Technology Makes Us Dumber

I'm sure by now everyone has heard about the high school that tried to suspend a student for "inappropriate behavior" because they took a surreptitious picture of him at home using spyware on a school issued laptop. The whole thing has exploded lately with concerns about privacy and unlawful spying on students.

Let's set aside for a moment the ridiculousness of the policy of a public school district issuing mandatory MacBook laptops to every student and focus on the privacy issue.

There are quotes from students and security experts all over the web about how the students had suspicions of the spying, but software and the manner in which it functioned made it impossible to disable the camera so there was nothing they could do to prevent it.

Ever hear the story about how the Russian cosmonauts solved the issue of using a pen in space? They used an effing pencil. Well, why didn't these moron kids just put a piece of effing tape over the camera? They and expert technologists are trying to write scripts, decompile code, and wasting hours of effort in futility when less than 1" of good old duct tape would've solved their problem, just as duct tape solves most every problem - it's how I got all the girls in high school to like me!

Just because it's a technical problem doesn't mean there are non-technical ways to solve it. Oh no, this DVD has a file on it that I need to erase but I can't. Should I buy special software? Use a friend's computer? Umm... howsabout you just break that DVD in half? Problem solved. Then again, I usually suggest breaking things with a hammer (love my Estwing) for a solution whenever duct tape doesn't work - which has Bear worried about his anal gland issue.

Listen, I love technology. My generation was the first to grow up surrounded by it, with new toys appearing everyday. But my generation also had the benefit of knowing what it was like to live without that technology. It's great, but guess what? I was able to function for over 20yrs without a cell phone and it wasn't all bad. Ensuing generations know nothing of life without these devices. So, obviously, a solution as simple as covering the camera so it can't see you would never even pop into their feeble minds. Granted, they're just stupid kids. But stupid kids grow up to be stupid adults.

My point? As usual, I weep for our future...