Computer Literacy as Ideology

The first of these three quotes expresses a simple and poignant confusion, the voice of someone who is just not sure where he or she will fit in. The others express a sort of general reservation, a sense that things are going too far, too fast, that there may be certain areas in which computers are not a good thing. They call for moderation, and the preservation of individual choice. They do not constitute a counter-ideology, but the fact that the speakers feel compelled to raise cautionary notes indicates that they feel a certain threat is being posed by the rush to computerization.

Students’ attitudes take on other contradictory forms as well, as illustrated by this passage:

Student #11: I think it would be really neat if the whole school was done with computers... I think they’re worthwhile. I think they should be brought into the younger grades... I mean this is the computer age. Like my dad, he’s been having a lot of problems at work lately, because they’re trying to switch over to computers... the guy comes home with the worst headaches, because he’s worried about his job because he just can’t understand them. And people aren’t teaching him because they think he can’t handle it. So, if you introduce them in younger grades... People are just going to be — like second nature, it’ll be just like writing or reading... I know my dad - my dad would like to get to learn - it’s just, he’s at work and it’s hard for him. Because he’s so stressed out, he just wants to learn it so bad, he’s having the hardest time, you know...

Despite her father’s obvious distress as he faces the effects of the computer revolution, this young woman feels that the solution to the problem is further education, both for him and for future generations. Clearly absent is any notion that her father, who works for a railroad, might have a legitimate right to resist the automation of his job. He, like everyone else, must develop a "second nature" - the ability to cope with computers. There are a rare few who resist even this notion, however:

Student #12: Come the 20th Century [sic], I guess, every machine’s gonna be pretty well run by computer. But somebody’s gonna have to rebuild the machine itself that the computer’s gonna be running. So therefore you have to know how to shut the computer down, or to use the computer to move parts out of your way... I’m a grease monkey.

This young man comes closest to expressing something which might be called traditional working-class pride. He uses terms like "grease monkey" in a defiant way, expressing a certain knowledge that, even if traditional machinists’ skills are less in demand in the computer age, the society cannot run on information alone. Even so, he envisions a need for just enough knowledge of computers to be able to shut them down and get them out of his way. He does not resist the ideology of inevitability, but has developed his own coping strategy, which he feels will allow him to survive on more traditional forms of industrial-era expertise.