Societies Technophobia of the Past and Now

Original Objective Articles, Science & Technology

              Have you ever feared technology, perhaps you may have feared the effects technology might bring to your friends, family, or even society? The generalizing term for this “Fear” Would be Technophobia. In essence, technophobia is a fear of new technology and has occurred all throughout history. Technophobia was common in the Greek and Anglo-Saxon times and is even prevalent in today’s largely tech-based society. In fact, it seems that as technology advances, technophobia among the peoples of society increases too.

Writing for Everyone

              Believe it or not, writing, something most of us take for granted, was feared upon its first introduction to society as a whole. In fact, the idea of writing being allowed for everyone is still feared by some in certain parts of the world. When writing was first introduced into society, it was commonly only available to the upper classes and men. It was a common belief in early societies that men were superior to women and therefore should be the ones who receive an education to read in write. This belief, known as patriarchy, is still existent in certain cultures.

              In North East Nigeria, women are often denied access to education due to cultural beliefs about the women’s role in society. Extremists like Boko Haram make the situation far worse for Nigerian women by leading efforts to prevent women from receiving education. The Boko Haram extremist group makes such efforts out of religious belief. They fear women’s education and literacy because they consider it a violation of their Islamic religion.

              Not only was writing feared by individuals due to religious or cultural purposes; writing was feared for its effects on society as a whole. This was a fear common among those who were accustomed to teaching by word. Socrates, for instance, “was anxious about the emerging power of the written word over face-to-face contact.” Doesn’t that sound familiar? Socrates’ fear of written word reducing face-to-face contact is the same as the fear of phones replacing face-to-face contact expressed by many in today’s society. This goes to show how all innovations and technology, even that of writing, induce fear among individuals of society.

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The Printing Press

              Before the invention of the printing press at about 1440CE, monks would make copies of books by handwriting copies themselves. Therefore, the printing press was considered a threat to the copying business the monks were involved in. The monks themselves feared the printing press because they would be out of the copying business, and others feared the printing press because they believed monks would become lazy without the task of copying texts. Johannes Trithemius, a German Benedictine Abbot, stated, “For monks, labor was part and parcel of devotion, and if you weren’t good at writing, you could do binding, or painting, or for heaven’s sake practice. And it goes even further: the labor of manuscript writing was something for monks to do — for there was no greater danger for the devout soul than idleness.” It’s apparent from this quote that Trithemius feared the printing press because he thought monks would become lazy. Of course, the monks never actually became lazy from the invention of the printing press; monks simply moved on to carry out other tasks. The same has occurred with other new inventions throughout history, people simply adapt to the new technology and focus on other tasks.

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Trains

              Like many inventions in today’s world, trains were feared for their possible effects on health. When trains were invented, they were the fastest form of transportation that had ever been seen. This simple factor of speed led people to fear trains because they thought traveling so fast was unnatural and harmful for the human body.

              Unsurprisingly, there was a Victorian belief that train speed and movement would drive some men insane. Such men that went crazy on the trains were known as railway madmen. It was said that these men would be perfectly normal until the train started moving, and then they would become uncivil and dangerous to the people around them. The idea of the railway madmen was particularly unnerving during Victorian times because the carriages were locked for privacy reasons, meaning people could be trapped inside with the madmen.

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Radio

              The radio was an invention that came to be feared by not only the masses but by its very own inventor. While the idea of an inventor fearing their own invention sounds concerning and strange, quite a few inventors have actually feared their own inventions. In inventor Guglielmo Marconi’s case, he had believed his radio technology was perfected in 1895, but approximately 20 years later radio technology was altered to broadcast to the masses. Marconi had only intended for his radio to be used to improve communications between ships at sea. When he discovered his radio technology was being used to broadcast to the masses he asked: “Have I done the world good, or have I added a menace?”

              The masses, on the other hand, feared radio for its distraction to the minds of the young. It was commonly believed that children were being distracted from schoolwork by the excitement of the radio, and therefore, children’s performance in school was diminishing. A 1985 magazine known as gramophone expanded upon such an idea, claiming radio programs were offsetting the balance of children’s easily excitable minds. Similar accusations have been made by the masses and the media towards other communication technologies.

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Cars

              Only a century ago were cars introduced to society and the fear among the masses about their introduction at the time is opposite of the fear among the masses about self-driving cars. The fear among the masses about cars both 100 years ago and now is largely based on what people are accustomed too. People in the 1890’s were accustomed to the horse-drawn carriage, and people today are accustomed to having full control over a car.

              The people of the 1890’s feared cars due to the fact that they are driven by people with no aid of another intelligence. With the horse-drawn carriage, the people liked the secondary intelligence of the horse because where people failed, horses would act to help avoid collisions. Therefore, the people feared there would be significantly greater collision and death with cars. However, people didn’t seem to account for the fact that the car has brakes and driving a horse-drawn carriage requires much more attention by the driver to the vehicle and horses.

              Today’s society fears the idea of self-driving vehicles because the driver no longer has control of the vehicle. Instead, the computer drives using artificial intelligence and algorithms to avoid collisions and obey traffic laws. People fear the artificial intelligence of self-driving cars won’t be able to account for enough, making the self-driving vehicles less safe than people-operated cars. The increased focus by the media on incidents with the new self-driving car technology has also contributed to the fear being expressed by society.

