How Do You Define Technology & Culture?

You don't think about how hard it is to define such seemingly easy terms until you have to do it.  This week my class discussion posts were about defining these two words, here is what I had to say.  What is your definition?  I am genuinely interested in your responses as I had a lot of people disagree with me.

Culture

To me culture can have as many definitions as there are people.  It seems to be one of those revolving words that people interpret differently based on their own experiences that they bring to the table.  For me, culture can be defined as a definition of a group of people.  That is to include the individual heritage, history, beliefs, dress, and way of life, diet, as well as, customs and courtesies.

 As a native Montanan, I grew up around many different tribes of Native Americans.  There are also many different reservations located throughout the state.  I first remember being introduced to cultural differences as a student participating in sports.  This was when I had my first real exposure to other people who resided on a reservation.  I have always been intrigued by those different than I am and love learning more about them and what forms their beliefs and thought processes.  It was also eye opening to me to see how they would protect one another against outsiders.  They were always so close knit and familial. 

 As a military member in the Air National Guard I was again faced with the close-knit community in the Guard, only this time I was a part of it.  This was always referred to as the “Guard Family Culture.”  It was a very rude awakening to me when I had to do extensive training with the active duty Air Force.  Instead of the now “family” community culture that I had become accustomed to, I was instead faced with a culture of feeling of being more cut throat, and competitive with selfishness abounding.  I was appalled at the lack of camaraderie that was displayed by the airman that I can in contact with.  This exposure made my mind up that I would never want to be a part of the Active Duty Air Force culture.  This has been reinforced to me with dealing of other service cultures; most notably, the Marine Corps.  I had renewed faith in active duty camaraderie in watching how the Marines could come together as a “family” in the majority of their service members. 

This is just one example of a type of cultural behavior that can cross between races and even in occupations.  This can be further broken down in the military/civilian and even branches of service, down to what I experienced between the differences in the guard and active duty culture. 

Technology 

Initially, just thinking of a way to define technology feels like a daunting task.  For me it is something that encompasses so many concepts that just one word is not enough.  With that being said I will try to articulate how best I view the meaning of technology.   Technology is something that can be used in addition to or separate from one’s own bodily limited methods.  I mean this in terms that it can allow us to do more than we could without it. 

From as far back as caveman with the addition of fire as a technology, a person could now cook and prepare food in a different way, which could also develop into a defense or attack method.  Copper as a metal has been a great technological addition in creating tools and utensils with it.  This allows new ways for someone to work faster and more efficiently, and with the creation of new weapons, one was able to better defend themselves and also to attack others, or even for use in hunting.  

Later in history a chariot or carrier was added to a horse to be able to carry more items or to travel faster, and then even to aide in warfare.  Progress forward even further in time and we can add in the radio to further communication and business and once again warfare.  The spaceship has allowed further exploration and research and claims in space wars. 

Technology allows a human to do more than they could previously have done; if left to the limitations of their own body.  With only hands and feet we could not have hunted or fought or defended and foraged, and explored with the same effectiveness that we do now.

That is not to say that there have not been failures in technology only that even without continued success that each technology has allowed for a capability that would not have been there without it.  Technology chooses no sides, it can be used for good or evil, and like a computer it is only as effective as its operator.    

Homework Helper

Boys Harmed by "Hookup Culture"

Earlier today I came across an article talking about the "hookup culture" and how is it also detrimental to the adolescence of  boys and not just girls.  I have always found it interesting the way the girls and women are more often portrayed as the only ones harmed in a situation, especially if it is sexual.  Men are always shown as the aggressor and women are almost always shown as the victim.  Of course in a bad situation, there can be a victim on both sides. 
As a mother of a  three-year-old boy, I have been trying to learn all that I can about what boys go through as they grow up to be able to understand and talk and most importantly listen with understanding to issues I admittedly don't know much about. I grew up in teenage girl hell, and never had any brothers. Although the majority of my friends were boys we didn't spend a large amount of time talking about feelings.
I have found that this is the trend also with men my age as I am single. It is not rare for me to get 3 or more messages in a week from people that I do not talk to on a regular basis saying something derogatory or asking for a nude photo out of the blue. I have at times received some extremely negative and downright rude responses when I do not oblige. 
I have also found that given my past experiences, I reached a point in my life where I found it hard to envision a man with really connecting on an emotional level. I know this was one of my issues in dating in the past.   I also know that some of this stemmed from my own childhood in the "tough love" approach taken by my own and many other fathers around me at our age.  If you aren't bleeding, you aren't hurt.  If you aren't puking you aren't sick.  If you were to see my father cry, the Earth must have shattered, etc. 
I have been so blessed to have the opportunity to try to learn even more from the eyes of my son. I have already (at a mere 3 years old) felt pain from the words and actions of one of his friends as directed towards him. I hope that I can do my best to teach him to be gentle with other people (any crush/dating prospects) but more importantly to be gentle with himself and to be confident that it IS manly to rise above situations and to have feelings. I hope this does not scar him during adolescence and I know it is a fine line to walk during some points in his life, but by being an understanding person, life will be much more satisfying and fulfilling and his connections with people will have so much more meaning and be long lasting in the long run. At least that is my hope anyway, I know that boys are very different from girls, and I am in a constant state of learning even in my "old age." I am just hoping to be able to do the best that I can to give him life long tools to feel the least amount of hardship with a single mother. 
I am very sad to see how much the "social" connection is disappearing with the younger generation. We are social creatures by nature and we need to have that face to face contact, and be hugged and loved in person, not over a computer screen....
The biggest negative comment I have about this article is as I stated before that in addressing the harm that the "hookup" culture is having on boys, it never really addresses the fact that some of them may be feeling guilt or regret or may also be feeling violated, and it NEVER painted any of the girls as the aggressor, when I know that they are out there in a lot more abundance than anyone is really talking about. 

If you are interested in reading the original article, it can be found here: Experts Say Boys Also Harmed By Hookup Culture