The Right Key

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The Right Key

Today many common, everyday functions are governed by punching the right keys. Whether you are "surfing" the World Wide Web or making a long-distance phone call, you essentially press some type of key to manipulate some form of technology.

This ability to manipulate technology can be considered a "literacy": a mastery of the specific skills and knowledge required to use technology to a person's advantage. Because of their widespread use in everyday life, a literacy of different forms of technology is a necessity for people today.

The ability to use some form of technology to your own advantage is to be technologically literate. Technology encompasses everything from computers, the World Wide Web, and e-mail to telephones, cash machines, and library cataloguing resources. This definition implies just a working knowledge and familiarity with the technology in the world today and not a complete, in depth knowledge. A knowledge is mandatory for all because technology is constantly surrounding people today. Computers and related objects are now used by not only scientists and engineers but also students and parents. A knowledge of how to search the World Wide Web can be useful when a student is looking for references for a report. Checking a bank account balance over the phone can be a useful skill for a parent with little time. Both skills however require a literacy of computer, telephone, and banking technology.

In my own experience, a technological literacy is essential in my life: there is not a day where I do not use some form of technology. Not only do I use a long distance code when calling home but I also acquire money to pay my phone bill from a cash machine. I frequently e-mail friends at other colleges and have an electronic meal plan on my college ID card. When writing papers I do research with the on-line library catalog and actually write my paper on my computer. If I did not know how to use these forms of technology I would certainly not be able to pass my english class. Thus for people who are illiterate technologically their lives become more complex and at times difficult in a world which is

very dependent on technology. If you urgently need money at midnight, and do not know how to use a cash machine, can you wait till the bank opens in the morning? A person can only search for references on a computer and save themselves large amounts of time if they know how to use a computer.

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