Illiteracy is a problem. It prevents social and economic mobility and makes many aspects of life more difficult for many individuals. Illiteracy, at a shocking 15% (CBC, 2006) also has a profound impact on our country’s economic and social well-being. Every province in Canada has its own version of the Federal Literacy and Learning Network – a public service group that works to increase literacy in Canada. The problem with basic literacy is known, it’s talked about and it’s taken seriously. But there is another kind of illiteracy which, I am convinced, is most likely equally as crippling to our economic and social well-being: technological illiteracy. While not as fundamental as basic literacy, technological literacy is an absolute requirement in a service-based economy, which unarguably defines modern Canada.
It’s an unspoken hole in our collective knowledge, and its depth is profound. Technological literacy doesn’t mean the ability to write code; rather, it seems to me that technological literacy is the ability to understand, appreciate and critique technology in a broad sense and the drive to learn how to use it. Learning how to use a particular technology or version of a technology is not the point. Technology, as we’ve seen over the last two decades, changes so rapidly that traditional learning methods mean that knowledge is outdated almost as soon as it is obtained. This is the basis for the massive costs incurred by firms through lost productivity when switching to a new technology. Technological literacy is a skill, not a knowledge; it’s an ability to self-teach.
Of course, a basic level of knowledge is necessary to facilitate self-teaching. Basic tenets of technology, such as input methods, concepts of filing systems and the most basic understanding of the internet (not tubes) and cloud-computing (sharing of computing power and storage through networking). These are things that can be “known” and will apply to almost every piece of software and technological innovation in electronics/computing. They’re also skills that are incredibly simple to learn and involve all aspects of brain function, from reasoning to tactile input/output.
So why is there such a problem with technological literacy? Maybe it’s a lack of respect for the power of technology. Maybe we’re frightened by the unknown. Maybe it’s a by-product of the technology itself; thinking that everything should just be done for us. Regardless of the reasons, a lack of basic understanding of basic technologies is placing us far behind the possible efficiency that technology, used properly, could allow us to achieve.
