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Dealing with technology. By Patrick Howarth

Technophobia

TECHNOPHOBIA
1 Pre-reading TechnoHelp
ANSWERS ON PAGE 49

Match the names (1 to 8) to the Home Forum Videos Chat Blogs Contact Archive
pictures (a-h). Forum Forum » »
1. A laptop
2. A mobile phone Posted 10th February
3. A digital camera Discuss your techno-related problems here.
4. A technophobe
5. A sci-fi novel Dear Max. Please help. I live in Germany with
my wife and three kids. My parents live in the
6. An icon UK. I want my kids to have as much contact
7. A keypad with their grandparents as possible. The kids
8. A menu a all use e-mail, Skype and SMS but my parents
won’t. I’ve bought them a laptop, paid for
broadband, given them both mobile phones
and a digital camera, but they won’t use
them. My parents say they hate computers
and new technology. My kids call them “The
b Technophobes”. What can I do?
Daniel, Nuremburg, Germany
c
You should give them a copy of the film Witness, starring Harrison Ford. The film shows
the life of the Amish people, who are genuine technophobes. The Amish are a Christian
people of Swiss-German origin who live in the US states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and
d Indiana. They live simple lives and do not usually use many types of modern technology
like cars, telephones, and electricity.
Corey, New York, USA
e
Actually, Corey, the original technophobes were the Luddites, a group of cloth workers
f in 19th century Britain during the Industrial Revolution. The Luddite cloth workers, who
traditionally made cloth by hand, were worried that machines were going to take away
their jobs and way of life. These machines were mechanised looms which could make
cloth much faster and cheaper than humans. In 1811 and 1812 the Luddites attacked and
destroyed the machines that they hated so much, but the British government supported
h g the factory owners. Many Luddites were arrested and executed. Charlotte Bronte’s novel
Shirley will tell your parents all about it.
Laura, Valencia, Spain.
2 Reading I There is a more serious side to this. Technophobes can be divided into two groups, those
Read the first paragraph – the “Dear Max” who hate technology because they can’t use it, and those who are afraid of the effects
of technology on the modern world. This second group of technophobes have some
e-mail from Daniel in Nuremburg. What important points to make. For example, when atomic bombs were used to end the
advice would you give? Then, read the article Second World War, many people were worried about the future of the world now that the
once to compare your ideas. human race had the power to destroy it. This led to the beginnings of environmentalism
and campaigns against lead in petrol and the role of technology in the destruction of the
ozone layer. Perhaps your parents are sensible.
3 Reading II Joe, Edinburgh, Scotland
Read the article again and answer the
questions. You’re not alone, Daniel. There are millions of technophobes out there. A recent survey in
1. What’s the connection between the UK found that 23% of the adult population in the UK are technophobes. Of that group
54% are men and 46% women. 55% are over 55 years old.
the Amish and technology? Rex, Oxford, UK.
2. What were the Luddites worried
about? Joe makes some interesting points, I think. Technophobia has been a common theme
3. What happened to some of in literature, especially science fiction. Frankenstein, one of the first sci-fi novels, is a
warning of what could happen if humans begin to experiment with human life. The films
Luddites? Bladerunner, Terminator and Matrix also deal with this.
4. According to Joe from Freda, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Edinburgh, what are the two
types of technophobes? One thing you could try is to find hardware that is designed for older people to use. An
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example are the mobiles made by the US company Jitterbug. Instead of icons and menus
5. What percentage of the UK
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the Jitterbug phones ask users simple “yes/no” questions and have larger keypads. The
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population company realised that there are potentially 100 million older users in the US alone and
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are technophobes? that designing technology for them to use was a good business idea.
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6. What is the novel Frankenstein a Graham, Patras, Greece.

warning of?
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Buy them a copy of the Technophobes' latest album. They’re a guitar synth band from
7. Why are the mobiles made by Glasgow and are brilliant.
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Jitterbug good for older people? Bennie, Glasgow, Scotland.

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