Amber Case, author of A Kids Book About Technology, talks about navigating our complex relationships with and alongside technology.
Amber Case, author of A Kids Book About Technology, talks about navigating our complex relationships with and alongside technology.
A Kids Book About Technology (view book)
Full Book Description:
We’re all cyborgs. It’s true! We as a society cannot function without technology. We use it every day in all aspects of our lives—but that’s not a bad thing! The problem is when we let it take over our lives. It’s all about balance. In understanding the value and quality of your time. This book will help kids and grownups alike reflect on their relationship with technology and learn to embrace the benefits of being unplugged.
About the Author:
Amber Case has always been fascinated by the relationship between technology and humans. How does technology affect us? Why do we create it? What will it look like in the future? As a child, she played outside, but she also built computers. Now she gives speeches about technology, writes books, and travels the world.
*If you want to be on a future episode of A Kids Book About: The Podcast or if you have a question you’d like us to consider, have a grownup email us at listen@akidspodcastabout.com and we’ll send you the details.
A Kids Book About: The Podcast
S2 EP02, Amber Talks About Technology
[INTRODUCTION]
Matthew: What is technology?
Azalea: Technology is tools or machines we use to solve problems or make life easier in general, like phones and cars.
Amber: Technology is anything that you use in relation to yourself to do something else.
Matthew: Welcome to A Kids Book About: The Podcast! I’m Matthew. I’m a teacher, a librarian, and I’m your host. The voices you heard at the top of our show were from Azalea and Amber.
Each week we talk about the big things going on in your world with a different author from our A Kids Book About series.
Amber: Hi, my name is Amber Case and I am a human cyborg. I am the author of A Kids Book About Technology.
[TOPIC FOUNDATION]
Matthew: Today, the word “technology” is most often used to describe electronic devices, but, as you heard at the top of the show, technology encompasses all the tools that we use in order to do something else.
Amber: So for instance, a hammer you use to put a nail into a wall, you can also use it to open up a walnut. You use a pencil to write in a book and a notebook to take notes. You use a pair of shoes to take a walk or run outside or to climb a tree. And you use your eyes, if you have glasses or contact lenses, that's the technology that helps you to see.
But in reality, all of our tools are technology. So it's not just the computer or your phone. That's a piece of technology that helps you to see lots of different media types, um, and read things online and helps you to connect to other people's information. And sometimes if you use it well, it can help you connect to other people.
Speaking, words, that's also technology. The words on the page, the words that we're using on this podcast to get to you. These are all technologies that humans have invented to do new things.
There's some technologies that, you know, just looking into somebody else's eyes or running and jumping and playing. These are things that we don't need a lot of technology to do.
But we've become used to growing up alongside technology, and sometimes our technology uses us and sometimes we use our technology, but I'd like to see a world in which we work alongside our technology. Kind of like we hang out with a favorite pet: a dog or a cat.
Matthew: Listeners, when you start to train yourself to notice technologies in your home and your school and the world around you, you’ll see that technology is and has always been all around us.
Amber: I think most people think of computers or maybe the Terminator or Robocop or something on TV, or like a super epic car, or like a BattleBot like something that's like a lot more in your face and like really intense.
Or some people are like, “Ah! Technology is changing so much! It's intense! I don't understand it!
Or, “I totally am into technology. And like all of technology.”
It's like a big thought and has lots of images and it's like associated with speed and intensity or like super fun or connective or friends.
But I don't think a lot of people think of like a light switch as a piece of technology, even though we use it every day and it's just in our environment. And that's just as much of a successful technology as like an app on our phone, except it's been around for even longer. So I would say it's even more successful than like a social networking app, for instance. So it's, it's kind of a interesting thing.
Like, take a whole day of your life and just like, look at all the different pieces of technology that you use.
Some of them you look at when you're using some of them, you don't even know. Try to really think about all the tech that you use, that isn't really noticeable, like a faucet on a sink or like a toilet or your shoes or in the car, like the foot pedal, like all the different pieces in your life that have been designed.
