On The Media

I was listening to NPR this morning on my way into work, and the show On The Media was replaying a story from earlier in the week about "digital natives" and "digital immigrants". I'm sure some of you out there have heard these terms before since up here we're pretty near the end of the information/news pipeline, but for those who haven't; a digital native is someone born after 1980, and a digital immigrant is anyone born before then. Since I was born in 1975, that means I immigrated to the digital world when I was only five years old. I still have memories of the "old country", but the vast majority of my life has been spent in the digital world. My father would be the perfect example of someone who moved to the digital world in 1980 (albeit involuntarily he'd tell you) but refused to give up his old ways and customs. He's figured out how to work the VCR/DVD and the remote, but that's pretty much the end of the trail. He has no idea how to use an iPod or an ATM. Just a few months ago, my mom had to explain how "paying at the pump" worked when they were going out of town and stopped to refuel. Anyway, just wanted to share an interesting and non-depressing news story to kick off the weekend. Over and out.