Ramblings from a GenX

My first experience with computers was a Commodore 64. While my parents spent a relative fortune, they believed it was important to have in the house as we grew up. This tool was heavily rationed and primarily intended for homework. Still it was a popular social activity as it came with a couple joysticks and a few games. By high school the Commodore had been replaced by a much newer DOS-based system that was used almost exclusively for homework. Although I had an email address my freshman year of college, I still primarily used letters to communicate with friends that had left the state for college. It wasn’t until I was 20 that I finally began to use email to communicate with my family. Any hesitations to jump in were overcome when I was in Russia for 2 years and found the mail system to be unreliable and slow.

Don’t get me wrong. While I was initially slower to get into email, I have always been interested in understanding technology. By the time I graduated from college, I was the local computer geek at my apartment complex. However, despite multiple social gaming events surrounding PCs and gaming consoles, they were never seen as anything more than tools for entertainment. Social aspects were just beginning to become popular in IRC and newsgroups. Instant messengers like AIM, YahooIM, and MIM didn’t come out until I was out of college and on to my first real job where I was also introduced to my first cellphone/walkie talkie. ($%#! Nextel)

Now I will contrast my childhood with my two children (ages 4 and 7) who were first introduced to a cellphone as they were being delivered. Since birth they have constantly seen the homage attributed to the mighty electronic gods during all activities including eating (feeding), visiting with family, “taking care of business”, and even having the TV on in the background while sleeping. It is any wonder that both were competent with the remote control by the time they were two and able to locate and play their favorite games on their tablets before they could even build with blocks. It also didn’t hurt that these same electronic devices were also very useful distractors and entertainers. By the time my daughter was 18 months old, she had several play cellphones that should would use regularly to simulate conversations with friends, family, and fictional characters (usually Disney princesses.) We never taught her how to make phone calls, she just picked it up from watching us. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the children in iGen (Generation Z) are being raised with similar experiences of almost religious zealousness towards electronic devices that in turn elevates these devices in importance. 

Bringing this all around to the classroom, as a teacher, my middle school students will have all grown up in households where electronics are very common, and the cellphone is particular is revered. Just as each student learned from a very early age to respect their parents’ phones, students with their own phones will expect similar respect. In a way the first cellphone has taken the place of the first car. It is their first real sense of freedom, of individuality; a way for them to be autonomous from their parents. While that won’t keep me from controlling their use in the classroom when necessary, I think that after the lesson today, it will certainly cause me to reflect first and be a little more understanding of what an important part of a students identity it has become.