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The Telephone

              Imagine being able to use telephones to communicate with the dead. While that sounds like a wild and impossible idea, when telephones were first introduced to society it was believed by some that telephones would eventually be used to communicate with the dead. This simple suggestion that telephones could be used to communicate with the dead struck fear into the hearts of a few.

              On a wider scale, telephones were feared by the public due to their electrical components. People thought that if “they stood near… [a telephone] in a thunderstorm they might get hit by lightning.” There didn’t even need to be a storm for people to fear being shocked by a telephone. In fact, people feared the electrical wiring of the telephone could electrocute them

              Another fear of the telephone we are all aware of today is the fear of society becoming anti-social due to a lesser need for interaction in person. While such fear at the time turned out to be true to some degree, the integration of the telephone into society has not wiped face-to-face interaction off the face of the earth. People have found phones to be more of a tool to extend interaction with people when they’re not with them than to be a means of avoiding all face-to-face social interaction.

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Airplanes

              Flying in the 1950’s was far more dangerous than it is today. All it took was a bit of turbulence and someone’s neck could snap. At the time, airplanes weren’t designed as much for safety either, so even tripping as one walks across the plane could result in death or injury. There were even glass dividers separating first class from economy that could shatter and cause injury in an accident or turbulence. The fatality rate on airplanes in 1952 was 5.2 deaths per every 100,000 hours of flight, whereas, the fatality rate on airplanes today is 1.33 fatalities per 100,000 hours of flight. Given these dangers and statistics, it makes sense why people of the 1950’s feared airplanes.

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Personal Computers

              Computers were feared for several reasons, ranging from the fear of computers enslaving people to the fear of the overwhelming complexity of using a computer. This fear of computers is known as cyberphobia and was prevalent at the time personal computers were first introduced to society.

              In 1996, there was a book released claiming women were afflicted with cyberphobia called “Women and Computers”. The book entailed descriptions of emotions women faced that reflected a fear of touching, damaging, discussing, or reading about computers. It was also stated in the book that women feared becoming enslaved by the computers. This fear of enslavement by computers is explained by the distinction between two different views of computers and the reaction of women to such distinction.

              When personal computers were first released, they were either thought of as a tool or machine. Those who considered computers as a tool saw computers as an extension of the user. Whereas, those who viewed computers as machines saw computers as an instrument that imposes its own rhythm and rules on the users. Females who viewed computers as a machine were more likely to fear them; many females at the time did not like the idea of being “slaves” by being forced to work according to the machine’s rules.

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Television

              People’s fear of the television was like a magnified version of their previous fear of radio. There was a fear that television would harm the social interaction between people and degrade the American culture. People genuinely thought that there’d be no more reading or conversing with one another, and the television would alter family relationships.

              Not only was the television feared for its possible impact on social interactions, it was also feared by investors for its possible impact on the radio. Radio investors feared the new technology would harm their investments as people turn from radio to television. This contributed to a great amount of criticism towards the television.

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Video Games

              Starting in 1976 videogames became a topic of controversy. Up until 1976, video games released were either nonviolent or featured violence that was considered morally acceptable. The release of Exidy’s Death Race video game set off the controversy in 1976 by featuring a game in which points were awarded to the player by mowing down pedestrians, an immoral form of violence. People feared the spread of immoral values through video games, which is what set off the controversy.

              In 1997, videogames were brought to court for the first time by anti-video games activist and attorney Jack Thomson. After the death of students in a shooting at Heath High School, Thomson came to court with the claim that the shooter’s violence was a result of violent video games. Thomson based his claim on the idea that the distribution of violent materials like violent video games cause desensitization and tendencies towards violence in minors. While Thomson’s case was dismissed for failing to present a legally recognizable claim, his thoughts towards the impact of violent video games on minors is still a topic in society today.

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Cloning/Genetics

              When most people think of cloning, they think of the sci-fi scary stories they’ve seen on television or read about. This has caused a lot of fear and suspicion towards the scientific community when it comes to cloning. People have feared things ranging from unethical baby farms for organs to the mass production of carbon-copy people. These sci-fi based fears of the masses towards cloning make it hard for people to see the benefits of cloning in the medical world, but certainly aren’t uncalled for.

              With the new gene editing technologies on the rise and its possible integration with cloning, there is moral concern. Gene editing and cloning could be used together to create “designer babies”, which could result in discrimination towards people of certain characteristics and hybrid peoples, which is unnatural. There’s also the use of developing embryos in cloning, which raises a moral concern. Some have claimed the use of embryo’s for stem cell research is unethical because it is in essence killing one person to save another.

              The fears raised by people towards cloning and genetics is rather unique because they’re more moral based than based on the actual effects on society. For instance, people fearing the use of embryos in cloning is solely based on the morality of it. As in, is the use of embryos actually killing one person to save another? Because if so, people are determining who does and doesn’t deserve to live. Which is a fear of moral not a fear of impact on society. Other inventions like the radio were feared for their direct impact on society. Like people feared radio would ruin the social interactions between people; a fear of impact not morals.

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Conclusion

              Technophobia continues in our modern-day society, and will likely never cease. Currently, society is going through a wave of fear over developing AI technology. This fear is partially based on the sci-fi movies featuring AI machines that outsmart and enslave the human race causing suspicion and distrust by people towards AI machine advancement. However, we’ll never know if this fear is a bunch of sci-fi fantasy or if it’s legitimate until the development and integration of AI technology is complete.

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