Week 3 Readings Blog

So the conversation between the student and her professor reminded me of the relationship I use to have with my grandparents. They appall technology. They still use a rotary phone. It took my family about 5 years to get them to use the answering machine we bought them for Christmas. It was not until they were forced by their respective careers to get cell-phones and get online.

Upon reading further (Go historians!), I found out that I am actually among the first members of the Net Generation. I agree with Neil Howe and William Strauss' characteristics of the Net Generation since I possess many of them myself. The author's break down of all the characteristics was very interesting. In terms of the drive to succeed, believe that comes directly from the previous generation. The last generation left much undone, so all my role models preached to never stop climbing. I think my dad best embodies this motto. Although he's getting old, my dad can do a fair share of work, but the trick is he keeps going. My dad could be 1 hour or 10 hours into a project, and the minute he stops for a break he's done. Likewise, he's always told me to never settle and if I don't like something, change it.

I've jokingly debated the hopefulness of my generation with peers. Previous potential titles for my generation includes the Disney Generation and the Video Game generation. Both of these had a under-lying theme of hope. In terms a the Disney proposal, we all grew up with Disney films and each one ended happily ever after with the hero/ine persevering and using finding love. The Video Game proposal was very paradoxical but I think the theorist (forget the name) believed we had been ingrained with the belief that if we dedicate the time and try hard enough you can always achieve your goals (no matter how many you get GAME OVER and have to start over...). I believe we are a very idealistic generation but most of us go a reality check in college.

Chapter 6 really did not impress me like the others have. The only part that stood out to me was the portion about the difficulties IT experiences trying to keep up with the Net Generation. I've noticed a demographic change in Albright's IT department since I arrived as a freshmen. The average age of the staff seems to have decreased, and coincidentally the quality of service has increased. However, as an RA I was privy to IT's plans and how much they have planned to meet the demands of the students. In particular, I am aware of their plans to make all of campus wireless because of the students desire to go outside and do work. Showing I'm an old Net Gener, I still chuckle at the notion of going outside to relax in the fresh air but needing to bring a laptop along as well.

The part of the last chapter that really jumped out at me was Table 3. The table compared preference of technology used in instruction to major. I was surprised to see Business edge out a science for a position in the top three, but my business professor often said in business there's the quick and then there's the dead. Aside from art, I think the preference of technology is on the rise because of the opportunities it holds. I remember my second semester colonial history class where a student asked how long it would take for a frontier town to grow. The professor had his laptop plug in since he was using PowerPoint, so he accessed a census database right there in class. We were able to find very detailed information about a a city in Ohio over the course of ten years. I didn't think of it then but in hindsight, the research without the technological support could have taken weeks, but the student's question was finished in about 5 minutes.