Jim McCann
Argument (76-100 G)
Geoff Sauer
December 4, 1995Challenges to Computer Literacy
There is little doubt that computers are an integral part of today's society and that computer literacy, the ability to use computers effectively and confidently, is an important skill to have. However, the process of attaining that literacy is misunderstood-- it is still widely thought that adults are naturally wary of computers and that women lack the interest to learn. Although anecdotes can be found to support these conclusions, they are incidental to a more underlying cause. The desire to learn to manipulate a computer comes fundamentally from one's relationship with power. Some may find the sense of power derived from completely controlling the computer appealing, whereas others may either shy from it or not want to risk the momentary loss of power during the learning stages.
As Lewis pointed out, the notion that adults are naturally logizomechaniphobic, having "an unnatural degree of fear that can seriously inhibit one's ability to deal rationally with computers," has been sensationalized by the media, popular magazines in particular. (5) Although she acknowledged that one in three executives resist the incorporation of computers into their businesses, this was true with only three percent of middle managers. She then described in detail a study performed with adult basic education students to determine the levels of general interest and/or belief in the usefulness of computing and their comfort using the machines relative to the user's age, gender and previous experience. The mean results showed that the students were generally interested, though slightly less comfortable. This is understandable, however, because it is likely that the majority of the "special needs population" tested (Lewis 6) "may not have gotten an opportunity to" use computers (Togyer 3) prior to the survey. These results are confirmed by Massoud in his research which found "adult basic education students as a whole have fairly positive attitudes toward computers" (280) based on anxiety ("fear of computers or learning to use computers"), liking ("enjoyment in using computers") and confidence ("expected ease of learning to use computers"). (270) A breakdown of the three subcategories shows confidence to be slightly lower than the other two, as expected considering that the sample group was similar.
But more importantly, why would a sample of "low-literate adults, which is traditionally characterized as having a low self-concept and negative educational experiences in the past, appear to feel little threat from the technology"? (Lewis 7) Lewis conjectures that more highly educated people "may feel embarrassed... if they do not catch on readily and make mistakes." (7) This may be seen from a power perspective: low-literate people would see themselves as coming from a relatively powerless situation-- so they would have little to lose from the powerlessness of unsuccessfully working with an unfamiliar machine. This may also explain the myth that "the technology is something for which the 'younger generation' is better suited." (Lewis 5) It may be that youths sometimes learn computer literacy voraciously as a means to gain a form of power, because many other forms are unavailable to them. Higher-literate adults, with a less pressing need for power, may be less eager in possessing computer literacy. A more interesting application of this hypothesis is with executives, many of whom resist the introduction of computers in the workplace. An executive's social class and way of life is dependent on retaining power-- the loss of which during the computer learning period would be both embarrassing and destructive to his or her position.
Other than social status, a major factor altering computer interest is gender, which was determined independently by the results of Lewis, Massoud and Hall and Cooper. Although Lewis recognized this correlation of gender to interest in her data, she mentioned little after that, only addressing the issue once more in a recommendation to teachers to invite female guest speakers who are proficient with computers to "help debunk the myth that computers are a ''male' domain." (12)
Massoud's research concluded that "a difference in computer attitudes of males and females is shown to be statistically significant in this study (i.e. males have more positive attitudes than females)." (281) He then notes this difference is apparent on all three of his subscales (anxiety, liking and confidence), but this is to be expected, as it seems probable that people who are disinterested in computers would not consider themselves very competent in using them.
The third study by Hall and Cooper was performed rather differently. Here, data was collected subjectively from a number of community college students assigned to write an essay about a successful experience and a failure with a computer. These essays were then evaluated blindly to determine how often the author attributed human personalities to the computer. (53) This data was then combined with the genders and estimations of the previous experience of the authors. Naturally, in all cases failure episodes were denoted more personally than successful ones, but it was also discovered that as women became more experienced they would attribute less personality to the computer (view it more as a tool), and as men became more experienced they would attribute more personally to it. (56) Hall and Cooper referred to findings by Sheehan et al. which "suggested that adults respond in these human-like terms when they feel a sense of mastery, security, and control over an object which is meaningful to them." (58) They then proposed that the personification which the experienced male authors used was indicative of confidence in their power over the computer, where the female authors, although experienced, did "not feel the same sense of control which the male enjoys." (58)
A hypothetical reasoning they set forth was that, based previous psychological research investigating interpersonal communication, women tend to use "facial expressions, smiles, gestures and head movements more and decoded nonverbal cues more often and skillfully than males." (58) Because computers lack this form of stimuli, women are less certain of their mastery over them.
But because males are not utterly foreign to non-verbal communication, it seems unlikely that this could account for such a major discrepancy between male and female styles of interactivity (male = 2.91, female = 4.71 on a scale from 1 = personal, 5 = mechanical). (56) Perhaps women feel statistically less masterful for reasons of gender identity-- Devor writes, "Persons who perform the activities considered appropriate for another gender will be expected to perform them poorly." Because "if they succeed adequately, or even well at their endeavors, they may be rewarded with ridicule or scorn," (67) women may subliminally opt to avoid indications of enjoying power, since this is typically a masculine trait. (66)
It is only sensible that power is at the root of computer affinity--those who find enjoyment in the manipulation of a computer usually find more after having expanded their abilities, such as writing a useful program or discovering a new skill. On the other hand, probably the most common fear of computers is the possibility of doing damage. The new user, clearly, is shying from his or her power over the computer, because he or she does not understand its extent. This aspect makes computer literacy quite different from other forms of literacy, which for the most part are universally desired. In the case of computer literacy, it is entirly understandable that one would perfer not to have this power, as it implies mastery over an object which is often attributed "as though it were a person." (Hall and Cooper 51) However, as computers become more vital to our society, it is important to note that such power will one day be fundumental, and the lack of it a serious handicap.
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