Stephen Downes

I am of the belief that television caused far more harm to society than social media ever did, or even could. As LarsGoran Bostrom writes, "Television did not assault its viewers. It invited them to surrender. The screen demanded attention but offered no resistance, no requirement for response beyond the passive receipt of images flowing at thirty frames per second." Into the passive and receptive receiver it poured propaganda and advertising, building a comfortable mythology alongside a consumer society. I've always felt that digital technology offered a possible way out. Bostrom writes, "Will we remain the watched, the fed, the guided? Or will we reclaim the role of the watcher, the thinker, the one who chooses? The answer depends on whether we remember how to turn off the screen..." No. Not exactly that. The answer depends on whether we use the screen, or whether we merely let it use us.