitated democratic participation – from constructive and innovative to vile.
What appears probable is handheld computers' role in our lives is crossing a frontier; we will interact with them in evermore personal ways, as their ability to simulate consciousness accelerates amid an expanding universe of data.
“This sort of idea that ones size fits all, that we can have connected learning centres where learners are sitting at cubicles with computers, isn’t what TAFE is about and it’s not what the community expects it to be,” she said.
Albury’s deputy mayor Amanda Cohn echoed Ms Walker’s concerns, saying: “I don’t understand how you can possibly teach someone hands-on, practical skills with a computer terminal”.
There is little point in arguing whether such widespread use of mobile computing and communications technology is good or bad.
In the coming decade, smartphones will be at the forefront of humanity's efforts to achieve a balance between the benefits of this technology and the ethical challenges it presents.
For every person who’s upset at cuts leading to increased reliance on computers in the TAFE sector, there’s someone in Albury or Corowa who’s relishing the opportunity to study remotely while staying in this part of the world without having to move to the big cities.