Computers: A History of Fear

Software	None
Covers	HCI, history, sociology, social impact of IT, historical research
Skills Required	Interest in HCI, Interest in psychology, interest in history, interest in social changes
Challenge	Conceptual ???? Technical ?? Programming

Brief Description

Over the last several decades, the introduction and widespread adoption of new types of information technology has often been greeted with alarm, with newspaper articles and pronouncements from politicians often bordering on moral panic. Meanwhile, the users of the new technologies couldn't see why their elders were making a fuss about their different manners and novel patterns of social interactions.

Plus ça change, c'est plus la même chose? How have alarms and worries about the use of computers and other electronic devices changed over the decades? Have any of these concerns been shown to be justified, or shown to have been misplaced? Were people oblivious to the really important or really harmful impacts of computers? What was really worrying people who thought that young people's use of computers might be harmful? How similar are the concerns about the use of email in the 1980s to concerns about the use of Facebook and other social media in the twenty-first century?

Your challenge is to write the history of the fear of information technology, digging into archives and talking to people to find out what it was like in the old days, seeking out patterns and explanations.

Variants

Depending on what you find, and how much, you might want to focus on technology for social interaction, games, or other types of frightening computer technology.

Does the use of computers for social interaction encourage more 'western' manners and modes of interaction in other societies? How is the importation of 'western' technology seen as influential or dangerous, both by the people who use it and those who don't?

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