"This is my generation. This is what we do."
~23 year old, laughing at a pair of 50-somethings trying to work a new remote control, as he took the remote out of their fumbling hands and smoothly programmed the DVR to record the Red Sox game.
Using the buttons, something that takes a level of courage for a baby boomer, is second nature for the members of generation X. When we were children our buttons were attached to colorful scraps of fabric. This generation has been playing with electronic buttons since they've been old enough to reach for them. On/Off. Off/On. Change the volume. Change the channel. The two year old is having a ball while the adults are creatively looking for ways to disenable the power... TV, telephone, noisy toys, games, dishwasher, key fobs, microwave, computer key board...This is where I'm heading with this:
I had a day notable for its technological advancements. It began with attending an international conference - online - and ended with watching the Red Sox in High Def. These events were exciting, stimulating, and overwhelming. The remote control will take me weeks to figure out as will the content and implications of the many digital tools to which I am being introduced through the online conference (address below). With their cell phones, im's, ipods, and blogs, today's youth are effortlessly crossing boundries - classroom, school, state, nation, age, socio-economic, religion... From home to 'Philawarepragacago,' they are "playing with boundries." For me, with my brand new computer mic, user names and passwords, I'm in the middle of a whirlwind. I will myself to click on the buttons; I hold my breath to see if my computer reacts as I intended and I feel as if I am braking through boundries chip by bloody chip.
http://www.k12onlineconference.org/
1 comment:
Great Post! You are such a good writer!
I had a moment two summers ago. My god daughter was two and I was taking pictures of her. After each picture she would run over to me and want to see the picture....there was a moment that I went WOW! She is growing up digital and not because of computers or any hi-tech stuff...in fact her parents don't even have cable or TV stations. But technology has changed. She just knows that after you take a picture you look at it...unlike me who just this summer saw pictures my mom took when I was 9. It's different world for today's students....we're just trying to learn it. :)
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