17 Questions Tech Doesn’t Want You Asking

A practical blueprint for assessing the value, limitations and quality of new technologies for ourselves and our families

Photo by Cody Engel on Unsplash

Our modern digital society has us switching amongst a series of technologies/apps throughout our day. We’ve become conditioned to reach for the laptop or mobile device to find answers to our questions, connect with family and friends, stream your favorite shows, or droomscroll on social media. Over past few years, the world was forced to rely on the digital infrastructure to provide us access to classrooms and other learning resources. We begrudgingly engaged in virtual classrooms, remote instruction and online live/prerecorded events. Granted, online education existed and was popular before the COVID-19 pandemic, but for the first time, it was used by everyone at the same time.

There are two parts to modern learning — the skills themselves that need to be learned and the technology/app that’s intended to help us showcase these new skills. For example, learning Python pandas carries little value to an employer if you can’t demonstrate your knowledge through a data project housed on Jupyter Notebook or GitHub. Learning isn’t a passive activity, but requires evidence of beyond surface-level knowledge attainment.

As digital consumers, we are bombarded at work and at home to adopt new technologies. Much of these new skills are dovetailed by some sort of technology that requires us to have a username, password and profile account in order to access its functionalities. Adults, and kids alike, shifted to a versioning of online education. This abrupt shift revealed two large gaps: (1) we are dependent on an unstable digital infrastructure and (2) we don’t know what these technologies/apps are exposing us to in the short- and long-term.

Learning how to assess the value, limitations and quality of new technologies for ourselves and families doesn’t have a blueprint, until now.

Below are 17-ish questions to ask your employer, third-party vendor, kid’s school, etc. when you’re introduced to a new technology. You may not receive answers or the answers you want, but the goal is to be informed. You’re informing yourself about the benefits and risks associated with…