Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.
SOMETIMES a week will go by before Janice Nakamura can reach her friend Ruby Ueda at home. Those who are digitally
inept will be left behind—
and that’s just fine
with them
Resources: Get with the program
By Shirley Iida
Special to the Star-Bulletin"One time I told her, 'Get a machine!'," Nakamura said. "If she had an answering machine, it would solve a lot. That's selfish (of me), I know, but I think there are a lot of people like me who are busy."
Ueda takes a gadget-free approach to life. In addition to the lack of an answering machine, she doesn't have voice mail, a pager or a cell phone. About the only electronic medium Ueda finds useful is email, to correspond with friends on the mainland.
"I'm not that computer-literate either," she said. "You can show me a beeper, I wouldn't know how to turn it off.
"As far as technology goes, I don't miss it and I really don't get into it."
Although Ueda is secure in her decision to limit technology in her life, others are not so sure.
Nakamura said she plans on getting a digital camera and scanner to enhance her work as a preschool director at Nuuanu Baptist Church. Having access to a pager, cell phone and email has made her life much simpler, but she admits learning how to use each tool takes adjustment.
"Sometimes I feel like I am being left behind," she said. "There's a lot more out there I could be taking advantage of, but because I'm intimidated (by new technology), sometimes I feel like I'm losing out, like things are passing me by."
As technology rapidly advances, or intrudes on daily life, many are wondering whether desktop and laptop computers, pagers, cell phones, PDAs (personal digital assistants) and even the simplest gadgets like answering and fax machines represent necessities, nice toys or a prison sentence.
Like it or not, advances in technology change people and the way they relate to one another, according to Jim Dator, professor of Future Studies in the political sciences department at the University of Hawaii.
The invention of reading and writing thousands of years ago changed society, Dator said. People who knew how to read and write came to have power over those who didn't.
"The same is true of every changing technology," he said. "We build a power, political and economic structure around the old technology. Then when new technology comes around, there are still those who resist or refuse to accept it."
Dator says people who don't keep up with the latest technological trends will fall behind, and that's cause for concern.
Sooner or later, the rapid advance of technology will force more people out of jobs, he said. "Most people have jobs now not because we need their labor, but because we need them as consumers," he said. "We keep people employed for the most part because of the economy."
Unemployment will be a problem in the years to come. Unless people start keeping up with technology, Dator said, more jobs will be lost.
The revolution is here
"We're in the middle of a revolution, and unfortunately, you can't see it because you're in the middle of it," said Jeff Bloom, owner and president of Computer Training Academy/Network Resource Center.
To the generation that grew up with pagers and cell phones, they are a necessity.
Cell phones -- more sophisticated than those made five years ago -- have gained acceptance because prices have come down and they're easier to use, Bloom said.
Palms, what he calls "the first generation mobile devices," are also popular, but it won't be long before we see 16 devices integrated into one, he said.
"It's just evolving. We're in such the early stages of this."
Technology is moving so fast that it seems to reinvent itself every 18 months and change how people do business, Bloom said.
None of this seems to affect Rodney Tanoue, who doesn't plan to get a computer or email service anytime soon. Just having a phone and answering machine, he said, is good enough.
Tanoue, an accounting clerk at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, prefers to live what he considers a peaceful life -- no pager, no personal computer, not even a TV.
The only thing Tanoue may consider buying is a cell phone in case he ever gets stuck on the road. "I can see the plus side of having a cell phone, but I don't really feel like I have to get one."
Tanoue doesn't feel like he's missing anything.
"To me, it's a lot more peaceful without a lot of things," he said.
Plugged in
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the wired set. Like a doctor who can't afford to ignore his pager for emergency purposes, Lloyd Asato can't afford not to be accessible. He's constantly wired with a cell phone, PDA and desktop and laptop computers.As director for the nonprofit America's Promise Hawaii, Asato's job requires him to have instant access to information and respond to questions right away. "If someone has a question, I have to turn around and answer very quickly," he said. With wireless email on his Palm, Asato can send and receive messages during meetings without the interruption of a cell phone.
The convenience of scribbling a note anywhere at anytime is an advantage for his kind of lifestyle, he said. Pagers, cell phones and access to email are useful, but they're just tools to keep in touch.
To Asato, email and letter writing are the same thing. "You're just using different technology."
Having technology at hand means Asato can be on the job 24/7 if he wants to be. He works an average of 13 hours a day, seven days a week.
