“What I object to is the craze for machinery, not machinery as such. The craze is for what they call labour-saving machinery. Men go on ‘saving labour’ till thousands are without work and thrown on the open streets to die of starvation. . .Today machinery merely helps a few to ride on the backs of millions. The impetus behind it all is not the philanthropy to save labour, but greed.”  - M.K. Gandhi

The increase in information and communication technologies (ICTs) is seen as a major contribution from the global economy.  Educators favor ICTs for connecting learners of all ages and for bringing them more information. With Bangalore and ‘Cyber-abad’ as model Silicon Valleys in the South, we are being urged to ‘bridge the digital divide’ in order to ‘leapfrog’ development.  Governments are being pressured to prioritize computer equipment and computer education courses in their budgets.

But serious reality checks are in order before we swallow the ICT hype. For one, there is very little research to prove that ICTs actually enhance human learning. In fact, several researchers now argue that ICTs damage many natural learning processes. They limit children’s creativity and imagination; diminish self-motivation and attention spans; and reduce risk-taking ability. They also distort the brain’s growth, motor skills, depth perception, and hand-eye coordination. ICTs also take time away from other learning opportunities and relationships. Instead of playing, pursuing arts, strengthening different relationships, or participating in real work/home activities, children are sitting in front of computers. An entire generation may be growing up anti-social, impatient, withdrawn.

Advocates suggest that ICTs increase communication among people from all corners of the world, thus bringing us together in a ‘global village’. While one may ‘connect’ with the less than 10% of the world that has real access to ICTs, the nature of such interactions is usually superficial. The medium is inherently limiting to many forms of human expression, dialogue and ways of knowing. Info-glut is also becoming a huge problem as we are bombarded with more (irrelevant) information than we can digest. In addition to this are all the cyber-village horror stories: viruses, pornography, credit card scams, hacking, stalking, and even serial killers.

It is also questionable whether ICTs really save us time. We are continuously faced with a paradox: with more technologies in our lives, we have less and less time to reflect deeply on or dialogue about who we are and where we are going; we must spend all of our free time attending to the technologies. As Eduardo Galeano describes, “The car, the television set, the video, the personal computer, the portable telephone and other pass-cards to happiness, which were developed to ‘save time’ or to ‘pass the time’, have actually taken time over.”

Nor do ICTs really democratize society. Unjust and illegitimate institutions of authority use ICTs to dominate with greater force and sophistication.  Public funds are being diverted to subsidize ICT infrastructure, which is primarily utilized by private companies, while public services like post offices and libraries decline due to lack of funds. Plus, information is not free—it requires money to access most interesting content on the world wide web as well as to make/maintain web sites. We also remain totally dependent on product obsolescence cycles (which force us to buy new hardware/software every 3-4 years).

Lastly, while ICT professionals in the ‘new economy’ might sound appealing, one should note that this economy is already over-saturated and has begun to down-size itself.

Today, ICTs largely remain a ‘solution’ in search of a problem. Many of the so-called sucess stories, particularly those concerning rural areas, must be more critically looked at.  ICTs can play a role in society but we must be careful not to let ourselves get swept away by the hype. Learning communities should reflect carefully on:

- How are ICTs reshaping/controlling our minds, our lives and our relationships?

- In what situations are ICTs useful tools?

- What are the trade-offs that come with making ICTs a development priority?

- Who actively pushing for more ICTs? Why?