Navigating the perks and perils of technology
By Luca Cosentino · Contributing Writer
There is no algorithm that can tell you how to perfectly balance the use of technology in our lives – that is left for us to decide.
Melvin Kranzaberg, an expert in the history of technology, declared the first law of technology: “Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral.”
It is up to us, as a student body and as individuals, to determine how we utilize the resources available to us in a proper manner.
There are benefits to the technology we have within our grasps. Social media helps keep us interconnected, making communication easier than ever. Telegram group chats and channels help spread the word on campus events and meetings quicker than anyone could have imagined.
AI can also greatly speed up the process to make things, such as drafting emails and making designs and illustrations. I have used AI like Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT for many personal projects, unrelated to academics.
While technology may be very useful in certain situations, the integration of such powerful tools also has its setbacks.
When asked about the effects of using AI on student’s performance, Dr. Jeffrey Bilbro, a professor of English here at the college, commented, “The early studies on students who use it as a study aid indicate that students feel like they are learning more, and then when it comes time to take a test or write an in-class essay, they perform worse. So, if you’re attending Grove City College to be educated … offloading formative work defeats the purpose that brought you here.”
Are we truly learning when using AI as a tool, or is AI a crutch we depend on? When the crutch is removed, will we crumble to ground? A high reliance on AI could be the force that leads to one’s downfall.
Likewise, social media, while increasing the speed of communication, can be negative as it may produce too much consumption.
Dr. Bilbro continued the matter, saying, “Most of us are bombarded with far more information than we can deliberate about and respond to.” With such great access to a wide variety of information, parsing it all can be more exhaustive than if there was less data to sort through.
A balance is needed to maintain a healthy relationship with technology. Finding that balance is the unfortunate part of the process.
Dr. Brian Dellinger, chair of the Department of Computer Science, mentioned Romans 14:1-3 in response to finding a balance with technology. In connection to Romans, he says, “Social media, like a lot of technology, doesn’t fit well to a one-size-fits-all all solution. If social media is moving you away from Christ – then get away from it. If you use social media and find that it doesn’t move you away, then keep on keeping on.”
It is up to the person to make the choice of what is good for them and to act accordingly for their best interests.
Between academia and socializing at Grove City, there is a constant battle on how to handle the technology around us. The unfortunate truth is that one must experiment to find a solution. Everyone is different in their own aspects, and as such, the answer varies from person to person.
Social media is a great way to stay connected, but too much “doom scrolling” loses its original purpose. AI, a helpful tool to speed up tasks and generate content, cannot force us to truly learn and understand the material at hand.
As a student body with a focus on academia, the choice is ours on how to maintain our lives in conjunction with technology. While there is a duty on us, the student body, the college has a duty in how they responds to ever-growing technological dominance.
When asked how to handle AI from a professor’s standpoint, Dr. Dellinger commented, “The challenge in teaching is always to separate out what you’re trying to teach from the mechanism you used to teach it. I try to find find new ways of teaching the same skills and core ideas with a new mechanism for providing that.”
Adjustments need to be made from both sides of the spectrum for a healthy relationship to be formed. Integration is possible; we just need to find the balance.
