This paper discusses the technology position statement and guidelines drawn from the National Educational Technology Standards. This position paper and guidelines are grounded in the theory that content must come before technology. In other words, technology should be thought of in terms of its effect on the teaching and learning of social studies, and should be considered for use only if it will provide an improvement in one (or both) of these areas. NCSS offers the following guidelines to technology use, and these are intended as a way both to guide social studies educators when making instructional and curricular decisions related to the use and study of technology, and to help frame the discussion over the questions raised in this paper. (Contains 5 notes.)