What makes Technology fun?

Last night in class, Laura demonstrated her iPod Touch. We all had a great laugh over the tiny device packed with interesting features that could have an educational implication. However, this got me thinking about gadgets. Stereotypically, women are not the “gadget” fiends, but last night 6 women were giggling at a tiny device that one could download a harmonica to. What makes technology interesting to some and not others? Is it past experience? Is it promotion on a parent level that technology and gadgets are interesting and fun. Because the flip side to this is the technophobia that haunts many of my teachers. Sometimes, its not even just women, but men – sometimes those who teach the more “science” or “mathematical” subjects. Is it maybe one of Gardner’s multiple intelligences – that people who are more technologically inclined are more tactile or visual? I have always tried to approach any new technology situation I find myself in with a sense of fearlessness, that no matter what I did I would not break or destroy the technology by sheer ignorance of how it functions. Interestingly enough, I never thought of myself as a particularly hands on learner, I always learned by books and reading and tests. But to find myself in technology, promoting a way of learning that is foreign to myself, is interesting to me. Especially in light of my research on problem-based learning, I find myself understanding why technology is still fun to me after being a technology hobbieist for over twenty years and being in Ed. Tech. for almost five. Inherently, technology for me is solving a problem – how does this work and how can I entertain myself with this? I guess I am fortunate enough to still believe that a new gadget is like a toy – that the instructions are useless and I will be able to master it on my own. Now, the problem becomes how do I get my students to feel the same way? How do I get all of my students to believe that technology is something fun, even when the classroom part of it always isn’t?