Monday, May 18, 2009

Going online in the 1950's - Revisited

I posted previously about my teen aged son wondering how I got online back in the 1950's. Thanks to a comment I received on this, I realize this just isn't my 19 year son, there is some kind of disconnect in experience between the generations that (perhaps) has never quite existed before.

My spouse commented "we can imagine a time without televisions and telephones, why can't they visualize a world without computers and the Internet?"

This isn't a trivia question. It is an entire question of mindset and worldview.

Last night I had dinner with a cousin (who goes to college here) and her parents, come to help her pack and go home for the summer. My cousin admitted to trouble with the concept too.

Meanwhile, when these young adults ask us "when did you first use a computer?" some of us really have to stop and think. The moment wasn't an important part of our lives. It wasn't like we date stamped the moment knowing our children would ask. Few people every dreamed computers would become what they are today. We lived life quite well without these gadgets thank you, even though they have become indispensible to us now. To our children they aren't gadgets, they are part of life itself, like air and water and food.

Has anyone else had this kind of experience with their children or other young adults in their lives?

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