Digital Natives by bradsworld

Digital Natives

I am a digital immigrant.

I come from an analog age. I grew up capturing images on film and waiting for them to be developed to see what I had shot. I had rotary timepieces and used a rotary telephone on a party line. I had to get up out of my chair and turn a dial on my black and white TV to change the channel. I extracted music from pieces of black plastic using a needle. I remember when Pong was cutting edge video game technology.

My children have always had personal computing devices and play their music wherever they are from compressed digital files. They have always known the Internet and take Google for granted. They can communicate instantly and inexpensively with friends around the globe. At the rate things change, I wonder what their children will see.

Here are my daughter and god-granddaughter playing a game on the iPod Touch.

Check out Matt Murata's photo at http://365project.org/lintbrush/365/2010-08-09 for a glimpse of another digital native.
Your caption is very true. Some kids today can not even tell time on an analog watch.
August 10th, 2010  
I love the softness of the photo. And the commentary is really brilliant.
August 10th, 2010  
ahhhh, so TRUE!! the good ol' days...
our kids are light years ahead, aren't they?! great capture of a sign of the times!!
August 10th, 2010  
Great observation, Brad - you must be as old as I am...! Did your school have a mimeograph machine...?
August 10th, 2010  
oh cindy, that made me laugh!! the 'copies' in blue/purple ink?!
August 10th, 2010  
So very sad and so very true. Although I may not be that old myself, I still regret how things have changed so very much. There's no "family time" anymore. There's "You're bored? Well go watch some tv, we have a million channels" :(
August 10th, 2010  
Yes Cindy, we used to hand write or type our school paper onto waxy purple paper, attach the sheets to the drum of the mimeograph machine and crank out the copies. I think it's one of those smells you never forget. :)
August 10th, 2010  
This is so cute and what you say is so true as well. Imagine from MY point of view. I grew up in a time when, as a girl, not many had TV sets and our phone lines were shared with others.
August 10th, 2010  
The times .... they are a'changing ..... and I think they are a'changing more dramatically than ever.
August 10th, 2010  
this is cute. and i completely understand what you mean! my kindergarten students come to school with cell phones!!!!
August 10th, 2010  
So true...technology changes at break neck speed. I need to have a child around to keep me up to date! Love the photo ~
August 10th, 2010  
Oooh love this!
August 10th, 2010  
It's amazing how techonology has evolved in our time. I rember and even miss some of the old things. I think things have been lost in the progress. Yesterday I went to my son's school orientation and I was horrified by mothers and children texting and/or talking on their phones instead of doing the last school event with their kids. In 10th grades parents become obsolete :(
August 10th, 2010  
So many changes... So fast... My son chuckles at me... And I thougth I sort of know "whats going on" Not so...
Great shot and commentary :)
August 10th, 2010  
Wow- I really love your caption. I can tell you had a sudden inspiration. Glad you shared your thoughts with us! And what cute girls you have in your life!
August 10th, 2010  
yup! I went to the music in DC and saw an Apple IIe on display. Hmm...I felt old since that is one of the first computers that I remember playing on. I like how you captured their expressions in this pic.
August 10th, 2010  
How true... my how times have changed. Nice shot and great commentary =)
August 10th, 2010  
Love, love your commentary!(and your picture) It is so true. I bet you also recorded songs off of your radio onto your cassette tape! : )
August 10th, 2010  
Nothing drives home those things like seeing your kids grow up SO much differently than you did. It amazes me to think about. Great shot. :)
August 10th, 2010  
Awesome shot :)
August 10th, 2010  
Loving your title and commentary, Brad.... so so true! When I was 5 we had an old Pravetz 8 computer, on which we were allowed to play games only for an hour a day... and it was a big thing, because most children back then didn't even know what a computer was. And now, kids are naturals with everything electronic... It just makes me wonder what life will be like in 20 years from now?
August 10th, 2010  
sweet photo and your commentary takes me back. . .so true so true!
August 10th, 2010  
great shot!
August 10th, 2010  
you brought back memories!! great picture!
August 10th, 2010  
ahhh the digital age....nice reflection
August 11th, 2010  
Oh Brad, this is marvelous...and yes, I immediately thought of Matt's photo, too! (Your girls are adorable!) Your "Memory Lane" is the same one I've been down, and isn't it wonderful to be from a generation that has watched the transition? There are markers in years long past when the world changed, and we are part of a major time warp, too. I'll share that I remember the day I was pulling into the driveway & heard on the radio about a new website called "Google" that was going to bring up information faster than anything we'd used thus far. My first thought was to run into the house and write that down so I wouldn't forget it! (Imagine!) And there was the day, on a morning tv show, when someone showed me my first "CD" and said it was going to hold all the music we'd formerly had on a record album! I was just amazed! ...and that's what we've had for so many years now...that sense of awe! Wouldn't trade it for the world!