Most of them have been designed by humans and a lot of them have also been designed by nature. And think about your favorite climbing tree and none of them are perfect.
Like, I think the thing about like when I was growing up, I was like, “Oh, okay. So this is how the world is.”
But, but in reality, you can design an alternative to a sink. You can design an alternative to a car, like a bicycle. And it's up to us in our imaginations and our creativity to not just say, “Okay. This is what the world is.”
How could it be different? What does that mean? How could it be like slightly better? Um, and just like use your imagination more because it, it seems like everything is exactly what it is, but in reality, all over the world, tons of different cultures have their own technologies and exploring how they work alongside their environment is just as exciting as like, just exploring your own environment.
[PERSONAL CONNECTION TO TOPIC]
Matthew: We all have different relationships to the technology in our life, and these relationships can change and shift based on what technology we’re using, how we’re using it, and how much we’re using it.
What’s your relationship with technology?
Amber: Well, I really like paint and pencils and notebooks. Uh, and I do like my phone, but I find that when I wake up in the morning and I use my phone and I use social networks, sometimes I just have really sad thoughts.
Like sometimes I feel like I'm not good enough, or I'm seeing all of these other people do something more exciting than me, or I feel left out and that's just, when I've woken up, I haven't even had a chance to do anything in the day. I'm already seeing what other people have. It's kind of unfair. So what I try not to do is I try not to look at my phone in the morning just because I know that it changes my emotions towards the world a lot.
And I forget that like I'm enough without having to do anything. Um, and, and it kind of prevents me from thinking about like longer term stuff, like longer term thought. And that's hard for me.
Like I would say that I have problems with like being addicted to my phone, which is funny because, you know, I wrote another book called Calm Technology, which is how you can not be as addicted to your phone, but it's still, I have to remember, like there are different kinds of time, you know, the kind of Kronos time, which is that kind of industrial time where it goes by really fast when you're on your computer, it goes by really slow when you're bored and.
And then the Kairos time, like watching a sunset, going on a walk, playing with friends, like that's a special type of time and that's the more human time. And so when I'm on my phone a lot, either, like thinking that I'm not good enough or getting excited about something out, like in my emotions are just all over the place after a member, like, wait, how do I get more Kairos time in my life?
How do I step away? Do something that I want to do. And sometimes I have to put my phone in the other room and say like, “Okay, for half of each day, I'm not going to do things on this phone. It's too complicated. You know, it's too much.” And, but it's really hard because there's so much stuff on the photo.
There's so many cool videos of cats and dogs and stuff that I want to share. Oh my gosh. But I have to really, uh, it's not like I can install something on my phone that so stop doing that. That's kind of sounds like a parent, right? Yeah. How does it come from within you? And you say, how do I want to spend my day?
Like what I want to think about today, what I want to do today? I feel like everyone should have that choice and the phone shouldn't choose that for you. The phone shouldn't be choosing how you feel about yourself and the phone shouldn't be choosing. Um, whether you feel happy or sad or excited or depressed during the day.
Like, you should be determining what you want to feel like.
Matthew: We will be back in a minute with more from Amber Case, including why our brains get excited about shiny objects and bright colors. Right after this quick break.
[BREAK]
Matthew: Welcome back to A Kids Book About: The Podcast. On today’s episode we’re talking about technology with A Kids Book About author Amber Case.
Mid-way through our interview, Amber shared a term with me that I’d never heard before: “supernormal stimuli”. Can you break that apart? Can you try to determine what it means?
Because this next part? This next part really blew me away.
Amber: Like, in nature, things are not so bright.
I mean, like if you're in a tropical rainforest, everything is like really amazing and really bright. But this term is called a supernormal stimuli, which just means…
So our brains get really excited about shiny objects and bright colors, and we get really distracted. And so, what the phone does with all of its colors is it brings us all of this like social media with bright colors and extremes, like an extreme story about something bad that happened, an extremely cute kitten, an extremely exciting, colorful picture, you know, or really cool clothing we can get online. And we start adding our imagination to it and, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, after a while, 30 minutes later, we're wrapped up in it.
