Thoughts from a reflective educator. That technology can
influence cognition should be painfully obvious when you examine
our primary technology of communication - language. Someone who
knows a language cannot choose to ignore that language when
confronted with it. If you are a literate person, letters
arranged together do not appear randomly placed, they form
words. When someone talks, you cannot hear it as babble, you are
forced by how this technology has influenced your thinking to
hear words. When one looks at language, it is nonsensical to ask
if one has a choice whether or not to use this technology. Once
proficient in a language, barring a severe brain trauma, one
remains proficient in that language and has it forever more
alter their thinking. You can't choose not to use a language
once you have it and are exposed to it anymore than you can
choose your parents. Different languages and the accumulation of
culture (another technology) that goes along with them result in
different ways of thinking. One o