(Thanks for the kind words & prayer for our little guy... Went to see him this evening & he looks like a prize fighter with a shiner, but he's going to be his gorgeous self again soon...he's handling it well, and is being fawned over by us all. He accepts it and then starres as the treat package...he's communicating well. He'll live :-)
August 11th, 2010  
I can so relate. I ask my 6 year old questions about the computer at times, and he knows the answer!
August 11th, 2010  
haha i can relate to some of your retro moments brad... except for the game console, i started using "family computer" and my fave game is super mario brothers....
nway bout this photo, nice capturing moments... =)
August 11th, 2010  
oh gosh- I remember when I was in 5th grade my school got it's very first computers. They were Apples and the only screen colors being black and green :) My daughters both have a Mac laptops for each child in thier classrooms! Great shot Brad and wonderful commentary. Thanks for your suggestion in my box!
August 11th, 2010  
I am with you Brad, but I am always amazed at how the youth today master the technology so quickly.
August 11th, 2010  
Indeed. Kids are so much more adaptable to tech gadgets. No, her ball is the one in far right. Had enough time to change lenses to get that shot.
August 11th, 2010  
I feel ya, Brad! I have watched much of the digital age myself and am now watching Nathaniel and seeing all of the things he will always have known. In his Kindergarten class they had a Smart Board. Will he even know what a chalk board is? It blows my mind to think about it.
August 11th, 2010  
Smart boards are crazy.
August 11th, 2010  
This is such a great photo Brad. I love the reflection of the iPod in your daughter's glasses! :) ...and the look of concentration on their faces is perfect for your commentary!

And I still have a love for those pieces of black plastic we used needles on to hear music....the scratchy sound of an old LP just gives songs that much more character! Still....I do really fancy my iPod Touch....
August 11th, 2010  
love the intense concentration on their little faces :)
ah, the good old days... hahaha
August 11th, 2010  
love this photo! and thanks for the memories! I LOVED the smell of those purple dittos! And I have PONG on my new "smart phone" (the one that makes me feel kinda...not so smart...haven't figured it all out yet)
August 11th, 2010  
Ditto to everything you wrote. I wonder the same. What a couple of cuties!
August 11th, 2010  
OH how true your caption is. I closed my eyes and bowed my head in memory of rabbit ears and NOT having instant communication gratification! Your picture is precious! Their little faces...so intent on playing! I LOVE how the little one is decked out in what I imagine is some kind of fairy/princess gear; a sure sign of some things never changing!
August 11th, 2010  
So well put. I love how that technology helps connect us over generations too. My sons and their friends listen to as much Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, U2 and sometimes even Madness as they do Fat Freddies Drop, MIA and Bloc Party.
August 11th, 2010  
A little scary yet cool to witness this transformation. My 2.5 year old guy started on my wife's iPhone and so the transition was seamless to the iPad. The other day we handed him an iPhone and he said, "Uh no. I want daddy's iPad please". I have a feeling when our kids grow up they're going to laugh our blu-ray like we laugh at 8-tracks. Anyways, thanks Brad. I take comfort in knowing we're not alone!
August 11th, 2010  
LOL...it is most definitely a different world.
August 12th, 2010  
cool picture!
August 12th, 2010  
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