So that super normal stimuli, like once you see it, uh, once you understand what it is like, you know, you could go through the rest of today and you could say, okay, where's the supernormal stimuli. Oh my gosh, it's that magazine? Oh, it's that sign? Oh, it's the social media. Oh, it's that person's outfit. Ah, and, and once you see it, it's really hard to unsee, but it's also important to know, because again, you should be able to have a.
Whether you want to immerse yourself in that or not. And your whole day could be made up of totally different things. Like sometimes that stuff is really fun. Like having a birthday party it's full of supernormal stimuli, you've got a crazy take and you have crazy hats and like insane music. And like, you might do some fun thing, like indoor skydiving or something, but like that, that, that can't be like every day.
And when you're in moments where there isn't a lot of supernormal stimuli and you're depressed, it's important to be able to make your own happy chemicals like dopamine serotonin.
These are things within your head that you should be able to kind of make.
So if you are finding yourself depressed or like scared or any of these big emotions and you want to get out of them, you can just sit there having that deep breathing, just focus on your breath and just kind of watch the thoughts go through your head as if like you're flipping pages in a magazine. Read the articles of your thoughts, you know, you can get into a thought and just like, let it take you over, but like just kind of zoom out of your thoughts and your brain and just kind of watch slipping by, uh, and breathe.
And that secretly is meditation.
You have more superpowers than you think, and the biggest superpower is your breathing, ironically.
Matthew: Listeners, I want to ask you a question, and I’m going to ask Amber as well. How does using technology make you feel? I’m sure different technology causes different feelings for different reasons at different points of your day, so feel free to respond to this question however you’d like.
And feel free to ask that grownup near you, too.
How does thinking about technology or using technology make you feel?
Azalea: I think there is a lot of technology in this world. Sometimes too much. But I think that a lot of it can be useful, like in school, things like that, as long as we don’t go overboard. But I do think replacing paper and things like that can be good for the environment as well as our minds. But it does have side effects, like headaches and things like that.
Amber: I think building something, using a paint brush and painting or writing, or like playing with friends or climbing a tree, or like going rock climbing in a gym that is super fun. Um, and I'm using technology as tools and I'm working alongside the tools to get the thing done. It's awesome
So, you know, thinking about technology, if I'm using it for fun and I'm using it to create, and I'm doing more with it, then I'm having a great time.
But if I'm not, oh. and sometimes I have to do really boring stuff online and I think. a lot of times technology that's slow and poorly built just makes me so mad. Zoom makes me really tired. Um, cause it's like, you know, you're looking at yourself half the time. You're looking at other people you're you might be trying to do something to the side.
And it's really hard to just sit there and breathe and be fully present.
Matthew: Knowing when something gives you energy, when something makes you feel more alive and more connected to what you’re doing? That’s a bit of a superpower in and of itself. And I love that Amber brought that up.
Technologies are tools, but not all tools are right for the job. And not all tools are helpful, depending on the circumstances.
I’ve saved the final question of this interview for a listener question, because this question is next level. It’s from Azalea in Ontario, Canada.
Azalea: I think… I think I’m wondering how… how so many people come up with this stuff. Like, we’re taught coding in school, but I think the way we’re taught it isn’t necessarily… I don’t think we’re taught how people come up with it. I think we’re taught how to make it from what people know already. So… I have a few questions regarding that. Like, why aren’t we taught that we should have a creative process to think about it, and we’re taught how to do these things on Scratch or things like that. So…
I guess my question is why don’t we learn about having the process of thinking of these things that make our lives easier. Why are we learning how to make these things that people have already made instead?
Amber: This is the best question I've ever heard. I think I'm going to cry.
Seriously. This is, like, really upsetting.
Let's let's just, let's just have a moment here. Whoever this person is, um, is telling the truth because it's, it is the saddest thing that when you're in school, you get taught how to use it.
