It’s really amazing how much technology connects us on different levels. Several colleagues and I just completed a course for work in which one of the tasks was to conduct a 15-minute impromptu presentation on any a subject we are familiar with. When it was my time to present, I naturally chose technology and how one can use their smartphone and tablet as a reference and study aide. Part of my presentation consisted of me passing around my iPhone and iPad which was displaying all the PDFs for the course I previously loaded but didn’t expect to use in this fashion. I found myself pleasantly surprised at the class’ reaction. Everyone seemed genuinely intrigued by what they saw in their hands. And although some never knew or never thought one could use these devices in that manner they all seemed fairly interested at trying it out for themselves.
Afterwards, some of us got into a discussion over tablets vs laptops. One of my colleague’s main complaints was that tablets don’t have disc drives and still must be connected to a PC when there’s no wireless options available. While we agreed with most of his argument we also know that if you require specific files and media for a particular situation you should have this setup before you go to your destination regardless of the device your going to use. Also, a tablet with no available WiFi or cellular reception to connect to was no different than a laptop under the same circumstances. If you have a disc then there is an advantage but in today’s era of wireless that isn’t really an issue and most times you will not have a disc available to put in a laptop which contains the information you require on-site. Although, we did agree to disagree the conversation was well worth having. It’s discussions like this and even the aforementioned presentation that keeps me open minded and continually thinking and re-evaluating my technology decisions and how others use and view technology.
We all view technology in different ways and have different and varied uses for it. As long as you learn something from technology, you have benefitted. The key thing to remember though, is that you don’t change your lifestyle for the sake of technology, instead, you add technology to your arsenal of tools as a means of getting things done. That should be the goal.
Wyatt's Tech Corner 