Technology V Books

I definitely have a fear of technology. I hear myself regularly saying at work how I'm 'not technical at all'....I have a love hate relationship with it! I am constantly encouraging the students I teach to read more books and that reading from a screen isn't the same as a good old paperback! A few days ago I saw the image below floating around my Facebook newsfeed and I couldn't agree with the statement more.

I have always had a love of books and that's probably where my creatively first came from if I think about it. My love of imagination, making up stories, role playing definitely drew me towards the arts at a young age. But I also understand that was many years ago! One of my students came into class just this week showing off her new iPad as she came bouncing through the door. What shocked me though was that they HAD to have one for school. It was actually on the school list along with uniform! I recalled a memory of being 10 and queuing up to 'have a go' on the MASSIVE computer we had in the corner of our classroom! I think the class teacher had to even book it out for the afternoon as there were only a few in the whole school!
Some students I teach struggle with improvisation and playing out stories and I feel this is definitely due to an increase in gadgets. Many no longer just play out! Or make up games on the playground  or role play made up stories. And I find this rather sad.
I've always been more of a notepad and pen kind of girl over a laptop or tablet. So when I saw that the first set of tasks on this course were all technical skills I'd never used before I did slightly panic! Even setting up this blog took me longer than I expect it took anyone else! However, I do understand the importance in today's society of being tech savvy. In my current job all our communication with parents is via email. We have to upload all photos and videos from class to Facebook and Instagram. We rely on these sites to market the school. Every business now needs a Facebook page. Fact. Social media is the key to the success of many businesses. Which also got me thinking about older generations who run dance schools and theatre companies and how maybe their lack of technical knowledge may be affecting their businesses.
I am excited to learn many new skills on this course that will indeed only help the company I currently work for....and also aid me enormously for when I start my own business.
However, I feel that technology is in some ways ruining the arts. Only last term I took a group of teenagers I taught to see a play in the West end in London. They found it incredibly boring and their main reason was the 'lack of special effects' With so many other forms of entertainment now available at the click of a button many children are missing out on the beauty of the arts.

I read some very interesting articles whilst writing this blog including:

'Death of an artist. How social media is ruining creativity' (link below)
http://elitedaily.com/life/culture/death-artist-social-media-ruining-creativity/907113/

How technology is ruining the arts' (link below)
https://earthblognews.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/how-technology-is-destroying-the-arts/

An article in The Guardian 'Books and technology for children' (link below)
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/23/childrens-books-technology

An article in Harvard magazine 'The future of theatre in a digital age' (link below)
http://harvardmagazine.com/2012/01/the-future-of-theater