ENC 1101-B3 & B4: Writing for Discovery

There is indeed a gap between generations on comprehending and using the technology we have today. Every day, we use something that our parents, grandparents, and perhaps great grandparents didn’t have when they were in their youths. The computers, Palm Pilots, and cell phones that we own and carry are our gateways to ride the technological superhighway. Do we always appreciate how efficient and easy today’s world is for us? When I see my parents and other older members of the former generation attempt to delve into digital forms of communication, I know that we can take the technology for granted at times.

When I read this article, I periodically had flashbacks of the first time my mother awkwardly logged onto the Internet. It was like a premiere of a blockbuster film: the family gathered around her as she clicked on the “Sign On” button. She was marveled at how convenient things were and how swiftly she was able to attain information right underneath her fingertips. There was one caveat: my mother was slow. Terribly slow. So slow that my brother and I began to lose our patience after five minutes. Everything was a wonder for her, and my brother and I couldn’t equal that amazement with her. The World Wide Web had made its star-spangled debut for us years before and we habituated it into our daily lives. We needed no how-to books if we were cornered with a hindrance; we poked around [I called my brother for help, as I am no computer whiz] and discovered the malady ourselves. “Today's kids get on the Web and link, lurk, and watch how other people are doing things, then try it themselves,” Mr. Brown asserts, and he is correct. My dad is the one that bothers with the manuals. We, as I am sure other people our ages, learn today through action: “Learning becomes situated in action; it becomes as much social as cognitive, it is concrete rather than abstract, and it becomes intertwined with judgment and exploration.”

I saw an expose on newsmagazine “60 Minutes” on how retirement age has been pushed back even further. Mike Wallace interviewed workers as old as ninety-two still punched in their timecard, and the one thing that impressed me was that many knew how to use a computer! A woman in her eighties told Wallace that it was difficult to learn a word processor, but after many lessons, she typed faster than her grandchildren! I guess it can differ from person to person, but as a whole, the bridge between generations is divided by the rock known as the digital boulder.