Digital Literacy: Realizing the Promise of Technology | Shauna Begley | TEDxRoyalRoadsU

foreign I want to start by asking you a question hands up those of you who are confident in your ability to use technology to support your success good why am I asking this question we have come to believe in the promise of Technology its potential to improve our lives in new and exciting ways to enhance our capabilities enabling us to achieve all our dreams and aspirations but for many of us this promise may seem Out Of Reach as a technology strategist and educator I work with organizations teams and individuals to help them figure out how

to use technology to support and reimagine how they get things done in my years of experience it's become apparent that to be successful requires more than just adopting the latest and greatest Technologies our success requires a continuous alignment between what we do the technology we use and how we use it this is why today I'm speaking to you about the importance of your digital literacy now digital literacy is more than just technical know-how sure someone who is digitally literate is able to navigate various devices and digital platforms with relative ease but beyond that they have

the confidence curiosity and commitment to using technology to fully participate in an increasingly digitized world digital literacy is important because the very nature of work is changing one in five individuals is working in a career that is likely to be impacted by advances in technology like artificial intelligence and machine learning and you'd be hard-pressed to find the company that isn't increasing its investment in technology to fuel its growth or compete in a market where technology is being used in new ways every company is a tech company every industry is digital and advanced tools are increasingly

in the hands of individuals and teams of all shapes and sizes it's an exciting time for our opportunity to use technology and purposeful and meaningful ways seems Limitless I want to share a number with you four thousand four hundred and forty nine this my friends is the combined levels of candy that I have crushed we have all this fantastic technology these devices in our pockets with more power than was used to send the first shuttle into space and yet we use them to download apps that perpetuate our distraction and waste time we increasingly consume curated

content that doesn't challenge us or require us to think and we're at a risk of becoming more disconnected from the world around us now I'm not saying we should abandon social media or delete all our games in fact these can be great ways to unwind from daily stress build community with our friends and family even improve our brain function what I am suggesting is that if we spent as much time building our digital literacy as we do chasing our high scores we could better realize the promise of Technology now as we consider our digital literacy

and its ability to support our success in the modern world we need to reconcile that digital transformation is both something that we strive for and something that happens to us we play both offense and defense we purposely and proactively look for ways to use technology to be better faster to deliver more value and as we discover new technologies and we embrace them we feel a thrill maybe this is the thing that will solve all our problems make it easier for us to communicate and collaborate make better decisions maybe it will lower our stress by streamlining

and automating our work but at the same time we find ourselves on the defensive we are at the mercy of the evolution of the very Technologies we have adopted are apps and online platforms refresh with new and improved features every weekday hour and this can be overwhelming often unwelcome how many of you have seen that notification that pops up in the corner of your screen that says here's something new for you if you did notice chances are you averted your eyes or swiped it away vowing to learn more later when you just have the time

the digital Revolution hasn't necessarily made our lives easier it's increased our access to information it requires us to decide what technologies deserve our time and attention and it places demands on our time to rethink how we do what we do when we consider what stands in the path to our digital literacy and realizing the promise of Technology the list is long some of us take comfort in the way we've always done things many of us are change fatigued from living in a world where multiple crises seem the norm modern technology can also be intimidating it

may even seem pointless to experiment knowing that the next new thing is right around the corner and everything we're learning today May soon be obsolete despite all this I believe the promise of technology is within our reach from the beginning of time humans have wanted to do more and be more it is the story of evolution that we have looked to overcome the challenges we face to innovate solve problems and improve our lives and humans over time throughout history have looked to technology to overcome our limitations and transform the world around us but technology is

not an easy button sticks on the ground are only transformed into a ladder when we are curious enough about what is Out Of Reach and we decide to go and get it we must pick up those sticks build perhaps fail learn and build again until we can expand our reach in the modern world our success is increasingly dependent on the attitudes we Embrace and the actions that we take to improve your digital literacy and realize the promise of Technology requires that you do a few things number one be confident in your ability to learn new

things over and over we have heard that only the youngest Generations those immersed in technology from the cradle are able to learn new technologies and use them well but if you have an idea to build a ladder are you really going to wait for someone else to pick up the sticks and build it for you because you won't try your generational cohort background or education will only stand in your way if you let it I want you to remember that we are all facing the same pace of technological change every day and this levels the

playing field be confident that if you are not digitally literate today it is entirely possible for you to be so in the future next get curious about technology when it comes to Modern work we don't often build new ladders we assume that the way to be more productive is to put our heads down and get to it we put our blinders on ignoring the tools available to us and the evolution of those tools and we just work harder we stick with what we know dismiss those notifications maybe Crush some candy along the way but what

if we did something different what if we asked how can technology help me work differently get curious challenge the status quo and think how can I use technology in new ways finally set time aside each and every week to try something new efficiency isn't possible without experimentation yet often our sticks are left lying on the ground create space to explore using technology in new ways it's one thing to be curious but you need to spend some time playing with your sticks to see what you can build you never know what you might discover that will

enable you to be more effective and productive and this will Empower you to connect more with your work and the people and causes you care about we live in a world where even the most Ardent change enthusiasts can be overwhelmed we need to be willing to rethink how we work and reimagine how we get things done Alvin Toffler said the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn unlearn and relearn our attitude around technology is Key to Our Success in the modern world if we

are confident in ourselves curious about the technology that surrounds us and commit to experimenting we can realize the promise of Technology our intentional pursuit of digital literacy means that all our dreams and aspirations are within reach thank you foreign [Applause]