Technophobia: the Silent War

By Sami Yerunkar, Student Life Editor

What is technophobia? It is the fear of technology or its advances. It is probably also the best-documented ideological war of the modern age. Who are the belligerents? The FCC, Senate, Australian Government, Cable News, Cable Companies, you, me, and probably every person you know who has played a video game, streamed a movie, or played a song.

Technophobia can be seen in many independent instances throughout the world. Last month, the FCC was denied the power to regulate Internet Service Providers as Telecom companies. Two years ago, the Australian government erected a firewall to block any content it deemed “illegal” or “inappropriate for children.” Fox News defamed the popular video game Mass Effect for its sex scenes by wildly exaggerating the content. And just a while before this, news outlets finally realized that not all video games were made for children.

What do all these instances have in common? They reflect the ignorance of a large amount of people when it comes to media and technology. Most people do not understand what “net neutrality” means, but will readily support their political party\’s stance on the issue. People who have never played video games go out to critique the “influence of violent video games on children today.” News outlets run sensational headlines because they have nothing better to run.

It is the duty of the parent to regulate their child\’s video games and internet activity, not that of some private or government group. It is the duty of the user not to abuse social networking to deprecate oneself or others, but instead to use it to genuinely keep contact with those who the person could not contact in any other way. It is the duty of the viewer not to pay attention to sensational headlines, not to fuel any fabricated controversy.

This means that video games should not be banned. The internet should not be censored. Social Networking should not die. Controversy should be clarified, not eliminated.

This column will expose the many different fronts this “war” is and was waged on, from the old campaigns against the “blight” of television to the battle against social networking websites today. In today\’s world, we need not fear technology. The way we use technology depends on us, and not on the its nature.