Kids today, I'm tellin' ya...

A few years ago, it took me several frustrating weeks to master the basics of QuarkXpress. And that was after being a daily computer user for two years, mastering all the Windows programs (Publisher, Word, Excel, etc). And after spending umpty thousand hours watching over other people's shoulders as THEY worked in QuarkXpress. And even now, two years after mastering the basics, there are still times when I call my production manager in the sanctity of his own home to ask, "How do you do blahblahblah?"

So it really crumbles my cake that my 12 year old and three of her friends, after getting a five minute lesson from me, were happily Quarking away and didn't need my help anymore, thankyouverymuch. We're talking a commercial level design program here folks, and these INFANTS caught on in the time it takes me to tie my shoes.

It takes me ten minutes to tap out a text message consisting of three words.  My teen can text at 30 words a minute. However, as we discovered this weekend, being able to text quickly is not always a good thing, especially when TMs cost a dime apiece, and according to the cell phone bill you sent 214 of them in a 30-day period and it's time to pay the piper. It's nice to be able to "reach out and touch someone" but if they're only on the other side of the school cafeteria, it's much cheaper to just holler and wave.

For us GenX-ers, computers have been a part of our lives since we were children, true. (in most cases) But I think most of us still have this little unspoken, un-named fear in the back of our minds that if we hit the wrong button, or take the wrong action, the whole machine will explode, or worse, we will LOSE ALL OUR DATA.  So as proficient as we may be, we're cautious.

Our kids learn more quickly than we do because they have no fear of the technology that's been around since before they were born.  So they'll click something just to see what happens, and if it doesn't work, they'll click something else. They'll play with a new piece of software, trying out different things, and eventually - quickly - they'll figure out how to make it do what they already firmly believe it can do.

I imagine this is what it was like for previous generations too.  The first telephones were things to be revered - placed in a position of honor in the home, used sparingly and only in times of great neccessity. To make, or receive, a phone call was a privilege. Later generations didn't have the same sense of AWE for the telephone. Likewise, the typewriter, the radio and the television.

Also on the topic of plowing ahead with NO FEAR - I passed the 60k word mark on the novel that's almost finished.  The search for an agent and/or publisher begins March 1, and I'll be ready. It's amazing how much more quickly you make progress when you already firmly believe that you can do what you need to do.

Comments

[Pam]

So true. My six-year-old announced to me, this afternoon: "Mom! I INSTALLED that game! And I didn't even know what I was doing!"

I'd been too busy to run in and install his CD game. Yikes. "Really?" I asked, thinking this was great, and he could stop fetching me so often. He can read now, after all. Maybe he has got it down.

"Yeah, mom. I just pushed buttons till it did something."

NOT a good thing...but I have to admit, it worked. His game ran. And it illustrates what those "infants" at your house are onto as well.

AND that is why the family PC is not the one I use!

[AGK]

I don't like thinking about it...

Congrats on the progress of your novel!!!