You don't get taught how to build a thing. You get taught how to use a programming language, but you don't get taught how people come up with a programming language. And we don't ever learn about the process of thinking that to make these things that make our lives easier. Like very rarely do you have a program that does that unless you go to grad school, unless you go to like MIT media lab and the lifelong kindergarten group, that's, that's a place where you can learn it.
You can go to school. Oftentimes it's the intersection of somebody who like, has an architecture degree plus a computer science degree, or is a philosophy major like Stewart Butterfield who built Slack.
People don't talk about these things. So as an anthropologist, I decided to get a degree in anthropology because I was really into technology as a kid, but I wanted to know where it came from and how it was made.
And there aren't a lot of stories.
It's more about asking questions. Like you can ask people where did this come from? And for people like Azalea, who has asked, in my opinion, the most important question in computer science today in terms of computer science education, is that, how do we learn about patterns and history versus just what's there?
And I think that was what I was trying to get at with, with the previous thing I was saying, which is, consider that almost all the things that we use are built by humans. And some of them are built by nature. But to say this isn't how it's always going to be, to try to build something different or, or it's, it's very hard because a lot of people don't want to see change.
They're really used to a thing how it is. And when we do make something new, maybe the thing isn't 30 years old, that we've made; it's brand new. So it has issues. And so how do you make something and then improve it over time? How do you know which design direction to go? How do you know how to make it stable? How do you know how to make a delightful?
And to do this? You can have principles, but very few people have made principles of design. Um, I made, I made one called calm technology, which actually took principles from 30 years ago that were really ahead of their time. And you can go to calmtech.com and you can see all these principles, you could design a new product or company based on these principles, a bunch of people have.
And, uh, I was on tour with that book for five years and I flew all over the world. I even got to speak with the king and queen of Spain and the president of Chile. And I got to go to Antarctica because I wrote this book because I asked a question like this person Azalea about, “How about having principles and patterns for making good things, instead of just saying what is and learning what's already been?”
And the people that dare to ask those questions and the people that make new things and say, oh, HTML has a problem. I'm going to make this new thing called CSS. The people that think laterally, that the people that aren't afraid to like learn about biology and like technology and something else, those are the people that make almost all of the new systems in the world.
And that question that Azalea asked is the most powerful question you could ask in this space and really incredible human being . Azalea, if you're listening, please send me a note. I'd love to talk with you more and send you some information and books. I'm happy to do that. Gosh. Thank you for existing.
Matthew: As technology innovations continue to be introduced into the world, and as the world you’re growing into continues to change, I’ll leave you with this final message from Amber.
Amber: As a kid, you know, you can create your own worlds. Uh, you know, Miyazaki who makes lots and lots of anime films, creates his own worlds all the time. He's tapped into his childlike self constantly.
And sure I can put on a very formal business suit and go up on stage and talk in front of 5,000 people and seemed very authoritarian. But I don't think people learn from that as much as they do from someone going on stage and sharing their excitement for knowledge and what they've learned alongside you.
And I think that's the future of learning. And I think, you know, when you have teachers and parents who do. I'm sure you find yourself going like, “Heck yeah, this is a really good teacher. Like, I'm inspired. Versus somebody telling you something.
You should be discovering with people. And that, that discovery is fun.
[CLOSING]
Matthew: Thank you to Amber Case, author of A Kids Book About Technology, for joining us today. You can learn more about this book and others like it by visiting akidsco.com. And thank you to Azalea for adding your voice to the show.
Azalea: My name’s Azalea. I am 11 years old. I live in Ontario, Canada. And my favorite things are reading and skating.
Matthew: Want to be on a future episode of A Kids Book About: The Podcast? Write to us or record a message and email us at listen@akidspodcastabout.com.
A Kids Book About: the Podcast is written, edited, and produced by me, Matthew Winner, with help from Chad Michael Snavely and the team at Sound On Studios. Our executive producer is Jelani Memory. And this show was brought to you by A Kids Podcast About.
Follow the show on Apple Podcasts or wherever podcasts are found and check out other podcasts made for kids just like you by visiting akidsco.com.
Join us next week for a conversation about death with A Kids Book About author Taryn Schuelke.