"I'm always on call. That's the big trade-off, but I'm OK with that," Asato said. He considers his work top priority and worth the price of some private time.
But he said all gadgets aren't necessarily for everyone. It depends on one's needs, preferences and socio-economic status.
What's your address, online?
Of all the technology, email is especially important, Dator said, because the number of users is growing at an exponential rate. Voice activation is another technology that will have a profound influence on society in the next decade, he said. By the year 2020, he said, keyboards will be obsolete and virtually no one will need to type.Sterling Krysler, a premiere partner with Dragon Systems and a certified trainer with the software company, agrees voice recognition software will start gaining popularity within the next two to three years. It's useful for doctors, attorneys and business professionals who don't have time to type information into a computer.
A quadriplegic, Krysler has been a "power user" of the software for seven years. It's helped people with disabilities to transcribe information using voice commands. The software, he said, increases productivity and saves time.
Krysler said we can soon expect to see more appliances using voice commands. Hands-free cell phones are being tested now for automobile use.
Everett Kaneshige, president of Hand E Corp., a company specializing in software development for handheld computers, said some people say they get along fine without a pager, cell phone or Palm, and that it's probably true.
"But the point is, if you don't use anything, that's where you fall behind," he said.
Keeping up with technology is especially important for people in business because their competitors might be way ahead of the game, he said. Email is replacing the fax as a preferred method of communication because it's fast, inexpensive and leaves a record, which can be printed out.
Access to computers is no longer limited to the rich, Dator said.
"If you take a look at the availability of TV, or even color TV, and automobiles, all but the poorest of the poor have them," Dator said. Computers are evolving in the same way.
People with more money and disposable income certainly have more access to computers, but we're way beyond that, Dator said. The so-called "digital divide," the vast gap in access to computers and the Internet between the rich and the poor, is much narrower than assumed.
Government and businesses have a lot to do with efforts to close the gap, particularly for economic reasons, he said.
Peter Kay, president of the Honolulu-based Internet consulting firm CyberCom Inc. and radio host for "Your Computer Minute," said the "digital divide" does not exist because most public libraries have Internet access.
Kay said the best way to learn how to use any unfamiliar device is to simply get on it and have fun. Treat each new unfamiliar gadget like a toy.
Adults could learn a lot from children who love to get on the computer and experiment with new things, he said. "If you take that kind of attitude, they'll become a lot more fun."
Get with the program
Classes to help you plug in Kinko's Copies
Honolulu
2575 S. King St., 943-0005
1500 Kapiolani Blvd., 944-8500
1050 Bishop St., 528-7171
Pearl City
1000 Kamehameha Highway, 456-9771
Hours: 24 hours
Use of PCs and Macs.
Cost: $12 per hour, or 20 cents per minute. Each black-and-white print is 50 cents and color print is 99 cents.Hawaii State Library
Main Branch, 478 S. King St.
PCs for Internet access, not word processing.
Call the main library's information desk at 586-3617 to schedule an appointment for a 50-minute period.
All other branches have at least one PC for Internet access.Honolulu Community College
Fujio Matsuda Technology Training
and Education Center
Call for more listings or check out http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/matsuda/.Kapiolani Community College
Call 734-9211 for more listings or check out http://www.kcc.hawaii.edu/news/noncredit/.Leeward Community College
Call 455-0477 for more listings or check out http://www.lcc.hawaii.edu/ocet/.Windward Community College
Fujio Matsuda Education Center
For more information, call Continuing Education at 235-7433 or 235-7400 or check out http://www.wcc.hawaii.edu/commsvcs/default.htm.State Department of Education
Continuing Education Section
594-0172
To find out more about computer classes in adult education, call the community school nearest you.
Farrington Community School, 832-3595.
Kaimuki Community School, 733-8460.
McKinley Community School, 594-0540.
Moanalua/Aiea Community School, 836-0072.
Wahiawa Community School, 622-1634.
Waipahu Community School, 675-0254.
Windward School For Adults, 254-7955.
Hilo Community School, 974-4100.
Kona Community School, 327-4692.
Maui Community School, 873-3082.
Kauai Community School, 274-3390.Unity Community Outreach Program
Computer Training
Unity Church of Hawaii
3608 Diamond Head Circle, 735-4436, ext. 308
Cost is $15 per class.
Star-Bulletin
Click for online
calendars and events.
