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Summary
"Sitting around a porch and talking is becoming extinct as is reading aloud to children." (p.58) This is a powerful statement that returns throughout the book with regards to other aspects of life. From doing business online, making trades at the stock market, to finding a book on a topic, Stoll repeatedly states the importance of human interaction. There are ten myths that Stoll dispels, ranging from making communications quicker and cheaper to meeting new people and bringing diversity and culture into our lives. With all of these myths, the major argument from Stoll is networks are very impersonal and have made many people slaves to their computers. Many others argue that the Internet has made their life easier and they can communicate quicker and cheaper. Stoll tested this theory with an experiment with traditional mail and email. He found that email was quicker, yet not all of the messages came through. Also, at the time he wrote this book logging on to the Internet was much more expensive than the cost of a few stamps. It would be interesting if Stoll repeated his experiment today. Most of the myths have the networks making lives easier and completing tasks with less work and less money. Stoll gives examples where the promise of technology isn't always quicker or cheaper. He shares personal stories that show how technology can be useful, but it can never replace the face-to-face interaction between people.
With regards to education, Stoll states "there's no magic ingredient and no instant software solution to learning. Learning is not easy." (p.143) He also states that most learning comes from a child's natural curiosity, which again there is no software for. Howard Rheingold writes that we must teach our children to be skeptical about anything on the network. Stoll argues that is good advice, yet at the same time we are telling children that the network is a fountain of knowledge and a source for valuable information.(Stoll, 1995) Further, Stoll makes the point that with computers children learn to withdraw and have a difficult time with social interaction. However, remove the computers and students lose interest and will actually have to engage their minds. Along with creating hardships with learning, Stoll reminds readers that there are no regulations of online material. At the same time, school boards often do not review software to assure that it is appropriate and accurate. While teachers provide network access, they also need to provide lessons on evaluating the content and source. As one of Stoll's examples, a twelve-year-old finds an explosives recipe online and ends up blowing off his arm and Stoll asks who will be responsible for that? As far as the future, Stoll compares the information superhighway with actual highways. The solution for accommodating more cars was to build more highways. All that did was increase the traffic problems. With the information superhighway, supporters want to create a larger network and offer everyone access. Stoll believes this will lead to a traffic jam on the networks and slow things down. Even when friends told Stoll of the faster more capable machines of the future, he is not convinced that networks will be the glory everyone predicts them to be.
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