What Does It Mean To Prepare for a Future We Can't See?

 

CodeAcademy.com

    Despite belonging to the Gen Z crowd, I have to admit I wasn't into tech as much as my peers until very recently. I didn't have much money growing up and saw people replace one iPhone with another and thought it was a waste. My ex used to jokingly call me "a grandma" because of my lack of understanding and appreciation for smartphones, video games, and tech in general.

    I saw tech as a distraction and new gadgets as investments that only lost value once purchased. Only with the pandemic did I start to appreciate the resources at our disposal. Not only did the internet make distance learning possible, but it helped people connect in a way unimaginable even ten years ago. Profesors who had studied code and kept up with technology had classes that were more streamlined and easy to follow. The profs who never posted grades online or used blackboard before the pandemic had, frankly, some of the worst classes because they had refused to learn any technology until they were forced to learn in 2020. 

    I've since realized, I don't want to be the fifty-year old who doesn't know how to work a (proverbial) projector. I don't want to label myself as "non-techy" and rely on other people to figure things out for me. As an educator, I should set the example as someone who continues to learn new skills throughout life. With that in mind, I recently started to learn some basic coding. I'm not sure how relevent this skill will be as technology becomes more user friendly, but I do know that the people in my life who have studied code are more confident in their abilities to figure out different programs and platforms on a computer.

    As we learned in class, creators are going to rule the world. The more we can shift our own understanding of tech from something to consume to something to utilize, the more we can prepare for the future we can't see.