Initially I was quite frustrated to learn that my economics professor required that I purchase a clicker. In this age of ever-increasing textbook costs, it seems a bit much to have to run out and drop an extra $40 on a ‘classroom response system’, which, of course, is nothing more than a thinly-veiled euphemism for ‘screw you, I can take roll during lecture now’.
These silly little devices are yet another episode in the continuing story of college professors around the country pulling out all the stops to make YOU wake up and sit through their lectures. First it was the elimination of webcasts, then the deletion of online notes… the more the semesters go by, the more we see the erosion of the academic benefits bestowed on us by technology, and the more elaborate professors’ schemes to hold our attention become. The harder they try, of course, the more we know their class isn’t worth the bother.
But I was just in the middle of unpacking my clicker- a dreary-grey bulky relic of late 1970s design- when I noticed something.
This was no ordinary clicker. This was an iClicker. It said so right on the label.
Within moments any doubts I may have entertained as to its purpose in my life were washed away in a stream of modernity, relevance, and affirmation of my identity as a citizen of a new, technologically adept world without shift keys.
The iClicker spoke to me. It said, “sometimes i don’t capitalize, just like you. and we understand each other just fine, don’t we- what’s a bit of incorrect grammar between friends? See, i get you.”
I knew immediately that it was right. It, too, was a member of my generation.
The iClicker is more than just a product. It is a means of self-expression in a world where ‘i’ am becoming an ever-decreasing proportion of the world’s population. It affords me a uniqueness which until now could only be provided by my digital music hard drive and portable telephone.
When I use the iClicker, I’m sending the world a clear message: “i woke up and dragged myself to class today.”
And that’s a message worth sending.
