Second Life as a Disruptive Technology

The concept of the virtual world is something new to me. Actually, I didn't know about Second Life until Jim made fun of Dwight on The Office about it =) Since I read this assignment, I decided to ask my high school students about it and got some interesting feedback.

Second Life is a disruptive technology due to the fact the development of it came out of no where but is a replication of life. As Dr. Thornburg mentions in the vodcast, disruptive technology provides functions that obsoletes other technologies. This particular technology was not the product of an evolutionary development but a new development to meet life needs. I guess it seems common sense that something like this would be created. In addition, as reflected by Dr. Thornburg, I don't believe the impact was anticipated on people's daily routines (i.e. Facebook obsession of Farmville). My students told me that some people they know spend hours at a time immersing themselves in this virtual world living a life and developing relationships with others that do not match their reality experience.

The longevity of Second Life is dependent on the users. From what I observe from my students many are not interested in it at this point. Therefore, I'm not sure if they will ever be or if this is dependent on the integration of the real world in the virtual world. I think the premise is good but its effectiveness is reliant on its relevance to each person's life.

From my understanding, I see this as a social network tool as kids playing networked video games. I think the element is there and would be quick to criticize those contending it fosters social isolation. On the other hand, the ability to develop a life that is ideal and not your own is fake and was actually just spoken about by the Pope =) Being a virtual school teacher, I do see some of the unique benefits that Second Life could offer, like the personal avatars and lecture halls/discussions, but I hesitate to force my students to partake in it.

Works Cited
Thornburg, D. (Producer). (nd). DisruptiveTechnologies. [Video Podcast]. Laureate Education, Inc.