4 Technology and the Body
Sunayani Bhattacharya
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to
- Understand and express in writing the relationship between the body and the technology used to read and write
- Understand and express in writing how our access to technology is socially mediated
Literacy, Technology, and Their Relationship to the Body
Literacy is always a technological experience, be it reading a printed book or a digital page, writing with a pen on paper or typing on a keyboard. For our purposes, technology refers to the tangible and intangible tools and utensils we use to interact with different forms of literacy. This interaction always happens through the medium of our bodies, although often we are told to think of literacy as belonging solely to the life of the mind, or to a world of thoughts. In this chapter, we will consider a few examples of how our bodies mediate our relationship to technology, before performing a few exercises that emphasize this relationship.
As a starting point, think about where you are located physically as you are reading this chapter. How is your body positioned vis-à-vis the screen on which you are reading? Are you hearing this chapter on a screen reader? What is your body doing as you make sense of what is being presented to you here? Now consult any notes you might have taken during the reading process. How does your body write? All these questions should start to make you aware of how we move through the world as bodies, even when we are most absorbed as minds.
Perform the following exercise:
Ask your neighbor about their reading and writing practices, and note down their answers. Note down details such as how they move their bodies as they read. Is it different from what they do when they write? Where do they tend to be located physically when they do homework for school, for example? In a private or a public space?
Now choose any aspect of what they said that is very different from your practice, as long as it is either practical or possible for your body. If it involves reading, read this chapter that way. If it involves writing, write down your responses that way. Having chosen this aspect, answer the following questions:
- What was the biggest challenge in performing this exercise?
- How did moving your body differently affect how you read or wrote?
Writing and technology
Technology and Identity
As you continue your literacy journey, think more about your social and physical identities. Are these two different kinds of identity, with one being more about the body than the other? Or are they along a continuum? What places and ideas are afforded to you because of your identity? Which are the ones that are withheld? As you consider these questions, remember that as we move in the world as embodied creatures, a significant part of our existence depends on how we are (and think we are) seen by others. This gaze of others that is on us influences how our bodies change in relation to technology.
Seeing our bodies
For this exercise, record a 10-minute video of yourself as you are doing some homework that involves reading or writing. While this will be very difficult, try as far as possible to forget that you are being recorded, and carry on as you would without the camera on you. Review the footage, and respond to the following questions:
- How would you describe your body in space in relation to the reading/writing instruments?
- How would you describe your face as you work?
- What is the effect of watching your body working alongside technology?
AI and Writing
While this chapter does not delve into the complex questions raised by AI and its relationship to writing, it is important to place embodied writing (the kind of writing that you do as a physical human being interacting with technology) next to AI-generated writing to consider the ethical implications of using AI in writing.
Telling your story
