Wrong Side of the Digital Divide

Having used personal computers since the introduction of the first Apples, and possessing a fair share of digital devices, I thought I was on the right side of the Digital Divide until my ten year old granddaughter showed me the tattoos on her arms last night.

First a disclaimer: I believe, I hope, those tattoos are water soluble drawings, not etched permanently into her skin.

There was a small tattoo on each arm, and together we admired them, she with glee, I with great uncertainty as to how to address her pride in them. So, I settled for a neutral approach, intending to merely describe them and use some humor.

The one on the left arm went well: we agreed it was the sun and that it was cheerful.

The tattoo on the right arm was a small circle with a couple of dots in the middle, and that was what made it clear I have not really crossed the new location of the Digital Divide.

I ventured that the symbol was a button. Immediately she jokingly pressed it with a finger. Now my intention was that we would banter about the incongruity of having a shirt button on one’s arm, but that connotation of “button” was lost on her. Instead, the first meaning of “button” that came to her mind was an icon on a computer screen that you tapped.

To my generation, and even her parents’ generation, digital devices are accessories, used as needed for discrete purposes: work, e-mail, messaging, media. On the other hand her generation has incorporated digital devices seamlessly and pervasively into all aspects of their lives.

I had begun to notice that trend during the vists of my grandchildren. In the course of a typical visit, they tend to routinely weave five or six digital devices into normal social and personal interaction as easily and as naturally as they used speech, drawings, paper, pencils, crayons, stickers, scissors, tv, just a few years ago.

Want to play a game with them? Out comes the Nintendo Wii and they hand you a controller. Ask about their summer activities, they may show you an animation project they did on the computer. Remind them to do their homework, they go online. They eagerly share with you some cool App on their iPod Touch that you haven’t heard about and show you how to use it or play it. They will helpfully enter their new cell number in the address book on your phone . Give them an order for Girl Scout cookies, they send an e-mail to themselves on their laptop then later they send you an e-mail with the amount you owe. They discuss books they have read or downloaded. If you have a device they don’t, they explore it. A topic comes up in conversation and they delve into it with you with a Google search or a Podcast without a hiccup in the flow of conversation. Their music and videos are streamed to their mobile devices. Want to know what the new puppy looks like or who the current boyfriend is? Up pops a picture in Flickr while they describe them to you. Tell them that with your diminishing memory you may forget to send the DVD you promised them, they will say “No problem. I’ll text you”. You refer to some temperature or measurement in a form they don’t understand, they will convert it immediately online. Want to take them to their favorite pizza parlor but don’t know how to get there, they find a route for you on GPS.

They don’t want a candy to take home anymore. They want your iPad.