ET 690

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sc roup
t’ s Di Book G you live
Le tation
from
P r e s e n quarantine
020
Spring 2

Geek Heresy: Rescuing

Social Change from
the Cult of
Technology BY: Emily
Beer, Jodi
Novel by Kentaro Toyama Bahrijczuk
& Emily
Richards
 Summary of Geek Heresy
Kentaro Toyama, an award-winning computer scientist, moved to India in 2004, to start a new research
group for Microsoft. He wanted to explore novel technological solutions to the world’s persistent social
problems. Together with his team, he invented and shares what electronic devices he uses to implement in
under-resourced urban schools and developed digital platforms for remote agrarian communities. But after
ten years of designing technologies for humanitarian causes, Toyama concluded that no technology,
however dazzling and amazing, could cause social change on its own.

Toyama shows all of us that there are few one-size-fits-all solutions. If technology is going to improve the
lives of the world’s poorest, it must be grounded in a deep understanding of human behavior and an
appreciation for cultural differences.

“High-tech insider Kentaro Toyama’s compulsively readable manifesto will change minds about all those new technological
quick-fixes for poverty. From previous claims for radio and TV to today’s claims for broadband, he convincingly shows that
technological solutions are neither so new nor so quick. Technology does not solve problems; people do, Toyama reminds
us. He balances his refreshing skepticism about technological utopias with inspiring faith in the motivation and creativity of
human beings (GEEK HERESY, 2016)”.

—William Easterly, Professor of Economics, New York University, and author of The Tyranny of Experts
 Impacting Our Educational Technologies
This impact demands on your economical status of your school and what technologies are available to your
and your students.

Jodi: In my school, technology seems to be the biggest distraction and something that is wanting to be used
less. Teachers find social media being used instead of the materials being presented to them. Students would
rather socialize through their phones than rather in person with each other.

Emily B: The majority of my students have phones, tablets, or gaming systems at home which give them
access to technology. Many do have some (incredibly inconsistent) access to internet, but based on
conversations with students and families it is primarily used for socialization or entertainment. I resonated with
Kentaro Toyama’s (2015) ideas that while technology can be beneficial it does not fix gaps caused by
economic discrepancies, trauma, or other external factors alone and can be difficult to push beyond
entertainment based uses.

Emily R: The majority of students in my school have access to a phone which can be used for some
educational activities when the computer labs or laptop carts are signed out. At home, that’s a different story.
Many lack the proper internet or don’t know how to access the LMS set forth by the county. Students have no
problem creating a TikTok, posting on Instagram or keeping up their streak on Snapchat, but they lack the
knowledge of utilizing online learning materials.
 Impacting Our Educational Technologies

Situation A: Your school is high-tech and you can have whatever technology at your fingertips
with no issues. Students have one to one devices and access to internet throughout their
school day and at home.

Situation B: Your school has computers only for teachers to share internet accessible items to
your students. Students do not have access to technology at home.

What Do You Think? Share

results for Each Situation.
Type Your Responses Here
 We
think... Less is more
Too much technology is not helpful in developing a great learner. Teachers need a happy medium with
technology in their classrooms.

● New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman famously made the case a decade ago that
technological innovation is creating a “flatter” world.
● “Clay Shirky, the Internet philosopher whose views on new technology have always tended
toward the enthusiastic, wrote an essay for Medium explaining why he, too, had reluctantly
decided to banish smartphones and laptops from his NYU classroom… Allowing laptop use in
class, he wrote, is like allowing boombox use in class (Senior, 2015).”
● Toyama highlighted the argument made by Mark Warschauer in which he explained that simply
“placing computers and Internet connections in low-[income] schools, in and of itself, does little
to address the serious educational challenges faced by these schools” (Toyama, 2015 p. 9)
● “Technology at school may level the playing field of access, but a level field does nothing to
improve the skill of the players (Toyama, 2015 p. 117)
● As Toyama states “what people get out of technology depends on what they can do and want to
do even without technology” (Toyama, 2015 p. 29)
 Words
from the
author

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-JXd1R5oEQ

 Resources
Friedman, T. L. (2020). The World Is Flat, 3.0. Retrieved from https://www.thomaslfriedman.com/the-world-is-flat-3-0/

GEEK HERESY. (2016). Retrieved from https://geekheresy.org/

Toyama, K. (2015). Geek heresy: Rescuing social change from the cult of technology. New York, NY: PublicAffairs.

Senior, J. (2015, July 9). The Case Against Laptops in the Classroom. Retrieved from
https://www.thecut.com/2015/07/case-against-laptops-in-the-classroom.html