Monday, November 17, 2008

Children of the Computer Age

It never ceases to amaze me at how adept my children are at the computer. Terms that meant nothing to me as a child are a fluent part of my kids' everyday language. Being of the generation whose first experiences with computers were with the TI99 from Texas Instruments (our first home computer)and the Apple IIe (I remember how excited my teachers were in middle school when these computers first arrived at school for us to use!),it was a very long time before the internet/world wide web/email/etc meant anything to me. My children on the other hand, are growing up with computers in each classroom (we had one computer room with about a half-dozen computers for the entire school) that they use daily, computers at the library, and computers at home that are not only lightyears beyond what I knew as an older child, but that are also connected to the internet. AND they know what that means! I frequently hear DS talking about megabites, flash drives, and the like. He especially loves to throw these kinds of words around while rolling his eyes at me as if to say, "Mom, you just have no idea what I'm talking about so don't even try to understand." (or he'll even comment that he'll just go ask his Dad----DH being of the same generation as I am but having chosen a career path that lets him almost be the creator of some of these strange words that have entered our children's native language). Even my 6-year-old DD gets in on the act. Just yesterday we were in the van on our way home from having attended a live performance of "Beauty and the Beast" by one of the local high schools.We were in the middle of discussing what she liked about the show when suddenly she asked, "Mom, who is God's father?" When I asked what she meant, she replied, "You know, how did He get here in the first place before everything was made?" I told her I didn't know....that it was one of those things we just didn't have the answer to. Her reply? "Well, when we get home can we just Google it?"

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