Do you ever hear people complaining that their kids know more about technology than they do? My mom can't text, and really has no desire to do so. She also can't program the VCR, and refuses to pay for Tivo. Why should she? She has a VCR.
Technology moves forward, but we stay put. I found this to be true today as I was subbing for an Elementary school music teacher.
The teacher dropped by in the morning to make sure I had everything I needed. The plans consisted of playing a CD so the classes could sing to it. While showing me how to work the CD player, she mentioned that I shouldn't ask the kids to help me. She'd asked before, and it seems the kids of today only know how to work their iPods. They have no clue how a CD player works.
Forgetting this piece of information later in the day, I asked a sixth grade student to find the place where the kids were on the CD. She couldn't do it until I showed her how to move forward through the disk. And, at one point, a student asked me to "turn it over" so we could sing a song a second time.
So, to all those confused by the fast progression of technology, I offer this: technology is quicksand. Moving forward can be as difficult as moving backward. We simply grasp the technology of our time and rely on the oldies and the younglings to pull us out.
Holy toledo! Couldn't work a CD player? Heaven help them if they had a tape player or - gasp - an 8 track.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, it couldn't be much different than a DVD player, but maybe they don't run those either.
Too funny.
I'd hate to see these kids with a record player. How about a walkman?
ReplyDeleteWe used tape players and rewinding or fast forwarding to find the spot you need was strange to them.
ReplyDeleteAnd flipping it over just baffled the crap out of 'em :)