According to Thornburg (2009), disruptive technologies are new tools, not extensions or changes to older technologies that change how something is done. These technologies appear suddenly, obliterating other technologies. SecondLife is a disruptive technology created by Linden Lab that burst onto the scene in 2003. SecondLife allows users to create a virtual character that exists and interacts in a virtual world. SecondLife is a disruptive technology that can potentially replace the traditional environment that people can socialize and interact in. Instead of meeting friends in real life for coffee, a SecondLife user can interact with friends at a local coffee shop in SecondLife. I know many people are very active users of SecondLife, but I have also asked many in my peer group who are very tech savvy about SecondLife and they look at me as if I have a second head, because they have never heard of it before or think it is a place for the “strange” or the “socially awkward”. It is the same reaction that many Dungeons and Dragons players got, but now Dungeons and Dragons has been replaces by Worlds of Warcraft and Call of Duty.
SecondLife does not have much of a place in my Kindergarten classroom, I feel as though introducing children to a virtual world at this age is not appropriate. At this age children need to learn how to interact socially in real life settings not through interactions on a computer screen. I do not think SecondLife has much of a shelf life, because there are so many different ways for people to interact socially such as facebook, Twitter, Google+, and through the wonders of face time technology. SecondLife is a disruptive technology that’s time is quickly ticking away.
Reference:
Thornburg, D. (2009). Disruptive Technologie. [ Vodcast]. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.
