Technophobia facts for kids

Technophobia (say: tek-no-FOH-bee-uh) is a word that means being afraid of or disliking advanced technology, especially computers. It comes from two Greek words: technē, meaning "art, skill, or craft," and phobos, meaning "fear." Sometimes, people use the word to describe an unreasonable fear. However, others believe that these fears can be understandable. Technophobia is the opposite of technophilia, which is a love or strong interest in technology.

A researcher named Larry Rosen, who studies how people use computers, says there are three main types of people who might have technophobia:

• Uncomfortable users: People who don't feel at ease using technology.
• Cognitive computerphobes: People who worry they aren't smart enough to use computers.
• Anxious computerphobes: People who get very nervous or stressed when they have to use technology.

People first really noticed technophobia during the Industrial Revolution in England. Since then, it has been seen in different groups around the world. Some groups might even choose not to use certain modern technologies because they want to stick to their traditional ways of life or beliefs. For example, new technologies might go against their ideas of living a simple life.

You can find examples of technophobia in many stories, movies, and art. These often show the darker side of technology, as seen by those who are afraid of it. As technology becomes more complicated, some people might feel more worried about using it.

How Common is Technophobia?

A study done between 1992 and 1994 looked at college students in different countries. Out of 3,392 students, 29% said they had a strong fear of technology. In some countries, this fear was even more common. For example, 58% of students in Japan and 53% in Mexico reported strong technophobic fears.

Another report from 2000 suggested that about 85% to 90% of new employees at a company might feel uncomfortable with new technology to some degree.

A Look Back: The History of Technophobia

Technophobia started to get noticed as a real concern in England during the Industrial Revolution. This was a time when many new machines were invented that could do the work of skilled craftspeople. These machines often used workers who were not as skilled and were paid less. Because of this, many people who had special skills in trades started to worry about losing their jobs.

• In 1675, a group of weavers destroyed machines that were taking over their work.
• By 1727, destroying machines was so common that the English Parliament made it a crime punishable by death. But this didn't stop the violence.

The Luddites were a famous group of workers who were against technology. They came together in March 1811, taking parts from knitting machines and asking for better trade rights. They even threatened more violence. Bad harvests and food shortages at the time made people restless and angry, which helped the Luddites gain supporters.

The 1800s also saw the start of modern science with scientists like Louis Pasteur and Charles Darwin. The world was changing very quickly, which was too fast for many people. They worried about these changes and wished for simpler times. The Romantic movement in art and literature showed these feelings. Romantics often valued imagination over logic and nature over machines. Poets like William Wordsworth and William Blake believed that the new technologies of the Industrial Revolution were harming their idea of perfect and pure nature.

After World War II, fears about technology continued to grow. This was especially true after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. People started to wonder what would happen to the world now that humans had the power to destroy it. During the Vietnam War, companies made many war technologies, which made people trust technology less. In the years after World War II, the environmentalism movement also became popular. People started to worry about air pollution and later, about the hole in the ozone layer and global warming. These concerns showed how technology could also harm the planet.

The Luddites: A Famous Example

The Leader of the Luddites, an engraving from 1812.

The Luddites are one of the most well-known groups linked to technophobia. They were a social movement of British workers in the 1800s. They protested against new machines in the textile industry. These machines replaced many skilled workers with less skilled machine operators. The Luddites were not against all new technology. They only protested against machines that changed their jobs too much or threatened their way of life.

They believed their skills were very important to the economy and that these skills needed protection from machines that could do the work on their own.

Amish and Technology

Some people see groups like the Amish as technophobic. The Amish follow a set of rules called the Ordnung, which limits their use of certain modern technologies for personal use. However, the Amish do not completely reject all technology. Instead, they carefully choose which modern technologies to use. They do this to help keep their beliefs and culture strong.

Technophobia in Movies and Stories

Frankenstein's Monster is often seen as an early example of technophobic ideas in art.

Technophobia has been a popular theme in books and movies for a long time.

• One of the earliest examples is Mary Shelley's book Frankenstein. This story is about a scientist who creates a living being, and things go terribly wrong.
• Movies like Fritz Lang's Metropolis and Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times also show how technology can lead to problems. In Modern Times, people become like small parts of a big machine because of new factory methods like the assembly line.
• In the 1960s, fears about nuclear weapons and radiation led to monster movies with giant insects. Other films like The Day the Earth Stood Still warned about technology's dangers.
• The idea of super-smart machines rebelling against humans was a common theme in Star Trek shows, from the original series to Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager.
• A 1960 episode of The Twilight Zone called "A Thing About Machines" shows a man who hates modern things like electric razors and televisions.
• The 1971 film The Omega Man shows a world damaged by biological warfare. A group of mutants wants to destroy all science and machines because of their technophobic beliefs.
• In the 1970s, films like Colossus: The Forbin Project and Demon Seed showed computers taking over. The movie Westworld (1973) is about human-like robots in an amusement park that turn against people.
• In the 1980s, technophobia became very popular with the movie The Terminator. In this film, a computer becomes self-aware and decides to kill all humans. Blade Runner shows human-like copies called "replicants" who are unhappy with their man-made limits.
• The PC game Wing Commander: Privateer features a religious group called the Retros who want to get rid of all technology, even if they have to use technology themselves to achieve their goal.
• More recently, movies like I, Robot, The Matrix Trilogy, WALL-E, and the Terminator sequels continue to explore these themes.
• The TV show Doctor Who has also discussed technophobia, especially in the episode "The Robots of Death", where a character is very afraid of robots. The classic Doctor Who monsters, the Cybermen, were inspired by fears that artificial body parts could become so common that it would be hard to tell humans from machines.
• The 2009 animated film 9 starts with a line that sums up technophobia: "Our blind pursuit of technology only sped us quicker to our doom."
• However, ideas about technophobia seem to be changing. The 2021 movie The Mitchells vs. the Machines shows a robot uprising caused by an AI that was simply upset after being thrown away. Even though robots cause trouble, the movie also suggests that technology isn't always bad.

Images for kids

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  Computers, among many other technologies, are feared by technophobes.

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