Visiting Scholar Pursues "Technophobia" Research
A visiting scholar in psychology, Mark Jeremy Brosnan is more than 5,400 miles from his teaching post in London. But, holding court at CSU Dominguez Hills, he feels right at home.
Through the fall semester, Brosnan is examining "technophobia," or people's anxieties about high tech. The field of study was pioneered largely by Larry Rosen, professor of psychology at Dominguez Hills. In fact, says Brosnan, TechnoStress, Coping with Technology @ Work, @ Home, @ Play, by Rosen and clinical psychologist Dr. Michelle Weil is what hooked him on the subject.
Now, here under the auspices of the Department of Psychology where Rosen teaches, Brosnan is lecturing and counseling on his favorite subject. And, he adds, it is full-time work.
After all, if you think people's fears of high tech have subsided with the growth of high tech, think again, Brosnan says: As long as computers are with us, so, too, are the fears they unleash.
In fact, Brosnan's current focus - which he shares with Rosen - is the impact of high tech on gender: It seems that males and females react differently to the stress of the faxes and modems and emails and mouses.
"There is a big sex difference.Women are far more anxious about high tech than men," Brosnan says. "'Why is that?' That's what we're looking at."
For example, Brosnan says, though all children are introduced to computers, most of their early exposure is through computer games - and the games are "'boys' toys' that get boys interested in computers and draws boys in. Girls are left out, so they're not as interested."
Generally, high tech's attraction of boys - and alienation of girls - continues through school from the lowest-to-highest grade levels. Moreover, the lack of computers in classrooms take their toll: Boys often physically push their way up to the workstations, forcing the girls aside.
By the time these students reach college, "Computer skills, or what is known as computer 'literacy,' become essential to academic performance" - and, most problematic, elemental to the way people live, Brosnan says. After all, as students graduate and move into the workforce, those with the better computer skills get the better jobs, and the better jobs mean better pay.
"It becomes very difficult to get a job without performing well with the new technology," Brosnan adds.
So, our standard of living will ultimately hinge on our ability to perform on the new technology.
It is a pattern emerging in homes, Brosnan says. Children see both parents working on a computer, he says, but the mother often defers to the father as the expert whenever the machine breaks down.
Helping people recognize and resolve their discomfort are what attracted Brosnan to psychology.
"'Psychology' explains the reasons for the way we behave and interact, and," Brosnan adds, "it examines whether it is possible for us to change. That is a very interesting question."
Besides teaching a course in "technophobia," Brosnan is conducting counseling sessions for groups of students whose high-tech anxieties range from their proficiency on a computer to their fear of turning one on and off.
"People in all age ranges and in all walks of life have these anxieties about high tech," Brosnan said, "And it is important to face down their fears because high tech isn't going away. These machines are here to stay, and we created them. So we should feel comfortable understanding them and working them. "
So far from home, Brosnan and his wife, Deborah, a speech pathologist, and their 2-year-old son, Milo, had no trouble finding lodging for the semester: They are house-sitting for CSUDH physics professor Sam Wiley while he house-sits for them in London.
While they are here, they plan to see what they can of the United States. Griffith Park, San Diego, and the Grand Canyon are on their itinerary. They find the presidential campaign fascinating. Mark Brosnan adds: "I really want to see a baseball game and an American football game. And, people have told me, 'You must see Las Vegas. You won't believe it.'"
Brosnan received his bachelor's of science degree in Psychology from the University of Hertfordshire. He received both his master's of science degree in Cognitive Science and his doctorate in Psychology from the University of Manchester.
After the fall semester, Brosnan will return with his family to their home in London, where he will resume teaching in the Department of Psychology at the University of Greenwich.
-T.W.
