I am constantly amazed with how much the way we get information has changed in so little time. Not too long ago, most of our news came on the doorstep or television. If we wanted to find out what was going on with family or friends we would have to make a phone call, leave the house, or invite them over. Meeting new people meant leaving the house as well. Now, increasingly, the best place to find all these things and more is a cyber connection from your internet service provider.
The newspapers, magazines, seven o'clock news, telephones, bingo nights, singles bars, etc. all still have a place in the lives of many people today. Those mediums are, however, getting trafficked less and less. Now for many people a lot of this comes in a stream on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+. You can find out which celebrity died, whose nephew had a new baby, and a philosophical discussion with friends of friends whom you have never met; and all in one page load, thanks to the advent of social networking.
These fast pace methods of information gathering are relatively recent developments as far as history is concerned. The amount of information that any person can have access to at any moment seems to be increasing exponentially. While perhaps there may be a ceiling that we will hit eventually, I sometimes try to imagine what this might mean for future generations. What will our social interactions look like in the next ten or twenty years as my kids grow up? What will it look like for their kids?
One thing I can certainly see is that there is a growing gap between the abilities of those who are and are not technology literate. Not being introduced to technology as it continues to evolve could mean a very huge difference in a person's future potential. This is why I think it is a good idea to get children involved with technology as soon as they are able to use and manipulate it.
For example, I have an old netbook that I plan to let Jupiter use to discover how operating systems and software work as soon as he is capable of moving about the filesystem and recognizing the cause and effect of changes he might make. I know that inevitably he will break some software functionality at which point a perfect learning experience is presented to learn how to troubleshoot and resolve computer problems, shedding further light on how the software itself works. If worse comes to worse, I can just reinstall Windows or Linux and start all over again. I do not keep anything important on that computer anyhow.
When I was growing up, my parents had a 20486 Gateway 2000 computer that ran Windows 3.11. I did more editing of system files and registry entries, to see if that might affect the system the way I hypothesized or not, than my parents would have liked. It was the only computer in the house, and not an extra lying around like the one I have for my kids to use. My mother spent far too many hours with Gateway's support attempting to fix the things that I sometimes broke, but at the end of the day, we both learned more about our computer and over time, although my method of learning was somewhat unorthodox (and probably undesired by my parents), I have become very fluent with computers. It ended up growing my interest enough to put me into a career in computer repair, then network management and engineering, followed by software development where I am continuing to build my skill, as I stay at home raising the kids, through online college WGU today.
Today, and indeed in the future, the need for technology literacy in almost any career is not only useful, but necessary. Even in personal tasks such as organizing family photos and videos, keeping in touch with friends and family, and looking up new recipes or gardening information, technology literacy is hugely useful at minimum.
If you feel you are starting to fall behind in the fast moving world of technology, there is no better time than now to take the initiative to learn. Do not be afraid to make mistakes. As long as you have your pertinent data backed up, you can always return to the state before you messed up and will have the opportunity to learn from those mistakes going forward. Basic computer, social networking, and other technology courses are usually available through community colleges in most areas. Who knows? Maybe you will find something you enjoy doing and create a career or even a side hobby for yourself in the process.
The newspapers, magazines, seven o'clock news, telephones, bingo nights, singles bars, etc. all still have a place in the lives of many people today. Those mediums are, however, getting trafficked less and less. Now for many people a lot of this comes in a stream on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+. You can find out which celebrity died, whose nephew had a new baby, and a philosophical discussion with friends of friends whom you have never met; and all in one page load, thanks to the advent of social networking.These fast pace methods of information gathering are relatively recent developments as far as history is concerned. The amount of information that any person can have access to at any moment seems to be increasing exponentially. While perhaps there may be a ceiling that we will hit eventually, I sometimes try to imagine what this might mean for future generations. What will our social interactions look like in the next ten or twenty years as my kids grow up? What will it look like for their kids?
One thing I can certainly see is that there is a growing gap between the abilities of those who are and are not technology literate. Not being introduced to technology as it continues to evolve could mean a very huge difference in a person's future potential. This is why I think it is a good idea to get children involved with technology as soon as they are able to use and manipulate it.
For example, I have an old netbook that I plan to let Jupiter use to discover how operating systems and software work as soon as he is capable of moving about the filesystem and recognizing the cause and effect of changes he might make. I know that inevitably he will break some software functionality at which point a perfect learning experience is presented to learn how to troubleshoot and resolve computer problems, shedding further light on how the software itself works. If worse comes to worse, I can just reinstall Windows or Linux and start all over again. I do not keep anything important on that computer anyhow.
When I was growing up, my parents had a 20486 Gateway 2000 computer that ran Windows 3.11. I did more editing of system files and registry entries, to see if that might affect the system the way I hypothesized or not, than my parents would have liked. It was the only computer in the house, and not an extra lying around like the one I have for my kids to use. My mother spent far too many hours with Gateway's support attempting to fix the things that I sometimes broke, but at the end of the day, we both learned more about our computer and over time, although my method of learning was somewhat unorthodox (and probably undesired by my parents), I have become very fluent with computers. It ended up growing my interest enough to put me into a career in computer repair, then network management and engineering, followed by software development where I am continuing to build my skill, as I stay at home raising the kids, through online college WGU today.
Today, and indeed in the future, the need for technology literacy in almost any career is not only useful, but necessary. Even in personal tasks such as organizing family photos and videos, keeping in touch with friends and family, and looking up new recipes or gardening information, technology literacy is hugely useful at minimum.
If you feel you are starting to fall behind in the fast moving world of technology, there is no better time than now to take the initiative to learn. Do not be afraid to make mistakes. As long as you have your pertinent data backed up, you can always return to the state before you messed up and will have the opportunity to learn from those mistakes going forward. Basic computer, social networking, and other technology courses are usually available through community colleges in most areas. Who knows? Maybe you will find something you enjoy doing and create a career or even a side hobby for yourself in the process.
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