The future is now
Not long ago, before I contracted what must have been a mixture of Ebola and the Bubonic Plague (how lucky I am to be writing to you now!), I witnessed quite a funny sight. No, it wasn't a monkey being smuggled into the US, it was Ender trying to figure out how to insert a VHS tape into our VCR. For some reason I had expected Ender to know how to use this technology despite it being at least old as the plague I was about to receive. Ender knew how to work the DVD player, Xbox, computers, microwave, and gameboy, why wouldn't he know how to use the VCR? I'll tell you why. Digital versus Analog. We are now raising children who will think setting the VCR clock is the easy part.
This wasn't the first time I've witnessed the technology gap. I've actually been quite aware of it and have even attempted to expose my children to some older technologies. For example, we have a Hi-8 video camera, a still camera that takes film, a tape player in our car, and a floppy drive. Sure, we dont have film, tapes, or floppy discs, (what would I use those for?), but the technology is there for them to see and ask questions about. We'll occassionally spend our dinner discussing how things "used to be".
"Wait, how big was the cell phone?", Ender would laugh.
"You could hear the computer dialing!?"
"You mean that thing in the car isn't just for plugging the CD player into?!"
We'd have a great time acting out what it was like to carry the old, gigantic VHS camcorders around on your shoulders (while walking to school in five feet of snow, uphill, both ways).
All this was running through my head while I tried to instruct Ender on the proper orientation of the VHS tape. Finally I got off the couch to assist him in this complicated task. To my surprise, I couldn't get the tape in the VCR either. The problem was much less technical then I had thought. Without naming any names, someone in our household had decided that my favorite DVDs (and some that were borrowed) should be stored inside the VCR. I say 'stored', but really I mean 'jammed carelessly into'.
Just goes to show that no matter how advanced the technology is, a two year old will always conquer.
This wasn't the first time I've witnessed the technology gap. I've actually been quite aware of it and have even attempted to expose my children to some older technologies. For example, we have a Hi-8 video camera, a still camera that takes film, a tape player in our car, and a floppy drive. Sure, we dont have film, tapes, or floppy discs, (what would I use those for?), but the technology is there for them to see and ask questions about. We'll occassionally spend our dinner discussing how things "used to be".
"Wait, how big was the cell phone?", Ender would laugh.
"You could hear the computer dialing!?"
"You mean that thing in the car isn't just for plugging the CD player into?!"
We'd have a great time acting out what it was like to carry the old, gigantic VHS camcorders around on your shoulders (while walking to school in five feet of snow, uphill, both ways).
All this was running through my head while I tried to instruct Ender on the proper orientation of the VHS tape. Finally I got off the couch to assist him in this complicated task. To my surprise, I couldn't get the tape in the VCR either. The problem was much less technical then I had thought. Without naming any names, someone in our household had decided that my favorite DVDs (and some that were borrowed) should be stored inside the VCR. I say 'stored', but really I mean 'jammed carelessly into'.
Just goes to show that no matter how advanced the technology is, a two year old will always conquer.
