Is There Such a Thing as Bad Technology?
Published February 26, 2020 | The Almanac
“Bad workers always blame their tools.” I remember the first time I heard this proverb, because it immediately made me think of the debates currently raging around digital technology. In a recent article published in the MIT Technology Review, for example, we’re told that “Screen time might be physically changing kids’ brains” and that none of these changes are good. The point seems to be that exposure to tech is bad for our brains, and the blame for this damage lies squarely with the tech itself. But what is our responsibility? Are we right to blame our tools?
The question of whether technology is bad or good largely misses the point. Like all tools, context matters. If I use a bicycle to ride to school, this is good. If I use a bicycle to ride into a pedestrian, this is bad. Is any of this the bike’s fault? The same can be said about drugs. If a doctor prescribes a painkiller and it’s taken according to the doctor’s instructions, then there’s no problem. However, if someone buys that same painkiller on the street or takes too much of it, then there can be serious problems. A life-saving medical device in the hands of someone not trained to use it is, by the same logic, a weapon.
It may seem that arguing for the moral neutrality of technology is a pointless exercise. I get this, but it also has important consequences for how we live in the world. By blaming tech, we essentially evade our own responsibility to act ethically and appropriately in the world. The morality of technology, whether by this we mean simple devices like pencils or complex ones like AI, resides with us. How we use technology is who we are. As we work and live in the world, pointing at the evils of technology allows us to feel blameless, even as we do serious (and often unstudied) damage to ourselves and the world around us. It’s not us, it’s our tools!
What’s to be done? The clearest option is probably education. We can have sessions and even classes in school that deal with the moral and neurological impact of digital technology, but we can also invest in humanities courses that help us to think critically and make tough decisions when the correct answer isn’t clear. Many kids use fake birth dates to get Apple IDs and Google accounts before they’re thirteen. Is this okay? Probably not, but why is it not okay? There’s no rulebook for this, and context matters.
In the end, technology is neither bad nor good. It is for us to decide how to use the tools we create and take responsibility for our use. It is worth remembering that in regulating technology, we’re really regulating ourselves.
