TECHNOPHOBICS vrs TECHNOPHILES

Technology forms our human milieu. It is our environment. As an environment it is hidden from us, and we must deliberately direct our attention to it in order to see how it affects us. Technophobia is the attitude of one who desires a return to a mythical state before technology, a return to a natural state. Technophilia is the attitude of one who sees all hope for mankind's future happiness in technical and scientific progress.
Technophilia refers generally to a strong enthusiasm for technology, especially new technologies such as personal computers, the Internet, mobile phones and home cinema. The term is used in sociology when examining the interaction of individuals with their society, especially contrasted with technophobia. The technophobe fears or dislikes technology, often regarding some or all technology with fear. The technophobe is often called a Luddite, after the revolt of cloth-workers in England who destroyed the machinery in cotton mills that were rendering their work obsolete. The technophile is often the technocrat, one who believes that industry and government should invest heavily in technical solutions to human problems. In the field of education in particular, the technophile demands that man learns to conform to the demands of new technology. Transhumanism is sometimes considered to be the most ideological form of technophilia, as its adherents work towards a future in which technology will allow human beings to be physically and mentally enhanced, in order to better suit individual and social standards.

Technology in general and the electronic communications media (including all types of information technology) represent great goods, but as with any great good, they can be the occasion of great evil. It is necessary to recognize the effects of the media on ourselves as individuals and on society. As with anything that offers great attractions, it is necessary to develop an asceticism that preserves us from the abuse of technology