Our modern digital society has us switching amongst a series of technologies/apps throughout our day. We’ve become conditioned to reach for the laptop or mobile device to find answers to our questions, connect with family and friends, stream your favorite shows, or droomscroll on social media. Over past few years, the world was forced to rely on the digital infrastructure to provide us access to classrooms and other learning resources. We begrudgingly engaged in virtual classrooms, remote instruction and online live/prerecorded events. Granted, online education existed and was popular before the COVID-19 pandemic, but for the first time, it was used by everyone at the same time.

There are two parts to modern learning — the skills themselves that need to be learned and the technology/app that’s intended to help us showcase these new skills. For example, learning Python pandas carries little value to an employer if you can’t demonstrate your knowledge through a data project housed on Jupyter Notebook or GitHub. Learning isn’t a passive activity, but requires evidence of beyond surface-level knowledge attainment.

As digital consumers, we are bombarded at work and at home to adopt new technologies. Much of these new skills are dovetailed by some sort of technology that requires us to have a username, password and profile account in order to access its functionalities. Adults, and kids alike, shifted to a versioning of online education. This abrupt shift revealed two large gaps: (1) we are dependent on an unstable digital infrastructure and (2) we don’t know what these technologies/apps are exposing us to in the short- and long-term.

Learning how to assess the value, limitations and quality of new technologies for ourselves and families doesn’t have a blueprint, until now.

Below are 17-ish questions to ask your employer, third-party vendor, kid’s school, etc. when you’re introduced to a new technology. You may not receive answers or the answers you want, but the goal is to be informed. You’re informing yourself about the benefits and risks associated with the technology you’re using. You’re also informing the people you’re asking that you care about the impacts of this technology for you and those around you.

1. What are three specific issues that this new technology is supposed to solve?
2. What are three specific issues that this new technology may create for you as a user?
3. What are your issues and frustrations with the current processes and systems you’re using?
4. What’s the timeframe to onboarding the new technology?
5. Who are the technology’s competitors? What are the listed pros and cons?
6. What are the sources of the technology’s reviews? Is it solely the company’s public relations department?
7. What other products/services does this company has this company released?
8. What’s the reputation of these products/services in the industry?
9. How does this technology perform for minoritized people? Real talk, this may be the only question you need to ask.
10. How will using this new technology alter your current process?
11. How much time will you invest in getting familiar with the new technology? Be truthful. Lying to yourself isn’t worth the headache.
12. Who has experience/training on this and who will train us?
13. How well does this new technology alleviate your issues and frustrations?
14. What’s the anticipated money cost and money savings of this new technology?
15. who do i contact when/if I have questions months after the initial training sessions
16. Does the technology have desktop and mobile accessibility? If available on mobile, can it be installed on Apple, Android and tablet devices? And what are the differences in functionality between desktop and mobile versions? Yes, although this is three questions, most people ask the first but not the other three and are disappointed when functionality varies across application type and platforms.
17. How will the company and/or the company’s vendor supplying the tech product use my data and who will it be sold to? This one may open Pandora’s Box. The company or company’s vendor may not want to say or don’t know yet how they’ll use your data. They just want your data. You should receive a consumer data privacy policy outlining their explicit intentions.

This list I’ve shared here isn’t exhaustive by any means. These questions allow you to harness your agency and exercise your digital aptitude that makes you not a mere subject of these technological systems.