Interviews

Mother in law age 61

My mother in law is what I would call a traditional person. She has a particular way of thinking, and a set of ways to which she is devoted. A working mother of three her entire life, she had no time or money for things such as advanced education, travel, or hobbies. As a result, she has not come to accept technology as easily as others her age. She in fact does not use the internet, or a computer, at all. I would characterize her as a borderline technophobe. Her resistance to technology includes the modern banking system. I asked her how she does her banking (expecting her to say she never does online banking), and to my surprise she indicated that she won’t even use the ATM! Instead, she gets into line every day to make deposits and withdrawals. When I asked why she doesn’t use an ATM, she said she didn’t know how to, and didn’t trust the technology.

In her own words, the internet, and (computer use) is something necessary to function and be productive in society, much like the typewriter was for her. As a retired elderly person, she is not required to learn or adapt to these technologies as her communication needs are being met without them.

Art dealer age 41

The second interview I conducted was with an old family friend who is an art dealer and happened to be in town this week. When I met her, it was immediately apparent that technology played an integral part in her life re business. She was tapping away at her blackberry constantly, keeping updated with the latest emails and correspondence with her clients. Before her flight landed, I received emails notifying me of her progress sent from her phone. She was clearly comfortable with technology and understood its uses and benefits to communication. However, interestingly enough there were some communication activities that she did not utilize technology to the fullest. She said she missed her kids (age 4 and 7) and wanted to see them, so I asked why she didn’t simply set a skype date with her laptop? Her eyes glazed and she simply said “yeah…I should do that”. It seemed that for social interaction, she still used traditional methods of communication, phone, face to face, but for business it was all email and internet. The idea of using technology to that degree (and having her kids use it as well), seemed a foreign idea.

Brother in law age 22

The third interview was with my brother in law, who is an art major, free spirit, bohemian type. His room is a collage of paints, sketches, canvas, brushes, an enormous desk, and an equally enormous yet pristine apple PC, placed prominently in a corner with the best view out his window. My brother in law is entirely comfortable with technology for both work and play, for business and social communication. Aside from the computer, there was an ipod dock setup as well as setup for him to pipe downloaded movies to his TV. Clearly, the internet and computer use has permeated nearly every aspect of his life. When I questioned him regarding how the internet has changed his life, he reacted with anxiety to the thought of what would happen if he lost the internet. I would place him diametrically opposite in characterization when compared to my mother in law.

Wood and Smith describe in Chapter 1 how many people can feel anxiety when using computers. My mother in law certainly qualifies as one of these. Opposite her is my brother in law, who expressed anxiety for precisely the opposite: losing access to the internet. Somewhere in the middle is the art dealer, who has adapted her life and business to the newer technologies, yet not fully embraced them on all levels.

Together, I feel these three interviews describe well three typical slices of society and how they most commonly interact with internet and computer use. It shows a gradual trend towards inclusion and permeation of technology that will eventually lead to more people like my brother in law. Like most technologies, the convenience of them once integrated into society is hard to let go, and may lead to anxiety if the loss of it becomes apparent. What if we all had to give up automobiles and go back to using horse drawn carts? I am sure most of us would express anxiety.